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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Cas Mudde

Why are US campuses facing an orgy of state repression in the ‘land of the free’?

Students protesting against the war on Gaza
‘In far-right propaganda, universities are the dystopian future of the whole country, where … people oppress “real Americans”, ie white, Christian conservatives.’ Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Across the world people have been shocked by social media footage of heavily armed law enforcement officers arresting peacefully protesting students and professors at university campuses around the United States. The so-called “land of the free and home of the brave” looks neither free nor brave – except for the brave protesters who continue to stand up to state and university repression.

Although government repression of student protests is not unique to either the US or this particular period, the current orgy of state repression is very much an illustration of the current crisis of liberal democracy as it is squeezed by both illiberalism and neoliberalism.

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