'American public is not going to be silent anymore'

In the tumultuous landscape of American academia, a battle is being waged — a battle not just for the rights of students, but for the very essence of democracy itself. Across campuses from coast to coast, a wave of protests against Israel's war on Gaza has swept like wildfire, igniting a hunger for change.

But as the campuses thrum with the chants of protest, a shadow looms over the movement. The White House, in its attempts to quell the voice of students, sought to paint these demonstrations — hailed as Student Spring — as violent.

US President Biden's assertion that "dissent is essential for democracy but dissent must never lead to disorder" — intended to strike a balance — sparked a vigorous debate among students and academics alike.

For professor Melani McAlister, an authority on American Studies and International Affairs at the prestigious George Washington University [GWU], the narrative surrounding student protests needs to be clarified.

"These protests are overwhelmingly non-violent," she tells TRT World.

"While students may raise their voices, make statements, or march, the essence of these demonstrations remains rooted in peaceful expression. To label them as violent is a distortion of reality."

McAlister, who is on the Board of Directors of the American Council of Learned Societies [ACLS] and is part of the respected Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, believes the White House is deliberately mischaracterising student protests as violent, diverting attention from the true source of violence — "the [Biden] administration's support for Israel's war efforts through weapon provision."

Israel, notably, has been the largest cumulative recipient of US military assistance since its founding, receiving billions of dollars in economic and military packages. Biden has reiterated his strong backing for Israel over the years.

"My commitment to Israel, I want to make clear again, is ironclad," the US president said as recently as April when he signed on $15 billion in military package to Israel, increasing American support for its closest Middle East ally.

The latest assistance allocated to Israel by Biden surpasses $5 billion, earmarked for bolstering Tel Aviv’s defensive systems.

An additional $1 billion has been designated to elevate the production and advancement of artillery and munitions.

End to campus policing

According to Sahar Mohamed Khamis, Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland, Biden's approach to the Gaza crisis and the subsequent student protests in the US have sparked a credibility meltdown for the US president, plunging his leadership into a whirlpool of doubt and distrust.

"Up till this moment, enough was not done by Biden administration to get this whole situation to a complete stop. And therefore, we are losing more and more lives. So the combination of the two factors — the president's handling of Gaza in general, and the handling of these student protests, in particular, both together, created this kind of credibility crisis for him, which is going to reflect on his chances of getting elected for a second term," professor Khamis tells TRT World.

The University of Maryland was part of nationwide anti-war campus protests, with its students urging their institution to sever all ties with military firms connected to Israel's war in Gaza. Over days of protests at the College Park campus, young boys and girls demanded the university's condemnation of "genocide" in Gaza and an end to campus policing.

"In my opinion, mainstream Western media did not do a great job in terms of offering an even-handed coverage of the Gaza crisis, and did not present the scale of the full-blown suffering of Palestinian people. However, social media did the exact opposite — it offered a window to see the images of brutality, images of the loss of human life, demolition of houses, dying mothers — and the audience in general, and young people in particular, were deeply impacted," Khamis explains.

Spirit of resistance

Fawaz Turki, Washington DC-based Arab American public intellectual and writer of bestsellers like The Disinherited: Journal of a Palestinian Exile (1972), Soul in Exile: Lives of a Palestinian Revolutionary (1988), Exile's Return (1994), agrees with professor Khamis.

"The atrocities inflicted by Israel upon Gaza have sparked a potent anti-war movement in the US, evoking echoes of the fervent activism that defined American campuses in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite facing suspension and arrest, with hundreds detained, the resolve of these students remains unyielding," Turki tells TRT World.

On Monday, Columbia University announced its decision to cancel the university-wide commencement ceremony, focusing instead on smaller events. Meanwhile, at the University of Southern California, police has cleared out a protest encampment, following the cancellation of its main commencement ceremony.

Turki looks at these events from a historical perspective.

"Just as the Paris Commune of 1871 continues to resonate in historical and popular consciousness, the student uprisings of 1968 endure as a beacon of hope. Though the ideals of human rights, racial justice, social equity, and moral foreign policy may not have been fully realised, the actions taken by those students remain a testament to the power of collective action. Their memory serves as both teacher and inspiration."

He continues, "Now, nearly 56 years later, this legacy lives on in a new generation of students on America's campuses. Despite the looming threat of police crackdowns, suspensions, and more, they are steadfastly replicating the spirit of resistance on campuses."

Charges of anti-Semitism

Pointing out the introduction of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act in the House of Representatives, professor McAlister laments the conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.

"If that were the case, many Israelis — critical of their government — would be accused of anti-Semitism. In the US, there are so many Jewish students in these protests in New York and elsewhere, including here in Washington DC. Jewish students have been for a very long time, an important part of the coalition for Palestine."

"I have been working on issues related to Palestine since the 1980s and American Jews have been an important part of support for Palestinian rights for 40 years. So I think there is no question that some Jewish students may feel uncomfortable when Zionism is questioned, and it would be great if the universities have their faculty sit down with students who are upset and talk with them."

"As faculty, I want to talk with students, because I don't want to dismiss their fears. I want them to understand better what other people believe — as I do — that anti-Semitism and criticisms of Israel are very different things."

Future of Gaza movement

Professor Khamis reckons that part of the problem has been the coverage of the protests by mainstream Western media, large sections of which, she says, have tarnished the image of the protesting students.

"If you go to any of these protests, you're gonna see different segments of American society there — whites and blacks and Latinos. And of course, it's very important to mention that there are Jewish students who have been organising and leading some of these protests, such as Jewish Voice for Peace, which is very active in organising many of these protests," she says.

As the summer approaches, the dynamics of the protests are likely to evolve, taking on new forms and avenues of expression. Professor Alister predicts a shift in the trajectory of the pro-Palestine movement.

"The protests have activated all of us into an awareness that there's a strong body of people in the United States, not just students, not just people in the university, who are horrified by what they see happening in Gaza — children being bombed in their homes along with their families — and want to do something about it. So the movement will probably change direction."

"The American public is not going to be silent anymore."