Students and faculty members in countries across the globe are urging their institutions to divest from corporations profiting from Israel’s devastating war on Palestinians. A wave of pro-Palestine protests and encampments are popping up at colleges nationwide. Thousands of students have taken to the streets in a movement that has spread nationwide, from New York to California. The protests are a response to Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has left more than 1,200 people dead and the conflict raging for two weeks.
The pro-Palestine encampments on campuses have been largely peaceful until this week when scuffles broke out between Jewish and Palestinian students at UCLA. Police with batons separated the groups, who pushed and shoved each other, traded punches, and tore down tents and other barriers. Some students in scuffles were arrested, and the university announced additional campus security measures.
Thousands of students and faculty members are demonstrating for a Palestinian state, demanding that their universities cut financial ties to companies that support the Israeli occupation. Some are urging that their schools boycott all products manufactured in Israel, as well. The encampments are the latest manifestation of a student-led antiwar movement that has gained momentum since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. It is a movement that has also drawn the attention of many members of Congress, as well as the twin corporate parties in Washington.
Protests are continuing to grow in size and strength. At Columbia University in New York, the NYPD stormed an initial encampment early Tuesday and cleared it, arresting over 100 demonstrators. Students then set up a new encampment and defied university officials’ threat of suspension. NBC News reported that the group occupied Hamilton Hall, an administration building that was seized by students in 1968 during protests against racism and the Vietnam War. Early Tuesday morning, video of the raid showed police officers with zip ties and riot shields entering the building through a second-floor window.
As the encampments continue to pop up nationwide, students become more vocal about their demands. They’re calling for their universities to break ties with Israel and companies that support its war on the Palestinians, as well as end military research that benefits both countries.
Students are pushing their schools to divest from companies that support Israel’s actions in Gaza and to boycott all products made by those companies. They’re also arguing that if Congress and the twin party of millionaires in power won’t put a stop to this war, it is up to them to organize a working-class movement to build a socialist program of peace.
The students who are taking to the streets are doing the most concrete work toward ending the genocide in Gaza. They’re calling on their schools to sell off their investments in companies that profit from the Israeli war. If they succeed, it will be a step forward in building an international working class that is prepared to confront this genocidal war and other crises that are unfolding on a global scale.