by Lisen He (she/her)
This critical review will be based on the student protest movements that I have witnessed. From the student protest for the “Freedom of Hong Kong” in the United States in 2019, to the student anti-war protest movements in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in 2022, and to the one in late 2022 - I saw students were warned and banished off by the universities because of their protesting behavior of pasting chants in support of the Chinese blank paper protest on the free-speech message boards at the campuses in the United Kingdom.
According to my personal experience, I would like to relate to the student protest movements in the United States regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2024, and to discuss the relationship between student protests and government responses under different circumstances. In this piece, I will inevitably include some controversial concepts, take various events in different countries as instances, and equally criticize each side. However, it is not a rigorous academic piece about foreign policy, history, and geopolitics but rather aiming to reflect from a perspective of the relationship between student protests and government responses. I would firmly insist on placing myself in the middle stance regarding any political issues.
Since October 2023, protests worldwide have proliferated because of the ongoing Israeli-Hamas armed conflict. To show their support for Palestine, students occupied campus buildings, banded encampments, and conducted peaceful sit-ins at various college campuses in the United States. However, students have incurred severe consequences for protesting. For instance, students were banned from entering campuses, suspended, and sprayed with chemical irritants by the police. Some were even arrested and jailed. These events have occurred not only in the United States, restrictions against pro-Palestinian protest movements have been across the Western world.
However, what made college students in the United States protest for strangers ten thousand kilometers away? Especially at a high price of risking their education, job, and future career opportunities. For most grassroots supporters of Palestine, their demand is always for a ceasefire, an end to war crimes, and the stopping of bloodshed and a humanitarian disaster.
Similarly to many other anti-war protest movements in recent years, people protest for justice based on their beliefs, rather than aiming at threatening any state or ethnicity. For instance, since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022, a series of grassroots anti-war protests have soared across the West. Out of their moral impulse of compassion and mercy for victims under the gunfire in Ukraine, people protested. Through their beliefs, standing with Ukraine is standing with the unarmed innocent victims in the stream of bullets, standing with the vulnerability of human beings in the face of warfare, and standing with the pursuit of peace and a democratic ideal of shared future for mankind. For grassroots anti-war protest movements, the target for mass resistance is always the death, destruction, and hate brought about by war.
Although the two anti-war protest movements were based on similar unsophisticated mass demands, Western governments showed opposite/different attitudes. Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian armed conflict in 2024, students protested at the campus, so their names were clutched in the hands of the capitalists/big companies, calling for justice at the cost of delivering their future. In contrast, for the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022, the students’ condemnations against the violence were overwhelming to hear, and the anti-war banners of ‘Stand with Ukraine’ were hung high in the air for all to see. On this occasion, governments showed great support for student anti-war protests across the west. They raised the banner of humanitarianism and took on the mantle of the noble ones. It presented a harmonious image of a democratic ideal co-drawn by the governments and the masses. However, this image can be deceitful and fleeting because it exists only when the common goal appears.
What makes Western governments support this one but repress another one? What is the relationship between student protests and government responses?
Then, for individuals, if there is nothing to do against political repression, where to place ourselves in a proper position? There is no middle stance. Because our obedience and indifference may make us all victims and perpetrators. It is good to have strong feelings. However, emotions are the most vulnerable to being unnoticeably triggered and taken advantage of by others. As Hayek (1979) pointed out, people’s moral support and emotional loyalty can make organizations real exploiters and constitute the main source of social injustice and distorted power structure.
Therefore, it is essential to think about what justice means to the masses. Who defines our justice? Most protesting students have not been in the war, and very few participated in political decision-making processes. In a digital age, our justice is defined by the mostly unknown others on social media. People take information from social media, make judgments, choose stances, and use it to guide actions. People stand for humanitarianism and justice, but just choose stances according to the narratives that they see on social media. However, this is all based on what a few want the masses to see, and thus what is presented to the masses on social media. Thankfully, many are speaking out for justice, but sadly, even justice is defined by others.
But my heart is broken, shall I be the one standing in the crowd? We are in a real dilemma. It can be easy to critique incivility if we have seen civilization. However, it is important to be aware not to make yourself a blind emotional follower and not to make your advocate as the crazy shouts at the football stadiums.
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