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Richard Ogle is a writer, researcher and business consultant. He lives in Camden.
Now that most college commencements are over, the majority of student protesters have gone home. Some undoubtedly plan to resume their protests in the fall. Why is this misguided? In short, why continue to protest?
Unfortunately, war does not wait. The Biden administration has until fairly recently declined to add its support to a resolution in the United Nations calling for a ceasefire. Although it has informed Israel that the U.S. would no longer supply certain kinds of offensive missiles and bombs, it also announced that it would send Israel $1 billion in new weapons, including ammunition and new tactical armaments, precisely the kind that could be used for street combat in the southern city of Rafah, where most of the fighting is now concentrated.
As if this wasn’t enough, the Biden administration said the Israelis were still getting “the vast, vast majority of everything that they need to defend themselves.” In short, the war continues in no small measure because the U.S. is committed ongoingly to support Israel’s efforts.
The numbers have become numbing: more than 36,000 dead, countless thousands missing or wounded, 370,000 homes damaged or completely destroyed, and more than 45 percent of agricultural infrastructure laid waste. Now, following Israeli threats of a further incursion into Rafah, more than 1 million Palestinians who sought refuge there have been forced to flee northward again, into an area where there is virtually no humanitarian aid.
Aid has been crossing the border near Rafah in a trickle, partly because the Israelis insist on searching every shipment for hidden arms. The Biden administration announced the completion of a temporary jetty, built for landing hundreds of tons of food, water and other humanitarian aid, only to see it badly damaged by rough seas. Meanwhile, famine, in both the north and south, is imminent for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Why continue to protest? And how should protests be conducted? Foremost among the principles that emerged from previous successful protest movements, including for civil rights, voting rights and apartheid divestment, is persistence. Protesting takes sustained effort over time because the main purpose, raising public consciousness, typically takes years.
A second key principle is nonviolence. In the 1960s, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee used nonviolence with great effectiveness in the face of persistent police and National Guard attacks in the campaign for voting rights in the South. Violence turns people off and therefore defeats the purpose of protesting. This is a particularly difficult principle to adhere to when the violence originates with the police.
Third, no business as usual. Protesters interrupt meetings, skip classes, organize strikes and occupy or blockade buildings for a reason. They’re rightfully disdainful of those who complain about the inconvenience involved, which pales into insignificance compared with the anguish of those on whose behalf they are protesting.
Fourth, focus on the just cause. Bertrand Russell, a veteran protester and one of the founders of the venerable Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, understood how complicated arguments could get. His wise counsel was, “Remember your humanity and forget the rest.”
Guided by these principles, students should return to protesting. And the rest of us should join them. There’s going to be a long road ahead before things really change for the better.
