WATCH: Consortium News visited Sydney University where the anti-genocide encampment is continuing without a thought of police intervention.
Protest at anti-genocide encampment of Sydney University. (Cathy Vogan/CN)
While American police are violently breaking up anti-genocide encampments at universities across the United States, in Australia authorities are allowing them to continue undisturbed, especially after the Jewish Council of Australia said it
“strongly rejects the claims that these protests are a threat to Jewish students and staff. … Attempting to silence or censor these protests by deceitfully accusing them of antisemitism is a dangerous overreach that, if acted upon, risks stifling free speech on campuses.”
Cathy Vogan, executive producer of Consortium News’ CN Live! visited the Sydney University campus and this is what she found:
This is the full statement of Jewish Council of Australia:
“Last week students in Australia established encampments at their universities in solidarity with Palestinians. These join the dozens of solidarity camps established across the US and elsewhere in recent weeks.
Like their peers, Australian students are calling on their institutions to end relationships with weapons companies that are enabling Israeli war crimes, and urging our government to sanction Israel and cut military ties.
The Jewish Council of Australia strongly rejects the claims that these protests are a threat to Jewish students and staff. Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza in the last 200 days. In the past week, new evidence of mass unmarked civilian graves was uncovered. Palestinians in the West Bank are also suffering at the hands of the Israeli military and violent settlers.
Students are right to peacefully protest these mounting crimes and should not be silenced by their institutions or by other organisations that erroneously claim these protests are antisemitic. Attempting to silence or censor these protests by deceitfully accusing them of antisemitism is a dangerous overreach that, if acted upon, risks stifling free speech on campuses.
Universities must be places where diverse perspectives can be voiced and debated openly. We object to the ongoing individual targeting and vilification of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah in relation to the University of Sydney protest camp. Attempts by organisations outside universities to push Macquarie University to censure or dismiss Dr Abdel-Fattah are an unacceptable interference in academic freedom and independence.
Dr Elizabeth Strakosch, Executive Officer, Jewish Council of Australia: ‘We should be proud of all of the students, many of whom are Jewish, who are speaking out against this unfolding genocide. The right to peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic freedom that universities should uphold and defend. The student protests against the unfolding genocide in Gaza are legitimate expressions of political speech and human rights advocacy.’
‘These student actions are part of a long tradition of campus protest and dissent. Many on the Jewish Council of Australia are university staff, and we know the costs and risks students face when they speak up. We urge institutions across Australia to respond thoughtfully and listen to student demands.”
Sarah Schwartz, Executive Officer, Jewish Council of Australia: ‘There is nothing antisemitic about strong criticism of Israel, or calls for freedom and justice for Palestinians. Slandering these protests is a cynical attempt to distract from the atrocities Israel is currently committing. It is offensive both to Palestinians and their allies, including Jewish staff and students who are also protesting.’
‘We need to distinguish between genuine racism and political discomfort. These protests may make some students uncomfortable because they politically disagree, but that is not grounds to shut them down – it is a reality of life in a democracy.'”
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What’s unusual in the ‘moving’ pictures of this protest in support of Gaza is that there were no unfurled national flags of either of the opposing factions.
Was this intentional?
Quite remarkable!
As Kingley Amos reminds us, even God cannot abolish historical fact, so that massive distortions accompanying the worst of criminal behavior WILL emerge. I recall well the campus uprisings of the late 1960’s in which “radicals” (I actually heard Mearscheimer call them this today) occupied campuses and expressed outrage. Administrations in those days were like those today, serving titled positions, not inclined to critical thinking. That sort of grooming was left to the teachers, or at least some of them. Mearscheimer’s usage sounds a little like “outside agitators” which is now the term for today’s lot of protesters, who as then are mostly peaceful, with the agitators thugs from off-campus who feel a warm kinship to cops with night sticks etc.
So, then, factually what we have is very plain, very well documented, very ugly. We are witnessing a violent slaughtering of a people in the vein of Hitler, ultimate sadist cum egomaniac and role-model for a set of like-minded types of today, starting with Yahu. Biden would seem to belong in the group also, in a special role as Orwellian Linguist in Chief. Evidently this sort of mentality is also appealing to many members of the American Congress, who have now come up with a resolution that anything critical of the genocide is “anti-semitic.” Anything critical is subject to punitive action, as in let’s get the blackshirts and the brownshirts onto these people to beat them up and drag them around and terrorize them while calling them (the victims) “the terrorists.”
But historically this sort of thing is supposed to be off-limits and a lot of people are noticing it, even in America.
From the First Amendment (ratified in 1791) :
“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble. “
Imagine letting a peaceful protest be peaceful instead of sending in police with riot gear! US higher education administrations need to take some lessons from this Australian model.
Latest reports:
“Vice-chancellors have rejected calls to shut down the pro-Palestine encampments at Australian universities, saying campuses don’t want to see an “escalation” of the kind that is happening in the US.
“A snap meeting was held on Thursday between the Group of Eight (Go8) vice-chancellors, the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and the secretary of the education department to discuss the safety of students and staff amid the protests.
Mark Scott, the vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, attended Thursday’s meeting. A protest on the lawns of his university is now into its 11th day, the longest of any Australian camps.
“Scott took to LinkedIn on Thursday to reject calls from shadow education minister Sarah Henderson for police intervention, maintaining the exercise of free speech could be “challenging and confronting”.
“I am not convinced what is happening on US campuses demonstrates a pathway to greater safety and security for any students or staff, nor helps to build a community committed to free speech and thoughtful exchanges of divergent views,” Scott wrote.
“Protests and vigorous debates have always been part of our culture of academic freedom … even when, as individuals, we may strongly disagree with things we hear said.”
hxxps://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/03/australian-universities-reject-calls-for-police-to-break-up-gaza-protests
“… Australian universities, saying campuses don’t want to see an “escalation” of the kind that is happening in the US.” The US being (correctly) held up as a negative example by a military allie no-less. Makes me proud to be an American (sarcasm).
Sarah Schwartz, Executive Officer, Jewish Council of Australia: ‘There is nothing antisemitic about strong criticism of Israel, or calls for freedom and justice for Palestinians. Slandering these protests is a cynical attempt to distract from the atrocities Israel is currently committing. It is offensive both to Palestinians and their allies, including Jewish staff and students who are also protesting.’
‘We need to distinguish between genuine racism and political discomfort. These protests may make some students uncomfortable because they politically disagree, but that is not grounds to shut them down – it is a reality of life in a democracy’” [from the article].
What a clear and devastating rebuke of Zionism (in contrast, listen to Netanyahu’s views on campus protest in the US) which is being promoted by the Netanyahu regime, and of the Biden administration and American political class that supports it.
I have read that in America there are roughly eight Christian Zionists to one Jewish Zionist. Well connected Zionist promoters and billionaires are among the strongest supporters of Zionist Israel and the genocidal Netanyahu regime.
Jews and Arabs lived together in the Middle East for centuries without conflict including in present day Iran. The horror in Israel and the conflicts it is causing around the world is not due to Jewish people or Judaism but to Zionists who share the same mindset as German Nazis and neocons. Netanyahu and his genocidal cabinet are complete fakes who are leading Israel straight to hell.
Jackson Hinkle put together a 14 minute video on his Twitter page that’s an absolute MUST! He talks about MAGA fans and anti-genocide activists getting together.
Not sure if this link will travel well, but here it is:
hxxps://twitter.com/jacksonhinklle/status/1786217217429770536