Same old reason — wanting to be heard

As someone who has participated in demonstrations — against the Vietnam War in the late '60s and protesting the Wolf Creek (Kansas) nuclear plant in the early 1970s — it seems like young people are all that this struggling democracy has left to angrily voice opposition to a particular national policy. Where the Big Lie had people storming Congress, the war in Gaza is a real thing

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Not surprisingly, the bastardization and warping of the students' message by the media and police pronouncements started quickly. Labeling the demonstrations as pro-ceasefire or anti-war proved too unprovocative in the media's eyes despite signs calling for a ceasefire visibly evident among demonstrators. Defining the demonstrations as some pacifistic endeavor would force media types to explain such a position being taken, most of which are ill prepared or knowledgeable enough to explain such an idealistic approach. "Pro-Palestinian" became the omnipresent soundbite, almost a subtle dig at demonstrators that they don't know or don't recognize the atrocities of Hamas. 

As Washington Post opinion writer Phillip Bump pointed out in an April 30 column, college students are well informed of the issues concerning Gaza. Writes Bump: "It’s clear that many protesters (and probably most of them) know exactly what they’re pushing back against."

But it's mistaken to think that protesting college students only think of Israeli-Gaza War as a dominating issue. New York Times reporter Jeremy W. Peters notes in a May 1 article: "In their eyes, the Gaza conflict is a struggle for justice, linked to issues that seem far afield. They say they are motivated by policing, mistreatment of Indigenous people, discrimination toward Black Americans and the impact of global warming."

While it may appear protesting college students are one issue oriented, they are more universal in their agitation against the dominating view than other (sometimes) protesting organizations.

Labor unions long ago stop delivering any share of outrage over a particular national policy or nonpolicy, notwithstanding past union support of the Vietnam War. Slowly politically neutered for decades, casting themselves in bubble of exclusively only available to a shared ethos of a type of work, unions, until recently, have begun to speak plainly of the entrenchment of inequality. Still members seem to go silent once economic gains are made and debate of nonunion issues are not heard.

Protests from environment groups are stymied by anti-environmental laws aimed at jailing those seeking to defend Nature or suffer under a media bias that fails to fully articulate the issue (i.e. Atlanta's "Cop City" protests against habitat destruction and the militarization of police). Earth Day long ago became a marketing vehicle and classroom demonstration for grade schoolers. The press overwhelms any thoughts of large environment protests by near constant stories of feel-good animal escapades, gardening tips and the joy of outdoor activities.

Threats of expulsion and arrests remain the Establishment response, same as sixty or more years ago. Absent any national policing doctrine or training regiment, how the police respond to protesting college students depends upon where it's happening. The notorious Los Angeles Police Department determined response amounted to 200 at UCLA of the 2,000 arrested nationwide. How many of those arrested at UCLA were counter protesters — a group which reportedly instigated the melee that ensured — isn't known. Counter protestors also attacked Gaza supporters at the University of Mississippi. The Guardian reported that many of the counter protestors were older than students and Trump supporters.

Restraint was shown by the New York Police Department in arresting Columbia University demonstrators and building occupiers. But higher up law enforcement officials and politicians couldn't restrain themselves. New York City Mayor Eric Adams disparagingly called the students "children" as if they needed to go to bed at 10 after doing their homework. Law enforcement authorities presented a lock and chain as blame for the work "of outside agitators" yet the university had promoted such devices as a way for students to protect their bicycles.

Evidence is lacking indicating an organized effort by so-called leftists to encourage violence and destruction at Columbia University. Or was there widespread anti-Semitic ferment beyond incidents between individuals. The NYPD released the name of one middle-age "nonviolent" social activist as a so-called outside infiltrator. The woman did not hide her identity.

But unlike decades past when demonstrators mainly were White middle class and Blacks struggling to avoid being buried into the underclass and who did not hide their identities, now university demonstrators reflect a larger diversity of American society including visa holders fearful of retaliation. Their anti-Gaza war sentiment includes all manner of other grievances that are perceived to deny a young person a future. Blame must be shared by all those in power. Campus demonstrations against the killing of Palestinians, and the exploitation of those sentiments by ideologues, fail to transcend a primate view of society.

Let them demonstrate. . . and hold on once it becomes evident that Climate Change is devastating the land, people's livelihood and existence while political mechanisms fail to response for the whole and retreat only to protect those with the economic means to survive.