University students across the country, facing mass arrests, suspensions, evictions and explusions are our last, best hope to halt the genocide in Gaza.
As a student at the University of Texas in the 1960s I marched and protested the war in Vietnam. Things have gotten steadily worse, and my heart goes out to these brave students who are representative of the best of their generation. I salute them all.
My heart, too, goes out to these brave students whose moral clarity and spontaneous actions are bringing a fresh infusion of Life energy to all of us amidst the growing helplessness/hopelessness I think we've all been feeling. I have so much admiration for this young woman student you talked to who has so much personally to lose.... but also paradoxically to gain. We go to college to follow a passion, to expand, learn a vocation, and then life steps in with lessons meant to forever shape us outside the curriculum, lessons we would never ever sign up for. Wisdom 401. This young woman and young man, and all the courageous others on countless campuses putting their values and bodies on the line, are potentially receiving a priceless unexpected graduation gift, because it is more critical than ever in this harsh post modern corporate world to know what to believe and what not to believe, to know who to trust and who cannot be trusted. Along with her chosen field, this is wisdom she and her people back home will very much need. But they are also hard truths for a young person and I pray that she and all the others be strengthened by these disillusioning experiences and may they be protected from all harm as this unfolds.
Reading this essay, I was also struck again by the power of hearing even a fragment of one or two people's personal stories in the face of the more general news reports of the protests, tents, numbers, riot police, evictions, expulsions, bags of zip ties, not to mention the cowardice of all the bought or frightened Univ. Presidents. It's a gift Chris has to engage our subjective hearts as well as our more distancing, critical minds (as we are taught to view most things in these times), much as his heartbreaking stories of individual Gazans still live forever in my heart. I want them there. I want to wonder sometimes how this young woman is doing. Thank you so much for that.
May the powerful actions of these youth that we are witnessing grow and seed larger and greater moral actions worldwide, and above all lead to the Freedom, Liberation, and an end to the terrible terrible suffering of our brothers and sisters in Palestine/Gaza!
For the record it seems important to add that it doesn't feel possible to compare the 1960's-70's as better or worse than today's protests, but like what is happening now, those years, though a different configuration, were also a perennial life changing experience for countless people. As many of us learned then, having a conscience and taking a stand, out of love and caring about what is right, can and did exact a high price. But one well worth it.
I, too, marched and protested the war in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, as well as for Civil Rights while at Stony Brook U. in New York. I don't know that things have gotten steadily worse. For some, certainly in the dwindling middle class and decimated working class, yes, for others, esp. poor, black, brown, LGBTQ, women undivided from their bodies, Muslim, Native Americans, no different. There are always "Others" to invoke to keep the population divided and not focused on the steady Corporate takeover. Students were clubbed, suspended and expelled in New York and elsewhere. Killed at Kent State. None of us knew from moment to moment how far the University or police would go. There were many assassinations in those years - JFK, RFK, Malcom X, MLK and many others. Meanwhile the total killed in Vietnam - U.S & North & South V. was est. 1,353,000 million!; 600,000 of those civilians, and in Cambodia the U.S. dropped 540,000 tons of bombs killing 500,000 civilians, littering those countries with grenades. We all lost brothers, cousins, neighbors and husbands or they came back scarred for life. There was so much grief.
Now the U.S. (and NATO) mostly sell those bombs, reaping obscene profits and having expendable proxies drop them. It's more out in the open now, thanks to the internet, but perhaps, too, as these voracious mega military/oil etc. conglomerates become more merged with governments, change names and countries and are harder to track (or to tax) and their billionaire CEO's can live anywhere they please, there is less need to pretend ordinary Americans are worth any more than the Global South, Central America, Russia, Ukraine, China, the Middle East, the Palestinians or even Israel. The Colonial powers have been on this trajectory for a long long time. There are those who are addicted to wealth and power, blindly following this lucrative destructive path, but also an ever increasing number of people in Service to Life. I feel great hope in the moral actions of these students, in South Africa, the Houthis, the environmentalists, animal rights and sexual and women's rights activists, Amnesty, Oxfam, Jewish Voices for Peace, the consistent attempts at aid (with countless losses) from Muslim world agencies to the Palestinians & Yemenis, etc. There are clearly many around the world who are collectively waking up. It's time. It's more important than ever that we each do our part - through positive actions when we can, speaking out, supporting and empowering others, just saying NO!, whatever. It's also incredibly hard not to demonize in the face of atrocities, and to not harden or shut down, but those responses play into the Corporate/fascist agenda. Joining together whenever possible, is our greatest chance to grow in strength, truth, compassion and justice and hold the unifying vision of ending this madness and de-potentiating the Powers that Be that have no real substance, only negativity. I'm wrestling here with the koan of how to break free of the most effective fascist tool of all which is to Divide and Divide and Divide - people, countries, ethnic groups, religions, sexes - so as to Conquer/steal resources/Dominate.
Whatever direction this goes, the sight of all these young protesters tents - green, black, white, red, and all the passionate colors of the rainbow, amidst Palestinian flags, is to me a potent symbol being birthed and a vision of another kind of power, a unifying and vitalizing power born out of compassion and the deepest human instinct for truth and justice.
Jeff Halper's book, War Against the People, describes in chilling detail the unholy alliance between the military-industrial complexes of the U.S. and Israel. Guaranteed to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
I'm sorry to add more bad news to already spine chilling bad news, but the reporter Antony Loewenstein (Australian/German/lived also in Israel) expands and brings this up to date in The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, published in 2023 (he was also interviewed by Chris Hedges a few months ago). I also read an article that in the last months or more the U.S. has had IDF specialists in this surveillance technology come to the U.S. to teach/militarize police and ICE forces around the country and also to the border to help devise an electronic "border wall" rather than a crude wall, encouraging even more separation of families and Solitary Confinement, ankle tracking devices etc. Treating those seeking asylum as criminals.
Another thing Loewenstein points out is that Israel has sold this technology to most of Europe (which ties their hands even more), Africa, and to any other despot who is willing to pay. And that linked to these systems sold is also Israel's (and thus U.S./Britain)'s ability to track THOSE countries. Works both ways. It is important to point out that the Colonial Powers of the U.S. & Britain and some others have many kinds of proxies besides full out war (for oil & resources & Domination); in this case supplying expertise and technologies as well as weapons systems to keep populations in check, and making it look like it is all "rogue" Israel acting alone. It should be clear by now that they are not, any more than that this Genocide is Israel's alone.
So deeply disturbing!!! But so important this is being researched from a number of angles by very brave people!
These protests reveal a basic fact. Universities have become such pure corporate structures that folks who work in their administration and don't get out quickly become typical mouthpiece corporate drones bent to the will of big money. That the big money comes from the Israel lobby in this case is unsurprising -- echoing Max Blumenthal today on Judge Nap: “the Israel lobby is the greatest existential threat to free speech in the US today.”
With all respect to Max Blumenthal and yourself, Vin, I see the suppression of free speech in the US as part of an ongoing erosion of our civil liberties driven by entrenched power and the extraordinary concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. The power of the Israeli lobby is clear, but these administrators must also own responsibility for caving in and betraying their responsibilities and ethics.
Certainly true. Sheldon Wolin labelled it "inverted totalitarianism." Yanis Varoufakis calls it "Technofeudalism"; I'm currently perusing his book. Either way, the ultra-concentration of wealth has been a truly toxic poison.
and the algorithm trains you to train it to train you better to train it to . . . Trapped in an infinite regress. And at each node: Ca-ching to the tech oligarchs et al.
Is this a democracy or fascist state that silences our own university students and many others? They are being deprived of their Miranda rights and threatened with expulsion for daring to speak truth to cowardly power. This is disgusting!
It’s way past time to get the Biden Administration charged under 18 U.S. Code § 1091, which is the statute that incorporated the Genocide Convention in US criminal law. Members of this administration shouldn't go a single day without having this statute in their faces, up front and center at every protest at every meeting, press conference, briefing, and trips home and abroad.
They may feel they are immune now, but let's get them considering what is possible when they leave office, given they have set the precedent of charging former presidents. They should have visions of prison all the days of their lives. Let us find the way.
Got weepy at the end there. Celebrating Passover tonight. We are supposed to feel what it's like being the ones enslaved, being the underdog, the victim, and move to make this impossible for all others. And here we are. I'm with the students, and feel shame and chagrin that these supposed institutions of higher learning are behaving this way. Institutions behaving. What are we teaching these students? That might makes right. Yeah, that's what the US does.
I've also wondered about the meaning of freedom in the Passover service. I remember it as, may all oppressed people be liberated this year, as we were from slavery in Egypt. How can the Israelis not see the incongruity of their genocide?
Not only disallowed to speak, but dis-owned by the ilk of ADL who can't even say "Jewish Voice for Peace" when he condemns them as anti-semetic, saying "JVP" instead so those who don't know, won't know.
If everything is about profit, not ethics or morals, then you end up where the US is now. Universities are business entities expected to make a profit NOT to educate students or provide them with a platform for free speech. To understand the utterly fascist US just follow the money and assume that the profit motive trumps EVERYTHING else.
It is only going to get worse in the days and weeks ahead. How far are the Americans willing to go on either side? Will this mass protest die out because of these draconian authoritarians? Like the Black Lives matter protests? I hope not but I do fear for the students who stand to lose everything but their lives, and maybe even that. Are they willing to die for their convictions? Is the U.S. going to have another Kent State episode? What will the democrats do then? Cornel West is starting to look better as a presidential candidate as an alternative to genocide Joe and King Donald.
I think Dr Jill Stein has a better chance of being on the ballot in every state. Her positions are very good.
I also wonder what will happen to the student protests as it is almost summer break for many schools. The synergy from being on campus will dissipate. What will that mean for these many radicalized students?
Providing they don't get scared off, then need to hit the streets this summer, weather permitting, to continue the fight for justice for what's left of the Palestinians.
I fear that unless the mainstream press takes notice, the vast majority of Americans won't notice either. That was the difference with the Civil Rights and Viet Nam protests - they were publicized widely and it became impossible to ignore.
That will be the difference this time as phone cameras and social media will be too hard to censor. Banning TikTok is one way and forcing the others to restrict their content that is uploaded but that still won't stop all of it. The world will find out, one way or another. Just as the Palestinians are doing in Gaza. Another nail in the U.S. coffin.
Would you please offer some insight into why you claim this about Cornel West. Seems strange not explaining your point.
Would you be comfortable with West participation in debates this fall? As usual— the so called elites are adamant Candidate West can’t be permitted involved in debates— pure rubbish!
Anyone reading his writing— or especially witness Cornel West speak will understand he always talks first about poor/working people everywhere.
West seems to think that Team D are well-meaning but ill-informed and some gentle chiding will bring them around. They are full-blown sociopaths, as are Team R, just with differing class interests.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
Communities all over the country must support these students by opening their doors, providing guest rooms and meals. These bravo young people deserve that and so much more. Put out the call. When Hurricane Irene hit in 2011 I called a friend at the United Way and asked her to call the governor's office asking him to put the call out to second home owners in Vermont to open their door to Vermonters whose homes had been devastated. Governor Shumlin did and that morning 82 homes were opened up to families in need.
There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Pope Francis has said what is needed, now he must do what is needed by going to Gaza and standing for peace, justice and freedom.
Let us also support UNRWA. If our governments won’t act in accordance with humanity, then we will. https://www.unrwausa.org/donate Let us do it to honor Aaron Bushnell, or in memory of Hind Rajab.
Let us call for a No Fly-Zone over Gaza!
These are a few small things we can do. If we can do more, let us do more.
Quote: "Not one university president has denounced Israel’s destruction of every university in Gaza. Not one university president has called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Not one university president has used the words “apartheid” or “genocide.” Not one university president has called for sanctions and divestment from Israel." End quote.
That is because of who controls the purse strings. It also is the result of believing and promoting the idea/premise that the life of a Jew has greater value than the life of a Palestinian (Arab). Or, the Palestinian having no life value at all. One might also add the Goy to that population of the perceived lesser.
The most important thing these kids and every other person cannot forget even for a split second is the magnitude of pain and suffering the Palestinians are enduring in comparison!
Getting arrested, suspended and perhaps even expelled is nothing to what they're enduring.
They must never lose track of that. I have always said - if the USA is eventually attacked for everything they have done, I have no qualms losing my life if it means the USA can never again inflict the barbarity throughout the entire world.
The fact Bibi Netanyahu and the Likud have told the U.S. to go f**k ourselves should be strong enough disregard and slap in the face to curtail arms to Israel. Israel is now taking land in the West Bank without punishment or reprisal. Biden has failed in Gaza, unless one considers the favor he has shown Israel. He should be ashamed. Where is his Catholic charity? At the same time we must remind ourselves not to fault the entire community of Jews. Any such broad-sweeping indictment would be both wrong and counter-productive. Netanyahu functions from a profound blood thirst -- Palestinian blood. He will not alter course.
Very very well said Vince! Think back to 1967 when Israel attacked the US Liberty Naval ship also with no reprisal! It's sad that murdering scumbag Netanyahu deliberately, egregiously and maliciously has the unmitigated gall to blame every single thing on antisemitism! The speech he gave yesterday denouncing the college kids solidified he is mentally incompetent and completely delusional. He is unable to differentiate reality from fiction when he said - Israel is not committing genocide - the college kids are. What's worse is people believe this!
Regarding the broad sweeping of all Jews people must remember and realize Zionism is not Judaism and there are also many sects of the Jewish religion itself. Hence why so many Jews are standing up for these protestors and actually support and fund many of the other protests. What these kids are doing is awesome
Thank you, BJ. Yet, we see the overwhelming influence of the Zionists in this moment. The editor of the student newspaper at Columbia, a young Jew, said on TV that he fears for his safety. Why? That is an abused and over-used trope. I am reminded of the anti-Vietnam demonstrations. I was a Veteran at that time. I did not agree entirely with their protests, but honored their right to protest -- peacefully. Then there was the horror at Kent State. A certain element within our country wants to see us as clean-hands saints. We are anything but. The college Palestinians and their allies are painted as villains and the Jews made into the victims. That is a false equivalent. I have lifelong Jewish friends. Two of my closest friends are Jews. I studied Judaism at Seminary.. Israel has become an enemy of her own people.
Vince - please forgive my passion in advance as my Achilles Heal has always been deceit. Nothing infuriates me more - that being said I live in Northern NJ where we also have a substantial Jewish population - in fact Teaneck NJ has one of the largest - I believe close to if not more than 15,000 residents. Therefore, we have a plethora of synagogues and Yeshiva's also in the area. And yet how ironic, since 10-07 there has been no increased police presence and or private security at any one of these. Yet, in the past, if a car so much as backfires you'll see a patrol car . . . . for days! We have so many Jewish people in this area and travel through it in enroute to NY State (Monsey NY) all of the gas stations/convenience stores have Kosher sections. And yet never once in all the years, but specifically since 10-07 has there been ONE incident. No name calling, no stares, no gestures, absolutely nothing! And a large percentage of these Jews are also ultra Orthodox so it is not as if they are invisible or hidden. Thousands per day and yet not ONE incident - I spend my life on the road and see everything.
There is not a modicum of truth to this antisemitism total bullshit! It's just like they're calling the protests antisemitic when in actuality they're PRO-Palestinian. The kids need to start setting this record straight as well.
Again please forgive my anger - sometimes I wish it were like the boy who cried wolf! It reminds me of the so called "racism" today. You want to see actual racism, go back in history and see what the blacks endured in comparison to (again) the bullshit racism they claim today! It's the new card - the racism card, the homophobia card and now the antisemitism card all because . . . . it works!
What Netanyahu and others said, I think it was Tom Cotton, they should face the death penalty. They are deliberately inciting harm to innocent people. No one on the face of this entire plant is more responsible for antisemitism than Netanyahu. He and no one else will be responsible for "wiping" Israel off the face of the map - not Hamas or anyone else. I truly believe it is in fact intentional. This IS the Samson Option! He is hellbent on taking Israel down with him.
I apologize for this delay, BJ. I am in the throes of moving into new digs in a new state! This "ain't" fun for an old man!
You have absolutely no cause to apologize for your anger. Every tribe has its spoilers and bullies. In the mid-1980s I was #3 in a company run by a first gen Czech Jew. He had heard it "through the grapevine" that Vince might be gay. So, he took me to lunch one day to launch his info-gathering assault. He never got his answer one way or the other. Frustrated him to no end! Many Jews are just as intolerant, racist and biased as a Goy. They also can be extremely vicious and enjoy being so.
True. But disposing of the top level of government in Israel is not the solution. Israel's society has been subjected to three generations of hatred poisoning, what they need now is a detox treatment to become normal human beings.
Could not agree MORE Julio! This is the saddest time in history - the best/worst sign I have seen was ; Who knew the Jews would become the new Nazi's - the mere fact the entire world is watching and not doing a damn thing is even worse. If I sound mentally ill please forgive me - but it seems WWIII is the only thing that is going to bring closure to all of this and I truly believe the nuclear war threats are just that!! THREATS! No one is going to do it!
BJ, I agree that WWIII will bring closure to all this for the reason that it would eliminate our species. The nuclear power was acquired by the various nations to discourage other countries to attack them. So, yes, it meant to be a threat. But human nature and history show us that in war we lose very easily our sanity and chances are that atomic bombs are going to be used.
Even in peace time most of the world leaders cannot be trusted.
The best resource for us is to do what those courageous and honest students are doing: protest and protest and demand BDS and we should not let any fascist politician to blind us with their promises and make them pay at the polls for what they are doing now.
Where in history has standing with the police worked well for Jewish people? Since when has denying free speech to one group preserved the right for others?
As for Hedges saying "not one university president has called for sanctions and divestment" and "heads of these institutions grovel supinely before wealthy donors, corporations..." I don't think they're acquiescing at all. I just finished reading //American Oligarchy (The Permanent Political Class)// by Ron Formisano (2017.) A class whom he characterizes as "satisfied to bask in billionaire approval and to mingle with the One Percent..." Similarly the heads of academia--except they're not merely basking. Formisano lists outrageous salaries and perks these people receive plus the large slush funds they distribute to allies, calls it "Wall Street level compensation at academic institutions" and notes "a report from the Institute of Policy Studies found that from 2005-2012, student debt and the number of low-paid faculty rose fastest at the 25 universities with the highest compensated presidents."
This egregious academic elite is quite cognisant whence the butter on its bread. To them, this sort of unrest is merely by ingrates, privileged students biting the hand that feeds them. And of course the declasse', the uneducated American majority, deserves nothing but crumbs.
Template for education of, by, and for perpetuation of oligarchy.
"Where in history has standing with the police worked well for Jewish people?" [or any people} "Since when has denying free speech to one group preserved the right for others?" Yes - thank you for your comments.
It's worth knowing that the Presidents of universities are hand chosen by the school's Board of Trustees, composed increasingly of Businessmen/women and lawyers with a few professors thrown in at private universities. Of course they grovel supinely - they ARE them. Case in point: Columbia University's Minouche Safik was head of the International Monetary Fund before C.U. That should say it all.
Some Columbia Univ. history: In 1917 the trustees fired psychologiest James McKeen Cattell for anti-war, anti-conscription views (academic freedom has been in the crossfire ever since); In 1968 the trustees were at the root of the violent suppression of the protesters and later gave high praise to the police; in 2001 the trustees pressured ($$$$) the university to water down it's sexual misconduct policy - the director of the Office of Sexual Misconduct resigned. University trustees deliberations and acts (at Columbia and elsewhere) are kept confidential, just like fast-tracked Supreme Court cases. As you point out, Univ. Presidents and their immediate administrators receive outrageous salaries, perks and slush funds. The majority of ordinary professors and administrators have far less power (and income) than one might think. And then the slap in the face of the albatross of student debt.
Thanks for the info; especially relevant regarding Columbia. Also reinforces my view of what I call the Ivy Ds--the self-described 'meritocracy' Dem party elite disdainful of us mere workers. In their smugness they will not see the lesson of //The Best and Brightest,// so display the same fatal behavior that Halberstam described.
I don’t how long they “the students” can keep this up. Back during the Vietnam War students were encouraged by their instructors, have very vocal anti war songs and a no real journalism in mainstream media so none of that exist anymore, except in places that the youths see, like
Most of the support has eroded away and this is the future we have left our children. They got much of what they knew from TikTok, which is going to be ban.
American is not the home of the brave, it’s the “not my problem, I’m up for “tenure“. I have a Family, whatever.
Like Holocaust Memorial by Pastor Martin Niemöller, “Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out. Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me. And there was no one left. To speak out for me.”
Documenting resistance and feet in the street is a true love of mine & went up to Columbia Tuesday.. talked my way onto campus and chatted w quite a few of the students... the peoples revolution made another great leap and there is plenty of tenured staff support.
There was a great energy of solidarity but in a sad way of collective mourning with very specific understanding why they were there. Jewish Voices for Peace are the largest ethnic group and some media were inside mostly foreign.. domestic news set up outside the gates for their live evening news spots.. why let real images ruin a good story line!!
oops forgot to note the tiny Palestinian flags around the perimeter have the names of the martyred some with several names of family members who died together.. truly heart wrenching measure of this ongoing Holocaust.
Thank you for your eye witness account. It's not really a surprise that Jewish Voices for Peace represents the largest group of participants. We don't hear enough about this in the mainstream media coverage.
As a student at the University of Texas in the 1960s I marched and protested the war in Vietnam. Things have gotten steadily worse, and my heart goes out to these brave students who are representative of the best of their generation. I salute them all.
My heart, too, goes out to these brave students whose moral clarity and spontaneous actions are bringing a fresh infusion of Life energy to all of us amidst the growing helplessness/hopelessness I think we've all been feeling. I have so much admiration for this young woman student you talked to who has so much personally to lose.... but also paradoxically to gain. We go to college to follow a passion, to expand, learn a vocation, and then life steps in with lessons meant to forever shape us outside the curriculum, lessons we would never ever sign up for. Wisdom 401. This young woman and young man, and all the courageous others on countless campuses putting their values and bodies on the line, are potentially receiving a priceless unexpected graduation gift, because it is more critical than ever in this harsh post modern corporate world to know what to believe and what not to believe, to know who to trust and who cannot be trusted. Along with her chosen field, this is wisdom she and her people back home will very much need. But they are also hard truths for a young person and I pray that she and all the others be strengthened by these disillusioning experiences and may they be protected from all harm as this unfolds.
Reading this essay, I was also struck again by the power of hearing even a fragment of one or two people's personal stories in the face of the more general news reports of the protests, tents, numbers, riot police, evictions, expulsions, bags of zip ties, not to mention the cowardice of all the bought or frightened Univ. Presidents. It's a gift Chris has to engage our subjective hearts as well as our more distancing, critical minds (as we are taught to view most things in these times), much as his heartbreaking stories of individual Gazans still live forever in my heart. I want them there. I want to wonder sometimes how this young woman is doing. Thank you so much for that.
May the powerful actions of these youth that we are witnessing grow and seed larger and greater moral actions worldwide, and above all lead to the Freedom, Liberation, and an end to the terrible terrible suffering of our brothers and sisters in Palestine/Gaza!
For the record it seems important to add that it doesn't feel possible to compare the 1960's-70's as better or worse than today's protests, but like what is happening now, those years, though a different configuration, were also a perennial life changing experience for countless people. As many of us learned then, having a conscience and taking a stand, out of love and caring about what is right, can and did exact a high price. But one well worth it.
I, too, marched and protested the war in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, as well as for Civil Rights while at Stony Brook U. in New York. I don't know that things have gotten steadily worse. For some, certainly in the dwindling middle class and decimated working class, yes, for others, esp. poor, black, brown, LGBTQ, women undivided from their bodies, Muslim, Native Americans, no different. There are always "Others" to invoke to keep the population divided and not focused on the steady Corporate takeover. Students were clubbed, suspended and expelled in New York and elsewhere. Killed at Kent State. None of us knew from moment to moment how far the University or police would go. There were many assassinations in those years - JFK, RFK, Malcom X, MLK and many others. Meanwhile the total killed in Vietnam - U.S & North & South V. was est. 1,353,000 million!; 600,000 of those civilians, and in Cambodia the U.S. dropped 540,000 tons of bombs killing 500,000 civilians, littering those countries with grenades. We all lost brothers, cousins, neighbors and husbands or they came back scarred for life. There was so much grief.
Now the U.S. (and NATO) mostly sell those bombs, reaping obscene profits and having expendable proxies drop them. It's more out in the open now, thanks to the internet, but perhaps, too, as these voracious mega military/oil etc. conglomerates become more merged with governments, change names and countries and are harder to track (or to tax) and their billionaire CEO's can live anywhere they please, there is less need to pretend ordinary Americans are worth any more than the Global South, Central America, Russia, Ukraine, China, the Middle East, the Palestinians or even Israel. The Colonial powers have been on this trajectory for a long long time. There are those who are addicted to wealth and power, blindly following this lucrative destructive path, but also an ever increasing number of people in Service to Life. I feel great hope in the moral actions of these students, in South Africa, the Houthis, the environmentalists, animal rights and sexual and women's rights activists, Amnesty, Oxfam, Jewish Voices for Peace, the consistent attempts at aid (with countless losses) from Muslim world agencies to the Palestinians & Yemenis, etc. There are clearly many around the world who are collectively waking up. It's time. It's more important than ever that we each do our part - through positive actions when we can, speaking out, supporting and empowering others, just saying NO!, whatever. It's also incredibly hard not to demonize in the face of atrocities, and to not harden or shut down, but those responses play into the Corporate/fascist agenda. Joining together whenever possible, is our greatest chance to grow in strength, truth, compassion and justice and hold the unifying vision of ending this madness and de-potentiating the Powers that Be that have no real substance, only negativity. I'm wrestling here with the koan of how to break free of the most effective fascist tool of all which is to Divide and Divide and Divide - people, countries, ethnic groups, religions, sexes - so as to Conquer/steal resources/Dominate.
Whatever direction this goes, the sight of all these young protesters tents - green, black, white, red, and all the passionate colors of the rainbow, amidst Palestinian flags, is to me a potent symbol being birthed and a vision of another kind of power, a unifying and vitalizing power born out of compassion and the deepest human instinct for truth and justice.
Jeff Halper's book, War Against the People, describes in chilling detail the unholy alliance between the military-industrial complexes of the U.S. and Israel. Guaranteed to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
Thank you - I had not heard of this book.
I'm sorry to add more bad news to already spine chilling bad news, but the reporter Antony Loewenstein (Australian/German/lived also in Israel) expands and brings this up to date in The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, published in 2023 (he was also interviewed by Chris Hedges a few months ago). I also read an article that in the last months or more the U.S. has had IDF specialists in this surveillance technology come to the U.S. to teach/militarize police and ICE forces around the country and also to the border to help devise an electronic "border wall" rather than a crude wall, encouraging even more separation of families and Solitary Confinement, ankle tracking devices etc. Treating those seeking asylum as criminals.
Another thing Loewenstein points out is that Israel has sold this technology to most of Europe (which ties their hands even more), Africa, and to any other despot who is willing to pay. And that linked to these systems sold is also Israel's (and thus U.S./Britain)'s ability to track THOSE countries. Works both ways. It is important to point out that the Colonial Powers of the U.S. & Britain and some others have many kinds of proxies besides full out war (for oil & resources & Domination); in this case supplying expertise and technologies as well as weapons systems to keep populations in check, and making it look like it is all "rogue" Israel acting alone. It should be clear by now that they are not, any more than that this Genocide is Israel's alone.
So deeply disturbing!!! But so important this is being researched from a number of angles by very brave people!
These protests reveal a basic fact. Universities have become such pure corporate structures that folks who work in their administration and don't get out quickly become typical mouthpiece corporate drones bent to the will of big money. That the big money comes from the Israel lobby in this case is unsurprising -- echoing Max Blumenthal today on Judge Nap: “the Israel lobby is the greatest existential threat to free speech in the US today.”
With all respect to Max Blumenthal and yourself, Vin, I see the suppression of free speech in the US as part of an ongoing erosion of our civil liberties driven by entrenched power and the extraordinary concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. The power of the Israeli lobby is clear, but these administrators must also own responsibility for caving in and betraying their responsibilities and ethics.
Certainly true. Sheldon Wolin labelled it "inverted totalitarianism." Yanis Varoufakis calls it "Technofeudalism"; I'm currently perusing his book. Either way, the ultra-concentration of wealth has been a truly toxic poison.
"Technofeudalism" - brilliant.
and the algorithm trains you to train it to train you better to train it to . . . Trapped in an infinite regress. And at each node: Ca-ching to the tech oligarchs et al.
Ha ha ha. :D
At the end, the AI spits out answer to the universe and everything: 42.
Is this a democracy or fascist state that silences our own university students and many others? They are being deprived of their Miranda rights and threatened with expulsion for daring to speak truth to cowardly power. This is disgusting!
Yes it is. And it's what "Empire" does-suppress its people under brute authority.
It’s way past time to get the Biden Administration charged under 18 U.S. Code § 1091, which is the statute that incorporated the Genocide Convention in US criminal law. Members of this administration shouldn't go a single day without having this statute in their faces, up front and center at every protest at every meeting, press conference, briefing, and trips home and abroad.
They may feel they are immune now, but let's get them considering what is possible when they leave office, given they have set the precedent of charging former presidents. They should have visions of prison all the days of their lives. Let us find the way.
Got weepy at the end there. Celebrating Passover tonight. We are supposed to feel what it's like being the ones enslaved, being the underdog, the victim, and move to make this impossible for all others. And here we are. I'm with the students, and feel shame and chagrin that these supposed institutions of higher learning are behaving this way. Institutions behaving. What are we teaching these students? That might makes right. Yeah, that's what the US does.
Not Jewish, but I am with you.
I've also wondered about the meaning of freedom in the Passover service. I remember it as, may all oppressed people be liberated this year, as we were from slavery in Egypt. How can the Israelis not see the incongruity of their genocide?
True. The biggest afront of all, in my opinion, is the denial of the freedom of speech to the Jewish students that protest the actions of Israel.
Not only disallowed to speak, but dis-owned by the ilk of ADL who can't even say "Jewish Voice for Peace" when he condemns them as anti-semetic, saying "JVP" instead so those who don't know, won't know.
If everything is about profit, not ethics or morals, then you end up where the US is now. Universities are business entities expected to make a profit NOT to educate students or provide them with a platform for free speech. To understand the utterly fascist US just follow the money and assume that the profit motive trumps EVERYTHING else.
JR Ewing from the TV series Dallas said, "Once you dispense with integrity everything else is a piece of cake."
I was living in Dallas when that series was on. Never watched it. Never learned who shot JR.
Ha ha ha. This really resonates.
It is only going to get worse in the days and weeks ahead. How far are the Americans willing to go on either side? Will this mass protest die out because of these draconian authoritarians? Like the Black Lives matter protests? I hope not but I do fear for the students who stand to lose everything but their lives, and maybe even that. Are they willing to die for their convictions? Is the U.S. going to have another Kent State episode? What will the democrats do then? Cornel West is starting to look better as a presidential candidate as an alternative to genocide Joe and King Donald.
Let’s write Cornel West in. Let’s make it a new movement. Write him in.
I am very tempted at this point. Mostly, I am just looking for someone, anyone that will be better that what we have for choices.
Please consider Dr Jill Stein, who really does have a good chance of being on the ballot in all states.
I am open to anyone who can do a better job than the two clowns we have now. I will have to research this Dr. Stein and see how she stands. Thank you.
I think Dr Jill Stein has a better chance of being on the ballot in every state. Her positions are very good.
I also wonder what will happen to the student protests as it is almost summer break for many schools. The synergy from being on campus will dissipate. What will that mean for these many radicalized students?
Providing they don't get scared off, then need to hit the streets this summer, weather permitting, to continue the fight for justice for what's left of the Palestinians.
I fear that unless the mainstream press takes notice, the vast majority of Americans won't notice either. That was the difference with the Civil Rights and Viet Nam protests - they were publicized widely and it became impossible to ignore.
That will be the difference this time as phone cameras and social media will be too hard to censor. Banning TikTok is one way and forcing the others to restrict their content that is uploaded but that still won't stop all of it. The world will find out, one way or another. Just as the Palestinians are doing in Gaza. Another nail in the U.S. coffin.
Fortunately, we have social media today.
Cornell West is an establishment sell out. Same as Bernie Sanders!
Would you please offer some insight into why you claim this about Cornel West. Seems strange not explaining your point.
Would you be comfortable with West participation in debates this fall? As usual— the so called elites are adamant Candidate West can’t be permitted involved in debates— pure rubbish!
Anyone reading his writing— or especially witness Cornel West speak will understand he always talks first about poor/working people everywhere.
West seems to think that Team D are well-meaning but ill-informed and some gentle chiding will bring them around. They are full-blown sociopaths, as are Team R, just with differing class interests.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
Communities all over the country must support these students by opening their doors, providing guest rooms and meals. These bravo young people deserve that and so much more. Put out the call. When Hurricane Irene hit in 2011 I called a friend at the United Way and asked her to call the governor's office asking him to put the call out to second home owners in Vermont to open their door to Vermonters whose homes had been devastated. Governor Shumlin did and that morning 82 homes were opened up to families in need.
I live in Philadelphia - my home is open to any protesters at nearby Penn. If anyone is reading this, contact me.
That is great Bill! Perhaps there is a way to contact the students through Facebook to let them know.
There are over 30 "likes" to my post. Can we turn those into invites for the students where ever space is available?
If there is any question in anyone's mind that the US has become a fascist police state, let this dispel those questions.
What a disgusting, shameful day for Princeton University, and for the feckless bootlickers who supposedly provide leadership there.
The outsized and pervasive influence of the Israel lobby is astonishing.
There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Pope Francis has said what is needed, now he must do what is needed by going to Gaza and standing for peace, justice and freedom.
Please sign the petition and share widely.
https://chng.it/CRQ7qw4Gzn
Code pink
https://www.codepink.org/cnngaza?utm_campaign=12_15_pali_update_alert_3&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink
Let us also support UNRWA. If our governments won’t act in accordance with humanity, then we will. https://www.unrwausa.org/donate Let us do it to honor Aaron Bushnell, or in memory of Hind Rajab.
Let us call for a No Fly-Zone over Gaza!
These are a few small things we can do. If we can do more, let us do more.
Quote: "Not one university president has denounced Israel’s destruction of every university in Gaza. Not one university president has called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Not one university president has used the words “apartheid” or “genocide.” Not one university president has called for sanctions and divestment from Israel." End quote.
That is because of who controls the purse strings. It also is the result of believing and promoting the idea/premise that the life of a Jew has greater value than the life of a Palestinian (Arab). Or, the Palestinian having no life value at all. One might also add the Goy to that population of the perceived lesser.
The most important thing these kids and every other person cannot forget even for a split second is the magnitude of pain and suffering the Palestinians are enduring in comparison!
Getting arrested, suspended and perhaps even expelled is nothing to what they're enduring.
They must never lose track of that. I have always said - if the USA is eventually attacked for everything they have done, I have no qualms losing my life if it means the USA can never again inflict the barbarity throughout the entire world.
The fact Bibi Netanyahu and the Likud have told the U.S. to go f**k ourselves should be strong enough disregard and slap in the face to curtail arms to Israel. Israel is now taking land in the West Bank without punishment or reprisal. Biden has failed in Gaza, unless one considers the favor he has shown Israel. He should be ashamed. Where is his Catholic charity? At the same time we must remind ourselves not to fault the entire community of Jews. Any such broad-sweeping indictment would be both wrong and counter-productive. Netanyahu functions from a profound blood thirst -- Palestinian blood. He will not alter course.
Very very well said Vince! Think back to 1967 when Israel attacked the US Liberty Naval ship also with no reprisal! It's sad that murdering scumbag Netanyahu deliberately, egregiously and maliciously has the unmitigated gall to blame every single thing on antisemitism! The speech he gave yesterday denouncing the college kids solidified he is mentally incompetent and completely delusional. He is unable to differentiate reality from fiction when he said - Israel is not committing genocide - the college kids are. What's worse is people believe this!
Regarding the broad sweeping of all Jews people must remember and realize Zionism is not Judaism and there are also many sects of the Jewish religion itself. Hence why so many Jews are standing up for these protestors and actually support and fund many of the other protests. What these kids are doing is awesome
Thank you, BJ. Yet, we see the overwhelming influence of the Zionists in this moment. The editor of the student newspaper at Columbia, a young Jew, said on TV that he fears for his safety. Why? That is an abused and over-used trope. I am reminded of the anti-Vietnam demonstrations. I was a Veteran at that time. I did not agree entirely with their protests, but honored their right to protest -- peacefully. Then there was the horror at Kent State. A certain element within our country wants to see us as clean-hands saints. We are anything but. The college Palestinians and their allies are painted as villains and the Jews made into the victims. That is a false equivalent. I have lifelong Jewish friends. Two of my closest friends are Jews. I studied Judaism at Seminary.. Israel has become an enemy of her own people.
Vince - please forgive my passion in advance as my Achilles Heal has always been deceit. Nothing infuriates me more - that being said I live in Northern NJ where we also have a substantial Jewish population - in fact Teaneck NJ has one of the largest - I believe close to if not more than 15,000 residents. Therefore, we have a plethora of synagogues and Yeshiva's also in the area. And yet how ironic, since 10-07 there has been no increased police presence and or private security at any one of these. Yet, in the past, if a car so much as backfires you'll see a patrol car . . . . for days! We have so many Jewish people in this area and travel through it in enroute to NY State (Monsey NY) all of the gas stations/convenience stores have Kosher sections. And yet never once in all the years, but specifically since 10-07 has there been ONE incident. No name calling, no stares, no gestures, absolutely nothing! And a large percentage of these Jews are also ultra Orthodox so it is not as if they are invisible or hidden. Thousands per day and yet not ONE incident - I spend my life on the road and see everything.
There is not a modicum of truth to this antisemitism total bullshit! It's just like they're calling the protests antisemitic when in actuality they're PRO-Palestinian. The kids need to start setting this record straight as well.
Again please forgive my anger - sometimes I wish it were like the boy who cried wolf! It reminds me of the so called "racism" today. You want to see actual racism, go back in history and see what the blacks endured in comparison to (again) the bullshit racism they claim today! It's the new card - the racism card, the homophobia card and now the antisemitism card all because . . . . it works!
What Netanyahu and others said, I think it was Tom Cotton, they should face the death penalty. They are deliberately inciting harm to innocent people. No one on the face of this entire plant is more responsible for antisemitism than Netanyahu. He and no one else will be responsible for "wiping" Israel off the face of the map - not Hamas or anyone else. I truly believe it is in fact intentional. This IS the Samson Option! He is hellbent on taking Israel down with him.
I apologize for this delay, BJ. I am in the throes of moving into new digs in a new state! This "ain't" fun for an old man!
You have absolutely no cause to apologize for your anger. Every tribe has its spoilers and bullies. In the mid-1980s I was #3 in a company run by a first gen Czech Jew. He had heard it "through the grapevine" that Vince might be gay. So, he took me to lunch one day to launch his info-gathering assault. He never got his answer one way or the other. Frustrated him to no end! Many Jews are just as intolerant, racist and biased as a Goy. They also can be extremely vicious and enjoy being so.
True. But disposing of the top level of government in Israel is not the solution. Israel's society has been subjected to three generations of hatred poisoning, what they need now is a detox treatment to become normal human beings.
Could not agree MORE Julio! This is the saddest time in history - the best/worst sign I have seen was ; Who knew the Jews would become the new Nazi's - the mere fact the entire world is watching and not doing a damn thing is even worse. If I sound mentally ill please forgive me - but it seems WWIII is the only thing that is going to bring closure to all of this and I truly believe the nuclear war threats are just that!! THREATS! No one is going to do it!
BJ, I agree that WWIII will bring closure to all this for the reason that it would eliminate our species. The nuclear power was acquired by the various nations to discourage other countries to attack them. So, yes, it meant to be a threat. But human nature and history show us that in war we lose very easily our sanity and chances are that atomic bombs are going to be used.
Even in peace time most of the world leaders cannot be trusted.
The best resource for us is to do what those courageous and honest students are doing: protest and protest and demand BDS and we should not let any fascist politician to blind us with their promises and make them pay at the polls for what they are doing now.
That, or the other alternative: flat out lying.
Yes, it seems like if US has become a vasal state of Israel.
Where in history has standing with the police worked well for Jewish people? Since when has denying free speech to one group preserved the right for others?
As for Hedges saying "not one university president has called for sanctions and divestment" and "heads of these institutions grovel supinely before wealthy donors, corporations..." I don't think they're acquiescing at all. I just finished reading //American Oligarchy (The Permanent Political Class)// by Ron Formisano (2017.) A class whom he characterizes as "satisfied to bask in billionaire approval and to mingle with the One Percent..." Similarly the heads of academia--except they're not merely basking. Formisano lists outrageous salaries and perks these people receive plus the large slush funds they distribute to allies, calls it "Wall Street level compensation at academic institutions" and notes "a report from the Institute of Policy Studies found that from 2005-2012, student debt and the number of low-paid faculty rose fastest at the 25 universities with the highest compensated presidents."
This egregious academic elite is quite cognisant whence the butter on its bread. To them, this sort of unrest is merely by ingrates, privileged students biting the hand that feeds them. And of course the declasse', the uneducated American majority, deserves nothing but crumbs.
Template for education of, by, and for perpetuation of oligarchy.
These stats say so much.
"Where in history has standing with the police worked well for Jewish people?" [or any people} "Since when has denying free speech to one group preserved the right for others?" Yes - thank you for your comments.
It's worth knowing that the Presidents of universities are hand chosen by the school's Board of Trustees, composed increasingly of Businessmen/women and lawyers with a few professors thrown in at private universities. Of course they grovel supinely - they ARE them. Case in point: Columbia University's Minouche Safik was head of the International Monetary Fund before C.U. That should say it all.
Some Columbia Univ. history: In 1917 the trustees fired psychologiest James McKeen Cattell for anti-war, anti-conscription views (academic freedom has been in the crossfire ever since); In 1968 the trustees were at the root of the violent suppression of the protesters and later gave high praise to the police; in 2001 the trustees pressured ($$$$) the university to water down it's sexual misconduct policy - the director of the Office of Sexual Misconduct resigned. University trustees deliberations and acts (at Columbia and elsewhere) are kept confidential, just like fast-tracked Supreme Court cases. As you point out, Univ. Presidents and their immediate administrators receive outrageous salaries, perks and slush funds. The majority of ordinary professors and administrators have far less power (and income) than one might think. And then the slap in the face of the albatross of student debt.
Thanks for the info; especially relevant regarding Columbia. Also reinforces my view of what I call the Ivy Ds--the self-described 'meritocracy' Dem party elite disdainful of us mere workers. In their smugness they will not see the lesson of //The Best and Brightest,// so display the same fatal behavior that Halberstam described.
I don’t how long they “the students” can keep this up. Back during the Vietnam War students were encouraged by their instructors, have very vocal anti war songs and a no real journalism in mainstream media so none of that exist anymore, except in places that the youths see, like
Most of the support has eroded away and this is the future we have left our children. They got much of what they knew from TikTok, which is going to be ban.
American is not the home of the brave, it’s the “not my problem, I’m up for “tenure“. I have a Family, whatever.
Like Holocaust Memorial by Pastor Martin Niemöller, “Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out. Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me. And there was no one left. To speak out for me.”
How bad does it have to get?
Documenting resistance and feet in the street is a true love of mine & went up to Columbia Tuesday.. talked my way onto campus and chatted w quite a few of the students... the peoples revolution made another great leap and there is plenty of tenured staff support.
There was a great energy of solidarity but in a sad way of collective mourning with very specific understanding why they were there. Jewish Voices for Peace are the largest ethnic group and some media were inside mostly foreign.. domestic news set up outside the gates for their live evening news spots.. why let real images ruin a good story line!!
oops forgot to note the tiny Palestinian flags around the perimeter have the names of the martyred some with several names of family members who died together.. truly heart wrenching measure of this ongoing Holocaust.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pameladrew/albums/72177720316452968/
Thank you for your eye witness account. It's not really a surprise that Jewish Voices for Peace represents the largest group of participants. We don't hear enough about this in the mainstream media coverage.
It’s all about the billionaires