the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Sep 2, 2024
Three weeks before the start of classes, the president of Columbia University stepped down. She joins the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell, all of whom were pushed out over the last year.
These elite college presidents came under immense pressure from Congress and rich donors to shut down the student protests against the massacre in Gaza. The president of Columbia had even banned several student groups, fired administrators for sending text messages criticizing students complaining of antisemitism, and called the police on protesters twice—but she was still criticized for not being hard enough.
All this pressure is being applied in the name of protecting Jewish students from antisemitism. Of course, some protesters said stupid things, defending Hamas’ terrorist attack for instance. But protesting against the massacre of Palestinians and the brutal apartheid system that they live under is NOT antisemitic. On the contrary, identifying the murderous policy of the Israeli state with Jews in general is a big cause of antisemitism. Within Israel itself, there are many people who oppose the current war in Gaza, and many Jewish students participated in the protests. One of the first student groups kicked out of Columbia for protesting was a Jewish group, Jewish Voice for Peace.
But claiming that criticism of the massacre being carried out by the Israeli state is “antisemitic” plays a very useful role in justifying U.S. imperialism’s policies in the Middle East. After all, it is very convenient for warmongers to pose as victims.
And while students at elite colleges like Columbia and Harvard don’t have the power to shut down a war, movements that start among students can spread to broader layers of the population. The pressure on these university presidents to crack down on student protests is thus part of a more general push to squash opposition as the U.S. prepares for a bigger war, in the Middle East or elsewhere. The attacks on protests at campuses are in this way threats against the whole population.
After all, when police are sent against protests organized by some of society’s most privileged students, it is that much easier to justify sending them against ordinary workers when they demonstrate or strike.