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Trump’s crackdown continues: police violently arrest dozens of anti-genocide protesters

New York’s Columbia University has brought in the cops yet again to violently arrest dozens of anti-genocide protesters amid Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian rhetoric and rule.

Trump: wide-reaching implications of rhetoric

19 months into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, protests at universities complicit in Israeli war crimes are ongoing. And Columbia has been a key site of resistance, with the latest action focusing on its main library. The police detained over 70 protesters after they stood their ground.

There were scenes of violence from the police, and also scenes of solidarity in the streets:

Protesters demands were:

Genocide investments, student resistance, and government repression

Trump and his fervently pro-genocide administration has sought to silence campus protests by revoking hundreds of student visas, cutting $2.2bn from Harvard, and threatening $400m in funding for Columbia.

Protesters from Columbia University renamed the library “the Basel Al-Araj Popular University”, in reference to a Palestinian writer whom Israeli forces murdered in 2017. And they insisted that:

as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia’s profits and legitimacy. Repression breeds resistance – if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus.

Columbia’s endowment fund stands at around $13.6bn and there are numerous investors that protesters want the university to break ties with.

Boycott Columbia University

There have been calls for a boycott of Columbia in relation to its investment in genocide and collaboration with police to repress protests. A 1 April open letter says:

We, the undersigned, commit to a boycott of Columbia University in solidarity with students, faculty, and staff targeted by the U.S. Government and university administration for their principled opposition to the genocide in Gaza and support for Palestinian liberation. By violating its ethical and professional duty towards its community and abdicating its responsibility to uphold and support free speech and academic freedom, Columbia has participated in an authoritarian assault on universities aimed at destroying their role as sites of teaching, research, learning, and activism essential to building a free and fair world.

A 29 April update adds:

The aim of this boycott is to hold Columbia University accountable for its collaboration with the government’s assault on higher education, free speech, academic freedom, dissent, protest, and the rights of residents. This also means supporting specific efforts by Columbia University faculty, students, staff, and programs to oppose the university administration’s repressive tactics  and refuse attempts to normalize the situation.

Featured image via screengrab

By Ed Sykes