Which Genocide Are You On?
Why has free speech been so triggering to academic administrators? Twitchy and undemocratic responses at Columbia and other universities — a twisted combination of police crackdowns and campus shutdowns — seem wildly disproportionate to the occasion. Young people, students, are being suspended and arrested for attempting to disrupt Israel's genocide against Palestinians.
I'll pause to ask the rather obvious question…
Just how illegal is the speech these students are using?
During his own bygone student days, reporter Juan Gonzalez helped organize the famous Columbia uprising of 1968. He now reminds us, as the revolt’s April 30 anniversary approaches, that he and his fellow suspendees were still granted hearings. A simple due process ("or the rudiments of it") preceded any disciplinary action taken by the school. Rumors of anti-Semitism have thus far squelched meaningful debate between Mr. Gonzalez’s activist heirs — Jews prominent among them— and our mainstream press. Where are the investigations, both internal to the relevant academic institutions in this dispute and, more broadly, among legacy media outlets satisfied with innuendo?
Our commentators have leaned, and leaned hard, into the inevitable and swift condemnation surrounding any speech opposing American Imperium.
69% of Israel's imported weapons come from the United States. One phone call from President Joe Biden would end the Holy Land’s stated goal to further destroy Palestinian life. Virtually in his sleep, he could apply the diplomatic brakes to the creation and continual maintenance of famine in Gaza, which persists amidst Israel’s relentless attacks against — well, again, the destruction has been all but absolute — nigh every hospital, university, bakery and refugee camp. Casualties include anonymous hundreds discovered in mass graves, scenes reminiscent of that earlier, un-televised genocide.
Jewish students, it must be repeated here, represent a major force against an unbearable status quo — and why the hell aren't we all joining them?
The activist Florence Reece's 1931 anthem essentially asked the same question: "Which side are you on?" Reece was rallying support for oppressed Americans, striking mine workers in Harlan County, Kentucky. Those of us who care about the indigenous population of historical Palestine are asking for justice, which requires that we pick a side — and if Academe’s choice is clearly wrong, then we are in no way compelled to follow its chronically sick example.
by Daniel Riccuito