People rally and camp at Columbia University, occupied by pro-Palestian protesters, in New York on Monday, April 22, 2024.
(Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
On April 17, Columbia University New York students began setting up camp in the campus courtyards in protest of their university, which invests in weapons manufacturers that support Israel.
These students didn’t appreciate their tuition money being sent to buy weapons that are slaughtering Palestinians in Gaza en masse, so they decided to take matters into their own hands, saying that they wouldn’t leave until Columbia divests from Israeli weapons manufacturers.
One day after the encampments were set up on the Columbia campus, the university President Minouche Shafik called the police on her students, resulting in the arrests of over 100 students on trespassing charges.
Despite the mass arrests, the students were still determined to protest and get their message across and their demands heard.
The protests on Columbia’s campus spread like wildfire across the U.S., and eventually to countries around the world such as Canada, France, the UK, Italy, and Australia.
Since April 17, there have been encampments set up on several college campuses, in cities such as Boston, New York City, Atlanta, Austin, and Los Angeles, to name a few.
Most recently the protests have reached close to home at Northwestern University in Evanston, DePaul University, University of Chicago, as well as University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
It must be noted that protesters all over the nation on university campuses have been met with extreme police brutality. Police officers can be seen in videos coming to break up these protests in full riot gear and beating up student protestors with their batons.
Imagine coming to break up a peaceful protest where no one is being harmed; these students are quite literally just sitting in tents not bothering anyone.
In an article written by Reuters, Columbia students said they chose to protest on the campus lawns so they wouldn’t be a disturbance to classes if they protested inside.
I think it goes without saying that no matter where or when pro-Palestinians protest, they will always be faced with backlash and criticism.
Self-proclaimed Zionist journalist, Eve Barlow, tweeted on April 23, “If you’re so passionate about Palestine, take your ******* tent and go give it to a family in Gaza.”
Others have associated the protests with terrorism or supporting terrorism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is particularly upset over the widespread university protests saying they are anti-semetic and reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s.
Netanyahu is calling for such protests in college campuses to be “condemned unequivocally.” Moreover, he is outraged at the response, or lack thereof, of university presidents, and wants “more to be done” to stop these protests.
Why is a foreign political leader trying to interfere with the American right to protest, and moreover, why are American authorities listening to him and acting upon his demands?
It is quite clear that government officials and local authorities are afraid of the influence of the American youth.
For decades, the Palestinian cause has been overlooked and dismissed, and in within such a short period of time, the world has woken up and made it clear that they will not stay quiet during genocide.
With all the gratitude to our elders who have helped pave the way for Palestinian advocacy and the road to freedom, it’s safe to say that it is the youth who are driving this cause now.
It’s worth mentioning that all of the widespread attention on the Palestinian cause would not have been possible without the help of social media, specifically TikTok.
Thousands of videos being uploaded on TikTok with millions of people watching them, has caused public opinion to shift from supporting Israel blindly to supporting Palestinians and their fight for freedom.
Israel, America’s sugar baby, finally began losing in terms of popularity, which is what the elites were scared of thus causing the push for a TikTok ban in the U.S.
Despite this, the veil has been lifted and there is no going back. No matter how much the higher ups try to silence us we must never back down or surrender.
This is the beginning of the end of Israel’s decades long rein of terror, ethnic cleansing, settler colonialism, oppression, and genocide.
I salute those dedicated to this cause and not just standing in solidarity with the honorable Palestinian cause but taking action.
I thank the Columbia University students for being the start of the Student Intifada (the Palestinian Uprising) in the U.S. All it takes is a spark to start a fire.
Former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion once said, “the old will die and the young will forget.” Although some of the old have departed from this world, it’s clear the young have not forgotten and will never forget.
The American youth fighting for Palestine give me hope. I am most certain that we will see a liberated Palestine within our lifetimes.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
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