Middle East

 Left Voice - Media outlets across the country have been reporting on the latest measures university administrators have been taking to prevent pro-Palestine demonstrations as the new school year begins.  The University of California and the California State University system – which is the nation’s largest public university system – have both announced they will enforce a “zero tolerance” policy toward new encampments. Both Rutgers University and George Washington University have suspended Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at their campuses, with George Washington also suspending Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Meanwhile, Columbia University, which was the epicenter of the student movement, maintains a near-total lockdown that has closed the campus off to the public and is considering granting campus police the power to arrest students. 

These pre-emptive measures, among others across university campuses in the U.S., are meant to stoke fear among the defiant students, faculty members, and workers who have been standing up against the inhumane genocide in Palestine. The attacks are within a framework of a new McCarthyism across universities which deny even the basic right to protest. 

This new McCarthyism is rooted in ideological positions like the idea that criticism of Zionism constitutes antisemitism. Due to the ideological importance of universities under capitalism in reproducing the ideas of the bourgeoisie, they have become ground zero for intimidation and attacks against students, faculty, and staff who dare to speak out.