Gaza & University Protest
May 25, 2024 8:46 AM Subscribe
There has been 1 arrest since counterprotesters violently attacked the UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment on April 30. Archive.is. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block testified before the House committee on the protests, where he admitted that he thought he should have removed the encampment sooner to prevent violence. Other universities also participated in the hearing, where the focus was mostly on how/whether the protests were antisemitic and should have been shut down earlier. Over 1000 people walked out of the Harvard commencement to protest Harvard denying 13 student protesters from participating. Encampments and student protests have spread to Australia, England, Germany, Italy, and more.
Billionaires sharing a WhatsApp chat group apparently urged New York City Mayor Eric Adams to crack down on Columbia's student encampments. Archive.is. Sonoma State University President Mike Lee announced his retirement after being placed on leave for "insubordination" due to committing to supporting student protesters demand to boycott and divest from Israel. Archive.is Trinity College in Ireland has agreed to divest from Israel. United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 graduate teaching assistants, researchers and others at 10 UC campuses, started its academic strike on May 20 at UCSC; the strike is expected to spread to other UCs. Previously.
Billionaires sharing a WhatsApp chat group apparently urged New York City Mayor Eric Adams to crack down on Columbia's student encampments. Archive.is. Sonoma State University President Mike Lee announced his retirement after being placed on leave for "insubordination" due to committing to supporting student protesters demand to boycott and divest from Israel. Archive.is Trinity College in Ireland has agreed to divest from Israel. United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 graduate teaching assistants, researchers and others at 10 UC campuses, started its academic strike on May 20 at UCSC; the strike is expected to spread to other UCs. Previously.
Looking back, student protests have rarely been on the wrong side of history. The only noteworthy example I can think of is the Penn State riot in support of Jerry Sandusky.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:05 AM on May 25, 2024 [21 favorites]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:05 AM on May 25, 2024 [21 favorites]
"Israel is an ethnostate."
"Noooo, they're 20% Arab!"
"Fuck Israel."
"Wow, how incredibly antisemitic!"
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 10:09 AM on May 25, 2024 [10 favorites]
"Noooo, they're 20% Arab!"
"Fuck Israel."
"Wow, how incredibly antisemitic!"
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 10:09 AM on May 25, 2024 [10 favorites]
wow, this is all both troubling but also maybe hope-inspiring (if the protests can help to stop the war).
I started at Rutgers in 1986, only a few years after a prolonged student protest convinced the University to divest from South Africa. they then turned on the world headquarters of Johnson & Johnson, then located in New Brunswick, NJ, and got them to divest too. this stuff can work! these actions had a definite affect on ending the apartheid regime in SA. I think that is why these crackdowns are so draconian. It's enraging to me that peaceful protest by students is being treated like a crime and a threat.
I was one of those students during my time at Rutgers. we were protesting the wars in Central America, and protesting the harassment of women's reproductive health clinics. the right to protest must be protected.
posted by supermedusa at 10:18 AM on May 25, 2024 [15 favorites]
I started at Rutgers in 1986, only a few years after a prolonged student protest convinced the University to divest from South Africa. they then turned on the world headquarters of Johnson & Johnson, then located in New Brunswick, NJ, and got them to divest too. this stuff can work! these actions had a definite affect on ending the apartheid regime in SA. I think that is why these crackdowns are so draconian. It's enraging to me that peaceful protest by students is being treated like a crime and a threat.
I was one of those students during my time at Rutgers. we were protesting the wars in Central America, and protesting the harassment of women's reproductive health clinics. the right to protest must be protected.
posted by supermedusa at 10:18 AM on May 25, 2024 [15 favorites]
student protests have rarely been on the wrong side of history
Unicorn Riot links to Nixon's campus unrest report [pdf]
posted by HearHere at 10:20 AM on May 25, 2024 [4 favorites]
Unicorn Riot links to Nixon's campus unrest report [pdf]
posted by HearHere at 10:20 AM on May 25, 2024 [4 favorites]
I happily don't have to deal with any of this any more, but I was around for The Pepper Spray Incident times. The current chancellor has learned well and thus knows to leave them alone, compared to these other campuses who haven't learned from that example apparently. However, now that someone's suing, trying to stay quiet may just not work.
I haven't been anywhere near the encampment and the one time I went to anything on campus recently, it was moved to avoid it. But a Jewish friend of mine that was going to accompany me refused to go because she was afraid for her safety, even if the event was moved far away from them and I didn't encounter any protests while I was there. Maybe that was a good idea?
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:21 AM on May 25, 2024 [1 favorite]
I haven't been anywhere near the encampment and the one time I went to anything on campus recently, it was moved to avoid it. But a Jewish friend of mine that was going to accompany me refused to go because she was afraid for her safety, even if the event was moved far away from them and I didn't encounter any protests while I was there. Maybe that was a good idea?
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:21 AM on May 25, 2024 [1 favorite]
Maybe that was a good idea?
To clarify, are you saying you think your Jewish friend was right to be afraid of pro-Palestinian protesters/encampments?
posted by axiom at 11:02 AM on May 25, 2024 [6 favorites]
To clarify, are you saying you think your Jewish friend was right to be afraid of pro-Palestinian protesters/encampments?
posted by axiom at 11:02 AM on May 25, 2024 [6 favorites]
Campus is empty at USC post-commencement and they still have it limited to three entrances (pedestrians and cars) where we have to have our id swiped and bag checked. I'm curious to know how much this is costing the school.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 11:05 AM on May 25, 2024 [8 favorites]
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 11:05 AM on May 25, 2024 [8 favorites]
Billionaires sharing a WhatsApp chat group apparently urged New York City Mayor Eric Adams to crack down
It has been hard not to see the mass and well organized resistance to Israel’s genocide in Gaza as something like a possible preview of a response here to when the final push by the elements of rich behind Trump for genuine fascism begins.
posted by reedbird_hill at 11:09 AM on May 25, 2024 [18 favorites]
It has been hard not to see the mass and well organized resistance to Israel’s genocide in Gaza as something like a possible preview of a response here to when the final push by the elements of rich behind Trump for genuine fascism begins.
posted by reedbird_hill at 11:09 AM on May 25, 2024 [18 favorites]
No, but if Jewish people are getting harassed (which that lawsuit is alleging), which is what she was afraid of....I found it hard to believe that would happen, but I am neither Jewish nor have I been around the protest area to know more.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:35 PM on May 25, 2024
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:35 PM on May 25, 2024
The consensus among people I talk to is that if you raised concerns about anti semitism after Netanyahu and Gallant invaded Gaza, you have blood on your hands. It was pure, venal whataboutism.
There are valid reasons to be concerned about antisemitism. Protecting a campaign of ethnic cleansing is not one of them.
posted by constraint at 1:13 PM on May 25, 2024 [16 favorites]
There are valid reasons to be concerned about antisemitism. Protecting a campaign of ethnic cleansing is not one of them.
posted by constraint at 1:13 PM on May 25, 2024 [16 favorites]
There are valid reasons to be concerned about antisemitism. Protecting a campaign of ethnic cleansing is not one of them.
Someone should tell Jesse Brown this. It could save his media empire.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:13 PM on May 25, 2024 [1 favorite]
Someone should tell Jesse Brown this. It could save his media empire.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:13 PM on May 25, 2024 [1 favorite]
We had protests on my campus (Auraria Campus, Denver). Pretty much immediately the cops came and arrested a bunch of protesters. That didn't go well, from what
I understand, and when they were called again, they flatly refused. Campus police and admin put the whole campus on badge access only for the final (and finals) weeks. As soon as the semester was over, they closed the campus for a long weekend and removed the protesters. There are also protesters on the DU campus (U of Denver, a private school) They do (I think ) trimesters, or something similar, so their campus is more of a going concern year round. The protesters over there don't seem to be going away. Good for them.
posted by evilDoug at 2:57 PM on May 25, 2024 [3 favorites]
I understand, and when they were called again, they flatly refused. Campus police and admin put the whole campus on badge access only for the final (and finals) weeks. As soon as the semester was over, they closed the campus for a long weekend and removed the protesters. There are also protesters on the DU campus (U of Denver, a private school) They do (I think ) trimesters, or something similar, so their campus is more of a going concern year round. The protesters over there don't seem to be going away. Good for them.
posted by evilDoug at 2:57 PM on May 25, 2024 [3 favorites]
Looking back, student protests have rarely been on the wrong side of history. The only noteworthy example I can think of is the Penn State riot in support of Jerry Sandusky.
Ruby Bridges has some notes for you.
posted by Galvanic at 3:34 PM on May 25, 2024 [11 favorites]
Ruby Bridges has some notes for you.
posted by Galvanic at 3:34 PM on May 25, 2024 [11 favorites]
UCSC has been maintaining a detailed timeline of protest actions, including the effects of the graduate student strike. The main entrance to campus was shut down for a day or so, routing everyone through an alternate entrance, but that didn't last. To date the university officials seem to have taken no actions against any students, although the protest leaders definitely expect felony charges, and there are students on guard duty at key points, ready to notify everyone in case police are assembling.
posted by one for the books at 4:19 PM on May 25, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by one for the books at 4:19 PM on May 25, 2024 [2 favorites]
I taught a class about power (among other things) this spring. I had one Israeli exchange student, several Jews, and several Muslims among my students.
It was a helluva semester, I tell you what.
We had a substantial campus protest. Chancellor called in the cops, and has lost a lot of campus political capital thereby. (She may think she gained some from our Republican-controlled legislature, which noisily supported her cop-call, but local Repubs hate education in general and our campus particularly, and they are liars and the truth is not in them, so I think she will find she did not.) There were both antisemitic and Islamophobic actions on and near campus in response to the protest. The explicitly hateful stuff did not come from the actual protesters, but a few of their words... well. Could be read as not the greatest.
It can be a razorwire-fine line to walk, sometimes. I certainly found it so with forty pairs of eyes on me in class.
posted by humbug at 4:52 PM on May 25, 2024 [9 favorites]
It was a helluva semester, I tell you what.
We had a substantial campus protest. Chancellor called in the cops, and has lost a lot of campus political capital thereby. (She may think she gained some from our Republican-controlled legislature, which noisily supported her cop-call, but local Repubs hate education in general and our campus particularly, and they are liars and the truth is not in them, so I think she will find she did not.) There were both antisemitic and Islamophobic actions on and near campus in response to the protest. The explicitly hateful stuff did not come from the actual protesters, but a few of their words... well. Could be read as not the greatest.
It can be a razorwire-fine line to walk, sometimes. I certainly found it so with forty pairs of eyes on me in class.
posted by humbug at 4:52 PM on May 25, 2024 [9 favorites]
Maybe I can draw attention to the successful resolution of the Gaza protest in Trinity College Dublin [management position to reflect the wagingnonviolence link cited by toastyk]. Like all successful agreements / bargains, both sides came away feeling that they had won (something). When I was a student there in the mid1970s, we elected a Maoist [complete with little red book] as Pres of the Student's Representative Council. The boogieman then was the US military industrial complex and it was revealed that the School of Engineering had a secured a contract from the US Depart of Defense to design some feature of the ball-race for tank-turrets. The student body marched, with placards, chants and plenty of copies of The Thoughts of Chairman Mao. But as I recall there was no divestment and tanks were made.
Back then research income (let alone selling tix to the Book of Kells; renting out dorm rooms to tourists; running lucrative conferences) was a small cherry on a conservative introspective academic cake. So it was hard to dent management complacency.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:16 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
Back then research income (let alone selling tix to the Book of Kells; renting out dorm rooms to tourists; running lucrative conferences) was a small cherry on a conservative introspective academic cake. So it was hard to dent management complacency.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:16 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
I don't know how you fix a university system where boards of trustees are routinely stacked with fascist billionaires or their enablers.
Replacing administrators or campus police won't work because if they try to stand up to the board and side with the protesters they'll get yeeted.
You could hold public elections for those board spots but I bet they'd be low turnout low engagement elections run by the party slates (and party donors) the way judge elections often are.
posted by zymil at 4:02 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
Replacing administrators or campus police won't work because if they try to stand up to the board and side with the protesters they'll get yeeted.
You could hold public elections for those board spots but I bet they'd be low turnout low engagement elections run by the party slates (and party donors) the way judge elections often are.
posted by zymil at 4:02 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
Ruby Bridges has some notes for you.
In the case of the protests occurring right now in opposition to the ongoing genocide, the white supremacists have made it very clear which side they are on.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 4:08 AM on May 26, 2024 [2 favorites]
In the case of the protests occurring right now in opposition to the ongoing genocide, the white supremacists have made it very clear which side they are on.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 4:08 AM on May 26, 2024 [2 favorites]
Maybe I can draw attention to the successful resolution of the Gaza protest in Trinity College Dublin [management position to reflect the wagingnonviolence link cited by toastyk]. Like all successful agreements / bargains, both sides came away feeling that they had won (something).
To be fair, Ireland has a sympathetic ear in that they were also massively fucked by colonialism in living memory. US policy on both sides of the aisle is that Israel is necessary as amilitary outpost democracy in the Middle East and it makes it much harder politically (see: Mike Lee) to compromise to student demands.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 5:21 AM on May 26, 2024 [2 favorites]
To be fair, Ireland has a sympathetic ear in that they were also massively fucked by colonialism in living memory. US policy on both sides of the aisle is that Israel is necessary as a
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 5:21 AM on May 26, 2024 [2 favorites]
In the case of the protests occurring right now in opposition to the ongoing genocide, the white supremacists have made it very clear which side they are on.
Both. There are white supremacists trying to make hay out of Palestinian solidarity to turn anti-Zionists into full blown antisemites and there are white supremacists who see the Israelis as useful tools to kill Muslims.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 5:26 AM on May 26, 2024 [4 favorites]
Both. There are white supremacists trying to make hay out of Palestinian solidarity to turn anti-Zionists into full blown antisemites and there are white supremacists who see the Israelis as useful tools to kill Muslims.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 5:26 AM on May 26, 2024 [4 favorites]
Both. There are white supremacists trying to make hay out of Palestinian solidarity to turn anti-Zionists into full blown antisemites and there are white supremacists who see the Israelis as useful tools to kill Muslims.
You're not wrong, but I think it is a mistake to draw an equivalence between the two sides.
The Republican party has consistently opposed the protesters, using a substantial amount of political resources to villify them and pressure administrators to crackdown. There are bad actors in every movement. There were racists in the Occupy movement, and anti-Semites in the BLM protests. Those fringes didn't define those movements, or represent the general alignment of white supremacy with those movements. The political power of white supremacy (in both political parties) in the US is strictly opposed to the protestors and in support of genocide.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 6:04 AM on May 26, 2024 [5 favorites]
You're not wrong, but I think it is a mistake to draw an equivalence between the two sides.
The Republican party has consistently opposed the protesters, using a substantial amount of political resources to villify them and pressure administrators to crackdown. There are bad actors in every movement. There were racists in the Occupy movement, and anti-Semites in the BLM protests. Those fringes didn't define those movements, or represent the general alignment of white supremacy with those movements. The political power of white supremacy (in both political parties) in the US is strictly opposed to the protestors and in support of genocide.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 6:04 AM on May 26, 2024 [5 favorites]
"Ruby Bridges has some notes for you."
In the case of the protests occurring right now in opposition to the ongoing genocide, the white supremacists have made it very clear which side they are on.
Which has nothing to do with the point about student protests being historically always correct.
posted by Galvanic at 7:06 AM on May 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
In the case of the protests occurring right now in opposition to the ongoing genocide, the white supremacists have made it very clear which side they are on.
Which has nothing to do with the point about student protests being historically always correct.
posted by Galvanic at 7:06 AM on May 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
No, but it has plenty to do with the protest that are the topic of the FPP.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 7:09 AM on May 26, 2024
posted by The Manwich Horror at 7:09 AM on May 26, 2024
If anyone is curious, here's UC's list of investments, which UC Regents has been pretty clear that they are not going to sell off. It includes investments in BlackRock and weapons manufacturers.
Apparently the UC system tried to file an injunction to stop the academic strike started by UCSC and which will be spreading to UC Davis and UCLA and was denied. We'll see how things go.
As for bad actors, I don't know how you can get much worse than Proud Boys and neo-Nazis siding with the Zionist counterprotesters attacking UCLA's encampment. I will say that I have seen some pro-Iranian propaganda popping up on the r/palestine subreddit, and I won't deny that's pretty bad.
I will say that it is my belief that Biden and other US politicians has made it a much worse environment in general for people who are pro-Palestinian when his only statements about them make barely a reference to free speech principles and consist mostly of addressing supposed antisemitism from the protesters without making any acknowledgement of anti/non-Zionist Jews who have been pressing for peace and ceasefire, and not engaging with the reality that students are motivated by their horror at the pain and suffering that's being inflicted on a civilian population with our money. It's quite baffling to me, at the very least. Instead we're seeing a lot of people calling these movements Russian or Chinese propaganda, which, come on.
posted by toastyk at 7:09 AM on May 26, 2024 [6 favorites]
Apparently the UC system tried to file an injunction to stop the academic strike started by UCSC and which will be spreading to UC Davis and UCLA and was denied. We'll see how things go.
As for bad actors, I don't know how you can get much worse than Proud Boys and neo-Nazis siding with the Zionist counterprotesters attacking UCLA's encampment. I will say that I have seen some pro-Iranian propaganda popping up on the r/palestine subreddit, and I won't deny that's pretty bad.
I will say that it is my belief that Biden and other US politicians has made it a much worse environment in general for people who are pro-Palestinian when his only statements about them make barely a reference to free speech principles and consist mostly of addressing supposed antisemitism from the protesters without making any acknowledgement of anti/non-Zionist Jews who have been pressing for peace and ceasefire, and not engaging with the reality that students are motivated by their horror at the pain and suffering that's being inflicted on a civilian population with our money. It's quite baffling to me, at the very least. Instead we're seeing a lot of people calling these movements Russian or Chinese propaganda, which, come on.
posted by toastyk at 7:09 AM on May 26, 2024 [6 favorites]
At UCLA, there was a lot of “one punch, ten cameras” happening. If you wanted trouble, you could walk two blocks to trouble. If you didn’t want trouble, you could walk three blocks and the salad bar was still open and the annual succulent sale was still on.
I was at the bus stop one morning watching the theater camp being set up and I was happy that our relatively passive students were finally doing something. I was at the bus stop the next evening and a bunch of 35 year olds were coming from the parking garage rolling their ice chests, portable PAs, and asking who brought the sun screen. It was so depressing to see that their weekend entertainment could have been camping or Coachella, but instead it was going to be this embarrassment.
posted by richeditor at 8:34 AM on May 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
I was at the bus stop one morning watching the theater camp being set up and I was happy that our relatively passive students were finally doing something. I was at the bus stop the next evening and a bunch of 35 year olds were coming from the parking garage rolling their ice chests, portable PAs, and asking who brought the sun screen. It was so depressing to see that their weekend entertainment could have been camping or Coachella, but instead it was going to be this embarrassment.
posted by richeditor at 8:34 AM on May 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
If the response to "Student protests are almost always right" is "here is one (1) instance of students protesting for racism" then the original point is extremely true?
I would not be shocked if other pro-racism protests were organized by actual outside forces and involved asshole students including coordination with electeds
posted by Slackermagee at 8:38 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
I would not be shocked if other pro-racism protests were organized by actual outside forces and involved asshole students including coordination with electeds
posted by Slackermagee at 8:38 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
Especially when the "protesting students" were elementary school age.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 8:40 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by The Manwich Horror at 8:40 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
The far right is heavily anti-Israel now. There's division in the far right regarding campus protests. Some embrace them heartily. Some regard them as essentially anti-white, and only superficially anti-Israeli, and therefore disdain them.
There's an interesting historical analogy to the 1939-1941 red-brown alliance, when U.S. entry into World War II was opposed by right-wing sympathizers with Hitler and Mussolini, and by Communists on instruction from Moscow after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.
posted by MattD at 9:06 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
There's an interesting historical analogy to the 1939-1941 red-brown alliance, when U.S. entry into World War II was opposed by right-wing sympathizers with Hitler and Mussolini, and by Communists on instruction from Moscow after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.
posted by MattD at 9:06 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
So to be clear, the people opposing genocide and being beaten by fascists are the real Nazi collaborators?
posted by The Manwich Horror at 9:15 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by The Manwich Horror at 9:15 AM on May 26, 2024 [3 favorites]
If the response to "Student protests are almost always right" is "here is one (1) instance of students protesting for racism" then the original point is extremely true?
Or it's a response to an evidence-free assertion with a tiny bit of counter-evidence.
Especially when the "protesting students" were elementary school age
Well, they weren't for the first, and for the second, I'm happy to point out all the student protests at southern universities at those institutions being desegregated.
posted by Galvanic at 9:30 AM on May 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
Or it's a response to an evidence-free assertion with a tiny bit of counter-evidence.
Especially when the "protesting students" were elementary school age
Well, they weren't for the first, and for the second, I'm happy to point out all the student protests at southern universities at those institutions being desegregated.
posted by Galvanic at 9:30 AM on May 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
It seems like a derail to seriously debate 'all student protests: good or bad' instead of saying what you think of these current protests.
(These protests are good.)
posted by sagc at 9:35 AM on May 26, 2024 [12 favorites]
(These protests are good.)
posted by sagc at 9:35 AM on May 26, 2024 [12 favorites]
Sorry for apparent derail - it wasn't my intention - though I stand by my evidence-free assertion.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:16 AM on May 26, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:16 AM on May 26, 2024 [2 favorites]
You could hold public elections for those board spots but I bet they'd be low turnout low engagement elections run by the party slates
'Understanding Michigan’s elected University governing boards'
"Michigan is an outlier in its election of University Board Members.....Michigan is the only state to elect its boards for public universities via a statewide citizen vote.
Three other states (Colorado, Nebraska and Nevada) elect their trustees, or regents, through district-level elections."
There's an interesting historical analogy to the 1939-1941 red-brown alliance, when U.S. entry into World War II was opposed by right-wing
sure there were hinky alliances but you got to understand in 1939 America's sole armored division could be pictured on two pages of Time magazine. we were not ready to send vast amounts of help or attack in 1939 or 1940. and in 1941, December, there was only one dissenting voice in Congress and that happened to be from a pacifist, right or wrong that person stuck to their beliefs.
posted by clavdivs at 1:27 PM on May 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
'Understanding Michigan’s elected University governing boards'
"Michigan is an outlier in its election of University Board Members.....Michigan is the only state to elect its boards for public universities via a statewide citizen vote.
Three other states (Colorado, Nebraska and Nevada) elect their trustees, or regents, through district-level elections."
There's an interesting historical analogy to the 1939-1941 red-brown alliance, when U.S. entry into World War II was opposed by right-wing
sure there were hinky alliances but you got to understand in 1939 America's sole armored division could be pictured on two pages of Time magazine. we were not ready to send vast amounts of help or attack in 1939 or 1940. and in 1941, December, there was only one dissenting voice in Congress and that happened to be from a pacifist, right or wrong that person stuck to their beliefs.
posted by clavdivs at 1:27 PM on May 26, 2024 [1 favorite]
I think I've argued this previously, but right wing "anti-zionism" is a nonissue, and concern about it, which maybe well intended, is misguided. The majority of the right, including the fascist right, recognizes that Israel shares their interests, up to and including taking their side in the Race War. Those that haven't figured it out are nevertheless mutually incomprehensible with the real, active, overwhelmingly left wing progressive, explicitly anti-fascist anti-zionist movement, which in the US has been disproportionately Jewish, because those rightists are also racist against Palestinians and lack a coherent analysis of what the zionist project even is. There just isn't a connecting line there if you look at it for any length of time.
posted by jy4m at 6:22 AM on May 27, 2024 [9 favorites]
posted by jy4m at 6:22 AM on May 27, 2024 [9 favorites]
The far right is heavily anti-Israel now.
Not the far right in the US federal government, who are lockstep in support with the Israeli regime and what it is doing in the Middle East, who are leading a domestic campaign of fascism, going anti-intelligentsia with that country's full support — even though most of the far-right members are made up of the "Jewish space laser" crowd, when they aren't cheerleading the country whose people they otherwise openly hate.
Israel sure has picked interesting allies to be its friends overseas, but when you repeatedly murder innocent civilians and increasingly lose international support, I suppose you have to make friends with whoever you can, even if those "friends" are actual, real, bonafide Nazis of the jackboot white supremacist variety.
And all of this is just to keep Bibi out of a prison cell while the land grab continues apace. It's no longer about national security or even the abstract idea of Israel as a state and refuge for all Jewish people, all of this violence is just to keep one specific criminal out of the reach of judges and justice, and to expand a country's borders with land that isn't theirs. Madness.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:38 PM on May 27, 2024 [7 favorites]
Not the far right in the US federal government, who are lockstep in support with the Israeli regime and what it is doing in the Middle East, who are leading a domestic campaign of fascism, going anti-intelligentsia with that country's full support — even though most of the far-right members are made up of the "Jewish space laser" crowd, when they aren't cheerleading the country whose people they otherwise openly hate.
Israel sure has picked interesting allies to be its friends overseas, but when you repeatedly murder innocent civilians and increasingly lose international support, I suppose you have to make friends with whoever you can, even if those "friends" are actual, real, bonafide Nazis of the jackboot white supremacist variety.
And all of this is just to keep Bibi out of a prison cell while the land grab continues apace. It's no longer about national security or even the abstract idea of Israel as a state and refuge for all Jewish people, all of this violence is just to keep one specific criminal out of the reach of judges and justice, and to expand a country's borders with land that isn't theirs. Madness.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:38 PM on May 27, 2024 [7 favorites]
The far right is heavily anti-Israel now. There's division in the far right regarding campus protests
Lol what the fuck are you talking about dude. God I hate when someone comes into a thread with some shit that is just made up out of thin air and contributes literally nothing
posted by windbox at 6:30 AM on May 28, 2024 [11 favorites]
Lol what the fuck are you talking about dude. God I hate when someone comes into a thread with some shit that is just made up out of thin air and contributes literally nothing
posted by windbox at 6:30 AM on May 28, 2024 [11 favorites]
Currently:
University of Copenhagen will halt investment in companies that do business in the West Bank as a result of student protests.
UCLA and UC Davis join the academic strike this week; the strike could include up to 3 more campuses by Friday.
There's an op-ed in the Daily Bruin contesting the UC's claim that the strike is illegal.
posted by toastyk at 9:51 AM on May 28, 2024 [2 favorites]
University of Copenhagen will halt investment in companies that do business in the West Bank as a result of student protests.
UCLA and UC Davis join the academic strike this week; the strike could include up to 3 more campuses by Friday.
There's an op-ed in the Daily Bruin contesting the UC's claim that the strike is illegal.
posted by toastyk at 9:51 AM on May 28, 2024 [2 favorites]
UCSC protests barricaded both entrances to campus yesterday, not letting people enter or exit the university for hours. The administration has still not taken any action, but the official communications read as increasingly impatient. Public sympathy to the protesters seems to be waning.
posted by one for the books at 10:42 AM on May 29, 2024
posted by one for the books at 10:42 AM on May 29, 2024
I saw a lot of complaints about protesters invading classes during midterms and yelling at people the last few days.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:25 PM on May 31, 2024
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:25 PM on May 31, 2024
One failure of protest is disturbing those people who are engaged in learning or cosplay death on someone's front lawn.
posted by clavdivs at 5:06 PM on May 31, 2024
posted by clavdivs at 5:06 PM on May 31, 2024
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posted by toastyk at 9:28 AM on May 25, 2024 [15 favorites]