Chicago – April 26, 2024
Global attention has moved to universities across the United States, where students have set up encampments to demand an end to Israel’s war on Gaza.
The escalating protests have spread to the campuses of several of the country’s leading major institutions, including Columbia and Harvard.
In recent weeks, they’ve sparked passionate arguments about free speech, Palestinian solidarity action in the United States, and the use of force to disperse student protestors, among other concerns.
However, the students at the core of the movement warn the reason they started their protests – the urgent need to cease Israel’s murderous assault of Gaza – risks being lost amid a cacophony of voices and distractions.
The students submitted a list of requests to their various campuses, including divesting from corporations that may benefit from the Gaza war or giving weapons and other support to Israel’s military.
They have also called for a stop to reprisals against students who have spoken out in support of Palestinians, as well as a guarantee from administrators not to bring police or other law enforcement agencies onto campuses to break up their protests.
Images of thousands of New York Police Department (NYPD) officers marching onto the Columbia University campus to remove a Gaza protest encampment earlier this week inspired students around the United States to set up their own protest sites.
Hundreds of students have been detained across the country since the encampments began.
