Columbia & The Beauty of Resistance
Columbia University has been rocked by protests since before dawn on Wednesday morning. That’s when pro-Palestinian protesters set up a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the main campus quad to press their demands that Columbia divest from Israeli companies and companies that do business with Israel. Student leaders have been suspended by the university. One hundred and eight peaceful protesters were arrested yesterday after a phalanx of NYPD riot cops were invited to the Morningside Heights campus by Columbia President Manouche Shafik.
The Indypendent’s reporters have been on hand from the beginning, including last night when scores of pro-Palestinian students and their supporters sang and danced together joyously and even did an impromptu lesson in the Palestinian dabke dance.
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More Columbia Coverage
Palestinian Writer Mohammed El-Kurd Speaks
Cornel West Talks with Student Protesters
NYPD Presence Draws Huge Student Crowd
“Where You Go, I Will Go My Friends”
Some Students Arrested, Others Establish New Occupation
Wednesday Morning’s Initial Occupation
Indy’s 116th Street News Box Detained by NYPD
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Indy Night at the Movies
We continue our Palestine film series on Tuesday night at Starr Bar with a screening of The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo’s classic 1966 film about the guerrilla insurgency that drove France out of Algeria. Then we’ll have a panel discussion with Vijay Prashad and Elaine Mokhtefi, who served in Algeria’s revolutionary government from 1962-1974 and collaborated with revolutionaries from around the world who sought refuge in Algeria including the Black Panthers. For anyone concerned about ending Zionist rule over Palestine, this will be a special night to be inspired by previous revolutionary movements and to draw lessons that are relevant for today.
Mokhtefi served in Algeria’s new government for its first dozen years and collaborated with revolutionaries from around the world, including the Black Panthers, who sought refuge in Algeria. Mokhtefi is the author of Algiers, Third World Capital: Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers.
Prashad, an Indian historian and journalist, is the author of forty books, including Washington Bullets, Red Star Over the Third World, The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World and The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. He is Executive Director of The Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, and chief correspondent for Globetrotter.