Gaza War Sparks Unprecedented, Sustained Campus Protests
Suvendrini Kakuchi | 21 May 2024 | University World News
Hundreds of Japanese students have been liaising via social media across the country’s leading universities in a campaign on their campuses for a halt to Israel’s escalating war in Gaza and the liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation. The student protests in Japan, now in their second month since they began in April, are motivated by a desire for peace, but they also represent an important shift in a country where campuses are mostly devoid of sustained demonstrations, according to experts.
Smaller in number than the tens of thousands protesting in the United States and internationally, Japanese student demands for universities and Japanese companies to cut ties with organisations in Israel are seen as unprecedented. A ‘Palestinian solidarity camp’ was set up by students in front of the library at Japan’s prestigious University of Tokyo on 26 April, with students working in solidarity with students at US universities, and at other Japanese universities including Sophia University, Waseda University, Tama Art University, Hiroshima University, the International Christian University and Kyoto University. Others held shorter solidarity sit-ins….