Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily OS.
Speaker 2: This is the Daily OS. Oh now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily ODS. It is Friday,
Speaker 2: the third of May. I'm billy, i'm zara. Student protests
Speaker 2: over the Israel Hamas war have intensified across US college
Speaker 2: campuses this week and have now spread to universities here
Speaker 2: in Australia. Protesters are calling for an immediate ceasefire and
Speaker 2: for their universities to divest from, which means stop investing
Speaker 2: funds in companies linked to Israel. According to CNN, more
Speaker 2: than one thousand students have been arrested across at least
Speaker 2: twenty one states since mid April. Today we're going to
Speaker 2: explain exactly what you need to know, but before we
Speaker 2: get their zara, what is making headlines?
Speaker 3: Attorney General Mark Dreyfus is urging parents to consider who
Speaker 3: they are sharing content with online after a survey of
Speaker 3: four thousand parents by the Australian Institute of Criminology found
Speaker 3: nearly three percent had received requests online for child's sexual
Speaker 3: exploitation material. Around a third of these parents were offered
Speaker 3: payment for the exploitative content. Dreyfus said parents need to
Speaker 3: be more aware of the potential harms to their child
Speaker 3: if their photos are posted online.
Speaker 2: Both Woolwells and Cohls have recorded jumps in their sales
Speaker 2: for the first three months of this year compared to
Speaker 2: the last three months of last year. Woolwales recorded a
Speaker 2: two point eight percent growth in sales compared to Cols's
Speaker 2: five point one percent increase. The supermarket giants are facing
Speaker 2: multiple inquiries into their business conduct during the cost of
Speaker 2: living crisis.
Speaker 3: Solomon Islands has elected its Foreign Minister, Jeremiah manale as
Speaker 3: the new Prime Minister. Comes after the election last month
Speaker 3: resulted in no clear leader and former Prime Minister manasse
Speaker 3: S Sagovare announced he would not be returning to office.
Speaker 3: Ozupm Anthony Albanizi congratulated manale on x, saying the country's
Speaker 3: futures are connected.
Speaker 2: And today's good news. There was a bit of a
Speaker 2: rush at this year's Australasian Performing Right Association Awards, also
Speaker 2: known as the APRA Awards. Troceavan's lead single Rush took
Speaker 2: out the number one spot for the peer voted Song
Speaker 2: of the Year. The twenty eight year old was also
Speaker 2: nominated for a Grammy this year. For Rush.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Billy.
Speaker 3: There are these huge protests that are happening on college
Speaker 3: campuses around the world, but they started in the US.
Speaker 3: Where did this story of protesting begin.
Speaker 2: So the protests are over the Israel and Hamas war,
Speaker 2: and I think whenever we talk about the war and Garza,
Speaker 2: it's important to give some brief contexts to start. So,
Speaker 2: on October seven, Hamas launched an attack on Israel, and
Speaker 2: according to data cited by the UN, roughly one two
Speaker 2: hundred people were killed. Hamas, which Australia lists as a
Speaker 2: terrorist organization, captured about two hundred and forty hostages and
Speaker 2: today about one hundred and thirty three remain captive. Now,
Speaker 2: Israel responded by declaring war and bombarding Gaza, and according
Speaker 2: to data cited by the UN, at least thirty four
Speaker 2: thousand Palestinians have now been killed since that date or
Speaker 2: of the seventh of October, and Israel's war in Gaza
Speaker 2: has caused a massive humanitarian crisis there. And in the
Speaker 2: seven months since the war began, there have been mass
Speaker 2: protests all over the world. There have been protests at universities,
Speaker 2: there have been protests on the streets. They have really
Speaker 2: been everywhere. But this recent wave of student protests began
Speaker 2: at Columbia University in New York City in mid April,
Speaker 2: so more than two weeks ago.
Speaker 3: Now, okay, so Columbia is where this story begins. It's
Speaker 3: one of the most prestigious universities in New York. Barack
Speaker 3: Obama is one of the alumni of that col what's
Speaker 3: happened there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you haven't heard of Columbia University, you have
Speaker 2: definitely heard of many of its graduates. It's a very
Speaker 2: prestigious university over there. So on the eighteenth of April,
Speaker 2: more than a hundred students were arrested after they refuse
Speaker 2: to vacate an encampment on the campis Can I.
Speaker 1: Just stop you there? Encampment? That word's been everywhere in
Speaker 1: the headlines. What does it actually mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was looking at Google trends the other day
Speaker 2: and what does encampment mean was one of the top trends.
Speaker 1: It's a word that.
Speaker 2: It's everywhere at the moment, and it basically is just
Speaker 2: a group of tents that students are setting up on
Speaker 2: university lawns and they are sleeping there. So they have
Speaker 2: been sleeping there for more than two weeks now. So
Speaker 2: students at Columbia University, for example, have been sleeping on
Speaker 2: the lawns of their UNI for more than two weeks now.
Speaker 3: So these encampments were set up on the eighteenth of
Speaker 3: April at Columbia University. It's now the third of May.
Speaker 3: What's happened between then and now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the protests have really only intensified since then. It's
Speaker 2: been a massive story this week. It's been the leading
Speaker 2: story of the New York Times. So this week, students
Speaker 2: forcefully occupied one of the halls on campus, the Hamilton Hall,
Speaker 2: which is actually a really well known hall for several
Speaker 2: protests that have happened there over centuries, and it was
Speaker 2: completely vandalized and blockaded, and the UNI put out statement
Speaker 2: saying that well, they said that they had no choice
Speaker 2: but to reach out to the police, and that is
Speaker 2: when riot police were actually brought in to clear the building,
Speaker 2: and they arrested dozens of people. In the process of
Speaker 2: that happening and it being cleared out.
Speaker 1: It was pretty remarkable vision.
Speaker 3: It was being live streamed kind of by most news outlets,
Speaker 3: and it was police wearing like full gear in these
Speaker 3: huge trucks coming and coming face to face with student protesters.
Speaker 1: It was quite remarkable vision.
Speaker 2: And the UNI has also released a statement saying that
Speaker 2: students who were part of that will possibly face expulsion.
Speaker 2: So tensions are very high, I think is probably an understatement,
Speaker 2: to be honest, And Joe Biden, the US President, also
Speaker 2: weighed in. A spokesperson for him said that forcibly taking
Speaker 2: over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach.
Speaker 3: And so in this instance, these protesters were met by police,
Speaker 3: specifically the NYPD. There's been quite a lot of discussion
Speaker 3: around what that interaction between police and protesters looked, like,
Speaker 3: what do we know about that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there has been this conversation of police violence,
Speaker 2: and there have been several reported incidents of police violence
Speaker 2: that have come from students who have been at the protests.
Speaker 2: Some of the organizers in Colombia, for example, they said
Speaker 2: that multiple students were injured by police and had to
Speaker 2: be taken to hospital. They also said that some students
Speaker 2: had emerged with swollen faces from being kicked repeatedly and
Speaker 2: also from getting tackled to the ground. So some really
Speaker 2: concerning incidents there. So those are some of the reports
Speaker 2: that we've heard about police violence. But in this case,
Speaker 2: we haven't heard directly from the New York Police Department
Speaker 2: or from universities verifying the situation from their perspective.
Speaker 3: I'm sure there will still be a lot there to unpack.
Speaker 3: As you know, this is still a fairly fresh story,
Speaker 3: so I'm sure we'll be talking about that for a while.
Speaker 3: It's not just Colombia though, where this has happened. It's
Speaker 3: happened across the country and now in fact across the world.
Speaker 1: How has this grown, this movement.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's grown massively. I mean, students are now protesting
Speaker 2: at around fifty other university campuses in the US and
Speaker 2: also in Canada. Some of the universities include Harvard, I'm
Speaker 2: sure many listeners are familiar without one, Yale, and Johns
Speaker 2: Hopkins as well, and CNN reports that more than a
Speaker 2: thousand students have now been arrested across the US in
Speaker 2: at least twenty one states. So this has spread a
Speaker 2: lot across the country, and some universities have also actually
Speaker 2: had to cancel graduations ceremonies, including the University of Southern California,
Speaker 2: in the wake of these protests and as they are ongoing,
Speaker 2: and like we mentioned, above. A lot of these protests
Speaker 2: are taking the form of encampments. These aren't just the
Speaker 2: usual protests that we often see. They are literally camping
Speaker 2: on the lawns and sleeping there. And the students have
Speaker 2: been extremely clear that they are saying they will not
Speaker 2: end this will not stop until their demands are met.
Speaker 2: Here is one student from Columbia speaking to the media
Speaker 2: earlier this week. We will not be moved by these
Speaker 2: intimidation tactics.
Speaker 1: You can see outside you now that these students aren't mobilized.
Speaker 1: There's hundred complems here today. They will not be moved.
Speaker 1: We demand divestments. We will not be moved and left
Speaker 1: by force.
Speaker 3: I want to get into what exactly the demands of
Speaker 3: these protesters are, because you've just said that they don't
Speaker 3: plan to leave, or they will try not to leave
Speaker 3: until those demands are met.
Speaker 1: Actually talk about what it is they are pushing for here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, as you heard in that clip, what they
Speaker 2: are asking for is divestment.
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: So they are wanting their universities to divest from which
Speaker 2: just means stop investing funds in companies that are linked
Speaker 2: to Israel. Now, like I mentioned, there are fifty different
Speaker 2: unis facing these demands from these students. So I'm not
Speaker 2: going to go into the responses from every single one
Speaker 2: of those fifty universities. But let's again, we've been talking
Speaker 2: about Columbia University a lot because that's where it started.
Speaker 2: It has said that it will not divest from Israel,
Speaker 2: but it did say that it will expedite a review
Speaker 2: into the matter. So they're saying that they'll look into it,
Speaker 2: but they're absolutely not making any promises. But one example
Speaker 2: of a university that has reached an agreement with the
Speaker 2: students is at Brown University, and they have reached a
Speaker 2: pretty rare agreement with the protesters. They announce that its
Speaker 2: leaders have agreed to discuss and they then later will
Speaker 2: vote on whether or not to divest funds from companies
Speaker 2: connected to Israel. And as a result of that agreement,
Speaker 2: the protesters have stopped their encampment on their campus.
Speaker 3: And I think just good to note that there isn't
Speaker 3: this one body that is organizing all of these different encampments.
Speaker 3: They are all slightly varied. They're being organized locally on campuses.
Speaker 3: So while the demands are broadly the same, there are
Speaker 3: a few variations between them. I do want to turn
Speaker 3: out to some incidents of anti Semitism that have occurred
Speaker 3: on college campuses. What can you tell me about that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, there have been many reports of anti Semitism occurring
Speaker 2: during these protests. Video showed Jewish students being physically prevented
Speaker 2: from entering their colleges, and there have been some incidents
Speaker 2: of assaults on Jewish students as well, and many Jewish
Speaker 2: students have said that they don't feel safe at their
Speaker 2: university going to their classes anymore. Columbia University has strongly
Speaker 2: condemned quote chance signs, taunts and social media posts from
Speaker 2: our own students that mock and threatened to kill Jewish people,
Speaker 2: and it said that many Jewish students have left campus
Speaker 2: and that is a tragedy. And they've also banned a
Speaker 2: student from campus due to their anti Semitic behavior. And
Speaker 2: last week Biden condemned anti semitism on these campuses and everywhere.
Speaker 2: He said that it was reprehensible and dangerous and that
Speaker 2: anti Semitism had no place on college campuses or anywhere
Speaker 2: in our country.
Speaker 3: Some very strong words, they are from the US President.
Speaker 3: But as we've said, it's now not just in the
Speaker 3: US that we're seeing these protests, it's also happening here
Speaker 3: in Australia, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there are now similar encampments happening here in Australia.
Speaker 2: There are ones at the University of Melbourne, University of Queensland,
Speaker 2: also a new in Canberra. They're also at Sydney UNI.
Speaker 2: We had a colleague who was there yesterday and she
Speaker 2: sent through photos of the camps being set up there.
Speaker 2: So again it's spreading all across Australia now and the
Speaker 2: organizers here in Australia are asking for a similar demand
Speaker 2: to those in the US. They are asking for the
Speaker 2: universities to stop their partnership with Israeli institutions. And another
Speaker 2: thing to mention is that mcquarie University is quote working
Speaker 2: to wholly understand what happened when one of its academics
Speaker 2: ran an event at the UCID protests for young children
Speaker 2: where they were filmed chanting phrases including into fada and
Speaker 2: Israel is a terrorist state.
Speaker 3: Look, it's a really complicated topic and I know that
Speaker 3: it's one that affects a lot of our listeners, a
Speaker 3: lot of university age students listening to this podcast. So
Speaker 3: Hopefully we have been able to unpack a bit about
Speaker 3: where this movement has started, where it might be going next.
Speaker 3: But that's it from us today. Thanks for listening to
Speaker 3: the Daily os. We'll be back again on Monday, but
Speaker 3: until then, have a great weekend.
Speaker 2: My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Aarunda
Speaker 2: Bungelung Calcotin woman from Gadigal Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 2: that this podcast dust is recorded on the lands of
Speaker 2: the Gadigal people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and
Speaker 2: Torrestrate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 2: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.