Columbia Students at Palestine Rally Inspired by Anti-Apartheid and Anti-Vietnam War Protests

Over 2,000 people have been arrested at US colleges and universities since April 18, with Columbia University students becoming standard-bearers of the pro-Palestinian struggle in the eyes of youngsters. Sputnik's Political Misfits has discussed the growing student movement with one of its participants.

Doe Hee Choi is a second-year graduate student at Columbia University School of Public Health who is participating in the pro-Palestine protests on campus. She chose not to use her real name to protect herself as the university administration has cracked down on the young protesters.

At Columbia, students have been arrested, face suspension, and have reportedly been threatened with deportation after protesting against the months-long bloody Gaza War that has claimed the lives of over 34,000 Palestinians.

"We received an email from the [Columbia University] president, Minouche Shafik, a day ago saying that the students that occupied Hinds Hall - so it was called Hamilton Hall and was then renamed to Hinds Hall to honor the young Palestinian girl that was killed - those students, quote, face expulsion," Choi told Sputnik.

"So we're not sure if that means that they will certainly be expelled. But that's certainly something that these students are dealing with as they're released from jail. We also do know that students who are on student visas that are being arrested or even just penalized and suspended do run the risk of having their visas immediately terminated. I haven't heard of examples of that happening yet, but unfortunately, we are worried because that's an imminent threat."

According to the New York Times, the takeover of Hamilton - or Hinds - Hall was a "new turning point" in the two-week-long demonstrations at Columbia's campus. The newspaper noted that the demonstrators took a microwave, an electric tea kettle, and sleeping bags and "seemed ready to stay awhile." New York Police stormed the building late Tuesday to end the student-led occupation at Shafik's official request.

The occupation of the hall wasn't without precedent: the young protesters followed in the footsteps of Columbia's anti-apartheid demonstrators who took over the premises in 1985, as well as those opposing the Vietnam War in 1968.

"We're motivated by a story of a 1985 occupation a lot of students are talking about, and a lot of the media is hearkening back to, a history of occupying the same hall in 1968, which was against the Vietnam War and gentrification of Harlem, where Columbia is located. But there was also another occupation in 1985, and that was for students who were organizing in a coalition of the same name that we use today, which is Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD). And it was for South African apartheid. It took three years of organizing from 1982 to 1985 for the students to get to a point to occupy the hall. Those students were arrested and Columbia did not divest that semester, which was the spring of 1985. But when they did divest was in the fall of 1985 and so we're really inspired by that story."

Three former 1980s student leaders at Columbia University – Omar Barghouti, Tanaquil Jones, and Barbara Ransby – applauded "the courage and conviction of Palestine solidarity student activists in the eye of the storm" in their May 3 op-ed for the Guardian. They spoke in defense of the Columbia demonstrators and affirmed "the righteousness of their demand": to end the "genocidal" Gaza War. "Young people are once again the conscience of the nation and the world," the three alumni underscored.

Choi went on to trash the assumptions voiced by the New York City authorities, as well as the US mainstream press, that the protests have been led by some "external agitators". She emphasized that the movement is grassroots, noting that arrests and the ongoing crackdown by university authorities only serve to bolster its strength.

Unlike their predecessors in 1968 and 1985, Columbia students have to deal with facial recognition software and doxing that has prompted some of them to hide their identity and wear masks to evade retaliation. Conversely, others view being doxed for Palestine as an honor.

"It's definitely something that students at Columbia have been experiencing since October," Choi said. "I think Harvard University was the first university to have the doxing truck where Zionists pay for a truck and it says the student's full name and actually makes a website out of the student's first and last name. That almost immediately happened, at Columbia, that was the second university that it happened at. A lot of the leaders of Columbia's Students for Justice and Palestine chapter have been doxed six months ago. And so and they're still just continuing and moving through it. And so I think in some ways, you know, we take examples from them like those super young students that have come out and after they've been doxed. Now they start their speeches with, 'I'm so and so first and last name.' And it's an honor to be doxed for Palestine."

Choi does not doubt that despite most students leaving the campus for the summer season the struggle will continue unabated and may catch its second wind in the fall.