Analysis What do student camps mean in solidarity with Gaza – El Salto

When students at Columbia University (New York) pitched their tents on campus grounds on April 17, they probably did not imagine what would happen next. Certainly he anticipated some strategic, communicative and logistical issues; They also made it highly likely that there would be some arrests and that they would be labeled ‘anti-Semites’. But, like the thirty people who camped out in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol on May 15, 2011, they probably had no idea of ​​the magnitude of the movement they were inspiring and the changes it would bring about. .

A wave of solidarity camps with Gaza (‘Gaza solidarity camps’) take place on the campuses of the main universities in the United States: from Harvard, Yale or NYU; Passing through Michigan, Minnesota, California and dozens of other universities. Neither police repression, nor hundreds of arrests, nor harassment in recent weeks is succeeding in stopping the movement. On the contrary, it grows like a snowball every day, adding support from professors, university staff, political leaders and cultural figures in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The protests also echoed in Europe, where last Friday more than 200 students took over the campus of the University of Sciences Po in Paris. France, along with Germany, is one of the countries where criminalization of solidarity with Palestine has increased the most across Europe.

The intensity of the riots in the US has caused universities to begin teaching many of their classes in virtual format until the end of the semester, when graduation ceremonies take place. Meanwhile, organized students and teachers, many of whom are Muslim, Jewish and/or ethnic, face opening files, expulsions and arrests with charges up to the third degree, such as that faced by a Palestinian student in the city I went. New York University (CUNY) has been blamed for using washable chalk paint on public property, as the camping student group reported on its Instagram account (@cunygse) last Saturday.

Those camping in universities have understood that this is also about them; of their communities and groups; of the marginalized and excluded people in their own society

At the heart of the issue is the genocide in Gaza and international solidarity with the Palestinian people, and this is what the students are expressing. But they also understand that this goes far beyond Palestine: it also applies to them and about them; of their communities and groups; Of the marginalized and ostracized people in their own society. First to a very important issue: Israel’s relationship with countless governments – more or less democratic or authoritarian – and repressive mechanisms around the world. Israel is a fundamental center of production and supply of weapons, technology and Technical information For the repression and criminalization of protests around the world. With expertise in the development of the most advanced military technology, it exports huge quantities of weapons ‘with proven effectiveness in combat’ to governments around the world. This includes drones and artificial intelligence that are used by the same governments to persecute activists and racially profile; As well as spying software like the famous Pegasus.

On the other hand, the level with which institutions in the US and also in Europe are reacting with repression is a response to one of the great effects that October 7 has produced in the global geopolitical arena: and it is an open ideological call against it. There is controversy. Western cultural hegemony. The collaboration and complicity of Western governments with Israel in its crimes in Palestine has created a huge gap between institutions and citizens, and exposed the contradictions and limitations of the West’s story about itself. The student movement’s protests in solidarity with Gaza are a clear example of the counter-hegemonic struggle of our times that is threatening the ‘legitimacy’ or consent of our society necessary to maintain Western hegemony. This explains the wave of criminalization of solidarity with Palestine and the intensity of its silencing by Western governments.

Despite this the students are standing firm. They demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a cutoff of financial ties and cooperation of their universities with Israel and companies that support genocide, as well as the protection of detained students and freedom of expression. Meanwhile, statements have been heard from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, who publicly said that he planned to call on President Biden to demand action against the mobilization, including plans for a possible mobilization of the National Guard Is. ,

The protests began at the same time as retaliatory exchanges between Iran and Israel in the eastern part of the Mediterranean following the Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on the first day of April. The tension experienced during almost the entire month of April raised fears of increased regional tensions and managed to divert attention from the Israeli attack and siege of Gaza. The student mobilization has once again put the spotlight on the genocide that has already claimed the lives of some 42,000 people – including those who have disappeared – and left some 78,000 injured. But they failed to block the Biden government’s approval of a new aid package that included about $17 billion for Israel, which is already massing its tanks at the border with Rafah and planning to attack the southern part of the territory. Is threatening.

A nascent and diverse student movement, inspired by earlier student struggles, is being suppressed with the same weapons rarely used to suppress Palestinians.

It is hard to look at these events and not remember other historical moments led by the student movement, such as May 68 or the protests against the Vietnam War during the 60s and 70s in the United States. The students then burned their military cards in rejection of the draft and the war. Today the US military is composed of qualified combat professionals, many of whom have been trained by the Israeli military. And a nascent and diverse student movement, inspired by its earlier student struggles, is being suppressed with the same weapons that may have once been used to suppress the Palestinians.

While it is true that the number of demonstrations for Palestine – or the presence of civilians in them – has decreased compared to the pace of the first months, it is also true that the international solidarity movement is still present and is gradually gaining weight. . More and more people around the world are aware that what is being resolved in Palestine is an issue that involves all of humanity. So it is true that Palestine is teaching the world a big lesson: and that is the extent to which the struggle of the Palestinian people is linked to the struggles of the rest of the world’s oppressed peoples and groups. The slogan ‘Palestine will liberate us all’ represents exactly this. The students mobilized in America are, perhaps, the ones who have understood this best. And many people who were in Spain on May 15, 2011, will be remembering that fight today, and many others will be wondering: will the echoes of the student protests reach this country? The camping trip that started yesterday afternoon, April 29, at the University of Valencia seems to be the first response.