Student Protests Reveal the Limits of our Democracy and our Values
Since early October of 2023, the world has been gripped by violent displacement and mass killings in Gaza and now Rafa.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to be a sad and shameful episode in world history, and with this latest chapter particularly horrifying.
With each passing day, the death toll of civilians and the destruction of Palestine grows and with it, the world’s compassion and solidarity with the Palestinian people. Since this latest conflict in the region, a reigniting of a protracted war that has lasted for almost seventy years, more countries have raised their voices to denounce what most have rightfully labeled an active genocide. This isn’t a biased or arbitrary opinion, as the United Nations (UN) passed guidelines that define what constitutes a genocide have been clearly identified, met and verified by numerous courts all over the world.
Despite this, the political and private interests of the United States mean regardless of the justice that innocent Palestinian people deserve, the state of Israel continues to decimate them, and the United States continues to be its primary ally and champion in the global arena. The false equivalence between anti-semitism and the calling for the end of the state-led eradication of innocent people, and the erasing of their civilization under the guise of defense has resulted in pro-Palestinian voices labeled as aiding terrorism and advocating for the destruction of Judaisim. Of course, this is the farthest thing from reality, as the state of Israel does not represent nor proliferate the Jewish faith, nor is it seen as the central body of that faith. Further still, the conflict has been for both sides centered around one thing, the sole right to exist as human beings.
The parallels to the anti-apartheid movement that occurred through the 80’s and 90’s and spanned a period nearly as long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are numerous. An eradication of a group of people by a state that has over time increasingly isolated itself from the rest of the world, with much of its power and support coming from a sole operator, the United States. As well, political and private interests entangled our government into an untenable position, advocating for a clearly oppressive state, while being forced to maintain its support and commitments at a great expense, and not to do so for them personally would come at a greater cost. Another parallel is the rise and importance of the student protest movement that as in the divestment movement against Apartheid, has led the way in seeking the United States to find its moral and ethical center in restoring an uneasy peace to the region, at worst, and at best genuinely push for a just and viable two-state solution.
All across the country, numerous college campuses have become the most contentious battlegrounds for the movement on behalf of the Palestinian people. And because of this, once again, those on the frontlines against oppression, are some of our countries most vulnerable citizens — students. In the United States, the increasing privatization of colleges and universities has led to a generation of citizens that will be a historic first., One of the most educated and trained generations entering adulthood as an underclass due to the astronomical costs of a college education and the personal debt it has created for many of them. And as tuition rises, the services, and quality of the education afforded them decreases as many colleges operate with an army of underpaid and overwhelmed adjunct professors, unlike in previous years, where a larger percentage of professors were tenured or on tenure tracks. Add to this, the current class of college students having their college careers truncated and permanently altered by the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is truly inspiring and a wonder that they show so much courage, clarity and resilience in the face of armed opposition from police, and increased sanctions and punishment from the institutions to which they pay tens of thousands of dollars yearly to attend. Universities and colleges have become private corporations unto themselves with huge investments directly tied to the state of Israel.
The complications and contradictions of being complicit to genocide through funding from Israel while also being in direct opposition to its students, who are also financial stakeholders via tuition, housing and other monies paid to the university by them, creates numerous conflicts of interest. Judging by the recent actions of schools such as Columbia, University of Southern California (USC), University of California San Diego and George Washington University, amongst countless others, it’s clear which constituents these institutions are choosing to side with. Images of college students being violated and forcibly and violently expelled from their campus over peaceful protests, while politicians on national television falsely accuse their protests as terrorist proxies for Hamas is troubling. In a country that smugly loves to remind the world at every opportunity that this is the land of democracy, free speech and the right to protest without fear of unlawful persecution, the hypocrisy is galling. The images of riot cops tackling and beating unarmed college teenagers are burned into our consciousness, and we are not talking about the protest against apartheid, or the anti-Vietnam protests of the 60’s but 2024. The reports of students losing housing and being expelled due to their involvement in the Gaza encampments doesn’t sound like the actions of institutions who historically have been places that promoted thought, investigation and scrutiny of any and all systems, even their own.
In the United States, college campuses have been the most fertile and vital grounds for resistance. Oftentimes it is college students who are the first responders to oppression. From civil rights, to gender rights, to environmental rights, almost every organized resistance effort in this country can be traced back to having origins in or overwhelming support from student action and organizing. Knowing this, and seeing the current state of affairs is troubling to say the least. It’s been said that you can judge a society or a nation by the way it treats its least-privileged citizens and its children. If that be the case, the judgment of the United States at present is damning.
