The school emailed the magazine, forbidding the group from distributing copies on campus, and adding that if the publication continues to be distributed there that it must remove all affiliation with MIT.
“The article makes several troubling statements that could be interpreted as a call for more violent or destructive forms of protest at MIT,” the school said in the email. “Numerous community members have expressed concern for their safety and well-being after learning of your article.”
Violent imagery and a nonviolent intifada
The article contains two images in support of the U.S.-designated terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. One shows a terrorist pointing a gun, with the caption reading, “We will burn the ground beneath your feet.” The other image contains the following words: “Unity of blood is a step on the path to victory … long live the joint Lebanese-Palestinian struggle against Zionist terrorism.”
It also shows an image depicting three masked people, one holding a Molotov cocktail, one holding a rock, and another holding a brick, calling for “intifada everywhere.” Intifada refers to violent uprisings against Israel, led by Hamas, that resulted in thousands of deaths on both sides.
The article in Written Revolution’s October edition, written by the magazine’s lead editor, argues that the principle of nonviolence is used by oppressive institutions to “monopolize its control of violence,” therefore making some activists “culturally pacified, not willfully pacifist.”
“We have a mandate to exact a cost from the institutions that have contributed to the growth and proliferation of colonialism, racism, and all oppressive systems,” the article reads, and it ups the sense of urgency by saying, “We must act now.”
Despite the violent imagery and criticism of nonviolence in the article, the editor said the main call to action in that piece was not to encourage readers to commit violence but instead to remind them that “we should be thinking of ways to connect to the community.”
Mass anti-Israel demonstrations prompt antisemitic violence
After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre against Israeli civilians, anti-Israel student groups increased their presence on campus with massive demonstrations across the country. Many of these protests turned violent as the “student intifada” forcibly occupied university buildings, set up encampments, vandalized university property, chanted antisemitic slogans, and displayed posters featuring violent imagery.
Antisemitic incidents simultaneously skyrocketed on campus, with physical assaults against Jewish students increasing by 2,500% while violent threats increased by 900%.
Just before the 2024 fall semester began, seven anti-Israel student groups shared their plans to protest with the Washington Examiner.
“The administration will have no peace until they divest all holdings from weapons manufacturers and the Zionist entity,” the University of Chicago’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter said. “The university’s repression of pro-Palestine students only breeds resistance.”
“Crackdowns on protests have never worked and have instead just lead to more violence,” Colorado State University’s SJP chapter warned. The chapter said that while it does not have plans to set up an encampment, it will “engage in further action this semester” and will continue to do so “until Palestine is free and the genocide” ends.
The groups informed the Washington Examiner of plans to demonstrate, including protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, boycott, divestment, and sanctions-aligned campus campaigns, marches, speaker events, “politicizing” campuses to stand against Israel, and “educating” their peers on the matter.
MIT protects itself from Trump’s wrath
MIT’s move to ban distribution of the publication, or at least distance itself from it, comes just before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office. Trump has vowed to remove funding and accreditation from schools fostering antisemitism.
Jewish groups spent the summer preparing to launch complaints and lawsuits against schools violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Biden administration has launched well over 100 Title VI investigations into universities and school districts around the country, with most relating to antisemitic conduct, but has not removed funding or accreditation from any school found to have violated Jewish students’ civil rights.
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Frederick M. Hess, a senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Examiner that Trump will likely put enormous pressure on schools being investigated over such claims to settle during his second administration.
“MIT and its leadership are deeply committed to ensuring community safety, promoting student well-being, protecting free speech, and responding to policy violations,” an MIT spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
