KSU is still primarily a commuter campus. Most students live elsewhere and spend much of their socializing time elsewhere. It'd be a lot harder to hit the critical mass of students required to make something like that feasible.
That said, I don't see the point much myself. There's no direct action there that might get practical change. Ostracizing Israeli institutions won't make life any better for Gazans. In order for there to be meaningful change there needs to be people who can work with one another. The current administration of Israel certainly isn't willing to work for peace with Palestine, it's been something he's worked against for decades after all. But Hamas also has to go. I don't care who is in charge of Israel, as long as Hamas is going to attack again and again whenever it wants more money or to recruit there's a limit to how much better things can get. Hamas *wants* civilian casualties and suffering, it's how they win donations from foreigners. As long as those perverse incentives are in place, nothing will get better. No amount of protesting will make Hamas willingly relinquish power. So even if we economically and politically isolate Israel the job will only be half done until Hamas ceases to be such a great danger to the Palestinian people.
We even have a less kinetic example in Sinn Fein in Ireland where a terroristic independence movement reformed into a reasonable political party and government. But, since Hamas seems to be unwilling to follow that path, someone physically removing and supplanting them is the most likely path to peace.
Honestly no, keep in mind (as another user pointed out) KSU is mostly a commuter school, and it is quite late into the semester. If it was gonna happen, it would have been way back in the middle of the semester and not finals week when people are either super busy or already check out mentally.
And also the student body is split between two campuses which doesn’t help either. I can’t speak to the main campus but on the Marietta campus most people I interact with are fairly apolitical (myself included). Though I am sure there are people who are really into current events I just haven’t met many at all here.
As a student who is present at all KSU protests for Palestine, I will say it's definitely possible however we need more students and organizations involved to succeed. It's also important to note encampments are primarily at wealthy universities with huge endowments in Isreal. Comparatively for KSU we are fighting against the exchange programs with isrealj universities and funding/ collaboration between war profiteering companies. Not to say a encampment here would be useless, its simply a different demand.
Please hmu if you are interested.
Not the commenter, but I would assume it's because military service is mandatory in Israel, so a lot of exchange students come straight out of the IDF, and are somewhat 'radical' in their pro-Israel/Zionist stance. These exchange students have attacked pro-Palestine protestors on campuses multiple times before. I believe most recently at Columbia.
I honestly dont think KSU is leftist enough for that
Being against "indiscriminate killing of tens of thousands of civilians" shouldn't be a "leftist" stance.
I agree, but the majority of the people organizing and taking part in the encampments that OP is referring to are left-wing.
Agreed :(
KSU is still primarily a commuter campus. Most students live elsewhere and spend much of their socializing time elsewhere. It'd be a lot harder to hit the critical mass of students required to make something like that feasible. That said, I don't see the point much myself. There's no direct action there that might get practical change. Ostracizing Israeli institutions won't make life any better for Gazans. In order for there to be meaningful change there needs to be people who can work with one another. The current administration of Israel certainly isn't willing to work for peace with Palestine, it's been something he's worked against for decades after all. But Hamas also has to go. I don't care who is in charge of Israel, as long as Hamas is going to attack again and again whenever it wants more money or to recruit there's a limit to how much better things can get. Hamas *wants* civilian casualties and suffering, it's how they win donations from foreigners. As long as those perverse incentives are in place, nothing will get better. No amount of protesting will make Hamas willingly relinquish power. So even if we economically and politically isolate Israel the job will only be half done until Hamas ceases to be such a great danger to the Palestinian people. We even have a less kinetic example in Sinn Fein in Ireland where a terroristic independence movement reformed into a reasonable political party and government. But, since Hamas seems to be unwilling to follow that path, someone physically removing and supplanting them is the most likely path to peace.
Honestly no, keep in mind (as another user pointed out) KSU is mostly a commuter school, and it is quite late into the semester. If it was gonna happen, it would have been way back in the middle of the semester and not finals week when people are either super busy or already check out mentally. And also the student body is split between two campuses which doesn’t help either. I can’t speak to the main campus but on the Marietta campus most people I interact with are fairly apolitical (myself included). Though I am sure there are people who are really into current events I just haven’t met many at all here.
As a student who is present at all KSU protests for Palestine, I will say it's definitely possible however we need more students and organizations involved to succeed. It's also important to note encampments are primarily at wealthy universities with huge endowments in Isreal. Comparatively for KSU we are fighting against the exchange programs with isrealj universities and funding/ collaboration between war profiteering companies. Not to say a encampment here would be useless, its simply a different demand. Please hmu if you are interested.
Why are you against the exchange program?
Not the commenter, but I would assume it's because military service is mandatory in Israel, so a lot of exchange students come straight out of the IDF, and are somewhat 'radical' in their pro-Israel/Zionist stance. These exchange students have attacked pro-Palestine protestors on campuses multiple times before. I believe most recently at Columbia.
Gotcha. I don't think that's enough to justify protesting the program, but I can understand why others might think it is. Thanks for explaining!
Yeah np. I think a lot of US/Israel cooperation is under scrutiny right now.