Sorry, I'll try to be more direct, because sarcasm is lost on some people. Does Columbia University have any share of its endowment invested in Hamas? Do they have exchange programs with Hamas? In what way is Columbia supporting Hamas, that the students would feel the need to occupy a university building to get their university to stop lending its support to Hamas?
Sorry, I'll try to be more direct, because sarcasm is lost on some people. Does Columbia University have any share of its endowment invested in Hamas? Do they have exchange programs with Hamas? In what way is Columbia supporting Hamas, that the students would feel the need to occupy a university building to get their university to stop lending its support to Hamas?
I got your sarcasm, but you spoke the truth at the start.
What is the ultimate aim? If it is peace and a land for Palestinians than the protests need to also make clear that the future will not be a land led by Hamas. If it is just a protest about Israel it will have no impact. Israel isn’t influenced by a small (yes small percentage) group of college protesters who vilify them and ignore the evil of Hamas that promises to kill them.
Put yourself in the shoes of your foe and try to persuade them. It isn’t by totally ignoring their concerns and hyperbolically accusing them of genocide.
I think the protestors can think through how to find solutions and not just express their anger.
I blame the schools. American history excludes any serious examination of the social movements that have changed this country for the better and how they work. Probably because those in power don't want us to know these things.
Every serious protest starts with a strategy based on the specific pressure points available to you. Students who want to end the Israeli apartheid system target their own university administration and its ties to that system. In the process, they also hope to raise public awareness of the plight of the Palestinians and make US aid to Israel a subject of debate. In these things, they have succeeded. Of course, there's much more to do, but if you understand social movements and how they develop and eventually succeed, you'd see this one is on the right track.
Sorry, I'll try to be more direct, because sarcasm is lost on some people. Does Columbia University have any share of its endowment invested in Hamas? Do they have exchange programs with Hamas? In what way is Columbia supporting Hamas, that the students would feel the need to occupy a university building to get their university to stop lending its support to Hamas?
I got your sarcasm, but you spoke the truth at the start.
What is the ultimate aim? If it is peace and a land for Palestinians than the protests need to also make clear that the future will not be a land led by Hamas. If it is just a protest about Israel it will have no impact. Israel isn’t influenced by a small (yes small percentage) group of college protesters who vilify them and ignore the evil of Hamas that promises to kill them.
Put yourself in the shoes of your foe and try to persuade them. It isn’t by totally ignoring their concerns and hyperbolically accusing them of genocide.
I think the protestors can think through how to find solutions and not just express their anger.
I blame the schools. American history excludes any serious examination of the social movements that have changed this country for the better and how they work. Probably because those in power don't want us to know these things.
Every serious protest starts with a strategy based on the specific pressure points available to you. Students who want to end the Israeli apartheid system target their own university administration and its ties to that system. In the process, they also hope to raise public awareness of the plight of the Palestinians and make US aid to Israel a subject of debate. In these things, they have succeeded. Of course, there's much more to do, but if you understand social movements and how they develop and eventually succeed, you'd see this one is on the right track.
But this is how many in the the older generation respond to student protests:
1) Make no effort to understand the protesters strategy
2) Completely fail to understand the protesters strategy
3) Accuse the protesters of not having a strategy
So when you say "persuade your foe", who do you think the students "foe" is, and who should they be aiming to persuade?