Jamie Osborne
This law (that many states have enacted versions of) was presumably intended so hateful white supremacist types can’t be “cancelled” by other students or the university.
But protest against Israel’s actions: send in the troopers.
— ‘a policy at the school that builds off of a Texas law that Abbott signed … in 2019 that designates outdoor spaces at all Texas public universities as traditional public forums, … public spaces with the highest level of speech protections.’
Jamie Osborne
Students have, for months, worked successfully to use their democratic processes to secure acknowledgment of, and divestment from, Israel and its atrocities.
After that was ignored by administrators, after escalations inc police violence, after a large political operation intended to smear and discredit them and ruin their careers, students from Israel’s allies are calling bullshit on this gaslighting, outraged at the hypocrisy of their own governments and universities.
Jamie Osborne
Alt headline: First credible reports of (Jewish) students being attacked on campus.
That is, excluding state and university sponsored violence – no arrests attempted as yet of those attacking anti-genocide protesters. 🙄
— ‘Aerial footage showed people wielding sticks or poles to attack wooden boards being held up as a makeshift barricade to protect pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA, some holding placards or umbrellas. At least one firework was thrown into the camp.’
Jamie Osborne
While I’d agree, the only reports of violence I’ve seen are when the protesters have been attacked – first by police forces across the country, then by pro-Israel thugs.
The President, who’s been quick to condemn vague accusations of antisemitism, remains quiet about the cause of the violence and why students have escalated to occupying buildings etc.
— ‘Biden admonished protests on campuses that use “violent” methods, including vandalism, trespassing, …’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/02/joe-biden-protests-speech
Jamie Osborne
UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment:
— ‘For all the school's pretense of student safety, we have experienced an unprecedented amount of violence and hatred while they stood by. The university's hypocrisy all too apparent, …
The zionist attacks, their use of chemical weaponry, their hatred, their destruction, are but a microcosm of the genocide in Gaza. The university would rather see us dead than divest.
Media portrayal of neutrality … only obfuscates the truth …’
Jamie Osborne
Except that, as the person that first called in police to violently break up a protest, she not only sparked off many more protests but set the trend for riot police being called on to campuses across the US.
— ‘This week’s eviction of students resulted in more than 200 students being arrested. It will be difficult to build bridges after such a rupture.
Maybe the troubles now erupting at the UCLA will distract from Columbia’s travails. Shafik must be praying they do.’
Jamie Osborne
— ‘While some notable violent clashes have recently taken place, such as on the University of California (UCLA) campus, where demonstrators and counter-demonstrators fought at a student encampment overnight on 30 April, the overwhelming majority — 99% — have remained peaceful …
… in cases where student demonstrators have gathered unopposed, police have intervened against pro-Palestine demonstrations more than four times as often as pro-Israel demonstrations.’
Jamie Osborne
— this protest ‘is centered on one thing: moral outrage at the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people – most of them women and children.
To interpret these protests as anything else – as antisemitic or anti-Zionist or anti-American or pro-Palestinian – is to miss the essence of what’s going on and why.
Most of the students and faculty I’ve spoken with found Hamas’s attack on October 7 odious. They also find Israel’s current government morally bankrupt …’
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/05/police-crackdowns-war-protesters
Jamie Osborne
It’s Israel that’s being protected.
— “There were many Jews involved in this protest, and none of us saw any signs of antisemitism.”
… she wanted to push back on political claims that the campus crackdowns were related to making sure that students and faculty are safe, or effective in protecting them from antisemitism. Her son showed her a tweet … that noted the irony: “A great way to fight antisemitism is by beating up the former head of Jewish studies on campus.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/04/police-tactics-us-campus-protest-crackdowns
Jamie Osborne
When individuals use speech interpreted as antisemitic (both real or perceived), it’s used by politicians to call out the whole “pro-Palestine” protest movement, nationwide, as “hateful, antisemitic, terrorist supporting”.
When an entire group is blatantly hateful, racist, and/or violent, towards those protesters, it’s “protests must be lawful” – if mentioned at all.
Then there’s the violence dished out by police for the former, and the lack of arrests for the latter.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/04/university-of-mississippi-counter-protesters
Jamie Osborne
Ignoring the support of Jewish students for Palestinians and the harassment they’ve received for not being unconditionally supportive of Israel – implying obligatory allegiance – is in itself antisemitic.
These students haven’t forgotten anything – they are the ones protesting a genocide today.
— ‘The narrative that the Gaza solidarity encampments are inherently antisemitic is part of a decades-long effort to blur the lines between criticism of Israel and antisemitism’
Jamie Osborne
— ‘Like the press and the police, the president performed several sleights of rhetoric. He mixed violent acts with non-violent acts. He conflated school policy with law and illegality with lawlessness, a word connoting anarchy …
Biden also declined to specify who committed any of the acts he condemned, letting the impression float that the culprits are the anti-war protesters.
…
Vigilantes staged an assault on unarmed civilians and the state let it happen.’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/article/2024/may/06/ucla-protester-mob-attack
Jamie Osborne
— “The revelation that the administration has made 100 arms sales to Israel since the beginning of its attacks on Gaza – most of them hidden from public view – makes a mockery of its rhetoric about pressing the Netanyahu government to do more to protect civilians,” said William Hartung, an arms industry expert … “Israel’s attacks on homes, hospitals – even on civilians waiting to receive humanitarian aid – are clear violations of US and international law, …”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/06/israel-weapons-sales-loophole
How can the UK be a liberal ‘democracy’, when the govt seeks to remove people’s rights and is mostly unaccountable?⚠️ Warning: often uses too many commas, and is fond of semicolons; I’m working on the former.“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘦’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺” – 𝘈𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘛𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘬𝘰𝘷𝘴𝘬𝘺 (𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺)
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