Anti-war protests are spreading across college campuses in America, tensions are growing between protesters and the police - and The Rolling Stones are on tour. That is an accurate description of America in the late 60s and early 70s, but it is also a haunting description of what is going on in America today in 2024.
These protests inspired by the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the ruling entity of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Anti-Israel protesters sympathizing with the Palestinian people have quickly spread across college campuses, and several of the major protests saw physical conflicts between protesters and the police today.
I never participated in a protest in the late 60s and early 70s, but I did sympathize with the protesters’ mission of bringing an end to the conflict in Vietnam. I was old enough to understand the instability in America, when a young anti-establishment generation was fighting the establishment, and in particular, the U.S. government for the continued fighting in Vietnam. The hateful attitude a young generation had for America’s government was tangible. Ironically, that young generation is today’s establishment, which many young people are fighting today.
Though America’s military is not directly involved in the fighting between Israel and Hamas, the protests are an attempt to send a global message to Israel with a demand for a cease fire, but the protests are also about pressuring the United States to do more to force their ally, Israel, to agree to a cease fire.
The most striking similarity between the protests from the 60s and 70s and the protests today is the will and conviction of the protesters. As I have said on my talk show, it seems that a young generation has a strong need to express its angst and contempt for the today’s establishment that all that was needed was a good excuse to protest and the conflict between Israel and Hamas has provided that excuse.
Massive protests don’t happen in a vacuum and the reason justifying the protest is only part of the story. The other part of the story is to bring a voice to a frustrated generation or demographic that feels cheated and deceived by the establishment. Though Boomers don’t want to admit this, younger generations have legitimate reasons to hate us for the selfish decisions we have made that affect them today and will affect their future. Boomer greed, conspicuous consumption, and our lack of respect for Social Security are among the reasons.
There is protest in the air - as there was in the 60s and 70s and I will not be surprised if new reasons to protest don’t rise up in the next few months and through the summer.
Protests at Tulane University today proved there’s a link between the protests of the 60s and 70s and the protests today. At the Tulane protest students were holding a big sign that read: “Students for a Democratic Society.” That was a common sign from protests in the past.
One comforting thought: we made it through those times in the past and we will make it through this current turbulence, but it may get uglier.
