College students protesting in the United States for a free Palestine “from the river to the sea” are exposing themselves to ridicule. Students from some of the country’s most expensive and prestigious universities wear kufiyas, “liberate” university buildings as if they were freedom fighters, and (at least in the case of one young protester) demand that university authorities supply them with water. and food as “basic humanitarian aid.”
It is true that all political demonstrations are a form of theater. Not all those who protest against the killing of many innocent civilians in Gaza deserve derision; and the use of violence against them (whether by the police or, as happened at the University of California, Los Angeles, by a mob) is unacceptable.
The problem is that the “anti-Zionist” cause that is gaining ground on university campuses often appears incoherent. Its ideological foundations tend to see everything as interconnected: police brutality against African Americans, global warming, American imperialism, white supremacy, the history of slavery in the United States, European colonialism, transphobia and homophobia (Queers for Palestine) and now the war between Israel and Hamas. As one Cornell University student interviewed by the New York Times said, “climate justice… is rooted in the same battles, imperialism, capitalism, all those things. “I think it applies very well to this conflict, to the genocide in Palestine.”
Zionism, a particular Jewish nationalist movement of the 19th century with religious, secular, left and right elements, today has become synonymous with colonialism, imperialism and racism. So, to be a good, humane and moral person, you would have to be “anti-Zionist.”
It is not entirely clear whether this is also being anti-Semitic, as some say. Opposing Zionism, or criticizing Israeli policies, is not necessarily anti-Semitic. But denying Israel’s right to exist is certainly hostile, as is assuming that all Jews are Zionists.
Academic jargon has a word for this connection between all forms of oppression: intersectionality. Many of the students demonstrating for Palestine have adopted this line of thinking because it has been taught to them (generally by professors at the same institutions they are now rebelling against).
In a sea of competing identity politics, there is one hallmark that all educated members of the liberal left agree on, especially in the United States: to be a thoughtful citizen of the post-slavery and post-colonial West, one must be actively anti-racist. , anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist. This involves viewing all world events, past and present, through this lens, including a variety of complex conflicts ranging from the United States to the Middle East.
Perhaps this worldview explains why pro-Palestinian protests began at some of the most exclusive American universities: Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Stanford. Intersectionality is not a central concern of the working class, but rather a hallmark of the educated elite, whose members are accustomed to seeing themselves as the collective moral conscience of the Western world.
It is possible that one of the factors in this wave of university activism is a certain degree of guilt about attending the most expensive universities, especially in a society where the gap between rich and poor is widening. Living with privilege is easier when class struggle is replaced with protests against colonialism and racism.
But class issues are not entirely absent. Many rebellions arise from fear of loss of privileges. Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s demagogic rhetoric attracts less-educated whites who are resentful of seeing that immigrants may be doing better than them. Something similar occurs in elite American institutions and elsewhere in the Western world.
Until recently, being male, white, and a member of a well-educated family was the key to entry to the highest levels of the social ladder. But now, to access the most sought-after jobs in universities, publishing houses, museums, in journalism and other fields that demand a good academic level, we must compete with more women and highly educated people of color. This change is entirely positive, and should be applauded by anyone who believes in inclusion and diversity, not to mention intersectionality.
But with its insistence on active “decolonization” and the ritual confession of racial privileges, left-liberal ideology can lead to defensive reactions. More and more young white men in Europe and the United States are attracted to far-right parties and dubious gurus who promise to teach them how to assert their masculinity and put women back in their place. It is evident that prejudices against people of color can also be used in this.
However, elites’ fear of loss of privileges can also go in the other direction. Students at more expensive private universities may find it in their best interests to demonstrate their intersectional anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and anti-colonial bona fides by being more zealous in defending those causes than minorities. It is a way of clinging to leadership positions in intellectual and cultural spheres.
Perhaps that is why the first to protest against Israel’s war in Gaza were students and teachers at Columbia University, who were soon joined by activists at other prestigious Ivy League universities. It is not clear whether this will actually help the Palestinians obtain a state of their own, in which they can lead better and more dignified lives under a freely elected government. But perhaps it has never been the most important issue. As is often the case with protest movements in the United States, this is actually a purely internal matter.
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Translation: Stephen Flamini
Ian Buruma is the author of Spinoza: Freedom’s Messiah (Yale University Press, 2024).
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2024.
www.project-syndicate.org