After South Africa, Vietnam? We knew the appetite of pro-Palestinian students for the historiography of certain struggles, such as those against racial segregation in the United States or South African apartheid, from which many of their actions and slogans seem to be inspired. But for several weeks, eyes seem to be turning more towards the mobilization which, fifty years earlier, had torn America apart to protest against the Vietnam War.
From Columbia to Sciences Po (where we could hear slogans such as “Gaza = Vietnam”), from American National Public Radio (NPR) to the Qatari media Al Jazeera, the trend is such that even some politicians have rushed to to drag the comparison down to the dregs… Thus from American Senator Bernie Sanders, according to whom the crisis in Gaza could well be Joe Biden’s “Vietnam” – a reference to President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been forced to withdraw his candidacy for a second term, weighed down by his support for the Vietnam War. In France, the rebellious MP Mathilde Panot, for her part, took advantage of a post on genocide in Gaza.
Certainly, when pro-Palestinian students occupied Columbia’s iconic Hamilton Hall in April 2024, some baby boomers may have drawn a parallel with the storming of this same building in April 1968, by students protesting against the Vietnam War and the university’s desire to build a gymnasium in the city of Harlem (which they anticipated would be a place of segregation). Like the “teach-ins”, participatory teaching oriented towards the cause, today very present in student mobilizations, emerged at the University of Michigan in the context of the anti-Vietnam War protests in 1965.
Lesser magnitude
Still, waves of mobilizations crossing the West to oppose a war, an emblematic cause mobilizing youth and similar methods are not enough to justify the use of an equal sign between “Vietnam” and “Gaza”. In fact, the figures for pro-Palestinian mobilizations in 2024 are far from competing with those of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1967, several hundred thousand demonstrators marched through New York against the Vietnam War – including Martin Luther King. Three years later, a tidal wave of approximately 4 million students poured into the country after four students were killed by the National Guard during a mobilization at the University of Kent (Ohio).
At its peak today, there are only a few hundred students mobilized out of 36,000 at Columbia University (New York), the epicenter of American mobilization. As for Sciences Po, the occupation of rue Saint-Guillaume at the beginning of May would have brought together only a hundred students at most… “The scale of the current movement is incomparable with that of the mobilization initiated by the new left in the 1960s, judge Robert Cohen, professor of history and social sciences at the Steinhardt School at New York University. At the time, the Vietnam War seemed endless, there was a lot of bitterness and. of polarization. A small, violent segment of the academic left began carrying out arson attacks and bombings targeting war-related targets, such as in the 1970 university bombing. of Wisconsin against the army mathematics building Result: one death and $6 million in property damage. Very different from today’s non-violent student movement. Moreover, the police response was both less rapid. than today (which gave time for the movement to grow), and more violent. In short, all of this put together had generated a lot of anger among the population, and therefore support for the anti-war cause.”
Conscription
The mobilization against the Vietnam War lasted approximately ten years. For the moment, it is difficult to predict the future of the pro-Palestinian movement, which is in its infancy. That being said, if millions of young people rose up in the 1960s and 1970s, it is also because they were first and foremost affected by this war… No less than 3 million American soldiers were sent to Vietnam from of 1965. 1.9 million young people were conscripted into the army. In total, there were 58,000 deaths on the American side, not to mention millions of Vietnamese.
But the situation is radically different today. Western armies have become professionalized. And if several countries sell war equipment to the Jewish state, the United States (its main supplier) recently suspended the delivery of powerful MK-84 bombs in the face of Benjamin Netanyahu’s persistent desire to lead an offensive in Rafah. As for France, equipment transfers to Israel represent a tiny percentage of its defense exports, according to the latest available figures.
“Conscription was obviously a significant factor in student mobilization in the 1960s. However, they were not all mobilized for this reason. The majority mainly considered that this war, in which part of the West participated, was immoral. Today, it’s a bit the same thing,” says Ralph Young, professor of history at Temple University (Philadelphia).
Radicality
Another major difference: where the anti-Vietnam war cause quickly gathered around a moderate group, it is difficult to say the same about the Palestinian cause as it is currently defended on campuses. According to Professor Robert Cohen, the current movement suffers from the content of the speeches of its “leaders”. Too radical. Not consensual enough to generate support from the general public. “Their rhetoric, their songs and their banners celebrating the intifada isolate them. They fail to create a moderate hard core, whose position against the destruction and war crimes of both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be acceptable to the majority,” he argues. In the 1970s, the movement certainly included an ultraviolent Marxist fringe, the Weather Underground, which notably led a bombing campaign targeting government buildings and banks. “But the moderate majority of the movement, as well as the minority pacifist wing, have managed to distinguish themselves and gain the upper hand in the eyes of public opinion,” continues Robert Cohen.
In 2024, it is clear that even if the pro-Palestinian movement adopts pacifist methods, it struggles to firmly dissociate itself from certain groups with controversial rhetoric. Like the Students for Justice in Palestine, some local offshoots of which have argued that “decolonization is not a metaphor.” Within the University of Virginia, the association declared in particular that it “unequivocally supports Palestinian liberation and the right of colonized peoples everywhere to resist the occupation of their land by any means they deem necessary “.
Low impact
It is not easy to identify the priorities of the pro-Palestinian movement. A ceasefire ? The end of military aid to Israel? The suspension of partnerships with Israeli universities? Or the departure of Hamas from power? If demands of different orders had also emerged at the time of the Vietnam War, objective No. 1 was however clearly identified by the majority: the withdrawal of American troops and the end of the war.
Perhaps this is why in one case the impact of the movement was real on domestic (American) politics, and in the other it is difficult to say the same at the moment. How far away it seems, the year 1968 which saw Lyndon B. Johnson abandon the presidential race due to the rise of anti-war sentiment… According to a poll carried out by NBC News, only 7% of American voters say that They will vote for or against a candidate because of his position on the war in Gaza. Same observation according to the Gallup Institute, which asked Americans what, in their opinion, is the most important problem facing the nation currently. Less than 2% talked about the war in Gaza (even among those under 35). In fact, this topic ranks 17th out of all responses. Overall, immigration comes in pole position. Among young people, it is inflation. As for France, the LFI list, which relies on its involvement in the conflict in Gaza and its support for pro-Palestinian student mobilizations, oscillates between 6 and 9% of voting intentions. That is more than the Communist Party… But less than the presidential majority, the Socialist Party, and the National Rally.
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