The third of many parts of my memoir-in-gestation. This time, the campus of Columbia as a young reporter for Newsday…lessons for this campus and others today.
I heretofore knew only snippets of the Columbia protests. Thank you! Living and teaching in Berkeley and Oakland, California, the focus of the story tends to be the occupations, attempts to stop the draft; the counterculture; and lots of police brutality. In the Bay area there were "counter protesters," but they were not organized. Some of them were working class people who resented the ruckus made by privileged college students; others were draftees who felt duty bound to answer the call to enlist. There's a documentary about the left coast story called "Berkeley in the Sixties." Well worth a watch.
Thank you David for your recapture of what students @ Columbia had to endure during their protests. I was 16 @ that time and very anxious knowing I could be drafted into the military and sent to Vietnam to fight a losing battle. Those students deserve as much credit as anyone who protested the war.
Enjoyed the memoir. Didn't enjoy the characterizaripn of what's going on at Columbia (and elsewhere) as "Jews against Arabs." How many Jews have blocked pro-Hamas protesters from attending classes, leaving the library?
I noticed that (but they're not all pro-Hamas by any stretch).
Still the reference appears to refer to the entire history of conflict in Mandated Palestine.
The world body politic recognized Israel as, first and foremost, a 'new Jewish-nationalist state' inside an ethnic-Arab population. Similarly, the Cyprus conflict involved a Turkish enclave on a dominantly Greek Island.
Also, from WWII on, the main political movement, from Syria over to the Atlantic Ocean, was called pan-Arab nationalism. Jordan and allied countries did not fight the Partition of Palestine to be anti-Jewish, but as part of the post-colonial movement so named. Sure there was a lot of screaming against 'the Jews' but that referred to the usurping Jewish colony, as they put it. In fact, Arab nationalists I mixed with from 1960s on were meticulously opposed to European anti-Semitism.
This is a fantastic slice of history David, thanks so much. I had to look up IDA to refresh my memory, I believe it was the Institute for Defense Analyses. I must say, the current protest is a huge inspiration and hope for the future-- and a lot more decorous than anything that happened in 1968.
Isn't it true that the Times blocked any reporting of the Harlem-park protest and police reaction to it?
Many fond memories -- I marched in the first mass protest against the war in Manhattan-- 1 million strong. I passed out antiwar leaflets to draftees as early as 1966 (they were very receptive). I was getting stomped on by militarized cops by 1967.
CEASE FIRE NOW and get humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Agreed !!
Thanks so much, Keith !!
That was just one building they filed out meekly...the rest they were DRAGGED out !!!
Zero (that I ever discovered back in those days!!!)
Those were not the days of counter-anything … just us (students) vs them (administrators & the cops!!)
David, I was astonished by the photo of the cops (graphic, just under the words "they all filed out meekly"). What I remember: https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/riot-police-who-revolt-france
I heretofore knew only snippets of the Columbia protests. Thank you! Living and teaching in Berkeley and Oakland, California, the focus of the story tends to be the occupations, attempts to stop the draft; the counterculture; and lots of police brutality. In the Bay area there were "counter protesters," but they were not organized. Some of them were working class people who resented the ruckus made by privileged college students; others were draftees who felt duty bound to answer the call to enlist. There's a documentary about the left coast story called "Berkeley in the Sixties." Well worth a watch.
Thank you David for your recapture of what students @ Columbia had to endure during their protests. I was 16 @ that time and very anxious knowing I could be drafted into the military and sent to Vietnam to fight a losing battle. Those students deserve as much credit as anyone who protested the war.
Were there no noticeable counter-protesters among the Columbia students of 1968?
Enjoyed the memoir. Didn't enjoy the characterizaripn of what's going on at Columbia (and elsewhere) as "Jews against Arabs." How many Jews have blocked pro-Hamas protesters from attending classes, leaving the library?
I noticed that (but they're not all pro-Hamas by any stretch).
Still the reference appears to refer to the entire history of conflict in Mandated Palestine.
The world body politic recognized Israel as, first and foremost, a 'new Jewish-nationalist state' inside an ethnic-Arab population. Similarly, the Cyprus conflict involved a Turkish enclave on a dominantly Greek Island.
Also, from WWII on, the main political movement, from Syria over to the Atlantic Ocean, was called pan-Arab nationalism. Jordan and allied countries did not fight the Partition of Palestine to be anti-Jewish, but as part of the post-colonial movement so named. Sure there was a lot of screaming against 'the Jews' but that referred to the usurping Jewish colony, as they put it. In fact, Arab nationalists I mixed with from 1960s on were meticulously opposed to European anti-Semitism.
"I'm sorry, if you were right, I'd agree with you."
This is a fantastic slice of history David, thanks so much. I had to look up IDA to refresh my memory, I believe it was the Institute for Defense Analyses. I must say, the current protest is a huge inspiration and hope for the future-- and a lot more decorous than anything that happened in 1968.
Isn't it true that the Times blocked any reporting of the Harlem-park protest and police reaction to it?
Many fond memories -- I marched in the first mass protest against the war in Manhattan-- 1 million strong. I passed out antiwar leaflets to draftees as early as 1966 (they were very receptive). I was getting stomped on by militarized cops by 1967.
CEASE FIRE NOW and get humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Also, Ukraini Slava!