Tensions are so high at Columbia ahead of Passover that all classes will be virtual today
cnn.com
Officials at Columbia University, facing surging tensions on campus that raised safety concerns, have announced all classes will be virtual on Monday as Passover begins.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik said in a statement the decision was made to “deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps.”
The move underscores how tense the situation has become at the Ivy League school and the enormous challenge facing Shafik to get the situation under control.
Wowza, they actually went through that whole article without mentioning that the university ordered an NYPD raid on student protesters last week and issued suspensions against a bunch of them.
But, no, that couldn't have anything to do with these increased tensions, it's definitely 100% because this is the first day of Passover /s
I noticed it’s being framed as an “enormous challenge for Shafik”. Bleh.
CNN writing Zionist propaganda? Who'd have thought
This is why you don't commit war crimes: it puts your whole diaspora I'm danger.
While it shouldn't be on them, the diaspora could shift its position and join the protests against the war crimes. Break the Israel-Jew connection semites and antisemites are drawing for their respective purposes. I bet this would decrease antisemitism and improve its safety dramatically.
While I don't disagree with the concept at all here, I'm a little uneasy over the idea that anyone would have to do anything to go out of the way for their own safety, especially taking up a political cause. That should be the default
What's interesting, or awful, is that was exactly what was being asked of Palestinian and Middle Eastern diaspora members: that they hadn't disavowed Hamas (or ISIS, or going back to 2001, Al Qaeda) enough and were suspect until they did.
It was so bad that we saw joke headlines like "Palestinian children killed in Israeli strike criticised for not condemning Hamas".
No question. Unfortunately some folks would go out of their way to endanger the safety of others, whether they like it or not. If I've learned anything about democracy and society it's that passive stability (in safety and other regards) seems impossible. Some people have to be actively working to maintain such stability. If you have a well funded government that represents your interests, then public servants will do most of this work, you just go and vote. If you don't... more of that work gets outsourced to private individuals. And since there always are private individuals who are working towards replacing, underfunding, undermining governments, it follows that even if you have such a government that is favorable to protect you, you still have to work to counteract those other folks.
Jewish groups have been protesting the whole time. Fuck, before all this it was Jewish folks who introduced me to anti Zionism. In late October I had to hear a whole thing about the crackdown against Jewish pro Palestine protesters in New York and how the media keeps ignoring them or brushing aside the fact that some of these protests are Jewish led. (I was at a party hosted by a Jewish anti Zionist friend the day after a Jewish anti Zionist protest in central station was broken up) In fact Israel had to crack down against Israeli protestors arguing for peace and a measured response.
This is not Jews vs Palestinians or Jews vs Muslims. This is Israel (the government and a significant portion of their citizens) and their supporters against the people of Palestine.
Am aware. I'm imagining a much larger and more outspoken shift. If the status quo is 20/80 where 20 speak against Israel's actions and 80 don't, a flip to 80 speaking against.
Ok or, we could listen to the Arabic Americans about their experiences 20 years ago and learn not to demand ethnic groups constantly denounce foreign people just because they’re the same ethnicity because it turns out that really sucks.
Percentage-wise Jews are actually overrepresented in pro Palestine rallies and protests.
There aren't actually that many Jews in the world. Continuing the hypothetical 20%, if 20% of Americans would go protesting the numbers would be insane.
Honestly, a lot of people are. But the big groups, like AIPAC and the ADL, are pretty heavily pro-Israel.
As if the bigots would update their lists of who to hate lol
So nice for the school to make classes virtual so you can go out and protest while listening to lecture.
Columbia made a Pantheon building?
I had to stay home today so the AC company could rewire the unit. We are getting a new roof put on the building and removing all the AC units from each rack to put new racks in is a big job. It was really hot for most of the day and they were able to finish the job. It was more rewarding to not be involved in the news or flow of information concerning tensions. There is no value in US media output. Now I will read some technical stuff and keep away from the news. It's unfortunate our world is in such bad condition, but that is not my fault nor is it my problem. I'm gonna stay in my lane and mind my business.
i didn't need to read this
i didn't need to read this
That's weird, why is Passover relevant to this? I've been assured that these protests have nothing to do with antisemitism 🤔
It's not at all, Columbia is trying to cover their ass because they raided and then suspended the protestors Friday, and could have seen some backlash to that today with more protests. Saying it's because of Passover is the lie they're selling to justify their actions.
Could it be that some of the protesters are antisemitic and they are using the protest as cover? I don't know that this is the right step to take, but this is really the perfect time for actual bigots to make attacks. It's Israel's fault since they associate themselves with Judaism and they're the ones perpetrating the genocide, but that doesn't change anything.
Yeah it looks like there's some peaceful protesting going on, that's also attracting more extremist elements. At least that's what I got from reading the article.
It's always a risk when ethnic groups are involved in conflicts of any sort and there are protests elsewhere in the world. It gives bigots cover.
I was with you until this. Criticizing Israel's government is absolutely legit (and IMO justified at the moment) but criticizing Jews for being Jewish is... weird.
I'm not criticizing Jews for being Jewish. I'm Jewish. What I am not is Israeli, despite them trying to associate me with them.
Gotcha, agreed. To be fair, there is a LOT of antisemitism on the Palestinian/Arab side, so the Israeli govt is not the only one causing this conflation of Israeli policy and Judaism at large.
To be fair, why do you think they're antisemitic? Could it be the years and years of oppression under Israel, who have conflated themselves with Judaism the entire time?
This isn't me saying that antisemitism is good, but the same reason you were confused about the ties between Judaism and Israel (and lack thereof) is probably the same thing going through their heads.
I'm going to assume you mean well, but this is bordering on "She was asking for it, did you see what she was wearing?"
They don't. It's called fear mongering.
Tell that to the anti semites at these protests. Which side do you think they're on?
Chinese government moment.
Honestly? Both. I’ve heard what the Christian evangelicals who are demanding we fund Israel say about Jewish people. They may support a Jewish state but many of them don’t support their Jewish neighbors. The neo Nazis are probably opposed to Israel as well, they generally have a problem wish Jewish folks no matter where they are. It’s similar to how Jewish folks are protesting on both sides here.