Oppose genocidal purges on US college campuses!

In response to student and faculty outrage over the ongoing genocide in Gaza, a literal purge is taking place on college campuses across the United States. Administrations suspend, evict, fire, and otherwise violate the democratic rights of faculty and students who protest the ongoing massacre.

NYPD officers detain a pro-Palestinian supporter while staging a picket line outside Barnard College in New York on Tuesday, September 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

This pressure is playing out at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities with deep ties to the Democratic Party. Last Friday, approximately 25 faculty members from Harvard University were banned from Widener Library for two weeks after staging a silent “work” protest in solidarity with students who were suspended from the school for staging a similar protest the previous month.

Banning faculty members from the library for simply displaying pieces of paper containing innocuous phrases such as “embrace different perspectives” is an unprecedented disciplinary action. Harvard cited “library policy” to justify banning faculty from the institution’s main library; This would seriously impact their ability to conduct their own studies.

In addition to more than two dozen faculty members, Harvard Red, More than 60 students, who had previously carried out a silent “work” against genocide at Widener Library, were also banned from entering the main library on campus for two weeks.

Similar anti-democratic measures are being implemented on many other campuses:

in that University of PittsburghAt least 17 students and community members face investigation for their participation in Gaza Solidarity camps. Protesters arrested after police attacked the camps faced exaggerated charges, including felonies. These individuals were also sent “persona non grata” notices, essentially banning them from entering the University of Pittsburgh campus.
in that University of Chicago Last week, university officials sent police to evacuate and remove an Arab student who participated in an anti-genocide protest earlier this month. The student’s attorney, Megan Porter, told a local news outlet that although her client had not been convicted of a crime, he was still suspended from campus. Porter added that he has no family in the state and has nowhere else to live.
On: Muhlenberg College In Allentown, Pennsylvania, Dr. Maura Finkelstein was fired for making comments against Zionism and ongoing genocide on social media. Interviewed earlier this month World Socialist WebsiteFinkelstein observed: “Our campuses are being militarized.”
On: Cornell UniversityAdministrators suspended four students for three years for participating in a pro-Palestinian protest against military contractors weaponizing genocide on September 18. Cornell University Ph.D. student Momodou Taal, a graduate instructor, was nearly deported earlier this month for participating in the September 18 demonstration.
in that University of California, Santa CruzMore than 100 students and faculty members who were arrested for protesting the Gaza genocide last semester were banned from entering the campus. The ACLU Northern California Foundation and the Protest Law and Litigation Center filed a lawsuit against the university, arguing that mass suspensions were unconstitutional.
University of Michigan He is filing criminal charges against 11 students who participated in anti-war demonstrations against the war in Gaza last spring. The charges include trespassing and obstructing a police officer; This is a serious crime that can lead to a prison sentence of up to two years.

Many of these universities have close ties to the Democratic Party and American imperialism. The Harvard Corporation, Harvard University’s top governing board, includes former Obama administration officials, billionaires and heads of private investment firms.

Notable Democrats currently members of the Harvard Corporation include: Penny Sue Pritzker, billionaire heiress and U.S. Secretary of Commerce in the Obama administration; Kenneth Chenault, one of several business executives speaking at this year’s Democratic National Convention; and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllara, a former California Supreme Court justice who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations.

Earlier this year, Harvard University appointed Jennifer O’Connor, a former executive at Northrop Grumman, the world’s sixth-largest weapons manufacturer, which provides missile and laser systems for attack helicopters to the Israeli Air Force, as vice president and general counsel. warplanes.

The pressure on campuses is not limited to the United States. Earlier this month, riot police violently arrested students at Western Sydney University for a peaceful sit-in protest against genocide. Following the bandit arrests, hundreds of academics and faculty members signed an open letter condemning police violence. The signatories stated that the violent police actions “were part of a wider pattern of police repression against those protesting Israeli oppression at Australian universities.”

International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) calls on students to take action against this growing attack on democratic rights. Students should demand that all charges be dropped against those protesting genocide, one of the greatest war crimes of the 21st century. All sanctions and restrictions on students and faculty members should be lifted.

Students should seek the support of workers in factories and workplaces where colleges and universities are located to mobilize broader support by combining the defense of basic democratic rights with opposition to the war abroad and the war on the working class at home.

The escalating attack on protests on campuses comes just a week before US elections characterized by delving deeper into political reactionism. Trump and the Republicans are trying to build a fascist movement and have vowed to mobilize the police and military against anti-genocide and all opposition to the corporate and financial oligarch’s policies.

The Democratic Party’s central involvement in the persecution of opposition to genocide demonstrates that their claims to protect “democracy” are a cynical fraud. No matter who wins the election, if there is a truly clear outcome, the trend towards dictatorship will continue in parallel with the escalation of the war and the extreme growth of social inequality.

The McCarthyite witch hunt against solidarity demonstrators in Gaza, the harassment of anti-war activists, and punitive measures against protesting students and faculty are preparations for broader attacks on the democratic rights of the people as a whole.

The anti-democratic methods employed by the US ruling class during the McCarthyite anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s are being reignited on a global scale by all imperialist powers. The defense of fundamental democratic rights, including the right to protest genocide and ethnic cleansing, is inseparable from the development of an independent socialist movement among the working class and young people against all forms of imperialist war and the capitalist system that is its source.

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