Between the two American flags attached to the bodywork, there was a keffiyeh tied around the rearview mirror of the imposing red truck. Saturday, October 12, the vehicle, which sports a slogan “Palestine will be free” In white letters on one of its windows, it accompanies the fifty protesters through the campus of the University of Missouri, in the city of Columbia.
Some cars honk their horns in support and, on the terraces of the bars in this student city, some groups mock the procession that walks along the sidewalks. Until the town hall, where a minute of silence has been planned, the students, several of whom brandish a Palestinian flag, shout and chant slogans against the war in the Middle East. “Remember the students in Gaza murdered with American weapons” ; “Israel, United States, how many children have you killed today? » ; EITHER “Biden and Harris have chosen their sides”in reference to the American president’s support for the Jewish State.
Less than a month before the presidential elections that will pit Kamala Harris and Donald Trump against each other, the Democratic Party’s constantly renewed support for Israel “discouraged” some of these young people, describes Dina Albash, a 20-year-old biology student who came to the Midwest from Baghdad in the late 2000s, according to the young woman, co-organizer of this weekly meeting with the Mizzou Students group. For Justice in Palestine, the number of protesters has decreased from several hundred in late 2023 and early 2024 to just a few dozen today.
A little more than a year after the start of the war in the Middle East, demonstrations in support of Palestine are no longer as mobilized at American universities. Since the beginning of the 2024 school year, in addition to “fatigue” As described by several students after long months of action, the demonstrations in favor of a ceasefire are being hard hit by the implementation of new regulations by many universities across the country.
Large Middle Eastern diaspora
“Zero tolerance” to cover your face or lock down the University of California’s ten campuses. At the University of Pennsylvania, protests are now prohibited in classes, residence halls, and most public places on campus. And at the famous Columbia University in New York, whose president, Nemat Shafik, resigned in August after criticism of the management of pro-Palestinian meetings during the 2023-2024 school year, a palisade and security agents now surround the lawn where students find. met in May.
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