Arrest by Masked Agents Sparks Boston Protests

Protests and pushbacks erupted at Emerson and elsewhere around Boston last week as the severity of the Trump crackdown on free speech at college campuses emerged.

Emerson’s Students for Justice in Palestine staged demonstrations last Monday and more demonstrators staged a picket Tuesday morning in front of the Visitor’s Center, where college officials are recruiting potential freshmen for the next academic year. Those followed a March 20 action in which students briefly blocked traffic at Boylston and Tremont streets.

“The school has refused every opportunity to stand on the right side of history,” said one of the students who attended two rallies. “I joined these actions to continue the struggle for Palestinian liberation and send a message that the school’s fascist attempts to silence us are futile.”

One of the protesters at the Tuesday demonstration outside the Visitor’s Center said several administrators confronted the protesters and demanded that they put away the megaphones and show their faces. The protesters were on public sidewalks, and they refused. 

Protesters throughout Boston gathered quickly last Wednesday following news of the abduction by masked agents of Rumeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University PhD student from Turkey who had written an op-ed supporting Palestinian rights last year.  More than 2,000 marchers convened near Tufts, according to the Boston Globe.

About 150 others gathered at Boston University on Friday with demands similar to those at Emerson, urging the university to end disciplinary action that put students and others in jeopardy from the Trump Administration. 

“If they find a way to suppress pro-Palestinian protesters, fascism will have won,” said a 23-year-old BU student who asked not to be named. “I cannot continue to stand silent while there is a genocide going on,” said another student at the edge of the group, who identified himself as a dual national.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio boasted last Thursday that he has revoked about 300 visas, signing letters “daily” to expel internationals, even some with permanent residency status. While many lawyers say that action violates the Constitution, Rubio made clear he was doing it because of their political views. “We’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up,” Rubio said, according to the New York Times.

While the protests at Emerson and other schools have been small, different schools and organizations are working together in the face of common threats. Öztürk was a member of SEIU 509, motivating several unions  to attend the Wednesday demonstration at Tufts. The Emerson Faculty Assembly chair has asked the college administration how it is preparing to resist Trump Administration moves. Efforts are underway in the faculty union and among unaffiliated faculty groups to oppose both our administration’s disciplinary actions against protestors  and the federal government’s crackdown.