Resistance to Repression and Back Again: The Movement for Palestinian Liberation in US Academia

Abstract

In 2023–2024, US academia witnessed the largest ever protests condemning Israeli state violence against Palestinians and the most vociferous repression of these protests and other criticisms of that violence. This article situates this moment within the longer history of support for Palestinian liberation in US colleges and universities, as well as the decades-long rise of organizations to combat this support and critical analysis of the Israeli state. We do so to make two arguments. First, there has been a continuous interrelationship between resistance and repression, with one feeding the other, and always in relationship to events in the Middle East and the US. Second, and using analysis of our experience with academic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) as an example, we argue that understanding this history is necessary for building a more broad-based, international, and intersectional movement for liberation.