Ian Bluma is the author, most recently of Spinoza: Savior of Liberty.
It's easy to ridicule American university demonstrators calling for freedom for Palestine “from the river to the sea.” At some of the country's most expensive and prestigious universities, students wore keffiyehs as they “liberated” campus buildings and, in the case of at least one young protester, “basic humanitarian aid.” They are requesting the university authorities to provide food and water.
Indeed, all political demonstrations are a kind of theater. Certainly, not all those protesting the killing of large numbers of innocent civilians in Gaza deserve ridicule. It is unconscionable to use violence against them, whether by the police or, as happened at UCLA, by a mob.
The problem is that the “anti-Zionist” cause prevalent on university campuses is often disjointed. Its ideological underpinnings include issues such as police brutality, global warming, American imperialism, white supremacy, European colonialism, transgender and homophobia, and the current Israeli-Hamas war, all of which are interconnected. There is a tendency to assume that In the words of a Cornell University student interviewed by The New York Times, “climate justice” is “rooted in the same struggles as imperialism, capitalism, and so on.” I think that is exactly the case with this conflict and the genocide in Palestine. ”
Zionism is a heterogeneous 19th-century Jewish nationalist movement that includes religious and secular, left- and right-wing elements, and is now synonymous with colonialism, imperialism, and racism. It is believed that in order to be a good, humane, and moral person, one must be an “anti-Zionist.” It is not always clear whether this is also anti-Semitic, as some have claimed. Opposition to Zionism or criticism of Israeli policies is not necessarily anti-Semitic. Denying Israel's right to exist is certainly hostile, as is the assumption that all Jews are Zionists.
Connecting all forms of oppression has its own academic term: “intersectionality.” Many of the students currently demonstrating have adopted this way of thinking because they were taught that way, and most of them are taught by professors at the same institutions that protesters are currently uprising against. is.
In a sea of competing identity politics, there is one metric that all educated members of the liberal left agree on. That is, to be a right-thinking citizen in the postcolonial West, one must be actively anti-racist and anti-imperialist. and anti-colonialists. That means applying such a lens to all world events, including complex conflicts from the United States to the Middle East.
This worldview may explain why pro-Palestinian protests have begun at some of America's most exclusive universities. Intersectionality is a characteristic of an educated elite, whose members are accustomed to thinking of themselves as a collective moral conscience. Particularly in societies where the gap between rich and poor is widening, a degree of class guilt may be contributing to the rise in campus activism.
Rebellion often stems from fear of losing privilege. Former US President Donald Trump's incitement appeals to relatively uneducated whites who are angry that immigrants may be doing better than they are. Similar things are happening at America's elite educational institutions and elsewhere in the Western world.
Until recently, being a white male from a well-educated family was typically your ticket to the upper echelons of society. But now there is increasing competition from highly educated nonwhites and women for the most sought-after jobs in academia, publishing, museums, journalism, and other fields that require higher education. This is a completely positive development. Anyone who believes in inclusivity and diversity, not to mention intersectionality, should celebrate this.
However, the ideology of the liberal left, which advocates aggressive “decolonization” and ritual confessions of racial privilege, can provoke defensive reactions. In Europe and the United States, a growing number of young white men are drawn to far-right parties and manipulative guru figures who promise to teach them how to reassert masculinity and put women back in their place. It is clear that this can also affect prejudice against people of color.
But elite anxiety about maintaining privilege can also run in the opposite direction. Students at the most expensive private universities demonstrate their intersectional integrity as anti-racists, anti-imperialists, and anti-colonists by outperforming minorities in their enthusiasm. You might think it would be beneficial. It is one way to cling to a leadership position in the intellectual and cultural realm.
Perhaps that's why students and faculty at Columbia University led the way in protesting Israel's war in Gaza, and activists at other Ivy League schools soon followed. It is unclear whether this will truly help Palestinians obtain their own state where they can live a better and more dignified life under a freely elected government. But that may never have been the point. As is often the case with American protest movements, this is very much about America.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2024. www.project-syndicate.org
