Class Activity by Alenna White

Example

white26 — 2025-03-12 16:39:31 UTC

Description of what you found/what you talked about in your groups

Group 1

2025-03-13 20:18:33 UTC

Protests for Palestine on Columbia were shut down on the anniversary of a protest against the Vietnam War that occurred many decades later.

"Whose land is it?" Never will be a simple answer to this question, because it is informed by millenia of history.

Vietnamese still are on the land of Vietnam now, so maybe we are hesitant to find comparisons between this conflict and what is happening in Gaza. Maybe this makes it easier for us to think of it as a finished conflict, as opposed to Gaza where the ripple effects are impossible to ignore because it is so tied to the land.

Group 4

2025-03-13 20:18:58 UTC

Vietnam war protests on Columbia’s campus seemed larger and more extreme (occupation of multiple buildings, holding acting Dean hostage for 24hrs).

Pro-Palestine protests seem to be demonized purely on ideology. Recent protests are being positioned as a crime. Many universities are limiting students’ right to protest in order to save face.

Question 2 (group 2)

2025-03-13 20:19:16 UTC

In relation to American hegemony, our group discussed that the genocide in Israel and the Vietnam War are similar where America's government was backing the "democratic" parties of both Vietnam and Israel. The concept of land, conceptually and physically, plays a role as well.

Group 3

2025-03-13 20:19:33 UTC

We have discussed the use of violence in the protests, whether they are necessary, and how to control its degree. We talked about how protests can become too performative and how to prevent such limitations.