As the Socialist Equality Party’s candidate for president, I denounce the violent police assault on anti-genocide protesters at the University of Michigan (UM) today, a brutal escalation of the police state atmosphere that is spreading across university campuses throughout the United States.
Reports indicate that 80 to 100 anti-genocide demonstrators were peacefully protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza. In a violent escalation, police intervened to target the anti-genocide protesters, singling out a student for arrest, and deploying pepper spray against the crowd. The situation became so aggressive that police even pepper-sprayed one of their own officers in the chaos.
This attack is part of a broader pattern of police violence aimed at silencing opposition to Israel’s war crimes and the US-backed expansion of the genocide in Gaza into a war against Lebanon and Iran. Earlier today, leaked audio from university president Ono showed the administration is moving against anti-genocide protesters under direct pressure from the Biden-Harris administration.
In September, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, announced charges against 11 pro-Palestinian protesters at UM. Michigan’s Democratic Party, with close ties to the university administration, is spearheading these attacks on democratic rights.
Also in September, four supporters of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality were stopped from campaigning and banned from entering University of Michigan property for one year by campus police.
At universities across the country, campuses are being transformed into battlegrounds where dissent is criminalized, and any criticism of US-Israeli policy is violently suppressed.
At Cornell University, Momodou Taal, a UK-Gambian international student, faces possible suspension and deportation for participating in protests against the genocide.
This is part of a nationwide assault on democratic rights, facilitated by both the Democratic and Republican parties. The attack on the UM protesters is not just about silencing criticism of Israel—it is about creating an environment where opposition to war, inequality, and the bipartisan policies of the ruling class is stifled.
This crackdown on campuses is a warning to all workers and young people: the ruling class is determined to suppress any resistance to its war policies and attacks on living standards.
The working class must take up the defense of democratic rights as a central part of the struggle against war and inequality. This requires the building of a political movement that is independent of both capitalist parties—the Democrats and Republicans—and that fights for the interests of the international working class.
On Wednesday, October 9, my running mate Jerry White and I will hold an online campaign meeting with World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board chairman David North, titled, “The Gaza genocide, world war, and imperialist geopolitics.” The event address these themes, drawing a balance sheet on the past year of the genocide in Gaza and advancing a revolutionary socialist strategy to stop the descent into World War III.