Hundreds of students have been arrested at dozens of universities for participating in protests against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Protests and crackdowns are both escalating, and fossil fueled fascists in Congress are calling for violent mobs and military crackdowns on peaceful protests.
As an anti-fascists climate group, we know that police don’t make us safe, mass arrests don’t de-escalate anything. Sign now to tell President Biden: No National Guard on college campuses. Reaffirm the right to protest now!
We don’t have to guess what that looks like because we already know: At Kent State on May 4, 1970, 28 National Guard soldiers fired into a crowd of thousands protesting the Vietnam War. They killed four students and wounded nine others. And during the black lives matter protests in 2020, tear gas and other weapons of war were used on US protestors repeatedly by militarized law enforcement and federal agents acting under the orders of then-President and fossil fueled fascist Donald Trump.
Those protests weren’t so different from the ones we are seeing today. From Columbia to the University of Texas-Austin to the University of California, Berkeley, and back again, young people across the country are exercising their constitutionally protected rights to free speech and assembly to protest horrific violence in Gaza. Like a lot of climate groups, we support a ceasefire, and the right of students and anyone else to protest in support of peace and human rights.
President Biden has an opportunity to show the kind of leadership necessary to meet this moment of crisis. As the protests spread, Republican governors could act unilaterally. That’s why your voice is urgently needed today: Add your name and help us send the president a clear and crucial reminder that dissent is not a crime, and protest is patriotic.
Peaceful student protests should not be met with a militarized response.
What happens if your students are killed or injured?
What will you say to the parents, “Oops?”
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Allow peaceful protests!
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Exercise your freedom and integrity, Mr. President, and refuse to call in the National Guard to quell the student protests on the campus of Columbia University. Remember the Kent State killings under Nixon.