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University protests against Israeli actions in Gaza were a defining moment for Generation Z

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What does a generation do? It’s not their energetic approach to the length and fit of their jeans; what banal emoticons they choose; or even what they eat, drink and watch – at least this is not the main point. Rather, it is about how a group of people of the same age decide to react to the socio-political events happening around them.

Generation Z is experiencing just such a defining moment, with thousands of college students protesting institutional support for Israel as it continues to strike. Gazacausing destruction and killing more 30,000 people mostly women and children. After decades of occupationIsrael began its current campaign in Gaza after a Hamas-led militant group attacked several Israeli bases and civilian settlements on October 7, 2023, killing more than a thousand people and capturing hundreds of others.

Recently, pressure between US school administrators and students reached a fever pitch after Columbia University President Minouche Shafik allowed the NYPD to clear an encampment on campus of students protesting the war in Gaza. Last week, hundreds of students began setting up camp on the university’s main lawn, calling on him to leave Israel.

“I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances,” Shafik said in a statement. statement. “The people who founded the camp violated a long list of rules and policies.” She said the demonstration was “severely disrupting campus life and creating an unsettling and intimidating environment for many of our students.”

The sit-in, known as the “Gaza Solidarity Camp”, is still ongoing despite Shafiq’s recent intervention with the police, which led to a subsequent arrest 100 people. As the semester comes to an end, the protesters appear to be gone. go anywhere— and Columbia has since implemented a hybrid model for the remainder of the school year so students can avoid demonstrations if they choose.

“Columbia has proven time and time again that they don’t care about student rights, they don’t care about student voices, they don’t care about student safety,” said Aidan Parisi, a pro-Palestinian protester. CBS.

Colombia’s administration set a deadline for protesters in the camp to leave and has since pushed it back. for 48 hours talk to campus representatives.

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“I felt like I had to take a stand,” said Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Ilhan Omar and a Barnard College student who was arrested and banned from campus after the protest. Time. “This is a moment for everyone. It’s important for all of us students at prestigious universities to really shine a light on what’s going on.”

Similar demonstrations have emerged across the country in response to Shafiq’s actions against what the NYPD itself has called peaceful protests. While the clashes may be centered in Colombia, everything that’s happening has caused The ripple effect. Students from Yale University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other universities created similar camps; some, such as Harvard University and the University of Miami, are staging strikes. Dozens of students have was arrested at Yale University, and hundreds of protesters, both faculty and students, were arrested at New York University.

The cauldron continues to boil as barricades appear on the streets of the city, preventing protesters from gathering. New York University— and Cal Poly students create their own barricade inside the campus building. It’s gone global because Australian University of Sydney students are joining their school’s call to divest.

There were also some counter-protests. Outside of Columbia, alumni, people outside the campus, and even Rudy Giuliani have weighed in on the campus protests. But as students point out, what’s going on inside is a more peaceful representation of the discourse than the culture war that is being shaped by the actions of the Ivy League.

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Many say the administration’s actions infringe on free speech, while others say they promote anti-Semitism. “What we are seeing on and around campus is horrific and tragic,” he said. Eli BuechlerColumbia University rabbi and “Hillel” Barnard, who ordered students to go home and said Columbia and the NYPD “cannot guarantee the safety of Jewish students in the face of extreme anti-Semitism and anarchy.”

Despite claims to the contrary, many protesters said their desire to fight for asset sales was not due to anti-Semitism. Many Jewish protesters oppose the merging of Zionism and their religion. Demonstrators distanced themselves from anti-Semitism as Columbia University’s Ending Apartheid and Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine released statement that non-student protesters at campus doors are “inciters who do not represent us,” adding, “We strongly reject any form of hatred or bigotry and remain vigilant against non-students attempting to undermine the solidarity being formed among students.”

“What’s clear from these protests is that there is no single, monolithic Jewish voice,” NPR reporter Jasmine Garsd said after speaking to students at Columbia University.

It became a free speech issue because scientists got involved. More than 1,400 scientists have graduated Open the letter saying they would boycott future events at Columbia unless senior officials like Shafik resign and remove the NYPD from campus. Some faculty came out in support of the protesters with posters calling for “hands off our students.”

“I think we all need to speak out because none of us will be safe until we are all safe,” said Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire. Colombian Spectator. “And the tactics that are being used at Columbia could very well be used at any of our institutions, so we need to protect academic freedom now because it is on the line at Columbia.”

At an Earth Day event, President Biden addressed the topic of concentric circles of protests. “I condemn anti-Semitic protests,” he said. said. “I also condemn those who do not understand what is happening to the Palestinians.”

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College students protesting institutions is by no means a new story. But now it’s Gen Z’s turn to carry the torch passed on by their champions from previous generations. Youth activism is built into the nation’s democracy, especially in colleges. This led to important, noteworthy events for example, the protests at Fisk University, in which students protested Jim Crow-era racial discrimination, or the protests at Kent State University, where student rallying against the Vietnam War led to the Ohio National Guard killing four students and wounding nine others.

Columbia itself has a history of student advocacy that extends over decades, notes CBS News. Boomers mobilized as part of protests against the 1968 Vietnam War, which police dispersed a week later. In 1984, Gen Xers staged anti-apartheid protests, during which students also called for divestment from South Africa. And millennials and older Gen Zers spoke out against the university’s sexual assault policies in 2014 and climate change in 2019.

“The protests at Columbia University have a storied history and are an important component of free speech in America and on our campus,” said Shafik, who recently came under pressure over the Congressional decision. investigation anti-Semitism on campus. But she said the campus protest policy was not supported by camp residents. “The current camp violates all new rules, seriously disrupts campus life, and creates a harassing and intimidating environment for many of our students.”

Despite this, the NYPD appears to be offering a different version of the protesters in question. “By comparison, the students who were arrested were peaceful, did not put up any resistance and said what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner,” said Chief John Chell. That Viewer.

Pro-Palestinian Generation Z appears to remain determined despite resistance from their institutions. “It is easy to look back at history and the moral and political conflicts that have engulfed the country and the world throughout history and figure out which side you would like to be on,” Elijah Bakal, student and fellow at Yale University. Jews for a ceasefire, said ABC News. “But the hardest thing is to take those opportunities in the moment to do the right thing and have the courage to stand up for what you believe and know is right. I think we’re on the right side of history here.”



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