It’s been almost a month since we’ve seen the beginning of Pro-Palestine protests on college campuses around the US. Since April 17th, with a movement that started at Columbia University, there’s been a worldwide soar of similar demonstrations of students and faculty members calling for their universities to cut any ties related to Israel, and for an immediate cease-fire.
However, protesters are facing violent repression and arrest – almost 2,900 people were arrested, according to The Associated Press – by authorities, which raises the question: why are pro-Palestine protests being censored?
To understand more about the demonstrations, we talked to a Human Rights Lawyer, with a Master’s Degree in Human Rights from SciencesPo Paris, Giovanna Vial:
How did it all start?
There’s no doubt that social media has had an impact on activism in recent years, whether helping to shed light on specific causes or to actually mobilize people to protest.
“Youth, students around the world, have in their hands the power to make their voice be heard on behalf of the Palestinian issue in their own universities. By sharing their own personal experience of resistance in protests, they inspire other students, causing a domino effect of solidarity and outrage”, said Vial. Some have even argued that these pro-Palestine protests are “the biggest student movement of the 21st century”.
Selective freedom of speech
When pro-Israel protesters attacked the pro-Palestine encampment at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) on May 1st, it seems that security officers simply stood by and watched the violence happening, and authorities only intervened more than an hour later.
Vial explains that “each country in this world delineates its own rules in what concerns freedom of expression according to its political interests and priorities”. “Israel is a political ally of Western countries in the Middle East, and criticism towards the Jewish country can jeopardize such alliances and create diplomatic tensions”, she said.
Being pro-Palestine does not equal to being antisemitic
Amidst the protests, right-wing politicians weaponize the conflict for their interests. For instance, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said that student protesters are spreading the “virus of antisemitism” across the US. Even President Joe Biden has spoken about a “ferocious surge in antisemitism” following recent demonstrations.
Knowing that the country is not only Israel’s closest ally but also is holding presidential elections at the end of the year, this response shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
This is also a political narrative, that Vial explains is manipulated according to Western interests. “There’s a general misconception in the west in what concerns anti-semitism and anti-zionism. Most of the pro-palestinian protests are not anti-semitic, but rather anti-zionist. This means that the protesters do not want the end of Jewish people as such, but rather the end of the Israeli genocidal occupation”, explained Giovanna.
As Israel invades Rafah, the last refuge that civilians have in Gaza, protests around the world continue to unfold, as they should. It’s urgent to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis and ensure that the voices of the oppressed are heard and acted upon.
“It seems that a lot of people in the West are still not convinced that Palestinians’ lives are as important as Jewish ones. Hiding in the exceptionalism of the Holocaust, people tend to justify the existence of Israel at any cost, disregarding the outrageous and inhumane circumstances of Gaza at the moment, and of Palestine in general throughout the 7 last decades”, emphasized.
Read the full interview below:
HC: In light of the pro-Palestine protests unfolding across universities worldwide, how do you see the role of social media and global connectivity in propelling these movements?
GV: Social media has an essential role in spreading the word of the oppressed, giving people throughout the world a real glimpse of what is going on in Gaza and how each one of us can use our voices to highlight this issue to public authorities. Youth, students around the world, have in their hands the power to make their voices be heard on behalf of the Palestinian issue in their universities. By sharing their personal experience of resistance in protests, they inspire other students, causing a domino effect of solidarity and outrage. Social media catalyzes the effects of this domino and creates a worldwide chain of resistance.
HC: While pro-Palestine protests face censorship and/or suppression, pro-Israel activities appear to be met with a different response. What factors contribute to this apparent selective treatment of freedom of expression?
GV: Freedom of expression is selective, and this is not a new phenomenon. Each country in this world delineates its own rules that concern freedom of expression according to its political interests and priorities. Israel is a political ally of Western countries in the Middle East, and criticism of the Jewish country can jeopardize such alliances and create diplomatic tensions. What we observe, therefore, is that the West, in general, tries to suppress public outrage against Israel at any cost – including by manipulating the narrative of anti-semitism.
HC: Authorities justify their crackdown on pro-Palestine protests by labeling them as “antisemitic.” What is your perspective on this?
GV: As aforementioned, the anti-semitism narrative is manipulated according to Western interests. There’s a general misconception in the West which concerns anti-semitism and anti-zionism. Most of the pro-Palestinian protests are not anti-semitic, but rather anti-zionist. This means that the protesters do not want the end of Jewish people as such, but rather the end of the Israeli genocidal occupation, which curbs the possibility of the full realization of Palestinian rights – including the right to life.
HC: Would you characterize the current events as a new “Arab Spring” or perhaps as an “Anti-Zionist Awakening”? What factors contribute to this comparison?
GV: It would be very simplistic to argue that we are living a new “Arabic Spring” or an “Anti-Zionist Spring”. Firstly, we need to understand that the term “Arabic Spring” itself launches a Westernized gaze toward what happened in the Middle East and in Northern Africa from 2011 onwards. Reducing the Revolutions that happened back then – some of which are still ongoing – to a unique and homogeneous process is equal to reducing its people and governments to a single context, which is misleading and counterproductive. Each one of the countries that were/are affected by the so-called “Arabic Spring” has its particularities and deserves to have its own social and political outcomes observed individually.
Secondly, the gravitational force of the “Arabic Spring” was the outrage of Arabic people in relation to dictatorial governments, whereas the Pro-Palestinian movement has a different central concern: the existence of an apartheid regime that has been discriminating and trying to exterminate the Palestinian people for more than 70 years, culminating and what now we see in Gaza: an ongoing genocide. The political scopes of the movements are therefore different.
Last but not least, I do believe that there is still a lot of work to be done in what concerns the global impact and commotion regarding the lives of Palestinian people. It appears that it was much easier to “convince” the West of the importance of the “Arabic Spring”, as democratic values are something we care about in the Western world. However, it seems that a lot of people in the West are still not convinced that Palestinians’ lives are as important as Jewish ones. Hiding in the exceptionalism of the Holocaust, people tend to justify the existence of Israel at any cost, disregarding the outrageous and inhumane circumstances of Gaza at the moment, and of Palestine in general throughout the 7 last decades.
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The article above was edited by Fernanda Miki Tsukase.
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