Students against war

A new wave of political consciousness is stirring across the globe in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians against the war in Gaza.

Students from the best universities in the US, including Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, NYU and MIT, joined by more than 40 public and private universities, are protesting against their universities to stop them from financing the sinister war.

The momentum swells every passing day and the anger wave of demonstrations has reached to France, the UK, Australia, and other major centres of learning where students keep showing solidarity in protest against a Zionist regime guilty of committing human rights violations and brutally attacking Palestinians.

These students are protesting for social justice, risking their life and education for Palestinians. They are setting up camps, launching rallies, sit-ins, hunger strikes, and making speeches, and facing police crackdown, wide-scale arrests, and threat of suspension by the college administration. Their protests carry on perilously at the cost of their academic careers for which they have paid exorbitantly.

Reports suggest that such wide range student demonstrations are unprecedented in the recent history of America. College administrators, law-enforcement officers and politicians are grappling with how to respond to rein in a nationwide revolt of critical students in a era dominated by social media and non-stop news.

The students are highly charged and undeterred. Every threat emboldens them, and every arrest firms their resolve to gather in greater numbers and to be active, insistent and resolute in their demand. They have one voice, one cause, and one demand from the universities: divest from Israel which is unleashing a genocide, and call for a ceasefire. They want all kinds of commercial divestment of educational, research and military funding ties with Israel by their colleges.

Why are these peaceful protests a sign of alarm for the US administration? Aren’t these students following the lessons and education they have received on these campus over years, including freedom of speech, freedom of thought, critical engagement with issues, and advocating human rights, liberal values and democratic order? If they raise voice to stop the war, they aim to show mirror to the American government over their misdeeds and hypocritical values.

The crackdown on students, in which over 500 have reportedly been arrested, is unjustified. First, it is an assault on freedom of expression and the basic human right under the UN charter. These were peaceful protests and police arrests have sparked violence on the campus.

Second, it is the erosion of America’s soft power image that is visible through its education institutions promoting critical thinking and attracting students from all over the world. By stifling democratic values of political activism, free speech, and culture of tolerance, the soft power of America, which it proudly protects and propagates, will loses its value.

Protesting students aim to denounce the disproportionate hard power of the American government, which is being used against oppressed Palestinians. They know that the US is the only country that can stop the war in Gaza by withholding military aid and cutting its financial links to Israel. They know how the US has abandoned the victims of this genocide and abetted with the aggressors, leading to widespread death and destruction.

They know how much military aid is consistently being provided, leading to genocide in Gaza. They know that their government’s strategic relationship with allies is fuelling the war. They gather to remind the government that it is not keeping up with its responsibility as a leading power for restoring world order in face of anarchy and injustice.

It is most likely that their demands may not be met, and students will be directed to disperse or face expulsion from colleges. But the lesson will go down in history as a formidable student movement in support of Gaza that was unprecedented and showed no sign of slowing. It spread like wildfire, from coast to coast amidst crackdown and threats.

It is heartening how some people have stood for justice, expressed their solidarity and strived to make a change in their own way. Thirty-three Democrats in Congress have signed a letter advocating for the re-evaluation of arms transactions with Israel, while some have tendered resignations from the US State Department in protest.

Nancy Pelosi, the former US Secretary of State, has unequivocally denounced the transfer of weapons by the US as an “unjustifiable” transgression. Lawyers and ordinary people have rose in protest in England. Turkey has banned its exports in 54 sectors in a major blow to Israel and if more such export restrictions follow by other trading partners, the hurt will be impactful. South Africa has dragged Israel in the International Court of Justice being guilty of genocide.

The world community is raising its voice for Palestinians loud and clear whereas Pakistan is mostly mute. This is a good time for some soul searching and to initiate some degree of intellectual activism and debate in our education institutions to show solidarity with Gaza like the West.

The writer holds an LLM degree in

international economic law from the University of Warwick. She can be reached at: beelam_ramzan@yahoo.com