Pro-Palestinian student protests against Israel’s genocidal rampage in Gaza are erupting on college campuses across America. The unfolding scenes echo the most notorious student protests in US history: the anti-Vietnam protests of the late 1960s and the anti-apartheid protests of the mid-1980s.
However, I submit that there’s greater resonance between these protests and the anti-apartheid protest. Even the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) student protesters are calling for against Israel echo divestment their predecessors called for against South Africa.
Echoes of Vietnam and Apartheid
During the anti-Vietnam protests, students across America rallied against what they viewed as unjust American military action. This sentiment is clearly reflected in today’s protests against Israeli military action in Gaza.
Moreover, news sites are replete with pictures of students occupying administrative buildings on campuses. These pictures look eerily similar to those of students doing the same in the 1960s, and even on my college campus in 1980s.
During the anti-apartheid protests, students rallied against the institutionalized racism Whites imposed on Blacks in South Africa. This sentiment is clearly reflected even more in today’s protests. After all, the legacy of racism has seen Israelis oppress Palestinians for decades in Gaza (and the West Bank) – the way Whites oppressed Blacks in South Africa.
Indeed, it speaks volumes that no less a critic than former President Jimmy Carter frequently drew untenable analogies between Israel and Apartheid South Africa.
Yet, no less a country than now-liberated South Africa has accused Israel at the International Court of Justice of committing genocide in Gaza. The allegations are as ironic as they are damning.
Protests laced with propaganda
Agitators infiltrated student protests in the 1960s and 1980s. But those agitators were invariably FBI agents or informants.
They did so, purportedly, to protect national security, keep violence in check, and counter foreign governments’ invisible hand. However, the FBI proved more interested in discrediting legitimate anti-government protests than protecting compelling government interests.
The infamous COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) alone conveys how un-American some FBI activities were.
Now, reports abound about agitators hijacking these pro-Palestinian protests. And you’d be forgiven if illegal government surveillance comes immediately to mind.
Today, though, we live in a social media world where foreign governments — especially Russia and China — thrive on sowing discord among Americans. It’s well-documented that they do all they can to dupe Americans into disrupting everything, from General Elections to school board meetings.
Therefore, nobody should be surprised if their invisible hands are involved in these protests. This headline from a Vice report on November 1, 2023, speaks volumes in this respect:
- Neo-Nazis and the Far-Right Are Trying to Hijack Pro-Palestine Protests: Neo-Nazis are showing up at protests in an attempt to push antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes into the mainstream.
Free speech vs. safety
It’s no wonder protests at institutions like Harvard, Columbia, Yale, and NYU have resulted in mass arrests. The irony, of course, is that university presidents are being punished too.
At congressional hearings, members of Congress asked if blatantly antisemitic chants constituted free speech — protected by the constitution and university codes of conduct. They failed. The pro-Israel backlash forced several presidents to resign.
In the meantime, universities have become battlegrounds, struggling to balance disruptive free expression with the safety and quiet necessary for academic study. They’re failing. Some are turning campuses into police fortresses; others are simply canceling classes.
Student protests can end this war, too
I cannot overstate that these pro-Palestinian protests are informed by and reflective of historical movements against perceived injustices abroad. And I’m all too mindful that agitators with nefarious intent can use social media to cause these protests to spread like wildfire, making those of the 1960s and 1980s seem tame by comparison.
But the genie’s out of the bottle. There seems to be little universities and the police can do to quell these protests.
I’ve been arguing for months that the US should leverage the indispensable support it provides Israel. Specifically, it should impose conditions that would end the war in Gaza and provide sustainable humanitarian relief to the Palestinians.
Regrettably, the US has been reluctant to do so. This, even as Israel makes the United States complicit in genocide. Remarkably, President Biden seems willing to sacrifice his presidency to save Prime Minister Netanyahu’s premiership.
Learning from history
The adage says those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But those who learn from history’s successes can repeat them.
Mass student protests forced the US government to end the war in Vietnam. So, mass student protests can force the US government to end its support for the war in Gaza. After all, just as the US found the war in Vietnam unwinnable, Israel will find the war in Gaza unwinnable too.