BY SOPHIE SOLOWAY ’23
The University of Massachusetts at Amherst Fine Arts Center hosted “Criminalizing Dissent: The Attack on BDS and Pro-Palestinian Speech” in conjunction with the nationally-recognized Media Education Foundation and the Resistance Studies Initiative on Nov. 12. The event, which sold out, featured a panel of various Palestinian rights and anti-racist activists, including Women’s March founder Linda Sarsour, Dr. Cornel West, journalist and Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King, author Tim Wise, lawyer Dina Khalidi and cofounder Omar Barghouti.
The event aimed to discuss legislative attempts at criminalizing anti-Zionist speech and activism. In Massachusetts alone, three laws have been written to do just that. The Western Massachusetts Jewish Voice for Peace organization has actively protested these three attempts at “anti-discriminatory” laws, the latest of which — “An Act Prohibiting Discrimination in State Contracts” — was brought to the floor on Tuesday, Nov. 20. The controversy surrounding this topic often centers around claims of anti-Semitism, as Israel is the product of Zionism, the belief that a Jewish nation should exist. These legislative tensions reflect rising widespread political and social interest in the violence in Palestine and Israel. Just last week, on Nov. 14, the Israeli Defense Force launched raids that killed approximately 34 Palestinians — at least half of which were civilians and not thought to be related to the offensive group — after Islamic Jihadists launched rockets that injured Israeli civilians.
“The U.S. government plays a large role in shaping the terms for any solution to the conflict because it acts as a ‘broker’ between the two sides,” Mount Holyoke Professor of Politics Ali Aslam said. “At the same time, U.S. citizens can also play a larger role in apply ing pressure on their Congressional representatives, but a resolution to the conflict or a change from the status quo does not register among the top concerns of U.S. voters. U.S. policy in the Middle East generally is therefore set by elite interests.”
Tuesday’s event served as a follow-up to the “Not Backing Down: Israel, Free Speech and the Battle for Palestinian Rights” event this past May. Both brought enthusiastic crowds, as well as community dissenters. In fact, Tuesday’s event was condemned by UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy.
This statement, released on Oct. 21, predicted that the Criminalizing Dissent event would be “one- dimensional” and “polarizing,” and that “the University remains firmly opposed to BDS and to academic boycotts of any kind.”
In response, several organizations from across the state have published their own statements. The University’s own Students for Justice in Palestine organization, for example, was quick to reply, stating that they were “appalled that as Chancellor of a University which prides itself on being ‘revolutionary’ [Subbaswamy] would use [his] position of power to alienate students and provide false information regarding the reality of the non-violent, non-anti-Semitic Palestinian-led BDS movement.”
Over 100 UMass Amherst professors signed a similar open letter stating their joined “deep disappointment and dismay” with the Chancellor’s statement. UMass Boston professors and students wrote a third open letter in solidarity with those opposed to the administration’s dissent.
“I found [the statement] truly tone-deaf and ill-advised,” English Professor at Amherst College and active member of Western Massachusetts’ Jewish Voices for Peace, Judy Frank, said. “The most galling part of it is that he said he was speaking in the name of ‘UMass’s commitment to inclusion,’ but he was clearly not including Palestinian students, faculty and staff as part of the community.”
Subbaswamy has made no public response to these criticisms.
“The event was powerful,” Frank said. “The speakers — Linda Sarsour, Tim Wise, Dima Khalidi, Cornel West, Shaun King and Omar Barghouti, who Skyped in because he’s been denied entry to the U.S., each brought their own strength and focus ... It’s worth saying that many of these speakers spoke with respect and affection for their Jewish friends and allies, and nobody called for the destruction of Israel. It’s so striking to me how BDS, a nonviolent form of protest, is seen as something from the lunatic fringe, as dangerously extreme.”
One message was made clear by the panel: College campuses have served as a hub for critical debate regarding Israel’s occupation.
“I’m Jewish and Israeli, and so is my mom. I grew up thinking that was synonymous with Zionism, which I didn’t really understand,” Maya Jakubowski, a student member of UMass Amherst’s Students for Justice in Palestine, said. “The way I grew up was a little different from other American Jews because I didn’t get the synagogue and indoctrination stuff. I just had a connection to Israel because of family. It wasn’t until I got to college and started having these conversations in class, and then I just read things and had a lot of conversations with friends of mine that were also learning about it.
“I kind of went along with it without understanding why fully, but as I read more history I had this whole awakening where I was like, ‘Zionism, when created in the context of Israel, was created based on anti-Semitic rhetoric.’ Why wouldn’t I be part of the movement on unveiling the occupation and being pro-Palestine?” Jakubowski said.