Encampments of pro-Palestinian students protesting the war in Gaza spread across the country this week, accompanied by dramatic footage of arrests and repressions from New York to Texas to Southern California.
Comparisons to another election year filled with protests soon became inevitable. Will 2024 be like his 1968 year?
That year, protests at Columbia University erupted during a national movement against the Vietnam War, and violent clashes occurred during the summer when police burst into demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. happened. The Democratic Party, which was deeply divided over the war, ultimately lost the election to President Nixon.
There are many differences between then and now, and it is too early to know whether the current campus protests will feel similar to what happened in that seismic year. But the escalation of protests across college campuses six months before the presidential election has further complicated a year in 2024 that is already marked by wars abroad and deep political divisions at home. This is yet another question mark in a political season already filled with question marks.
Here are three questions about politics at the moment. My colleagues and I will continue to consider this over the coming weeks and months.
Jonathan Wolfe contributed reporting.
Do the protests represent broader discontent that hurts Democrats?
Students demonstrating on college campuses across the country are a physical representation of how the war in Gaza has divided the Democratic base. They are drawing renewed attention to the disappointment many young and progressive voters feel over the Biden administration's support for Israel in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. (The protests have been largely peaceful, but have also been criticized for using anti-Semitic language by some demonstrators.)
“Many of our young people and communities are rejecting much of the status quo,” says California researcher and researcher, speaking to me by phone from a protest encampment outside Royce Hall. said Kaia Shah, 23, who just graduated from the University of Los Angeles. She joined us at 4 a.m. Thursday.
But Shah said the protesters' demands were not about politics. Students are calling on UCLA to divest from companies profiting from the Gaza conflict.
“Our focus has nothing to do with elections,” Shah said. “It is completely irrelevant to us and to our overall objective of achieving a permanent ceasefire.”
Some progressive organizers and even the demonstrators themselves say the campus protests are a warning sign for President Biden. President Biden condemned the anti-Semitism that has surfaced at some protests this week, but also blamed “people who don't understand what's going on.” Please continue with the Palestinians. ”
“A lot of people don't really understand the difference between Democrats and Republicans, and that's led to a lot of disillusionment,” says Sherif Ibrahim, a film graduate student at Columbia University who attended the camp. told his colleague Charles Homans. “Trump, of course, is no better than Biden, he's a horrible, horrible human being. But I think the Democrats are trying so hard to get our hopes up, and they're constantly letting us down.”
Democrats point to polling data that suggests students like Shah and Ibrahim do not represent the majority of young voters the Biden campaign is targeting with various initiatives. According to a poll by the Harvard Institute of Politics, Gaza ranks very low on young voters' list of top issues. Many Democrats believe that if faced with a choice between Biden and Trump, younger voters and those upset by Gaza will choose Biden.
California Rep. Barbara Lee said elected leaders should listen to young voters.
“The voices of young people are being heard now and will be heard in November,” she said.
How are Republicans trying to use the protests to their advantage?
As President Trump's trial began in New York last week, right-wing provocateurs appeared outside to demand attention and protest the trial. But something interesting happened after the protests erupted at Columbia University. Some prominent Republicans, including Laura Loomer, headed uptown to join the demonstration outside the university's gates.
They are not the only ones seeking to control the protests, denouncing them as images of chaos and sources of anti-Semitism. This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson and North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, who has slammed university leaders for anti-Semitism, visited Columbia. Mr Johnson urged the university's president, Nemat Shafik, to resign.
Shafik came under fire from students and faculty last week for his decision to send in police to clear a protest encampment. But Johnson's visit was also a reminder of how Republican maneuvering on this issue can backfire and how politics is already shaping reactions on campus.
On Friday, Columbia University's Senate reprimanded the university's president, but stopped short of passing a more severe reprimand. My colleague on higher education, Stephanie Saul, said earlier in the day that lawmakers feared that a censure would effectively hand a victory to the congressional Republicans who have censured her. reported that they were doing so.
“We shouldn't be bullied by anyone in Congress,” said behavioral science professor and senator Carol Garber.
Where do we go from here?
New York Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler sees some similarities between today's demonstrations and the 1968 demonstrations when he was a student at Columbia University.
“I think they're pretty similar,” Nadler said. “Those were huge demonstrations,” he noted, noting that he was not among the students who occupied several buildings in Columbia that year.
However, he added, “There are also big political differences.”
The anti-war demonstrations of 1968, in part to protest the military draft, were much larger than today's demonstrations and became an inevitable part of American life. And they culminated in massive protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Many Democrats are bracing themselves for this year's convention, which will be held in the same city.
“If the war is still going on there will be protests, and I'm concerned that will happen,” Nadler said.
Protests at the convention are not uncommon, and Democratic Party officials involved in the convention said they were working to “keep the city safe while respecting the right to peacefully protest.”
“The freedom to have your voice heard is a cornerstone of American democracy and has been woven into political practices and events for decades,” Democratic National Convention spokesman Matt Hill said in a statement. Ta.
It's not yet clear how long the protest encampment will last as the end of the school year approaches, but some demonstrators say they plan to stay for a long time. The next test for Mr. Biden and college campuses could come next month, when he delivers a series of commencement addresses.
View of Austin from the ground
One campus that saw dramatic arrests of pro-Palestinian student protesters this week was the University of Texas at Austin, where 57 people were arrested on Wednesday (charges against them were later dropped). I talked to my colleague who covers Texas, J. David Goodman, about what happened. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you tell us a little bit about how the conflict unfolded?
This was not a camp that had been set up for some time. Rather, the university appears to have determined that it needs to take proactive action to prevent encampments from forming.
The arrest was very chaotic, the crowd acted unpredictable, as members of the media were in the middle of a stampede by police. Although the university claimed that outside instigators moved in and moved quickly to prevent the situation from taking hold, some faculty members remain deeply concerned about what happened. (The university later announced that 26 of those arrested were not affiliated with the university.)
The campus is so close to the Republican-dominated state capitol that Republican state leaders, outraged by what's happening in the Democratic-led state capital, are taking action. State police said they were called in at the school's request, but also on the direction of Texas Governor Greg Abbott (Republican).
What are the political benefits of Mr. Abbott policing in this way?
We're already seeing Republicans across the country cheering Abbott's actions. Now I also think it will benefit him politically in Texas. For him, it creates a welcome contrast to New York schools. It seems to show that Texas is different and that he supports law and order.
How have the student demonstrators responded since the protests were quelled?
An unrelated protest was planned for the next day at the same location. These organizers welcomed pro-Palestinian organizers and other students and faculty who were outraged by what happened on campus. The rally was, by all appearances, much larger than the one the police had come to disperse the day before.Police stood by, but students followed instructions to end their activities at 10 p.m.
Some faculty members are still trying to get answers about what happened Wednesday, and their sense is that the university has gone too far. People on campus are pretty upset. And this is exactly what is happening at the end of the year. The last day of classes is Monday.