r/InternationalNews • u/Passervore • Apr 24 '24

Opinion/Analysis Biden launches police-state crackdown at US universities

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/04/24/vcgw-a24.html
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u/ALittleBitOffBoop Apr 24 '24

So wait a minute, in America, peaceful student protest leads to arrest but the US promoting and instigating students in sovereign countries to commit extreme violence (molotov cocktails, setting cars and buildings on fire, etc) are to be encouraged and lauded? American government truly is the definition of duplicity

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u/HogarthTheMerciless Apr 24 '24 edited Apr 24 '24

I'm just waiting for all the freeze peach conservatives to come out and defend this clear violation since they've argued time and again that not being allowed to speak on stage at college campuses is a violation of free speech... any day now right? 

Edit: not a clear violation of free speech, but neither is conservatives being deplatformed or not being allowed to speak at college campuses. To be clear you don't have the right to a platform, but that doesn't stop conservatives from complaining about it when they don't get access to one, and I won't be holding my breath waiting for them to apply their own logic to pro palestine voices. Read lawyer comment below me for breakdown of free speech laws and how they apply.

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u/iDontSow Apr 24 '24 edited Apr 24 '24

I am an attorney but also a leftist that opposes the genocide in Gaza and absolutely detests state sponsored violence like this on a moral basis, but I fail to see how this is a violation of these students 1A rights regardless of whether the university in question is privately or publicly funded. The university policies in question seem to be non-content based restrictions on the time/place/manner of the protest. If my understanding of the policy is incorrect someone please correct me with some citations to the university’s code, but otherwise this seems like a pretty straightforward 1A analysis. Again, I find it morally reprehensible but probably not illegal.

EDIT: I know I’m getting downvoted for this but if we’re gonna fight back against this bullshit we should at least understand it even if we don’t like it.

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u/HogarthTheMerciless Apr 24 '24

Yeah, you're right. I don't believe that anybody has a right to a platform, I just don't trust conservatives who wine about being taken off a platform or stage to apply that logic to pro palestine voices. I was being a bit hyperbolic. Colleges allow the likes of TPUSA to speak on campus in the name of free speech, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for them to do the same for pro palestine voices. That's all I was getting at.

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u/iDontSow Apr 25 '24

Agree with you 100%. The hypocrisy is disgusting. Regardless of whether these state-sponsored crackdowns are legal, though, they are definitely terrible optically for the schools and the Zionist machine in general. These kids are brave and we should support them.