Back in the late 1960’s and early 70’s, university campuses were rocked by protests over the Viet Nam war. In May of 1970, 4 people were killed at Kent State University, by the National Guard, during a protest.
The protesters were Americans protesting against American policies. Eventually that war ended in 1975 after the loss of 150,000 American lives.
In the last few weeks, American universities, again, have been rocked by protests. The protests have reached such level that some universities have started online lectures and cancelled on site classes. The protests are different this time and that involves Middle Eastern countries. Essentially, the protests are against Israel’s incursion into Palestine, which are so far resulted in the deaths of 34,000 Palestinians
At Columbia University prop Palestinian protesters are camping out at the campus. The protest is state that they will stay there until the university divests itself from anything connected with Israel. Jewish students are a number of university are fearful due to a number of anti-Semitic comments and threats made against them.
These protests differ from the protests. 50 years ago. Back then it was Americans protesting against American policy. This time it is over a situation that is happening thousand miles away from American shores composed of protesters, whose homelands or ancestry are thousands of miles away. In a number of cases, the protesters are not university students, but, rather, are people with agendas in line with the countries in Middle East. It is a disturbing trend
Hopefully the protest will die down, but it remains to be seen.