Among many things, use of the word “#Zionist” sets off alarms for the many different people who hear it. Is it pure #antisemitism? Or is it an attack on the Israeli govt, whose snr leaders have expressed concern that the #ICC will issue arrest warrants for them? Is it an assault on the right of #Israel to exist? Or is it a demand that it not continue to exist w/in its current contours & constructs w/the #Palestinian people?
For some college presidents, there seems to be a belief that by ripping away the tents & clearing the courtyards, they are also expunging any #hate & hurt from their campus — as if #antisemitism lives in these makeshift shelters & not in the heart. They demand that the protests be polite, convenient & perfect, or in the words of Princeton’s president, that the protests adhere to “time, place & manner” regulations.
They call police to make arrests. They suspend students & declare them trespassers on their own campus. But the very meaning of a protest is to disrupt the status quo, to bring thoughtless momentum to a halt, to underscore precisely how imperfect the world really is.
On college campuses, the tents represent one of many truths. In addition to the savagery of #Hamas on #Oct7, along w/the cruel holding of #hostages, alongside the shames of #antisemitism & #Islamaphobia, Palestinian #civilians are being killed by the thousands.