How data on the crackdown on Gaza protests reflects the increasing repression of activist movements in the U.S.

 

Data shows Gaza protesters faced harsher punishments than Black Lives Matter protesters did just a few years ago. Experts tell Mondoweiss this is the result of pro-Israel bias and a backlash against protest movements that has been building for years.

Protests over the unfolding genocide in Gaza erupted across the U.S. in 2023, quickly becoming the largest mass demonstration since Black Lives Matter a few years earlier. In both cases, the protest movements took aim at state violence and oppression against marginalized groups.  

Deeper scrutiny of the protests and law enforcement response reveals how the U.S. government at all levels has escalated its repressive tactics during the last five years. One telling statistic shows how a strong majority of cases filed against Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020 were dropped or dismissed, but the crackdown on Gaza demonstrators has grown even more draconian and resulted in harsher punishments.  

Why is this?

While the protest movements’ contexts preclude a direct apples-to-apples comparison, around 100 legal observers and attorneys who discussed the issue with Mondoweiss say the escalation reflects pro-Israel bias in the political system, a strengthening of anti-protest tactics, and a conservative shift in the nation’s attitude about law enforcement. 

The shift is part of a broader pattern of political opponents to social justice movements building upon anti-protest strategies across Standing Rock, Black Lives Matter, Cop City, and Gaza protests, said Stefanie Fox, executive director of Jewish Voice For Peace. 

The goal, civil rights advocates say, is to silence dissent. 

“It is clear evidence of an escalating war on protest that the right wing has been waging for the past few decades,” said Fox, who protested at Standing Rock. She sees “vestiges of lawfare to take down water protectors at Standing Rock directly being used against anti-genocide protesters.”

“And the Gaza protests will be used by the right to sharpen new tools that will then be used against all of our communities and all social movements,” Fox added. The theory is supported by the escalation of tactics against ICE protesters currently being witnessed in Minneapolis and elsewhere.  (more...)

How data on the crackdown on Gaza protests reflects the increasing repression of activist movements in the U.S.