Pro-Palestine but anti-American: How ongoing protests on US campuses are dangerously different from past agitations

One of the atypical features that 21st-century life has brought to the world is the spread of misinformation and the misappropriation of identities. Its stark presence is felt once more in the recent pro-Palestine protests at some Ivy League colleges and some large universities in the US. It is clear that one’s true identity cannot be established until one opens the covers. This is more so with the protestors at pro-Palestine protests. Misappropriation of identities is one of the major issues of concern in the protests taking place on select college campuses in the US. This begs the question: are these truly student protests led and participated in exclusively by students? Available evidence shows the opposite.

There is something strange about these protests, popularly called the ‘students protests’ on some elite private college campuses and a few large state university campuses; they do not much seem like student protests at all. Beginning almost immediately after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, across the major US cities, the pro-Palestine protests did not gather much support until they moved to the college campuses, even though they are highly coordinated and well-funded. The nexus between these outside protests and campus encampments is gradually coming to light. While it’s impossible to know if everyone participating in these pro-Palestine protests is a student of the campus, most of them are fully masked and not willing to talk to any media or reveal their identities. Encouraged by generous funds from organisations like Soros-funded Open Society and others like the Tides Foundation, career protestors are so overwhelmed by campus resources that some of the universities are forced to call for police support from the city to restore campus security.

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Sane voices have been raising alarm about the nefarious bonds hidden under the guise of ‘student protests’ from the beginning. For example, among the protesters arrested at Columbia University, more than half were outsiders, not students of Columbia at all, or not even connected to students at Columbia. Presumably, this might not be different at other campus protests.

While many protests at large Ivy Leagues are petering out, these pro-Palestine protests did not gain any momentum at HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) or state universities, which is enlightening regarding the protest networks. Letters are being circulated at state universities like my university for everyone to sign to show solidarity with the pro-Palestine protests, even though they generated some discussion and failed to garner any support. Similarly, such efforts were disregarded at numerous other major universities; their continued staging at some select college campuses with outside support seems a political move at best, but does not privilege it as a popular student protest.

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These pro-Palestine protests are neither student-led nor widespread enough to be counted as popular protests but can only be termed partisan outsider-orchestrated and funded campus protests. The main reason for the pro-Palestine protests to last for months at some campuses shows the failure of college leadership at large private universities like Harvard, Columbia, or others to take quick action and enforce student codes of conduct while banning outsiders from camping on university campuses.

False equivalencies are drawn between the 1968 anti-war campus protests, which were organised and supported by student activists, and wider popular support. The important difference then is the absence of masked career protestors during the 1968 student protests; another difference was that the protesting students did not attack their fellow students as there was widespread support.

However, in the case of pro-Palestine protests, widespread student participation and popular support are lacking. Pro-Palestine protestors are also seen attacking their fellow students. It is organised by paid career activists who have attracted very few students into their fold. Common questions raised by the public are simple: Why are the protestors covered in masks like underground mafia or terrorists? How difficult is it for universities to ban these masked protestors and impose a student code of conduct? It is imperative that those committed to an important cause be willing to protest in the open. Freedom of expression protects the right to protest in the open, but not in disguise. It is clear that there is something suspicious about these masked protestors when one takes into consideration that the participants of pro-Israel or interfaith protests organised on the same campuses where pro-Palestine activists have organised encampments appear unmasked and free to discuss their cause, unlike the pro-Palestine protestors.

Anti-Israel rhetoric and sometimes anti-Americanism dominate these pro-Palestine protests, unlike any earlier student protests. The dangerous rhetoric used by pro-Palestine protests led pro-Israel groups and interfaith groups to organise campus vigils and counter-protests on university campuses such as Stanford and UCLA Berkely to highlight the false pretexts and hyper-partisan nature of these pro-Palestine protests. These pro-Palestine and their counter protests are disturbing the peace and academic atmosphere on college campuses. The lack of will on the part of college leaders to implement a student code of conduct and ban outsiders from campus is fueling the ongoing crisis on campuses. If there are some lessons to be drawn from these campus protests, there is only one: to protect student interests in pursuit of academic excellence, it is important to implement a student code of conduct and uphold campus security by banning encampments of outsiders on campus.

The author is Professor of History and Religious Studies, Department of Social Sciences, Shawnee State University, the US. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.