Explainer: What We Know About Campus Protests Across US
Columbia University in New York saw the establishment of a Palestine solidarity encampment by students last week. This act of protest led to arrests and disciplinary actions as the administration involved police to dismantle the demonstration. More than 100 students were arrested.
Despite the crackdown, similar protests have emerged across the United States and internationally.
Why are students protesting?
The spread of these protests has been fueled by viral footage showing the forceful detention of students, professors, and journalists. These images have sparked widespread anger, igniting debates about the freedom of speech.
The protesters share common objectives, including urging their institutions to divest from entities linked to human rights violations by the Israeli regime against Palestinians and calling for an end to the war in Gaza, which has been labeled as a genocide by many rights groups, UN experts, and nations.
US President Joe Biden and a number of lawmakers have tried to justify the crackdown by labeling the protests as “anti-Semitic.” However, emerging footage shows a growing number of Jewish students who are also joining the protests in several states.
Pro-Palestine protests are not new in the US or elsewhere. They have been held almost regularly since the Israeli regime began the brutal war on the besieged Gaza Strip in early October in response to a retaliatory operation by Palestinian resistance movements.
The Israeli aggression has killed more than 34,000 people, mostly women and children, leaving behind more than 77,000 others injured. Most of the 2.3 million population of the area have been displaced as rights groups say there is no safe place in Gaza.
The regime is carrying out the attacks while being politically, militarily, and financially backed by Western countries, especially the US. In one of the latest shows of support, Washington ratified a $26 billion aid to Israel, despite being aware of the massacres in Gaza.
What are the protesters’ demands?
Protesters are urging for an immediate end to the US support for Israel as well as the cessation of war in Gaza.
A key demand of the protesters is for their institutions to divest from Israeli entities or companies profiting from the Gaza war and broader abuses of Palestinians.
They want their universities to cut ties with businesses linked to Israel, including tech giants Amazon and Google, which has a $1.2bn cloud-computing contract with Israel’s government. The students have also demanded an end to investments in US defense contractors profiting from Israel's war, such as Lockheed Martin.
The current demands are not new; US university students have a history of protesting their institutions' involvement with Israel's military actions and occupation.
The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has seen increasing support within academic circles over the years.
How have universities responded?
Universities have responded to the protests with varying degrees of force, leading to arrests and suspensions.
The response has included the involvement of the New York Police Department at Columbia University, resulting in the arrest of 100 students.
The aggressive police actions have raised concerns about the potential for violent escalations reminiscent of historical events like the Kent State Massacre where four people who protested the Vietnam war were shot dead.
At Yale University, around 50 protesters were arrested by police on charges of "aggravated trespassing" for their participation in the protests on campus.
Organizers at Ohio State University said that pro-Palestinian demonstrators were beaten and tased by police.
Police have also arrested others, including journalists covering the ongoing demonstrations. At the University of Texas-Austin, video footage shows police grabbing a journalist from the crowd, and then throwing him onto the ground before arresting him.
In response to the crackdown, faculty members have joined the protests, forming human chains to protect students and prevent police intervention.
The ongoing campus protests in the US reflect a complex interplay of solidarity, activism, and institutional response. Experts say the protest is a sign of a “generation gap” in the United States.
“We’re already seeing evidence of a generation divide on Israel, and that is going to be a long-term issue for the Democratic Party,” Omar Wasow, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, told Al Jazeera.
“These protests accelerate that generation gap,” Wasow added.
By IQNA staff writer
