Photo/Illutration Columbia University students and pro-Palestinian protesters march in front of Hamilton Hall in New York City, U.S., on May 1. (REUTERS)

A few days ago, I was drawn to a comment made by American author James Simon Kunen to the U.S. media.

He noted that the protesters were “not looking just at 1968, but also at 1985.”

Kunen was 19 in 1968 when he participated in the Columbia University protests against the Vietnam War. He chronicled his experiences in a nonfiction work titled “The Strawberry Statement,” which was later made into a film.

His comment above pertained to the current anti-Israel protests that are spreading around U.S. university campuses, triggered by the dire state of affairs in Gaza.

Images of students tussling with police officers are strongly reminiscent of the anti-war movement of the 1960s, as some media reports point out.

However, the situation and the demands being made by the protesters today appear to be more similar to those of 1985.

That year, protests against South African apartheid gained momentum in Europe and the United States, where students organized a widespread boycott movement that contributed to the eventual withdrawal of major corporations from South African-related business ventures.

The divestment demands being made by the protesters now also have to do with corporate investments.

Aside from tuition, U.S. universities usually invest large amount of endowments through funds.

But the protesters are demanding that the universities stop investing in Israeli corporations and companies profiting off the war in Gaza.

I wonder if their demands will be met.

Come to think of it, financial instruments have become much more complex over the last 40 years, and some universities may well claim that since they leave all financial management to experts, they know little about specific shares or bonds in the overall investment package.

But instead of evading the issue, they should try to identify individual components of their portfolios and disclose them.

Some people say that the protests are being politicized. But even so, I would like the universities to face the students squarely.

Let us not forget that instead of remaining silent or making excuses for inaction, those students stood up for their cause while “adults” of the international community failed to stop the war in Gaza.

—The Asahi Shimbun, May 8

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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