Has the war in Gaza exposed limitations of free speech in US?

Protests have rocked US university campuses over the last week as pro-Palestinian students have encamped on the grounds of Columbia, Yale, and New York University, among other prestigious educational institutions, urging universities to divest from the state of Israel amid the ongoing genocide.

However, the response to these protests from university authorities, law enforcement, and the US government has been surprising, given the country’s strong position on free speech built on a solid constitutional basis.

The First Amendment of the US constitution protects “freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”. Free speech has been a bedrock of the values on which the US claims its nation is built, so much so that the country seldom shies away from criticising others over the lack of protection for these fundamental rights. In the most recent annual country reports on human rights produced by the US Department of State, among the many countries criticised for “serious restrictions on freedom of expression” were Bangladesh, India, China, and Russia.

Reports suggest that currently, the pro-Palestinian protesters at various campuses are facing serious restrictions on their freedom to express solidarity with the victims of a mindlessly violent military campaign being perpetrated by Israel, a campaign that has led to the death of over 34,000 civilians. Protesters are encamping themselves on university campuses by putting up tents and conducting largely peaceful demonstrations, mainly demanding that universities cut ties with Israel, by either pulling out of any deals with the Israeli government or pulling out of deals with companies that are supporting the war in Gaza.

The response to these protests and demands has been heavy handed, with hundreds of arrests and detentions reported across campuses in the US. Following the arrest of over 100 demonstrators at Columbia University on April 18, the AP reported that 275 more arrests were made in Indiana University at Bloomington, Arizona State University and Washington University in St Louis on Saturday. The total number of arrests have exceeded 900 since then, but that has done little to dissuade protesters as numerous more encampments have popped up across the country, showing solidarity to the cause.

More than just the number of people arrested while practising their fundamental right to freedom of expression, the images coming out of the US police officers in riot gear apprehending students and teachers, dragging them out of their own campuses, has been disturbing.

The video of 58-year-old Emory University professor Caroline Fohlin being pinned to the ground by three policemen in Atlanta made the rounds of the internet last week. The Daily Beastreported that she had confronted police officers who were restraining a student protester, but did not touch the officers or the student. In the video of the ensuing incident, Caroline Fohlin was violently restrained by the police officers, who held her hands behind her back and forced her to the ground. She was then charged with battery and disorderly conduct.

The justification for this extreme reaction to protests — which are being compared to similar demonstrations against the Vietnam war in the 1960s and South African apartheid in the 1980s — that has been floated by universities and law enforcement is that blatant anti-semitism (prejudice against Jews) and calls to violence are being encouraged at these encampments.

However, that argument falls flat because of the number of Jewish students from Columbia University, where these protests originated, who participated in the protests and were arrested as well.

In an opinion piece co-written by three such students — JS King, Soph Askanase and Lea Salim — for The Hill, these students explained that they “joined the encampment because Columbia funnels money that should be spent on our education into companies that build machines to kill, maim and displace our Palestinian siblings”.

It is a cause for concern across the world when the US, which is considered by much of the Western and developed world as the arbiter of human rights and specifically free speech, has shown such a hostile approach to logical, humanitarian demands made by its students and academicians at some of the country’s most prestigious universities. While the war in Gaza rages on, and thousands of civilians –including children — continue to die, the US will now have to contend with the rapid spread of anti-war demonstrations in its own shores, and find a way to safeguard the rights to free expression of its citizens while protecting its interests in the Middle East.