New York – “Enhanced activity” on campus is over. With this bureaucratic statement, published just before midnight by Columbia University, what was perhaps the most dramatic day in the history of the University of New York since the occupation of 1968 comes to an end. Whether this is also the end of the protests against the war a Gaza, which have touched every corner of the United States, remains to be seen. However, the police cleared it out Hamilton Hall and tents on the lawn in front of Butler Library, and at the request of the principal Nemat Shakif he will patrol the university at least until May 17thto ensure that the protesters cannot return.
“No to another Kent or Jackson state”
Tension had been growing for weeks, but the clash began in the night between Monday and yesterday. “To the administrators of Columbia University we say this: do not incite another Kent or Jackson State, bringing armed soldiers and police to our campus. The blood of the students will be on your hands.”
The statement with which the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group announced that “an independent group has occupied Hind’s Hall, formerly known as Hamilton Hall” evoked the worst ghosts of the era of protest. Kent it is in fact the university of Ohio where on May 4, 1970 the National Guard killed four students protesting against the invasion of Cambodia, immortalized in the iconic photo of John Filo who won the Pulitzer Prizeshowing Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling before the corpse of Jeffrey Miller. But have we really reached this point, one step away from the shedding of blood? And what does “autonomous group” mean? Perhaps it is confirmation that the peaceful demonstrations against the war in Gaza have been infiltrated by professional shakerswhich make President Biden fear “a plot to destroy the Democratic Convention”, as “The Atlantic” headlined?
Two weeks of tension
After nearly two weeks of protests and arrests and final attempts to negotiate a peaceful solution with students demanding that Columbia cancel all investments linked to Israel, the University of Allen Ginsberg And Jack Kerouac has issued an ultimatum to the kids: take down the tents on the lawn in front of the Butler Library by 2 pm, or we will start suspending you. Answer: during the night a group of protesters broke the windows of the Hamilton Hallbarricading himself inside.
Very symbolic gesture, because it is the building where the 1968 the students had kidnapped the principal Henry Coleman, then reoccupied in 1972, 1985, 1992 and 1996. In other words, recurring target of every protest when Columbia explodes. It was opened in 1907, named after the founding father who attended the university when it was still called King’s College, but has now been renamed by demonstrators in the name of Hind Rajab, “Gaza martyr killed by the genocidal Israeli state at the age of 6 “. According to CUAD, “Columbia forced protesters to escalate, contributing to genocide and refusing to follow the baselines of negotiation.” Therefore “taking back our campus is the only and last possible response”.
Biden’s fears
The comparison with the assault on Congress on January 6, 2020, immediately made by supporters of former President Trump, who is now invoking absolute immunity from the Supreme Court so as not to be prosecuted, is inevitable. The Republican leaders are calling for the intervention of the National Guard, but even without going that far, the broken glass is evidence of a crime, which prompted the White House spokesperson John Kirby to distance themselves: “Forcibly occupying a building on the university campus is the wrong approach. Interrupting legitimate university activity is not compatible with the idea of peaceful demonstration.” Biden is currently pushing for a ceasefire, also because he needs to defuse this threat to his re-election, which has already spread to universities across the entire country with over 1,100 arrests. The UN Secretary General himself Guterres he intervened, saying that “guaranteeing freedom of speech is always essential, but at the same time hateful statements are not acceptable.” No violence, however, to respond: “It is up to the university authorities to have the wisdom to manage this situation.” Columbia spokesperson, Ben Chang, warned that “the occupiers will be expelled. We have given them the opportunity to leave peacefully and complete the semester, but those who do not accept will suffer the consequences.” The head of the New York Police Department, Jeffrey Maddrey, had guaranteed that his men would not enter the campus, without a request from the administration or emergency situations. However, this request arrived last night and the assault began. Democrats fear that these are the signs of a plot to attack their convention, which will be held in August in Chicago as in 1968, when street riots condemned Humphrey to the defeat against Nixon. City officials are negotiating locations for protests but Kobi Guillory, co-president of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, threatens: “We will march on the United Center, with permission or without.” Joseph Geevarghese, director of Our Revolution, adds: “We will negotiate everything we can, but if the battle becomes indispensable, we will be ready to fight.”
