A-Infos (en) France, Monde Libertaire - THE DOLLAR DICTATORSHIP - Part Two: On Student Freedom of Expression (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

We saw in the first part, 
https://monde-libertaire.net/index.php?articlen=8360, how the lawless 
state created by the new American presidential autocracy used the dollar 
dictatorship to subjugate the press. Even more disturbing is the way it 
uses this same tool to limit student freedom of expression. Students 
protesting for the liberation of Palestine and against the Israeli 
government are specifically targeted. In an autocracy, this kind of 
opposition to established policy is not tolerated, especially in the 
United States, where numerous student struggles have succeeded in 
changing the course of history. To take just a few examples, these 
successes began at Fisk University in 1925. President Fisk then 
restricted many student activities. After a peaceful protest, the police 
intervened violently, tipping the scales in favor of the students, who 
organized a boycott of the school, leading to the resignation of its 
president.

On February 1, 1960, four Black students from North Carolina 
Agricultural and Technical College decided to stay when they were 
refused service at Woolworth's, one of the first retail and restaurant 
chains in the United States. Their sit-in grew and spread to other 
segregated college towns. During the summer, many businesses and public 
establishments opened their doors to Black people, including the 
Woolworth's in Greensboro. Richard Nixon, elected in 1968, had promised 
to end the Vietnam War, but in 1970, the United States invaded Cambodia. 
Protests began the next day, including at Kent State University. On May 
4, a demonstration of 3,000 people was met by about 100 National 
Guardsmen who opened fire, killing four students and wounding nine 
others. A student strike was organized across the country, with nearly 4 
million participants... the rest is history. More recently, the 1985 
student blockade of Columbia University, which demanded that the 
university divest from companies profiting from apartheid in South 
Africa, led to divestment from the university and set a precedent for 
other institutions.

Students at public universities have the right to participate in 
peaceful protests, as long as they do not disrupt the school's 
operations. Public institutions may impose reasonable restrictions on 
where, when, and how protests can take place, but the restrictions 
imposed must be neutral-that is, they cannot be based on the message 
expressed or the protesters' beliefs, which is essential here. Decades 
of court rulings clearly show that a public university campus is a 
"traditional public forum." Student protest on campus is an American 
tradition.

So there's nothing that can be done to prevent students from 
demonstrating for Palestine, except by using the weapon of the dollar. 
The process is very simple: if universities don't prevent the 
demonstrations, they lose their federal funding. Here are some of the 
sums that universities will lose if they don't comply with the Trump 
administration's demands: Harvard University, $9 billion; Brown 
University, $510 million; Cornell University, $1 billion; Columbia 
University, $400 million; the University of Pennsylvania, $175 million 
(this one in response to the athletic participation of a trans athlete 
in 2022); Princeton University, $210 million, plus George Washington 
University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern 
University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Berkeley and Los Angeles.

And here's the result: Northwestern University recently published a list 
of measures it had taken to combat "anti-Semitism," which closely 
matched a list of demands the Trump administration had made to Columbia 
University. This comes after the latter agreed to toughen its 
disciplinary, admissions, and protest permitting policies! Other 
universities are negotiating in the same way, with the exception of 
Harvard, which is suing the government.

This will result in universities revoking, or at least severely 
limiting, students' right to protest. Those who defy this ban will be 
arrested, resulting in a criminal record for Americans at best, and 
expulsion from the United States for foreigners. Trump recently stated 
that his administration is also studying the possibility of arresting 
American citizens and deporting them to El Salvadoran prisons! It seems 
clear that such a measure would be completely illegal and rejected by 
the Supreme Court. But how can Americans imprisoned in El Salvador be 
returned? A good example is that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was living 
legally in the United States before being arrested and deported to El 
Salvador. He was imprisoned without trial in the maximum-security prison 
reserved for Salvadoran terrorists. The Supreme Court ruled this 
deportation illegal and ordered the government to "facilitate" his 
return, which Trump has, to this day, refused to do!

On May 7, approximately 80 pro-Palestinian activists were arrested 
during the New York City police occupation of the Columbia Library. This 
follows the incarceration of numerous students living legally in the 
United States, such as Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, a Palestinian student, who 
was arrested while in an immigration office in Colchester in the process 
of obtaining American citizenship. His interlocutor left the room, and 
masked, armed officers entered and arrested him! Such manners in a 
democracy! His crime was organizing campus protests and co-founding the 
Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian, U.S. 
permanent resident, and graduate student, who was arrested in March. 
Mahdawai spent 16 days in a Vermont jail before a judge ordered his 
release on April 30. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be 
deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals! 
Mahdawi has accused Columbia University of eroding democracy through its 
handling of campus protests against the war between Israel and Hamas. He 
added that he "intends to attend his graduation because it's a 
message... It's a message that says education is hope, education is 
light, and there is no power in the world that can take it away from us."

Let's hope he's right!

By Philippe Diaz / "The Other Voice of America" for "Le Monde Libertaire"
www.philippe-diaz.com

https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8383
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