The New Yorker: The Kids Are Not All Right. They Want to Be Heard. What explains the student movement against the war in Gaza? Sometimes the correct answer is the one right in front of you. By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Demonstrators and Texas state troopers stand off during a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas in Austin, on April 24th.Photograph by Jordan Vonderhaar / Bloomberg / Getty

 "...The crackdown on Palestinian-solidarity activists has exposed the limits of the right’s hypocritical crusade for the expansion of speech rights on campus. In the past several years, Republicans in Texas have described a war against free speech on college campuses and declared themselves the catalyst for changing it. The University of Texas at Austin went so far as to even protect the rights of students to engage in “hate speech.” As one official said, “Imagine if the government at the whim of a political party could just decide at any time what constitutes hate speech, and then just start arresting people for engaging in it.” Although hate speech may be allowed, Palestinian solidarity is apparently viewed as a threat. This past March, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed an executive order that directed colleges to update their free-speech policies to “address the sharp rise in antisemitic speech.” It also pledged to “stand with Israel” and to insure that “groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine are disciplined for violating” those policies. When, in April, antiwar students gathered to march on campus, they were met by state troopers in riot gear and police officers who deployed pepper spray and flash-bang explosives. Dozens were arrested. U.T. Austin’s president, Jay Hartzell, claimed that the police action was preëmptive, intended to stop students from “using the apparatus of free speech and expression to severely disrupt a campus for a long period.”

In mid-March, House Republicans began advancing the Respecting the First Amendment on Campus Act to staunch what they saw as “the longstanding and pervasive degradation of First Amendment rights.” The bill encourages colleges and universities to enshrine the so-called Chicago Principles for free speech, which say, in part, that universities should not “attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.” Then, reacting to the encampment at Columbia University, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican senators Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, and Josh Hawley, of Missouri, called for Biden to send in the National Guard. The double standard can hardly be lost on students. Liberals and conservatives appear to converge on believing that the strongest protections for speech are afforded only to those causes with which they agree...."

https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/the-kids-are-not-all-right-they-want-to-be-heard

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]