Time to practice the virtue of moderation

KIM SEUNG-JUNG
The author is a professor of archaeology at the University of Toronto.

Universities around the world are experiencing pro-Palestinian protests opposing the Israeli-Hamas War. The movement, which was sparked by the arrest of approximately 300 students who occupied campuses at Columbia University and the City University of New York on April 30, has spread around the world. The University of Toronto, where I teach, also has more than 150 tents occupying the campus for four weeks.

The protestors are demanding schools to withdraw investments related to Israel and cut ties with Israeli universities. It is a difficult demand for a public university that runs with the help of various funds. What is more concerning is the possible violation of the safety of Jewish students by evoking anti-Semitism. The University of Toronto has requested a court order for a forced dissolution of the rally and is currently awaiting a ruling.

The pro-Palestinian demonstrations in universities are similar in size and worldwide system to the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests in New York. It is a form of protests occupying a certain area, staying night and day until their demands are met. While the sit-in strike by the unions in the American Federation of Labor in the 1930s are considered the origin of such protests, similar protests appear in ancient Greek literature.

The famous example in Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata” is a humorous yet real anti-war comedy. In order to end the prolonged Peloponnesian War, Greek women occupy Acropolis and withhold sex from their husbands. While the women attained peace in Greece, such a happy ending is not easy to find in the real world.

The ultimate cause of the Israel-Hamas War is the self-righteous nature of religious ideology, and it is related to the age-old karma of Western history, such as the Holocaust by Hitler. But Israel is the powerful one today. The solution of the problem can be found when the strong has a long-term perspective and practices the virtue of moderation.