Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Chris Hedges highlighted the importance of student protest to dozens of University of Maryland community members Thursday.
Hedges, The New York Times’ former Middle East bureau chief and author of multiple books about war and politics, joined this university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter for a discussion on “genocide and global complicity” in Gaza.
Student protests give people who care about Palestine hope, Hedges told the crowd during his speech at Stamp Student Union.
From his yearslong experience reporting on Palestine, Hedges said some Palestinians feel like the world has forgotten about them. But that is why student protests supporting Gaza are important, he said.
“Every time you set up an encampment, every time you carry out a protest, every time you occupy a hall, that message resonates not just within the country, but around the globe — and especially in Gaza,” Hedges said.
[UMD students attend SGA committees in anticipation of divestment resolution]
The discussion comes more than a year after Hamas killed at least 1,200 people and took about 250 people hostage in an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to the Associated Press. Israel declared war on Hamas the next day, and its military forces have since killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
More than 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced from their homes since Hamas’ attack, according to the Associated Press.
Hedges highlighted Israel’s extensive damage to infrastructure in Gaza — including schools, libraries and heritage sites — since its offensive began last October.
Hedges, who said he plans to broadcast for Al Jazeera from Doha, Qatar, later this year, said he thinks the responsibility for the “the occupation and the genocide” in Palestine falls on the United States government in addition to Israel.
He added that the only way to “end the ongoing genocide in Gaza” is for the U.S. to end its weapons shipments to Israel.
Since Hamas’ attack, the U.S. has supplied at least $17.9 billion in military aid to Israel, according to a report from Brown University’s international and public affairs institute. The funding includes precision-guided bombs, missile defense systems and munitions.
After the speech, Hedges told The Diamondback he doesn’t believe the U.S. suspending its arms shipments is currently realistic, but noted that these decisions do not happen “overnight.”
[Hundreds of UMD community members gather to honor people killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023]
“We have to stand up for what’s right and recognize that in the short term, we’re not going to have much of an effect,” Hedges said.
Hedges added in his speech that anyone can become complicit through “indifference and apathy.”
Educating others about conditions in Gaza is the only way to combat misinformation and the suppression of information, said Abel Amene, a Students for Justice in Palestine member and senior economics and physics major who helped organize the event.
Students for Justice in Palestine member and event organizer Omar Sabra said he was happy Hedges talked about student activism’s importance in his speech.
“Student activism on campus reverberates and has effects on the people who are the victims of oppression, the victims of imperialism and colonization,” the senior government and politics major said.
Senior philosophy, politics and economics major Richard Birch said he already followed Hedges’ work before the speech. Although many people oppose Israel’s actions in Palestine, Birch said, some are afraid to speak openly.
“Having these events makes it easier to have these conversations,” he said. “A lot of people care about this, but as long as they’re disorganized and not talking to each other about it, we can’t come together and confront this issue.”
