Supporters of Palestinians protested the Israel-Hamas war on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin this week. Suzanne Cordeiro/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images - April 26, 2024.
What began as a series of isolated protests at major American universities has now transformed into an unprecedented national movement. The so-called “American Spring” is spreading from New York to California, from college campuses to labor centers, demanding an end to the authoritarianism that has marked Donald Trump’s return to power.
Pro-Palestinian student protesters at a demonstration at Columbia University on the third day of "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" in New York, US, April 19, 2024. © 2024 Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
University students protest in the United States over the past three weeks begs the question of whether they will end American support for Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. May 10, 2024 - Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Pro-Palestinian protesters outside Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus on Wednesday. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The protesters denounce that the United States, under the new administration, has become a monarchy disguised as a democracy. They point to the control of the media, the persecution of critical voices, the use of the judicial system against the opposition, and, above all, the unconditional support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza as symbols of the moral collapse of a nation that once presented itself as a bastion of freedom.
The streets of Washington and Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles, are filled with banners proclaiming “Impeachment Now” and “Democracy for the People.” What seemed unthinkable—a civil rebellion in the heart of the empire—is now a reality.
The world is watching closely as the American people begin to recognize in their own territory what they have exported for decades: repression, inequality, and wars imposed in the name of freedom.
UPAL salutes all peoples who rise up against tyranny, whatever their flag.
Freedom, when it is authentic, has no borders or owners.
For the dignity of the people and against all forms of occupation and authoritarianism.
UPAL – Palestinian Union of Latin America
October 21, 2025
