Week 190 – April 30 – May 7

Kasia Ozga

« They’ll say we’re disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war. » – Howard Zinn, 1971

I’ve been watching the ongoing protests over Gaza at college campuses around the United States and the harsh treatment facing certain students who participate. Universities have forced the removal of Gaza Solidarity Encampments, barred some students from campus housing, expelled others from classes, and even canceled graduation ceremonies. The visual images of police on horseback herding students and police with batons ripping through tents evokes the experience of some students during protests against the Vietnam War in the late 1960s. 

During an academic conference I attended at a college outside of Philadelphia last week, students organizers put up an encampment on the school’s main lawn. I don’t know if it too was removed.

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Valeria Troubina