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Pro-Palestinian protests sweeping university campuses across the United States have taken on a new dimension and entered the political sphere — 200 demonstrators were arrested during a sit-in outside the home of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer late Tuesday — just months before the November presidential elections. Several of the protests, which have garnered support among faculty staff on the basis of freedom of expression, have been broken up by police with hundreds of arrests in scenes not witnessed on educational premises since the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. The initiative in Columbia was quick to catch on, sparking other protest camps in Michigan, Berkeley, Minnesota, NYU, and MIT, among others, and the repression of these is viewed by those involved as a constitutional outrage. House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Columbia Wednesday, where he called for the arrests of those “perpetrating this violence” and the resignation of Columbia president Nemat Shafik “if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos.” Johnson also warned that there is “an appropriate time for the National Guard” with student protestors showing few signs of giving ground.
EL PAÍS this week visited participants in the Freedom Flotilla in Istanbul, from where an international initiative aims to land humanitarian aid in Gaza in defiance of the Israeli blockade. Around 500 people of 40 nationalities are taking part in the trip — including a grandson of Nelson Mandela — with three vessels aiming to deliver 5,500 tons of food to the Strip. Lisa Fithian, an American expert in “peaceful resistance,” has been preparing crewmembers for the dangers they face from Israeli special forces, who have reportedly been stepping up training to board the flotilla. “We want people to be scared and to be able to anticipate what they are facing, although it’s frightening because it lets you know what’s coming,” Fithian said. “We train ourselves to prepare for the violence we are going to encounter.”
We also spoke to experts about the fate of the little-known Iberian desman, which faces extinction within 10-30 years due to loss of habitat and the effects of climate change. The small river-dwelling mammals are listed as endangered and survive only in pockets across the Iberian Peninsula, where they struggle to reproduce due to their shrinking geographical range. Jose Castresana, a researcher at the Spanish Institute of Evolutionary Biology, points out that there is “very little knowledge about the species, which is unique from an evolutionary point of view. It is an evolutionary jewel and is a great responsibility for the countries where it lives.” We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from El País USA Edition. |
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