Playing the part of a protester
By Editorial
New York University's Kimmel Student Center was under occupation by a group of nearly 80 student protestors Feb. 18-20. Though the campaign's goals, essentially to raise opposition to Israeli military action in Gaza, were certainly reasonable, the protestors' methods were ineffective because they were more show than substance.
This student "occupation," or Take Back NYU! (TBNYU) campaign, is part of a wider international trend that gained momentum following Israel's most recent assault on Gaza.
Beginning in mid-January, over a dozen universities in the U.K. staged similiar sit-in protests, beginning at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London on Jan. 13.
On Feb. 17, Edinburgh University's own student sit-in ended as students agreed to leave George Square lecture theatre.
Protests like this are a legacy of the 1960s, in which sit-ins were effectively utilized in ideological battles ranging from Civil Rights (The Greensboro Sit-In February 1, 1960) to Vietnam opposition. Their recent revival, which, according to CNN, has been aided by social networking sites, has led some to claim a revival of 1960s protest spirit. However, "Student activism is still a relatively minority activity compared to its heyday," according to Keith Kahn-Harrisin, a sociologist at the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths College in London.
The protest at NYU strongly paralleled other student sit-ins in the U.K. After settling down in their school's cafeteria, the student activists announced that they would remain there until NYU's administration met their originally unclear demands, which eventually ranged from boycotting companies that supported the Israeli military to providing reconstruction aid for the University of Gaza, which was damaged in a December Israeli airstrike.
The NYU protest has been criticized for not making its goals clear from the start. When campus security ended the TBNYU! sit-in, only a handful of students remained.
In the end, the protest achieved nothing but suspension for the students who remained in the cafeteria. But at least they gave their campus quite a show.
Though many agree that violence in Gaza needs to stop, this is not the way to affect change. With the wide variety of other tools at our disposal, such methods seem anachronistic today. Blogs, social networking sites and Web sites are the modern ways to get your point across to a global audience.
Our generation's activism sometimes doesn't seem like much. In many ways, this makes sense. It's easier to gather anti-war support among a Vietnam-era student population holding draft notices than one attempting to find jobs in the midst of an economic recession.
Number one on the list of TBNYU! demands was "Amnesty for all parties involved." Essentially, they were saying, let us get some attention as long as we don't get in trouble. In the '60s, being arrested for a cause was an honor.
Protest serves a critical role in affecting social change. In the 1980s, international protests led to the economic pressures that helped end South Africa's brutal apartheid system. Change normally requires dissent, but when the method of protest overshadows the goals, it should be reconsidered. The goal should not simply be to "play" protest.