Campus Protests are Rapidly Spreading

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The student protests which originated on the campus of Columbia University in New York City two weeks ago has been rapidly spreading across the United States and even beyond the country's borders and are now in evidence in literally dozens of universities and colleges.   The protests have been. controversial, especially among politicians seeking to use the turmoil for their own advancement, but for the most part they have also been relatively peaceful with most focused on calls for their own schools to withdraw their investments from companies that are supporting Israel's war effort and the on-going genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives seem particularly distressed that the demonstrations and encampments have not resulted in more turmoil and violence.  Several Republican members of the House went to Columbia and spoke in what seemed to be efforts to convince Jewish students that they are victims on-going antisemitism.  And as those politicians try to stir up disorder and commotion on the one hand, with the other they are demanding that President Biden call up the National Guard to quell the conflict which they are trying to create.  That would make for some great visuals which they could then use in their campaigns as evidence that America is so off-the-rails that it takes the military to keep the peace on campus.

Sweet.

House Speaker Mike Johnson went to Columbia on Wednesday, again trying to stir some rage, and he was mildly successful with the student protesters turning on him personally and shouting down much of what he was droning on about.  "Mike, you suck!"  seemed to be the most popular chant of the day!

Donald Trump, a man who does not have the self-control to stay quiet even when it would be to his advantage, has, of course, weighed in on the campus protests.  Trump compared them to the major white nationalist rally that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 while he was in the White House.  Trump said that major gathering of racists and extremists in Charlottesville was "peanuts" compared to today's college demonstrations.  (One peaceful counter-protester in Charlottesville was killed and others injured when one of the participating white nationalists drove his car into a group of people carrying signs supporting racial justice.)   Trump also regards the rioters at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as "patriots," and has vowed to officially pardon them if he is again elected to the presidency.    The actions the January 6th rioters and insurrectionists resulted in the deaths of uniformed Capitol policemen - but Trump will pardon the rioters who harmed and caused the deaths of policemen.  It's the college kids that he regards as dangerous!

I skimmed several on-line publications this morning to get some idea of how far the campus protest movement over the horror that is happening in Gaza has spread.  Some of the schools have reacted more severely than others.    Some have called in police and arrests have been made - and in some places students have behaved worse than in others with things like graffiti, abusive signs, and taunts between groups.    But for the most part, things are staying peaceful.

What follows is a list of some of the schools where encampments and student protests over the war on Gaza are taking place.  They are in no particular order - just the order in which I came across them on the internet:

Columbia, Barnard, University of Pennsylvania, University of Illinois, New York University, Princeton, University of Southern California, University of Colorado (Denver), Emory University, George Washington University, Ohio State University, University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), University of Texas (Austin), Virginia Tech, Yale, Arizona State, Brown, University of Michigan, MIT, UCLA, Northwestern, University of Virginia, Fordham, Purdue, Stanford, City University of New York, Emerson College, University of Massachusetts (Amherst), and the University of Florida.

There is also a student encampment and protest occurring at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The student encampment and protest movement is not a one-off thing that will disappear in relative obscurity.  It is here, it is big, and it is spreading.  Some politicians are trying to control it, guide it, and use it to their political advantage - and other politicians are trying to ignore it to death.  Both groups are very likely misjudging the determination and commitment of the young people who are literally putting their futures on the line to stand up for the rights of an oppressed and critically endangered people half-a-world away.

Fighting oppression and advocating for humanity is not antisemitism, it is basic human  decency.

If we want to battle antisemitism in America, and I definitely believe we should, let's go right to the heart of the matter and take on the Neo-Nazis.  

Student idealism helped to end the war in Vietnam, and it very likely may draw down the suffering and carnage that the Palestinians are experiencing in Gaza today.  Politicians would be well advised to pay attention, but if they won't, they should stand aside and make room for people who will.  

The students are articulating their message well, coast-to-coast and border-to-border (and beyond), and we all need to be listening!

Salute!