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The protest by students in the US in support of Palestine have taken the US Congress by surprise writes EMERITUS PROFESSOR SULEMAN DANGOR.
THE current protests by students across universities in the United States in support of Palestinians and/or against the genocide of Palestinians by Israel in Gaza have taken the US Congress by surprise. It’s not since the Vietnam War that the country has experienced protests on such a vast scale.
The protests which began at Columbia University have created serious concerns among US policymakers, supporters of Israel and Christian Zionists for diverse reasons, several of which will be cited below.
The US has traditionally provided unconditional support for Israel through the allocation of funds amounting to billions annually, provision of military arms and defence in the UN General Assembly including vetoing any resolution against Israel in the UN Security Council. Except in rare instances, students have never opposed US policy on Israel, probably because the media always portrayed the Israelis as victims of Palestinian ‘terrorists.’
However, students are much better informed now about the oppression of the Palestinians mainly through social media and have launched protests, sit-ins and encampments on dozens of campuses and are calling for Israel’s actions in Gaza to be recognised as genocide, for divestment from companies that supply weapons and other items to Israel’s military and for an end to academic partnerships with Israel. Students have pledged to stay put on campus until their demands have been met.
Some protests have been orchestrated by coalitions of student groups but many campuses have acted independently. The opposition to the genocide of Palestinians can be seen as falling within the scope of movements for women’s rights,Black empowerment and environmental justice.Some analysts interpret the protests as a continuation of the protests against the Vietnam War.
To the dismay of the Israeli regime, thousands of Jewish students have joined the protests, many not only because they are against Israel’s conduct in Gaza but also because they see the Israeli state not as a representative of Jewish values but of Zionist ideology. The charge by Israeli spokespersons that the protesters are anti-Semitic, therefore, does not hold water.
There is also fairly substantial support for students by parents as well as civil rights groups – in particular Afro-American civic organisations – who see parallels between the Palestinian struggle for freedom from occupation and their own struggle for human rights. Israel’s policies are also now being condemned just as the policies of the apartheid state in South Africa were condemned since Israel is now widely recognised as an apartheid state.
While officials at several universities are prepared to allow students their right to protest, they have also expressed concerns that some of the demonstrators’ words and actions amount to antisemitism and there have been disruption on some campuses. In addition, they argue that students are violating university policy and are guilty of trespassing. Protest leaders, to their credit, immediately put an end to anti-Semitic expressions and, in fact, found that in several cases this was the work of agent provocateurs.Students in support of Israel are attempting to provoke the protesters but have failed to elicit a response from the protesters.
Other universities have adopted a hard-line attitude towards the protesting students. Hundreds of them have been arrested on a number of campuses, many have been suspended and some even removed from campus and denied access to their dorms and dining halls. However, they have received support from some prominent academics who have demanded that the universities managements and academia respect the right of students to protest on campus, to refrain from dispatching police to arrest students or break up the demonstrations and to desist from academic retaliation against students.
The New York Civil Liberties Union issued a statement stating ‘City and campus officials should not conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism or use hate incidents as a pretext to silence political views they oppose.’ The Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized the use of police force to stifle dissent, saying it undermined academic freedom.
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The US Congress has condemned the protests unequivocally.Several elite university presidents have been hauled to Capitol Hill and some even forced to resign. According to some students, the reason why the US administration is so concerned about the protests is because ‘they understand that they are in a long tradition of crucial student activism for justice from the anti-Vietnam War movement to the civil rights movement and beyond.’
The student protests can be seen as a decisive moment in US politics. Will the universities cave in to students’ demands – especially disinvestment from Israel – or are we witnessing the beginning of restriction on freedom of expression on American university campuses?
- Emeritus Professor Suleman Dangor is a columnist for Muslim Views.
