Pro-Palestinian or not, we must protect people’s right to peacefully protest | Opinion
No matter your take on the pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the country, including at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, something we should all be able to agree on is the need to protect people’s right to peacefully protest and fight against disenfranchisement.
Videos of protesters being beaten, tear-gassed and aggressively arrested have been going viral on social media. Often, those arrested aren’t charged with a crime. Imagine being violently arrested then being released and left with mental, and sometimes physical, trauma?
There are many examples of peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters' First Amendment rights being violated. At UW-Madison, police took a violent approach to taking down encampments, entering when they knew protesters were asleep in their tents, defenseless.
As protesters began to link arms, officers pulled out their riot batons, beat students, and hit people in the head with their shields. UW-Madison spokesperson Marc Lovicott said the scene "got a little tense," undermining the violence inflicted on students. Prioritizing upholding a "tenting policy" over the physical safety of their students is inhumane.
Professors have supported free speech, been aggressively arrested
This violence is not only being inflicted upon students, but also professors supporting their First Amendment rights. UW-Madison professor Samer Alatout was pinned to the ground by police, speaking to the press with dried blood on his head. Like many others, he received a citation and was released, but was presumably left with the trauma.
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Other examples include a professor at the Emery University in Atlanta being thrown to the ground by a police officer, begging officers to not slam her head into the concrete. At that same university, a video of a student protester being tasered while already detained goes viral on X.
When people are not issued citations or charged with a crime, the arrests are more a statement for the public. This is a problem because it sends a message that our right to protest is at risk, putting one of the most important rights in our Constitution in jeopardy.
President Biden said on the issue “we are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” but he continued, “order must prevail.” He went on to say, “violent protest is not protected – peaceful protest is.”
When peaceful protesters are silenced, free speech is meaningless
Fair enough. But what happens when the protest is peaceful, and people are wrongfully arrested? To argue that these students simply protesting on campus is violent because they are “trespassing” is ridiculous. These campuses are often their homes, thus if they can’t protest there, then where?
While there have been incidents of antisemitism on many of the campuses where protests are taking place, many Jewish students are making it known that many of the protests themselves are not anti-Jewish. In fact, some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators are Jewish themselves.
Antisemitic and racist protests and rallies have been happening (and increasing) in this county for years. Neo-Nazi groups have publicly called America a white, Christian nation. Yet these rallies and have seen little to no police intervention, even with protesters armed and chanting violent phrases. Their right to protest remains protected, so why isn't this true for these students?
Just last year, the Neo-Nazi group ‘Blood Tribe’ marched through Madison with swastika flags, yelling racial slurs at pedestrians, yet police let them continue to protest peacefully.
According to the police, the neo-Nazi group demonstrated lawfully, and "Whether you believe that's what this group is doing or not, it's First Amendment rights," said Stephanie Fryer, Madison police spokeswoman.
Their right to protest remains protected, so why isn't this true for these students?
It's possible for students to protest on campus and not be met with violence from police. At Brown University, encampments were given extensions of their time allowed camping as protesters continued their discussions with administration. This allowed the protesters and the college to make a deal, ending the encampments and having the college vote on disinvestment. More colleges need to be like Brown and take a peaceful approach that centers on discussion rather than police intervention.
Risking our right to protest also risks the future of our country, with the act of protesting creating some of the best, most equitable practices in our history. Whether you are pro-Palestinian or not, you should care that people’s right to protest is at risk.
Zoe Takaki is an intern for the Ideas Lab. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago, where she studied journalism.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mass and sometimes violent arrests of protestors abridges free speech
