Lhe movement, which started at Columbia University, spread like wildfire. In less than two weeks, pro-Palestine camps have set up on more than 80 American campuses. Caught between the desire to protect the freedom to demonstrate, to ensure the safety of Jewish students and to punish anti-Semitic excesses, some universities are beginning to toughen their response, with nearly 1,000 demonstrators already arrested. A look back at a mobilization which evokes both the demonstrations against the Vietnam War of the 1960s and 1970s and the anti-capitalist guerrilla warfare of Occupy Wall Street in 2011. And which is catalyzed by a drop in support for Israel among the youngest and the within the American left for more than 10 years.
How many campuses are affected?
The main “Gaza solidarity camp” established its quarters on the lawns of Columbia on the night of April 16-17. A coup which precedes the testimony of the president of the university, “Minouche” Shafik, before the American Congress. The latter assures elected officials that it is doing everything to fight against anti-Semitism, after a first conflagration in the fall on American campuses which followed the Israeli response to the Hamas attack of October 7. And had cost the directors of Harvard and Penn State their jobs.
READ ALSO Dive into the pro-Palestinian camp at Columbia University in the United StatesThe day after hearing Minouche Shafik, the New York police dispersed the camp, at the request of the university. But the tents were immediately put up. And despite the expiration of an ultimatum and the first administrative suspensions of students, Monday evening, the NPYD continued to observe the situation from a distance.
In two weeks, tents or “liberated zones” have sprung up on more than 80 campuses covering two-thirds of American states. Particularly strong in the northeast of the country (Columbia, Yale, NYU and Northeastern University), the mobilization has spread to Texas, Arizona and California. The demonstrators are demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, and for their establishments to cut off all investments linked to Israeli interests.
How many people were arrested?
Around twenty universities used the police to intervene, and more than 900 people have already been arrested. In particular around a hundred at Columbia, and almost as many at Northeastern (Boston) and USC (Los Angeles). At the University of Texas in Austin, the governor twice sent state troopers in riot gear.
How can we explain this lightning spread?
This surge of student mobilization is reminiscent of the opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. “But the pro-Palestinian demonstrations use a different approach, with not only marches, but also camps,” explains Omar Wasow, professor of political science at the University of Berkeley, California, “Like during Occupy Wall Street in 2011, this type of demonstration took place over time and created ongoing tension with the authorities. This facilitates media coverage and helps generate national attention,” continues this researcher specializing in mobilization movements, particularly the fight for civil rights.
For Wasow, “the (police) raid in Columbia two weeks ago served as a rallying cry for campuses across the country, who mobilized in solidarity and copied the same tactics.” This spread is sometimes described as a ‘standing ovation’, with a few important people in the front row sending a powerful signal to the others that it is time to stand up. » Starting from the United States, the movement spread to France (Sciences-Po, the Sorbonne) but also to the United Kingdom and Australia.
Is this support from American youth for Palestine recent?
American public opinion continues to predominantly support the Israelis (51%, according to Gallup figures from early March) rather than the Palestinians (27%). But there is now a gaping division, political and above all generational. Democrats lean 8 points in favor of Palestine, and support for Israel has plummeted among 18-34 year olds, from 64% favorable in 2023 to just 38% today.
If the current conflict seems to have precipitated the trend, it is not new. Israel’s popularity has been declining steadily for around ten years among Democrats and young people. The phenomenon is multifactorial. Omar Wasow lists in particular the activism of the left-wing “anti-Zionist” group Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as a “deep disagreement” with the nationalist policy of the Netanyahu government, particularly on colonization. Today, the Democratic Party is torn apart by the conflict in Gaza, between the pro-Israel centrists and the progressive fringe led by the young Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the first two Muslim representatives in the House, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, daughter of Palestinian immigrants. Joe Biden, in sharp decline among young people and minorities, notably Muslim Americans, who criticize him for his support for Israel, could pay the price in November against Donald Trump.
READ ALSO Alain Fuchs: “What is happening in American universities is very worrying”
As with the explosion of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is impossible to minimize the impact on American youth of smartphones and social networks, from Facebook 10 years ago to TikTok today. “These powerful images reach a global audience and shape the opinions of young people, from police violence to the Israel-Hamas war,” adds Wasow. Who sees it as a modern echo of the impact of photographs showing “the injustice of segregation” in the 1960s.
The parallel does not end there. Quoting the book Black Against Empire, the researcher recalls that more than half a century ago, the African-American revolutionary movement of the Black Panthers “was not simply anti-war but also challenged the great imperial projects of the United States and others Western nations. Likewise, many pro-Palestinian activists today are angry at U.S. support for the Israel-Hamas war and are critical of global power structures, including those seen as supporting or perpetuating inequalities and injustices in the conflict. Israeli-Palestinian. »
