When I participated in anti-Vietnam War protests in the late 60\u2019s, I was very careful. I had a foreign student\u2019s visa to play sports at UC Berkeley. If I was caught demonstrating, I could easily lose it. My track and field coach warned me: \u201cWe brought you here to run. Not to think!\u201d Literal words that I do not forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Free Speech Movement was born at UC Berkeley in 1964. On December 2 of that year, student leader Mario Savio gave an iconic speech on the steps of Sproul Plaza: \u201cThere is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part! You can’t even passively take part! And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels … upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, when in many university campuses across this nation students are setting-up improvised camps, to protest what they consider an apartheid-like genocidal attitude being carried out by the government of Israel against the people of Palestine, Mario Savio\u2019s words resonate loud and clear. A growing fervor beats inside the hearts of young people today, as they did in the 60\u2019s. Of course, not everyone participates and there are many disagreements. The same happened then, when my generation were the students. Back then, students had diverse and contrary opinions, or diverse levels of consciousness and militancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, I clearly remember the many strong and beefy young men with crew-cut hairstyles. They were members of Cal\u2019s football team who would stand, shoulder to shoulder, with the police and with members of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). That\u2019s when we faced each other: The students who were protesting versus those who despised our efforts, and were eager to beat us up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, the police grabbed a megaphone and made an announcement: \u201cIn the name of the people of California, this gathering is now declared an illegal assembly!\u201d Those of us who protested yelled back in the same response being used today across this nation: \u201cWe are the people! We are the people!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once, while protesting in 1967, I realized I was standing right in front of a student member of the ROTC, in full uniform and weaponry. He was also a runner in our track team! Devon W. (although I do not forget his name, I prefer not to print it), a rather quiet kid and not very sociable. We had never had a significant conversation, but he knew me \u2026 and recognized me, in spite of the handkerchief that pretended to hide my identity, and, hopefully, protect me from tear-gas bombs as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a few long seconds, Devon and I looked at each other, expressionless. Eventually, he looked away. We never spoke about that encounter and he did not denounce me. I also never asked him how he felt when he faced me, or other students that knew him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our youth, as we begin to forge political ideas, we make decisions that perhaps will change with the passing of time. Or perhaps they will be solidified as we mature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That exchange with Devon made me think about the bellicose attitude adopted by President Joe Biden towards the students who are currently protesting against the continuous massacre in Gaza. Just last week, the president rejected the petitions made by protesting students, who asked him to end his support of Israel. Biden responded: \u201dOrder must prevail \u2026 Dissent must never lead to disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To that, I ask: What is war if not the worst of disorders?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What was Biden\u2019s posture when he was a student? In his 2007 memoir \u201cPromises to keep,\u201d Biden wrote of an event that he had lived during the Vietnam War, when he was in college: \u201cWe walked by the Administration Building and we looked up and there we saw people hanging out of the windows \u2014 out of the Chancellor\u2019s Office \u2014 with S.D.S. banners.\u201d He was referring to the Students for a Democratic Society, a well-known activist group of the era. \u201cThey were taking over the building. And we looked up and said, \u2018Look at those assholes!\u2019 That\u2019s how far apart from the antiwar movement I was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we can see, President Biden\u2019s attitude persists. It has not evolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I certainly hope that Devon W\u2019s attitude evolved, from our brief encounter in 1967.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Opinion: A growing fervor beats inside the hearts of young people today, as they did in the 60\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88922,"featured_media":60611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":true,"newspack_featured_image_position":"above","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11905,4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[18475],"class_list":["post-60609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devils-advocate","category-voices","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n