Gaza campus protesters score wins at Northwestern, Brown and Rutgers – National & International News – THU 2May2024

Gaza protesters score wins at Northwestern, Brown and Rutgers.

GA Governor signs restrictive bail law in blow to “Cop City” protesters.

Haiti: Gang violence escalates after new PM named.

NATIONAL NEWS

Rutgers and Brown Universities join Northwestern in addressing protesters’ demands

Gaza ceasefire protesters at nearly 80 US campuses have called on their universities to make their investment portfolios more transparent and to divest from companies and entities connected with Israel and its military. While most universities have flatly refused and many have instead subjected their students to brutal police crackdowns, protesters at a few universities have won some concessions. 

Northwestern University near Chicago was first to reach an agreement with its protesters. Earlier this week, Northwestern promised students and faculty a voice in how the university’s assets are invested going forward. Now Brown University in Rhode Island has promised to hold a divestment vote in the fall. Rutgers in New Jersey has also reportedly agreed to some of the protesters’ demands. At all three universities, protesters have agreed to either disband or limit the size and placement of their encampments. 

The interim President of the University of Minnesota has also agreed to meet with protesters to discuss their demands.

Crackdowns by police, attacks by pro-Israel protesters

In the last two weeks, more than 2000 pro-Palestinian campus protesters have been arrested across the country, the vast majority of them college students and faculty. Two nights ago, NYPD raided two campuses in New York City, Columbia and City College of New York, arresting nearly 300 students in all.

Barely an hour later, on the other side of the country, pro-Israel protesters violently attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA. The pro-Israel protesters pounded the barricades of the encampment and even shot fireworks into it. Reports from the encampment indicate several pro-Palestinian protesters suffered serious injuries. This went on for nearly two hours before police intervened. Then just before dawn today, police raided and flattened the camp, arresting over 200 demonstrators.

This afternoon, a small protest took place on the Ole Miss campus with about 50-60 participants. The protest was peaceful until about 200 counter-protesters (many who had come from other parts of the state and even out of state) showed up and began throwing things at the pro-Palestinian protesters. Campus security escorted the protesters away for their safety.

DOE opens probe; CA university workers threaten strike

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has opened an investigation of anti-Muslim/Arab/Palestinian bias at Columbia University. According to lawyers who filed complaints with DOE on behalf of four Palestinian students and the Columbia chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), “Columbia has allowed and contributed to a pervasive anti-Palestinian environment on campus—including students receiving death threats, being harassed for wearing keffiyehs or hijab, doxxed, harassed by [administration], suspended, locked out of campus, and more.” Before the current wave of protests, Columbia hired a team of private investigators to investigate pro-Palestinian students.

The Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has also called for a vote of no confidence against Columbia president Minouche Shafik, who twice called in the NYPD to arrest protesters in violation of university policy.

The union representing over 48,000 graduate student workers in California universities have called a strike authorization vote as early as next week. The workers are members of United Auto Workers, which is better known for representing auto factory workers but also represents some workers in academia. Rafael Jaime, co-president of UAW Local 4811 and a graduate worker at UCLA, said the university had failed to protect both students and workers exercising their First Amendment rights. Local 4811 members will hold a vote to “hold the university accountable and demand the university respect the members’ right to protected speech and right to protest,” Jaime said.

Rutgers and Brown Universities join Northwestern in addressing protesters’ demands

The protesters at each campus have called on their universities to make their investment portfolios more transparent and to divest from companies and entities connected with Israel and its military. While most universities have flatly refused and instead subjected protesters to brutal police crackdowns, protesters at a few universities have won some concessions. 

Northwestern University near Chicago was first to reach an agreement with its protesters. Earlier this week, Northwestern promised students and faculty a voice in how the university’s assets are invested going forward. Now Brown University in Rhode Island has promised to hold a divestment vote in the fall. Rutgers in New Jersey has also reportedly agreed to some of the protesters demands, though what form the agreement will take is not yet clear. Rutgers has not yet commented on the agreement but protesters have disbanded their encampment.

GA Governor signs restrictive bail law in blow to “Cop City” protesters

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a new bill into law that expands the list of charges requiring cash bail. The law also makes it a misdemeanor for “any individual, corporation, organization, charity, nonprofit corporation, or group in any jurisdiction” to bail out more than three people in a year.

This legislation is widely understood to target groups in Atlanta protesting construction of a multi-million dollar police training center, dubbed “Cop City”. The center will include a model town that will allow police officers to train for urban warfare. The project has managed to unite a broad coalition of opposition who say Cop City will: contribute to police militarization; destroy a large swath of old growth forest; and encroach on a historically Black neighborhood. Locals have also objected to the fact that city leadership pushed the project’s funding through despite an overwhelming number of public comments against it. 

Since construction began, hundreds of protesters have been arrested and charged under Georgia’s antiterrorism law (which critics say is overly broad) and even the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law. Bail funds have been set up by charities to secure pre-trial release for these protesters. 

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Gang violence escalates in Haiti after new PM named

Earlier this week, Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) appointed a former Sports Minister to be the new Prime Minister of Haiti. Fritz Belizaire was Sports Minister under former President René Garcia Préval. Préval was President when Haiti suffered its devastating 2010 earthquake (which killed between 100,000 and 300,000 people) and was heavily criticized for his weak leadership during that crisis. Little is known of Belizaire or why the TPC chose him. In fact, only 4 of the TPC’s 7 voting members approved his appointment. When reporters asked one of the members if he had supported Belizaire, the member answered, “I don’t know him”. 

Civil society groups in Haiti seem equally nonplussed by the choice. The gangs that have taken over Haiti have responded by escalating violence in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince. The G9 gang, led by former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, has engaged in shootouts with Haitian police in residential neighborhoods near the international airport. The gangs also set fire to many of the homes, causing families to flee with whatever possessions they could carry. 

Haitians wary of outside influence and intervention

Unknown quantity that he is, newly-minted Prime Minister Belizaire will be in charge of restoring order to this chaos, mainly by cooperating with an international peacekeeping mission (led by Kenya and funded by the US). In fact, support for this mission was a requirement for membership in the Transitional Presidential Council. Belizaire’s appointment itself seems as though it may fracture the council, with unknown consequences.

International missions in Haiti have in general been disastrous, including UN missions after the 2010 quake. The fallout from these interventions has created distrust in Haiti and reluctance in much of the international community to pursue them. Given the years of violence and unrest that have gripped Haiti since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, it’s difficult to see how the Kenya mission could make matters worse. However, history suggests they will find a way.

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