Academic freedom in America is under threat

The First Amendment provides that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. It protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The first amendment to the US Constitution provides protection for freedom of expression, freedom of protest, freedom of the press, academic freedom, etc., but the US government brutally tortures the youth who organized a protest movement in the universities demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. By making them and handing them over to the police, they are violating the spirit of the 200-year-old Constitution of the United States.

In the month of April, the police of every city in addition to the university police are being used to crush the movement in support of the Palestinian cities of Gaza in different universities of the United States, and so far more than nine hundred students of different universities have been arrested. .

Among those arrested are hundreds of teachers, including several prominent professors. According to a report, students at nearly 400 American universities are protesting to end military aid to Israel, to stop the bombing of Gaza, and to recognize the right to life of Gaza cities, and sit-ins at key university locations. have been giving

Among these American universities, important institutions such as Columbia University in New York, New York University, University of Michigan, MIT Barclay University of Texas, Austin Bell University, University of Southern California, Emory University, George Washington University, Indiana University and Arizona State University. Included. A report by the British news agency Reuters, published in newspapers around the world, shows that now the administration of American universities is going to take disciplinary action against protesting students due to state pressure.

New York’s Columbia University President Nimat Minouche has announced that negotiations with the protesting students have failed. Columbia University students refused to end their sit-in.

Disciplinary action will now be initiated against these students. The president of the university said in a statement that not all the demands of the students could be accepted. He specifically emphasized the point that the demand for severance of military ties with Israel cannot be accepted, but the university is ready to start and invest in education and health projects in Gaza.

Columbia University has initiated disciplinary action against protesting students. Protesting students have received online letters. The administration of Columbia University has warned the students in these letters that if the students do not end the sit-in and sign the form provided by the university, then those students will be suspended.

A student of Columbia University has written on social media that disciplinary action is being taken against the students who followed the instructions of the university administration and separated from the protest sit-in. These students will remain on Disciplinary Probation until next June or until their graduation.

The scene of the student protest at George Washington University has been described in detail by an English newspaper reporter. The enthusiasm of the students participating in the rally was at its peak. These students were carrying the flag of Palestine and hundreds of students were waving the sign of victory. Thousands of students from 8 universities in Washington and surrounding areas staged a sit-in in the form of UYard in the main area of ​​Washington.

The administrations of these universities are sending notices of disciplinary action to their students, but there was no difference in the enthusiasm of the students participating in this sit-in. Only 30 George Washington University faculty marched to GWU with students in solidarity with the people of Gaza. This reporter met a Christian youth named Doud from Karachi. Dowd is now on the GWU alumnae.

David said that the US administration is using all kinds of tactics to end this sit-in, but this protest can end when Israel stops killing Palestinians in Gaza. Hundreds of students participating in this gathering had the symbol of Palestine on their faces.

A report also stated that not only in Washington and New York, but also in other cities, the police conducted operations to disperse the students. The state administration of Texas, another US state, has taken strict action to disperse the protesting students and many students have been detained. Most of the protesting students in American universities are influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx. Apart from these communists, socialist peace movement workers, artists and NGO workers and homosexuals etc. are included.

Now this protest is spreading to the universities of Europe. Students of the University of Science in Paris, the capital of France, set up roadblocks and raised loud slogans in favor of the Palestinian people. At Po University in Paris, pro-Israel activists tried to disrupt a pro-Palestine demonstration. There was a lot of tension in the university. Students demonstrating in favor of Palestine wore a scarf with the symbol of Palestine on their heads, which presented a beautiful sight. Among the European countries, Germany is supplying arms and other aid to Israel the most.

German students had set up a protest camp in front of the parliament building in Berlin, which was broken up by the police. These demonstrations in the universities in America and Europe reminded of the demonstrations in the 70s to end the American intervention in Vietnam. Intellectuals belonging to the left wing of America, Dr. Iqbal Ahmed, Edward Saeed and Noam Chomsky, etc., started a protest campaign against the brutal US bombing in Vietnam in the 70s. This campaign spread to universities in America and Europe.

Protests at every university and demonstrations against the Vietnam War played a fundamental role in changing American public opinion. The then American President Nixon had to accept the formula of withdrawing American troops from Vietnam in the negotiations with the North Vietnamese government in Paris. Many films were made and many books were published about the protest movement against the Vietnam War in the universities of America and Europe.

In the book “Universities and the Vietnam War, A Case Study of a Successful Struggle” by Douglas Allen, a well-known intellectual of his time, it is written that thousands of students and teachers of American universities participated in the protest campaign against the military intervention of the United States in Vietnam. was

The US government of that time used all tactics to crush this movement. Pakistani Marxist intellectual Hamza Alvi and Professor Dr. Iqbal Ahmed also participated in this movement. Both of these professors lost their jobs for organizing a resistance movement against the Vietnam War. Professor Hamza Alvi was appointed to a major university in Canada, but the contract was canceled at the right time.

Dr. Iqbal and two associates were arrested on the charge of conspiracy to destroy the hot water system of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s residence and the trial started against them. But Dr. Iqbal was released due to strong protests. Dr Riaz Ahmed has obtained his PhD degree from a reputed university in UK.

Through their efforts, more than 100 teachers of Karachi University have ratified the document of solidarity with these teachers and students of American universities. In this document, it is said that the teachers of Karachi University, teachers and students of American universities are standing together in this struggle for academic freedom. In this document, the actions of the administration of American universities against the students were strongly condemned.

Communist, socialist and secular-minded writers and intellectuals from around the world are expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza. If the American institution of academic freedom is weakened, American democracy will suffer.