Last Wednesday, the New York police cleared students protesting the Israel-Gaza war at Columbia University. This move is unlikely to suppress the student movement and may instead inspire more students nationwide to emulate and support the Columbia protesters. Currently, students from Columbia University, New York University, and Yale University have been arrested. The wave of protests has not ceased due to violent repression by the U.S. but is instead spreading to other areas, prompting Harvard University to preemptively close the gates of "Harvard Yard."
Demonstrations frequently occur in the U.S., with the most recent nationwide protest being the 2020 "Black Lives Matter" movement. In 2011, there was the Occupy Wall Street movement. "Black Lives Matter" opposed racism, while Occupy Wall Street opposed the collusion between politics and capital, as well as social injustice. Both movements caused a stir but were ultimately suppressed. Their impact was cumulative and did not bring about substantial change.
This time, American students are protesting against Israel's invasion of Gaza and supporting Palestine. Compared to the aforementioned movements, this has the potential to shake the foundations of U.S. politics more significantly. Jewish influence is pervasive in the upper echelons of American politics and capital, forming a political-capital alliance. Many American political and business elites have some connection to Jews, often tracing their lineage to claim Jewish heritage. This group is large and omnipresent, exerting substantial control over the U.S. Consequently, in America, anything can be opposed except "anti-Semitism." Anyone labeled as "anti-Semitic" is effectively doomed.
Following the outbreak of the Gaza war last October, the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania testified before Congress. Due to their insufficiently resolute responses on how to handle anti-Semitic actions and speech on campus, two of them have already been forced to resign. Anti-racism and criticism of capitalists are common leftist discourses in America, but a large-scale, open movement in prominent U.S. universities opposing Israel and supporting Palestine is unprecedented. If it continues to spread, the resulting challenge will be even greater.
The U.S. system has inherent flaws, with severe white-centric issues. However, the demographic composition of the U.S. is continuously changing, with an increasing non-white population, inevitably intensifying social conflicts and tensions. The American system is relatively adaptable to protests and demonstrations, and it can mitigate social conflicts by printing more money and distributing it. However, these conflicts have the potential to reach a tipping point, and, as history shows, they may erupt unexpectedly at some point. Today's America is undergoing a cumulative process of quantitative changes.
Author: Belt and Road Research Center of Jilin Province, columnist Wang Dongbei
This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.