International
The pro-Palestinian student movement in the United States looks at itself in history to continue
Opposition to the war in Gaza has triggered a student movement in the United States not seen since the protests against apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s and in rejection of the Vietnam War in the 60s, although the difference is the strong police reaction to more peaceful rallies.
The one that has already been called by historians such as Robert Cohen, of New York University, as the largest university movement in the United States in the 21st century has parallels with the uprisings of the past, but is also unique in forcing Washington to “be more careful with what it does with its military help.”
For Juan González, who was one of the leaders of the 1968 protests at Columbia University (New York), today’s demonstrations are much more peaceful but are facing more immediate repression.
“Never in the history of student protests has a protest been suppressed for so little violation of the law,” said Cohen, an expert in social movements, in a recent interview.
“Basically they are setting up camps in public spaces, they are not interfering with classes (…) we took several buildings in a single day,” he said in an interview with EFE González, 76, who considers that the police response is being much more severe on this occasion, with eviction of peaceful camps and more than 2,000 arrested.
Authorities from both New York City in the United States and the university were willing to negotiate with González and the other student leaders, he explained, something that has only happened in a handful of educational centers during the current movement.
In educational centers such as the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Texas in Austin or the University of South Florida in Tampa in the United States, state and local law enforcement agencies have entered to evict the camps and forcibly expel the students shortly after they congregated with the approval of the university authorities.
Another of the main differences is the historical context: the student protests of 1968 against the Vietnam War were included in a much larger movement that transcended the campuses and that included other causes such as the rejection of racial discrimination.
“Our strike in Columbia began only a couple of weeks after Martin Luther King was killed (…) there were riots and riots in more than 100 cities across the country,” explained González, who recalls that the worst moment of police repression was when in 1970 the Ohio National Guard killed four students at Kent State University.
The students’ requests, however, have similarities. Currently, university students ask educational centers to cut all kinds of ties with Israel and its military industry, while in 1968 they asked the institution to cut ties with the IDA, a center that was investigating weapons to be used in Vietnam.
The protests of now are also loaded with an “internationalist perspective” something that for the historian of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Tanalís Padilla did not happen years ago in the United States.
“Within the empire, the country’s actions are rarely taken aware of,” Padilla said of these protests against injustices that are happening “in another part of the world.”
The author of “After Zapata” indicated that this student movement has similarities with the fight against the Vietnam war in the 70s and the civil rights claims in the 60s, but contrary to the first case, “U.S. soldiers are not dying” and, in the second, there was no internationalist vision and solidarity with the suffering of the people of Palestine.
“It is a movement of international solidarity that has not been seen in a long time, which gives hope and it is very important that it happens in the most powerful country in the world,” said the teacher, a Jewish descendant of victims of the Holocaust and who has participated in the MIT student camp.
International
U.S. to Limit Visa Duration for Foreign Students and Journalists
The United States has announced new limits on the legal length of stay for foreign students and journalists, marking the latest tightening of immigration policies under President Donald Trump.
The changes, outlined in an administrative rule published on Thursday, are expected to take effect in September, unless Congress blocks the measure.
Under the new policy, holders of student visas will be allowed to remain in the United States for no more than four years.
Foreign journalists will be limited to 240-day stays—approximately eight months—with the possibility of applying for extensions of the same duration.
The policy imposes even stricter rules on Chinese journalists, whose visas will be capped at 90 days.
More than 100 international news organizations and press freedom groups, including Agence France-Presse (AFP), criticized the measure in an open letter, arguing that it would reduce both the quantity and quality of international coverage of events in the United States.
The Republican Party, led by President Trump, currently holds a majority in Congress and has pledged to curb both illegal immigration and certain forms of legal immigration.
Previously, the United States generally issued student visas for the full duration of an academic program, while foreign journalists could receive visas valid for up to five years.
Central America
Nicaragua Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Italy Over Red Brigades Dispute
The Nicaraguan government announced on Thursday that it is severing diplomatic relations with Italy following criticism from the Italian government over Nicaragua’s long-standing decision to shelter Alessio Casimirri, a former member of the Red Brigades convicted in Italy for the 1978 kidnapping and murder of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani criticized the administration of co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo on Wednesday for continuing to provide refuge to Casimirri, who was sentenced in Italy to six life terms for his role in Moro’s abduction and killing.
In a statement issued Thursday, Nicaragua’s Foreign Ministry said it was ending all diplomatic relations with Italy, describing Tajani’s remarks as “unjustified, aggressive, and irresponsible.”
Tajani made the comments during a gathering of conservative leaders from Europe and Latin America held in Madrid.
“We have absolutely nothing in common with the positions of extremist governments such as Nicaragua, a country that continues to harbor dangerous Red Brigades terrorists like Alessio Casimirri,” Tajani said, according to Italian media.
The diplomatic break marks a new escalation in tensions between the two countries over the decades-old case involving Casimirri, who has lived in Nicaragua for many years despite repeated calls from Italy for his extradition.
International
U.S. Strikes Hit Areas Near Strait of Hormuz as Tensions With Iran Escalate
Several U.S. strikes targeted areas near the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, according to Iranian state media citing local authorities, as hostilities between the United States and Iran intensified.
Officials in Iran’s Hormozgan Province said the island of Qeshm was struck multiple times by what they described as U.S. missiles during the evening. The reports were carried by the Iranian news agencies Fars and Tasnim.
Iranian state television also reported that the Bandar Abbas region, located on the Iranian coast overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, was the target of what authorities described as an “enemy U.S. air attack.”
According to local officials quoted by state television, no casualties have been reported following the strikes.
The reported attacks come amid renewed military tensions between Washington and Tehran, although U.S. authorities had not immediately commented on the reported operations.
U.S. to Limit Visa Duration for Foreign Students and Journalists
Nicaragua Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Italy Over Red Brigades Dispute
U.S. Strikes Hit Areas Near Strait of Hormuz as Tensions With Iran Escalate
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