VIEWPOINT | Protests, privilege and hypocrisy

Op-ed by Froma Harrop

This is not directly about the issues animating the “pro-Palestinian” demonstrations at many colleges. Rather it’s about the air of privilege filling the sails of hypocrisy on which many ride. 

Start with the masks that protestors use to hide their identities. And from whom? In many cases from future employers who may object to their singling out of Israel for charges of genocide – or who simply would rather not hazard hiring someone arrested for trespassing.

Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey laws deemed unjust. With that, though, comes the obligation to accept the consequences of that lawbreaking. Martin Luther King Jr. said those who engage in civil disobedience “must do it with a willingness to accept the penalty.”

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