Reclaiming Political Space: The Global Resonance of the Student Intifada

Ghaid Hijaz – Student Volunteer at Right to Education campaign- Birzeit University

This article was originally published at (The Written Resistance) journal, Issue #4, by NSJP.

The Student Intifada stands as a testament to the power of reclaiming public spaces in the quest for justice and liberation. From the bustling campuses of American universities to the streets of Australia, students and activists worldwide are transforming public spaces into arenas for political discourse and collective action. This movement is not just a protest but a revolutionary reclamation of the public sphere.

Reclaiming Political Space

Over the past few decades, public political spaces have experienced significant erosion, driven by neoliberal policies, increased state surveillance, and a growing apathy toward collective action. The rise of individualism, fueled by consumer culture and the privatization of public spaces, has diminished the role of collective political engagement. This shift represents more than just a physical change; it signifies a profound transformation in how societies engage with politics. As political activities are increasingly confined to controlled and surveilled environments, the ability of minority groups to make their voices heard and to challenge existing power structures is significantly reduced.

Public political spaces are essential for fostering dialogue, building solidarity, and mobilizing collective action. They serve as arenas where people can challenge power structures, articulate grievances, and demand justice. Reclaiming these spaces is crucial for countering the forces of neoliberalism and state repression that seek to silence society. The reclaiming of political space is an essential aspect of the Student Intifada. Through initiatives like the Popular University for Gaza, students create platforms for engagement and resistance, ensuring that the fight for justice continues despite the challenges. This mirrors Frantz Fanon’s call in The Wretched of the Earth: “Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.” The student movement is fulfilling its generational mission by reclaiming and revitalizing public political space.

Public space is not merely a physical entity where events occur; it is a dynamic and essential political component. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement demonstrated this by transforming areas into forums for collective action and political engagement. Similarly, the student intifada has turned campuses, streets, and public squares into battlegrounds for Palestinian liberation and the struggle against Zionism, racism, and oppression. This captures the essence of politics: the active participation of individuals and groups in issues that impact them and others and the cultivation of their cumulative capabilities to address these issues. Such engagement rejuvenates the public political space, which has been systematically dismantled or repurposed for commercial use over the past four decades, ensuring that politics remains a collective endeavor for justice and liberation.

The effectiveness of protests should not only be measured by their immediate impact but by their strategic role in the broader struggle against oppression. In colonial contexts, protests are stages where people intervene in policies, leading to confrontations with authority. Protesters study the patterns of confrontations and aim to strategically influence these dynamics by creating a unified front that pressures authorities to change their policies. The protest becomes a training ground where individuals develop their abilities to confront authorities collectively to achieve symbolic victories and increase their sociopolitical influence in the public sphere. Universities are a key site of this struggle.

The student movement at Birzeit University has played a pivotal role in the struggle for national liberation. Since the 1970s, the harsh reality of life under occupation has shaped a resilient and effective student movement, always ready to sacrifice and bear the cost. Birzeit students played a leading role in the First and Second Intifada, using their unique educational environment to foster active engagement beyond academic pursuits, advocating for Palestinian rights, social justice, and political change. As a result, the university was closed by the occupation forces 15 times—the longest closure lasted four and a half years during the First Intifada.

In 2000, Birzeit students protested and expelled France’s Prime Minister Lionel Jospin from the university after he condemned the Lebanese resistance and made comments supportive of the Zionist occupation of southern Lebanon. Twenty-four years after Jospin’s incident, the German ambassador encountered the same fate in the same place for the same reasons. These spontaneous and collective actions sent a powerful message to the world, clarifying the unwavering stance of Palestinian students against colonial powers. It galvanized local support and attracted international attention to the Palestinian cause, highlighting the global resonance of their resistance.

Student movements are crucial in dismantling oppressive structures and creating new forms of social organization. Fanon’s insights resonate here: “The social structure imposed by colonialism is both a consequence of and a precondition for the existing system of oppression.” From student-led protests to organizing teach-ins, lectures, boycott campaigns, encampments, and occupying halls and buildings, these actions and tactics have not only highlighted injustices but have also mobilized broader segments of the population, particularly in Western countries, against the Zionist project. These efforts draw attention to the need for a more engaged and politically active citizenry.

The protests against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly driven by student activists, were instrumental in shifting American public opinion and ultimately contributed to the end of the war. Similarly, the BLM movement has brought systemic racism and police violence to the forefront of national and international discourse, leading to significant policy changes and influencing election outcomes. Today, there is a potential to transform student protests in American universities into the nucleus for a broader social and political movement. This movement must go beyond solidarity with Gaza and extend to active engagement with issues of exploitation and racism within American society. This is a historic opportunity to restore the political role of students as a force for liberation and justice.

Since October 7th, Birzeit students have confronted escalating Zionist violence and continued to mobilize in the face of severe repression. Despite suffering the kidnapping and detention of tens of their classmates, students insisted on maintaining the presence and continuity of the student movement. Pursued by both Zionist forces and the Palestinian Authority (PA) and affected by years of intimidation, political absurdity, and the US-led political framework following the Oslo Accords, students and young people grew more and more disillusioned with the unproductive and destructive “peace process.”

Amid a culture of fear and the seizure of their role and public political space—mainly through the arrest and detention of students and activists as well as Zionist policies like checkpoints, daily raids on Palestinian cities and towns, field executions, and destruction of infrastructure—students remain steadfast in reclaiming their role and political participation. We acknowledge that this is a long process that requires continuity and patience. It’s also important to remember that students in the West Bank have long been significant participants in military resistance, showing that student revolutionaryism extends beyond academia, especially in the Palestinian context. This underscores the critical role of students in the broader political landscape and their impact on the struggle against colonial powers.

Students are determined to revive and strengthen the student movement to play its fundamental and historical role in the Palestinian revolution, continuously adapting to hardships and loss while remaining steadfast in their struggle for liberation. Over the years, 38 Birzeit students have been martyred on the path to justice and freedom. In the center of the campus, a memorial stands with their names, serving as a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made. The last name on the monument is Aysar Safi, a second-year student who was killed by an Israeli soldier on May 15th, 2024, during a Nakba anniversary demonstration organized by the students. Fully aware of the dangers, Aysar and all our martyrs embraced their roles and responsibilities, insisting on continuing the march of the student movement despite all acts of oppression and terror.

Decolonizing Solidarity

The Student Intifada seeks to redefine solidarity as a mutual and revolutionary act of resistance, distinguishing itself from traditional notions of humanitarian support. In this context, solidarity emphasizes mutual aid and collective resistance over charity, shifting away from a helper-recipient dynamic to mutual empowerment and shared responsibility. Decolonizing solidarity recognizes the agency and leadership of those directly impacted by oppression and calls for us all to engage in a shared struggle. The student movement’s efforts to create an inclusive and decolonized form of solidarity challenge the power structures perpetuating oppression by emphasizing the Unity of Struggle rather than mere solidarity. We understand that the methods of suppression employed by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank influence how police treat immigrant communities and racially marginalized groups in the US and other countries.

This does not necessarily mean the same violent tactics will be used or that differences should be flattened, but that we are all engaged in the same fight against the same enemy.

While the headline of the student movement in the West might be the genocide in Gaza, the movement also encompasses broader social issues such as freedoms, minority and immigrant rights, and the transformation of academic institutions into spaces of social justice. People from diverse backgrounds—Iraqi, Afghan, Vietnamese, Myanma, Irish, Haitian, Rwandan, Black and Indigenous American, Puerto Rican, South African, Colombian, and many others—find personal resonance in the images and cries from Gaza. In these scenes, they see a reflection of their experiences with violence and oppression. Developing a “community of struggle” in all parts of the world is a defining feature of this new internationalism. Such interconnectedness allows for coordinated and strategic actions far more impactful than isolated efforts.

In reclaiming political space and fostering a deeper understanding of solidarity, the Student Intifada not only addresses immediate injustices but also paves the way for a more just and equitable world. This includes crushing the Zionist killing machine, cutting off support to every institution funding it, building a path for change and liberation—especially now in the face of genocide—and supporting the inherent right of Palestinians to resist. As we move forward, we must continue supporting and amplifying these efforts, ensuring that the struggle for justice and liberation is a collective endeavor for all.