The universities of the United States have become the best reflection of the tension that the war in Gaza generates in that country. With banners with slogans such as “Free Palestine” or “Stop the genocide”, hundreds of students have taken over educational campuses in protest of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza.
They also protest against what they consider the complicity of the United States with its traditional ally and call for a boycott of those who benefit from this relationship.
Some of the largest protests are occurring in prestigious study centers, such as Columbia University – where the police decided to evict students again on Tuesday night -, California, Texas and Harvard, among others. .
In some cases, such as at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), clashes have occurred between supporters of Israel and those who support the Palestinian cause.
The Israeli military operation in Gaza began after the October 7 attack by Hamas militants that left 1,200 dead and 240 hostages.
The Israeli retaliation has so far claimed the lives of more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Strip’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Below we tell you the main characteristics of what happens on university campuses from east to west in the US.
1. How did the protests start?
Protests at American universities over the war in Gaza are not new; have happened with more or less intensity since Hamas’s ground incursion into Israel and the beginning of the Israeli offensive.
Followed closely by Democratic and Republican legislators on Capitol Hill, they have caused several officials from the main centers to appear before Congress.
In January, in fact, the controversies arising from this conflict ended up costing the president of Harvard, Claudine Gay, her job.
But the protests took on another dimension two weeks ago, when police stormed Columbia University in New York, where students had set up camps to demand a ceasefire and that the university get rid of its financial ties to Israel.
At the request of university authorities, security forces broke up the protests and arrested more than 100 pro-Palestinian students.
However, these actions did not prevent the demonstrations from continuing, but quite the opposite: they provoked even greater and more widespread actions due to the indignation of the students.
“It was a shock to all of us,” said Rashida Mustafa, a doctoral student at Columbia. “I couldn’t believe it, but it felt like a call to action,” she added in statements reported by the BBC.
Thus, more camps and occupations of facilities were established near the campus, while the movement intensified throughout the country, increasing tensions and protests in various university centers in the United States.
On Tuesday night, the New York police stormed Columbia University again and made dozens of arrests after the students – after the deadline that the academic authorities had given them to break up the camp – barricaded themselves in one of the buildings, specifically in a place called Hamilton Hall.
2. What are they asking for and why are they protesting?
In one way or another, the students reflect the increasingly marked division of American society over the government’s support for a historic ally, Israel.
Through massive demonstrations they are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and freedom for the Palestinian people.
But they are also demanding that their think tanks get rid of their economic ties to Israel, selling any shares they may have in Israeli companies and abandoning any financial relationship with this country.
Universities rely on donations to fund key aspects of their operation such as research and scholarships, and those donations are typically invested in alternative companies and assets.
In general terms, students claim that companies that do business in Israel, or with Israeli organizations, are “complicit” in the war in Gaza, as are the universities that invest in those companies.
“What we ask is that the university stop investing funds in those who profit from the genocide in Gaza. And we are not going to leave until we get it,” a student from the University of California told BBC Mundo, who preferred not to give his name.
Additionally, protesters are calling for academic ties to be cut with Israel’s learning institutions.
3. How widespread are the protests?
After the police raid at Columbia University two weeks ago, protests flared up in various universities in the United States.
And today the movement is massive, which has also led to clashes with security forces and arrests in other places in the country, such as at the University of Texas at Austin, where last week the police detained hundreds of students who were occupying the lawn. of the campus.
Police also clashed with protesters at Emerson College in Boston, George Washington University in Washington, New York University, and the University of Southern California (USC).
But currently protests continue in different parts of the country, including: