US campus protests and the myth of free speech

Herald Correspondent

The rights of assembly and free speech are now in the public domain.

What is going on in the United States is something akin to the Vietnam War movement and perhaps one can draw parallels with the segregation protests of the 1960s.

Nothing stirs up the US quite like division and nothing prevents free speech and the right of peaceful assembly more than division, when that disunion is because one opinion goes against the narrative

The US government says Israel has the right of self-defence, students on campuses all around the country disagree, or at least, if they do not disagree on the right of self-defence, they most certainly disagree on the level this excuse has been used.

It is not in anyone’s place to decide what is deemed right or wrong, but the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seems to think these protesting students are right, and their government is not.

It is therefore dangerous to be right when your government is not, as is the case of the US students.

People are normally allowed to express opinions on what they believe is right or wrong. The beauty of free speech is that others can disagree and, if one chooses they can either agree to disagree, even when holding debates.

But that is only possible if people are allowed to and, it seems, in the US right now, people are no longer allowed to disagree.

For example, in China, there is much criticism of the government, protests are held in colleges and in 2022, there were many.

Not a single student has been charged for that, neither has there been a single conviction made nor a prison sentence, yet Western media continue to parrot negative and unfounded reports against other countries.

There were no reports of any arrests on the protests that took place in China.

Depending on one’s perspective, in Xinjiang, where 12 percent of the Western global population have been misinformed that there’s a genocide going on, protests also occurred over the Chinese government’s lockdown policy.

The absence of arrests and prosecutions during protests in China, vindicates its tolerance against what the West — which only makes up 12 percent of the global population — thinks about the Asian country.

Then, the people were protesting for a relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions and the Chinese government obliged.

Yet, in the US over the past weeks, thousands of protestors have been arrested. University of California Berkley reported hundreds, Yale 45, New York’s Columbia more than a hundred. More arrests were made in Boston, Minnesota and other universities.

Apparently the feeling is one of anti-Semitism but, the reality is, it is one of despair. And this is where the rights of free speech and peaceful assembly fall over because the protestor’s opinions are not in keeping with the government narrative.

There may very well be some anti-Semitic remarks, there may even be some anti-Semitic actions but the vast majority of people protesting today are not anti-Semitic, but are anti-murder, anti-genocide and pro-Palestine.

The majority have spoken in agreement and are in consensus that a genocide is going on and almost certainly understand the desperation borne out of many years of peaceful protest and forceful apartheid that created the conditions for it on Palestinians.

The actions of students in America 50 years ago, when the Vietnam War was coming to its end, are now deemed to have been correct.

The US attempted to stop them and many people were arrested, some even died.

Also, the actions of students there 70 years ago, when the Unites States was moving from a segregated country to an assimilated one where African Americans were finally recognised as real people who could share a class or a football field with white people, are now deemed to be correct. Again, many were arrested, some people died.

Therefore, the pattern is being reactivated by the US government. Many people look at what is going on in Gaza and agree, it is a genocide. It is abhorrent and protests against it must be loud, they must be forceful.

The students are right but we can be sure, there will be more arrests, there are most likely going to be some deaths and at the end of the day. People will look and reflect that the students were right, the police, national guardsmen and women were wrong.

In how many more protests are the students of America going to die before their voices are heard?