Pro-Palestinian protests gather pace across the US • FRANCE 24 English

Pro-Palestinian protests gather pace across the US • FRANCE 24 English

the US the war in Gaza has caused
tensions to soar at college campuses
across the country at Columbia
University in New York a group of
protesters has occupied a building on
campus after the school began suspending
students who refused to leave a tent
encampment of prop Palestinian
supporters in recent days demonstrators
have clashed with police and officers
have arrested more than 100 people on
that campus there have been similar
escalations at universities across the
US with students demanding that their
schools cut ties with Israel we get the
latest developments at Columbia
University from our correspondent in New
York Jessica
laier Columbia University is essentially
on lockdown right now since students
occupied the hall behind me in the early
hours of Tuesday the media can’t get in
Access is restricted to essential staff
and students who live on campus
demonstrators who are protesting over
the war in Gaza began occupying Hamilton
Hall in the early hours of the morning
once they got inside they barricaded the
doors now the latest move by these
protesters who want their University to
sever investment and business ties with
Israeli firms comes after talks between
students and the university reach
deadlock students have refused to leave
the school has said that it’s going to
start suspending students involved in
the protest the NYPD has a presence here
outside the school but not inside the
University’s president has said that
some Jewish students feel unsafe and she
described a hostile inv environment for
students well a professor who I spoke to
a little earlier on described a tense
atmosphere on campus and said some
people are getting fed up but the
protesters are Resolute they have put up
a banner renaming Hamilton Hall hins
Hall after a six-year-old girl who was
killed by Israeli forces in Gaza this
latest move to occupy parts of the
University Echoes an April 1968 protest
over racism in the Vietnam War when
Police use violence to clear the campus
many are hoping that this time round uh
that will be avoided but we can
certainly see that this is a moment of
crisis in America with increasing
outrage over the United States support
of Israel in a war which has claimed the
lives of thousands of
children and that was our correspondent
in New York Jessica lerer reporting for
more on this story I’m joined Now by
Alden D Morris a professor ameritus of
sociology and black studies at
Northwestern University thanks so much
for being with us here on France 24 you
know School administrators are really
trying to navigate this tension between
Free Speech versus hate speech where do
you draw the line if you’re the head of
University in the
US well I don’t think it’s u a real
problem of free speech versus hate
speech I think that the problem is is
that the students are
Disturbed uh and very bothered by the
fact that uh over 30,000 people have
been killed uh in Gaza and that they are
um very very concerned about the fact
that the United States is supporting it
uh sending uh weapons and sending money
uh so that these people in their view
are being uh subjected to genocide and
that they see that as the problem that
they are protesting against and not uh
one of free speech and ha speech just to
push back a little bit on that you the
same time that these protests are
happening some Jewish students you at
many campuses have reported an increase
in anti-semitic speech so at what point
do administrators have to step in if
they feel that you know some students
are being
threatened well I think that the
university uh has a duty to protect all
of its
students uh we don’t know whether it’s
uh objectively true that the
demonstrators the protesters are really
targeting Jewish students and making it
uh uh uh unbearable for them in ter
terms of threats to their their life and
so on uh but the uh point of
protest is to make things uncomfortable
to disrupt business as usual and so this
was the same thing with the Civil Rights
Movement uh Martin Luther King and
others were charged with disrupting the
peace and that there were many white
people who did not like it and felt
threatened by it but the point of
protest is to create uh some forms of
disruption uh to make sure that things
as usual will not continue and that the
issues will be uh uh confronted I think
that uh far as I’ve been able to
determine uh is that um many of the
demonstrators are going uh beyond the
Call of Duty to make sure that they are
not targeting and harassing uh Jewish
students now you know you just mentioned
the um the Jewish students um the other
side of that coin is is that does the
uni is the University concerned with the
fact that they’re bringing in police uh
who are arresting students uh sometimes
uh it appears to be um you know physical
uh confrontations uh univers ities are
suspending students and expelling
students and so forth and so these young
people feel as if they’ve been betrayed
by uh the university so it’s a it’s a
real uh uh issue that’s developing here
in America let’s talk a little bit more
about that because you know ideally
universities are supposed to govern
themselves you know many larger schools
even have their own police forces or or
security and it’s rare to involve
outside authorities and this relates to
the concept of you know academic Freedom
that universities are supposed to be a
place of expression and for learning for
students and when outside forces get
involved you know I.E the Congress or
police that something has gone wrong
like how do you view what’s been taking
place in recent weeks at universities
across the US and and what does it mean
for academic
freedom I think that uh academic freedom
uh is really under a great threat uh
here in the United States now uh you
must know that here in in the United
States uh there are serious movements to
ban uh books not to teach various uh
histories of of people uh in the United
States so there’s a very
anti-intellectual uh movement that’s
going on here and so I think that when
you um when you look at this um we we do
have to be very um concerned about um
academic freedom uh it is a place to uh
debate and to let issues and values
clash and to S try to synthesize them
into some forms of greater greater
freedom I do
believe that what part of what is going
on is the
weaponization of the notion that outside
agitators are taking over the movement
uh it’s the it’s the view that these
students don’t know what they’re doing
that they are being confront control uh
by others that they don’t have real
issues and so on and so I think that
that is a way to undermine the the uh
protest I also think that there is the
weaponization of the notion of
anti-Semitism uh it seems to me that uh
most of the protesters the demonstrators
and so forth are not
anti-semitic they have an issue with the
war in Gaza and that is what they are
focusing on and not being uh
anti-semitic I’m not saying that there
have been no instances of an of
anti-Semitism I don’t uh know uh but I
do believe having talked to some of the
students uh especially here in at
Northwestern University and so on that
the last thing they want to do is engage
in anti-Semitism but University leaders
uh
politicians uh have have made these uh
claims that what this is really about is
anti-Semitism uh rather than the uh
concern about millions of babies and
women and civilians being murdered in
Gossip I want to ask you a political
question before I let you go you know as
we know there is a presidential election
in the US coming up in November
President Biden has reacted to the
protest at Colombia you know just not
long ago by condemning the move by
students to occupy a building on campus
saying it’s the wrong approach this
really highlights a problem by Biden has
with young people doesn’t it when it
comes to his unwavering support for
Israel when as we look ahead to this
election coming up in
November Biden President Biden has a
major problem there are many young
people in the United States who do not
agree with the Biden administration’s
position regarding the War uh in Gaza uh
they uh view it as morally wrong and
reprehensible
for us the United States a democracy to
be uh complicit with a right-wing
government uh who appears to from the
students point of view to be engaged in
genocide you have to uh remember that
for many of these students and for
others in the United States that their
taxpayer dollar dollars are being used
to sponsor the war that their tax their
taxpaying dollars are being used to uh
produce these weapons that are being
used against Palestinians and so forth
and so the young people are very there
there’s a segment of young people who
are very upset with Biden they’re saying
that they will not uh vote for Biden
they they’re saying that they are always
forced with this choice to to that you
should make a a choice between uh uh the
the the the two evils the the better one
and there are students and young people
who say they no longer want to make the
choice uh between evils at that they
will not vote for Biden so I think that
Biden uh really needs to listen to these
young people uh because they are
becoming more and more upset they’re
becoming more solid in their views that
they will not vote for him I believe
that that if the Biden Administration is
able to get a ceasefire to bring the War
uh to an end to move toward a two-state
solution that he can turn this around
but I think if he just takes the
position of condemning the protests and
not really addressing their issues is
that he could end up uh losing the
election because of this we’ll have to
leave it there Alden de Morris professor
ameritus of sociology and black studies
at Northwestern University thanks so
much for joining us here on France 24 we
appreciate it you’re very welcome thank
you parts of Asia

Jessica Le Masurier reports from Columbia University in New York, where a group of protesters has occupied a building on campus, after the school began suspending students who refused to leave an encampment of pro-Palestinian supporters. Monte Francis speaks to Aldon D. Morris, a Professor Emeritus of Sociology & Black Studies at Northwestern University, about the fine line schools must tread between safeguarding students and guaranteeing the right to protest against Israel’s response in Gaza.
#Israel #Gaza #Hamas

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