One of the grey areas in my professional life involves the debate surrounding the teaching of political consciousness in the classroom and the resistance to student activism. As a student of literature and culture, I believe that teaching students about political consciousness is essential to creating informed and engaged citizens. However, I have consistently avoided exposing my personal political ideologies in a classroom context, as I worry that my stated stance could result in the teaching of biased viewpoints. Ideally, as a teacher, I strive to act as a facilitator, promoting the discussion that the text demands. But there comes a moment when you have to identify what you think is just and fair. This may vary depending on the position of an organised political entity controlled by its attached strings, or that of a radical thinker who comes with macho-zealous baggage.
While I was doing my PhD at Birkbeck College at the University of London, I remember seeing a yellow sticky note left on the classroom door by my professor on April 10, 2003. It read, "Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. No class today." My professor was going to the anti-war march to protest the attack on Iraq. We all joined. The ongoing campus protests in the US and other parts of the world have prompted me to reflect on the extraordinary roles that students are playing. It made me think of a novel that I sometimes teach: Don DeLillo's White Noise.
The novel, set in 1968, begins with students returning to campus after their spring break. The caravan of cars in which parents bring their children to College-on-the-Hill symbolises a tradition that defines a nation. The fun-loving students who come to pursue degrees remain oblivious to the 1968 protests that sparked a counterculture against the Vietnam War and a demand for civil rights. Hitler Studies is one of the College-in-the-Hill's signature academic programmes. The sham of academia is critiqued by DeLillo, who exposes the forgery of the most celebrated Hitler professor, who does not even know German, yet nobody can talk of Hitler without citing him. DeLillo's criticism pervades my consciousness like white noise, a constant background noise that drowns out other sounds. The inability to practise what we teach adds to the ambivalence.
Seeing the encampments spreading like wildfire in US universities has made me rekindle my passion. These students are occupying significant campus locations or setting up blockades, calling for universities to separate themselves from companies that advance Israel's military efforts in Gaza and, in some cases, Israel itself. Independent coalitions of student groups orchestrate these campus protests, drawing inspiration from peers at other universities. Columbia University arrested over 100 protesters and expelled many due to their convictions. Many of these students pay or have taken loans to pay almost $80,000 in annual tuition fees. They are jeopardising both their career and their future. Why? They feel that their government is aiding Israel in committing genocide in Palestine.
The students are advocating for the divestment of investments in companies and funds allegedly benefiting from Israel's actions in Gaza and the ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories. Companies like Google, which reportedly holds significant contracts with the Israeli government, and Airbnb, known for permitting property listings in Israeli settlements located in the Occupied West Bank, are among the targets. Then there is the issue of having the university's branch campus in Tel Aviv.
Emory University in Atlanta dismantled a camp on Thursday morning, with at least 17 people detained. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to quell pro-Palestinian protests. The heavy-handedness led students in Atlanta to shout, "Stop Cop City." The situation turned brutal at the University of Texas, where police and state troopers made dozens of arrests and forced hundreds of students off the main lawn. The University of Texas at Austin aggressively detained dozens of protesters, making 34 arrests. The university's president, Jay Hartzell, vowed, "Our rules matter, and we will enforce them. Our university will not be occupied." Northwestern University hastily changed its student code of conduct to bar tents on its suburban Chicago campus, as anti-war student activists set up an encampment similar to pro-Palestinian demonstrations at colleges nationwide. The university enacted an interim addendum to its student code to bar tents, and warning of disciplinary actions including suspension, expulsion, and criminal charges.
Earlier, the University of Southern California cancelled its main stage graduation ceremony amid protests. The university faced criticism over its decision to axe a graduation speech by valedictorian Asna Tabassum after pro-Israel groups labelled her anti-Semitic for her social media posts supporting Palestinians.
While many pro-Israeli lobbyists have tried to thwart what they believe is rising anti-Semitism, many Jewish individuals have come to aid the pro-Palestine student groups. They believe that the extreme Zionists are libelling their culture. "Not in my name" is a popular slogan among the Jewish supporters of Palestine. Award-winning author and activist Naomi Klein, for instance, spoke at one gathering in New York recently, where she said, "Too many of our people are worshiping a false idol. They are enraptured by it. They are drunk on it. They are profaned by it. Zionism is a false idol."
Now, one may wonder why the noise is getting louder on the margin, outside the whale, where mainstream media harps on Biblical myth: to protect the promised land of one of the most persecuted races in history. But do the Jewish people have the moral height to preach about suffering once it has killed more than 40,000 people in a narrow strip of land, pounding it with thousands of 2,000-pound bombs—the extent that the world has not seen since Vietnam? The International Court of Justice has already taken the case of plausible genocide into cognisance. The veto power of the superpower makes the federal government out of sync with the people.
As the clamour of dissent grows louder, we stand on the precipice of historical reckoning. The student protests of 1968 heralded a paradigm shift in global consciousness, challenging entrenched power structures and reshaping the trajectory of history. Are we on the cusp of a similar watershed moment, where the voices of dissent converge to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy? Only time will tell.
Dr Shamsad Mortuza is professor of English at Dhaka University.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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