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For weeks, universities around the world have been grappling with growing protest encampments by pro-Palestine students angry over the Gaza war.
In some cases, police have used heavy-handed tactics to break up the camps. Others have been the scene of clashes between protesters and pro-Israel counter-protesters. People on both sides of the debate have been subjected to doxing, harassment, public shaming and abuse.
As ethicist Hugh Breakey asks in a piece for us today, what’s going on here? Why has the debate over the Gaza war become so toxic? Why is it tearing communities apart?
As you can imagine, there are no easy answers to these questions. But Breakey says several features of our current cultural moment have intersected to cause these disagreements to become vitriolic and extraordinarily divisive.
As he reminds readers, in a multicultural and pluralistic country, we can’t prevent others having different views, and “we can’t shy away from the sharp disagreements those differences will create”.
But, he adds, “it still matters how each individual is treated, not as a place-holder for a group, and not as responsible for the group’s sins.”
If you value this kind of journalism, please consider donating to The Conversation today to help support the work we do.
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Justin Bergman
International Affairs Editor
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Hugh Breakey, Griffith University
Each side is righteously sensitive to any perceived hate speech from the other, but seems unwilling to limit their own punitive strategies or inflammatory language.
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Evangeline Mantzioris, University of South Australia
Plus, five other tips to get more fruit and vegetables in your diet on a budget.
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Senaka Ranadheera, The University of Melbourne
We should be eating plenty of fresh produce every day. But throwing away another bunch of wilted herbs is demotivating. Thankfully, there are helpful tips to make produce last.
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Sanjoy Paul, University of Technology Sydney; Priyabrata Chowdhury, RMIT University
Expanding the $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia program would enhance the country’s economic resilience and competitiveness.
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Brandon Michael Sideleau, Charles Darwin University
Illegal tin miners take their lives in their hands. The craters they leave behind fill with water – and attract crocs.
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Albert Pessarrodona Silvestre, The University of Western Australia; Karen Filbee-Dexter, The University of Western Australia; Mirjam van der Mheen, The University of Western Australia; Thomas Wernberg, The University of Western Australia
Underwater rivers ferry large volumes of seaweed from shallow seas into the deep, where its carbon is stored naturally
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Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Australian Catholic University
The Mona Lisa has traditionally been associated with Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant. But there’s plenty of evidence pointing to a different identity.
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Kristyn Harman, University of Tasmania; Victoria Nagy, University of Tasmania
Along with British and Irish convicts, 627 free men, women and children were transported to the 19th-century penal colonies of Van Diemen’s Land. Their stories, mostly forgotten, are moving.
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Toby Walsh, UNSW Sydney
Using AI to write search results is risky for Google, the internet, and the whole idea of ‘truth’
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Politics + Society
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Paul Spoonley, Massey University
The latest census figures are released this week, but the long-term trends are already clear: we will soon be more Māori and more Asian, fertility rates are dropping, and more citizens are leaving.
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Health + Medicine
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Kitty-Rose Foley, Southern Cross University
Some devices simply block sound. Others cancel out noises using sound engineering. There is positive, but limited, research that suggests they might be useful for autistic or ADHD people.
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Susan Rossell, Swinburne University of Technology; Claire Finkelstein, Swinburne University of Technology
Psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms, has shown promise in treating anorexia in early studies, mostly in rats. But more research is needed to test if it’s safe and effective in humans.
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Environment + Energy
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Sukhbir Sandhu, University of South Australia
Whether we can recycle plastic or not depends on what it’s made of (because there are many different types of plastic), if it’s sufficiently clean and if enough people will buy recycled products.
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Arts + Culture
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Jeanette Mollenhauer, The University of Melbourne
Riverdance showed ‘traditional’ does not have to mean ‘frozen in the past’; traditional dance can be adapted for modern audiences.
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