The pro-Palestine demonstration at Columbia University began as a peaceful student encampment before Nemat Shafik, president of the university, promptly called law enforcement for a forceful removal. Since the commonly-criticized aggravation, the display has escalated — students are now taking over campus buildings despite the risk of suspension or even expulsion.
Given that the demonstration is anti-fascist — the very namesake of the group — it's only logical to expect antifa to be at the core. Yet, at the most obvious opportunity, the feared organization is reportedly not involved in any way — and not just because it doesn't really exist in the first place.
This is strange, considering that antifa is most known for supposedly being the true perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection — a day on which the ultimate goal was to establish a self-described wannabe dictator as the head of government through whatever violent means available. So why is the group not receiving the same level of blame when it actually makes sense for their cause?
"It's pretty easy to tell whether or not antifa was involved in something. If something looks like a violent far-right act, it was antifa. If it looks like it wasn’t a far-right act, then that's just how they are — real shame," said Cisne, Illinois' Cam Briggs.
Brandon, Mississippi's Tom Gehrig believes the Columbia demonstration — as well as those popping up on college campuses around the nation — was simply inevitable.
"Those students ought to be ashamed of themselves, but I'm certainly not surprised. What's to be expected when public schools have been indoctrinating kids to believe that George Washington was a woman and that being white is worse than being a serial killer?" said Gehrig, who has not stepped foot in a school since 1979 — including his own children's parent-teacher conferences.
While there will continue to be wide debate about the activists' pro-Palestine stance, at least one thing is clear. Students are taking responsibility — not punching themselves in the face, realizing it hurts, and crying to their mom that someone actually did it to them when they get embarrassed.
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Photo courtesy of public domain
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