{"id":7653,"date":"2026-07-03T16:35:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/election-wins-prove-pro-palestine-us-campus-protests-didnt-fail-activists\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T16:35:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:35:31","slug":"election-wins-prove-pro-palestine-us-campus-protests-didnt-fail-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/election-wins-prove-pro-palestine-us-campus-protests-didnt-fail-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Election wins prove pro-Palestine US campus protests didn\u2019t fail: Activists"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Over the past year, it may have appeared that the pro-Palestine protest movement in the United States has lost momentum in the face of smears, crackdowns, indifference and fatigue.<\/p>\n<p>But a string of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/24\/wins-by-mamdani-backed-candidates-deal-blow-to-pro-israel-camp-in-us\">electoral wins<\/a> by critics of Israeli abuses appears to indicate that activism\u2019s success can only be measured in the long term.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/1\/democratic-socialist-kiros-defeats-longtime-incumbent-in-colorado-primary\">Democratic socialist Kiros defeats longtime incumbent in Colorado primary<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2026\/6\/26\/new-york-city-freezes-rents-for-one-million-regulated-apartments\">New York City freezes rents for one million regulated apartments<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/26\/after-progressive-us-primary-wins-trump-takes-aim-at-godless-communists\">After progressive US primary wins, Trump takes aim at \u2018godless communists\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>In New York, Darializa Avila Chevalier, an activist who participated in the pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University, won a Democratic congressional primary against a five-term incumbent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just so satisfying to feel like the tide is finally turning,\u201d said Maryam Alwan, who participated in the Columbia protest in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPublic opinion has shifted to a point where it\u2019s unavoidable and undeniable, and I think we\u2019re finally starting to see the ripple effects of movements like the encampment that happened two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Avila Chevalier\u2019s win was one of several victories for pro-Palestine candidates in New York last week.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/23\/nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-doubles-down-on-criticism-of-aipac\">Zohran Mamdani<\/a> was elected mayor of New York City, in part thanks to the efforts of young pro-Palestine activists who powered his campaign.<\/p>\n<p>In Colorado on Tuesday, Melat Kiros, who was fired from her law firm in 2023 for a letter defending Palestinian rights supporters from accusations of anti-Semitism, ousted a House member who had been in Congress for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n<p>Candidates backed by supporters of Palestinian rights also won key races <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/20\/chris-rabb-win-in-pennsylvania-energises-democrats-progressive-flank\">in Pennsylvania<\/a> and New Jersey.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"columbia-case\">Columbia case<\/h2>\n<p>Avila Chevalier\u2019s victory especially stands out in the context of the long-term impact of the student protests.<\/p>\n<p>The democratic socialist nominee, who is likely to cruise to victory in a safe Democratic district in November, will represent large parts of Columbia University\u2019s campus, where it all started.<\/p>\n<p>Witnessing horrific <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/longform\/2024\/4\/30\/we-didnt-expect-to-find-bones-inside-one-gaza-familys-nightmare\">atrocities in Gaza<\/a> that were partly funded by their own government, students at Columbia set up the first encampment in support of Palestinians, kick-starting a national movement.<\/p>\n<p>Students nationwide then turned their campuses into a front line for political activism against Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p><span>Dozens of encampments sprang up on campuses\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/4\/25\/blocks-from-the-white-house-us-students-stand-steadfast-with-gaza\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">across the country<\/a> in 2024 and chants of \u201cfree Palestine\u201d rang out in schools from Seattle to Miami.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The students demanded an end to their own schools\u2019 complicity in Israel\u2019s abuses. They called for divestment from Israeli companies and weapons manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p>A security crackdown soon ensued, leading to the arrest of hundreds of students and the removal of encampments.<\/p>\n<p>Avila Chevalier herself was arrested in 2024 as an alumna taking part in the protests.<\/p>\n<p>Many students faced academic disciplinary action and others were charged with alleged crimes related to the protests as politicians from both major parties portrayed the movement as anti-Semitic.<\/p>\n<p>Then, Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025 and went after student activists who were not US citizens, pushing to deport them.<\/p>\n<p>With the encampments removed, the protests getting quieter and the activists going on the defensive to preserve their own personal reputations, safety and freedom, it appeared that the pro-Israel camp successfully suffocated the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/4\/26\/generation-gap-what-student-protests-say-about-us-politics-israel-support\">student movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"new-wave-of-hope\">\u2018New wave of hope\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>But the story is not over yet, activists say, and the recent elections show it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no words to describe the joy and satisfaction that comes from seeing Darializa, a former leader and organiser of the encampment, represent the school that arrested her,\u201d Alwan said.<\/p>\n<p><span>She added that while students may not have succeeded in securing divestment despite rallying and suffering personal costs, change is proving to be a \u201cgradual process\u201d, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/27\/us-citizens-support-for-israel-at-historic-low-over-gaza-genocide-poll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">public opinion<\/a> is now more aligned with the protesters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re experiencing a new wave of hope,\u201d Alwan told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>Cameron Jones, who participated in the protests at Columbia, said Avila Chevalier was always supportive of younger activists and unafraid to speak up for Palestinian rights, even when it wasn\u2019t popular.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really inspiring to see how, even though we have faced such immense repression and have been organising in such a hostile environment, the power of the people is still able to overcome all the barriers that are being set by the federal government, Columbia, the media,\u201d Jones said of Avila Chevalier\u2019s win.<\/p>\n<p>The Columbia protests were part of Avila Chevalier\u2019s political identity as she launched her campaign last year.<\/p>\n<p><span>One of her criticisms of her now-defeated opponent, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, is that he did not adequately support Columbia activist\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/22\/mahmoud-khalil-to-appeal-us-deportation-case-to-supreme-court\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mahmoud Khalil<\/a> as he was targeted for deportation by the Trump administration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Heba Gowayed, a sociology professor at the City University of New York (CUNY), said the recent electoral wins for pro-Palestine candidates would not have been possible without the student protests of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we think about social movements, we think about them as bursts of action, as temporally limited things,\u201d Gowayed told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd when the students are dispersed and the students are expelled and the university doesn\u2019t divest, we see that as the loss of a movement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added that there have been many articles declaring the defeat of student protests and claiming they have petered out and questioning the lack of campus activism in the Trump era after the crackdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut here we have Darializa\u2019s win, Mamdani\u2019s win and the win of the entire socialist slate,\u201d she said. \u201cThis does not happen if those students don\u2019t encamp; it just doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past year, it may have appeared that the pro-Palestine protest movement in the United States has lost momentum in the face of smears, crackdowns, indifference and fatigue. But a string of electoral wins by critics of Israeli abuses appears to indicate that activism\u2019s success can only be measured in the long term. Recommended &#8230; <a title=\"Election wins prove pro-Palestine US campus protests didn\u2019t fail: Activists\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/election-wins-prove-pro-palestine-us-campus-protests-didnt-fail-activists\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Election wins prove pro-Palestine US campus protests didn\u2019t fail: Activists\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}