Dr. James J. Zogby<\/p>\n
University student protests against US support for Israel\u2019s war in Gaza have spread like wildfire. At last count, over 200 campuses have seen sustained demonstrations. Students have recently established protest encampments on some campuses, beginning last week at Columbia University in New York. Ten days later almost four dozen universities had encampments.
\nWhat\u2019s been most striking is not only how this effort has spread, but also the amazing diversity of the students involved, with Arab Americans joined by those of every race and creed. The student leadership has been disciplined and eloquent in their demands for a ceasefire and an end to the genocide in Gaza. Many have also called on their universities to divest funds from entities contributing to the Israeli war effort. Respected observers have noted that the protesters have been peaceful and orderly, if purposefully disruptive\u2014at times occupying central campus locations and chanting (as demonstrators are wont to do).
\nRepublican congressional leadership and a few pro-Israel Jewish organizations have painted these demonstrations as antisemitic and a threat to Jewish students\u2019 safety. Exploiting it as a wedge issue, the members of Congress have portrayed protesting students as liberal elites, captive to anti-Israel groups. They\u2019ve also repeatedly labelled chants used by some students as inherently antisemitic, saying, \u201cfrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free\u201d calls for genocide against Jews in Israel. These deliberately distorted interpretations have been used to pressure some university presidents to resign and make life uncomfortable for others. What\u2019s been ignored is that in many encampments a disproportionately large number of the protesters are Jewish students. Ironically, while one Jewish leader advised Columbia\u2019s Jewish students to stay home for their safety and urged New York\u2019s governor to call in National Guard units to restore order on campus, the encampment\u2019s Jewish students were holding an interfaith Passover Seder.
\nLater, New York City police disbanded the encampment. In similar police actions in Texas, California, and Georgia, disturbing levels of violence (tear gas, rubber bullets, tasers, and baton beatings) were used against peaceful protestors.
\nInstead of dampening the student protests, actions by police, elected officials, and university administrators have hardened protesters\u2019 resolve. The day after encampments were forcibly disbanded, students returned, reestablishing their protest sites. With the students\u2019 ire directed at both Israel\u2019s genocidal behaviours in Gaza and the Biden administration\u2019s continued enabling of this war, all this does not bode well for the President\u2019s re-election. Comparisons to the 1968 anti-Vietnam war protests and their role in costing Democrats the presidency are apt. As a participant in the protest politics both then and now, I attest to the similarities, as well as some important differences.
\nVietnam was the first televised war, bringing the impact of napalm on civilians and the use of torture against prisoners into American homes. Opposition to the war was rooted in moral or political reasons and the more personal concern with the national draft, requiring young people to register for military service. Many protest movements emerged during the Vietnam era (civil rights, environmental concerns, women\u2019s rights, etc.) but with limited overlap in participation.
\nToday is different, with significant overlap in the movements for women\u2019s rights, Black empowerment, environmental justice, and now opposition to Israel\u2019s war in Gaza. With social media, today\u2019s young people, whom my brother John Zogby calls \u201cthe first globals,\u201d are experiencing the war in Gaza non-stop\u2014and are deeply disturbed by what they\u2019re seeing. In the 1960s no Vietnamese students were on campuses, but today empowered and organized Arab American and progressive American Jewish students are mobilizing opposition to Israel\u2019s Gaza war with allies from other movements in which they participated.
\nYet the Biden White House has demonstrated only limited concern, dismissing polls showing the President losing support among young and \u201cminority\u201d voters. As primary elections in several states have demonstrated, the President is haemorrhaging support, and as repression against student demonstrators continues, that opposition is solidifying.
\nShould the war continue for several more months and if the scene at this summer\u2019s Democratic Convention in Chicago is as ugly as 1968, many young voters will be hard pressed to vote for Mr. Biden. They won\u2019t vote for Mr. Trump, but for a third party or not at all.<\/p>\n
The writer is the President of Arab American Institute.
\nCourtesy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. James J. Zogby University student protests against US support for Israel\u2019s war in Gaza have spread like wildfire. At last count, over 200 campuses have seen sustained demonstrations. Students have recently established protest encampments on some campuses, beginning last week at Columbia University in New York. Ten days later almost four dozen universities had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13158],"class_list":{"0":"post-404648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-dr-james-j-zogby"},"yoast_head":"\n