COLLEGE CAMPUS ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS AS A MANIFESTATION OF SYSTEMIC INSTITUTIONAL DECLINE

 The immediate cause of American grassroots mass protests have been triggered by the US military aid to Israel which has been carrying on a genocidal war and committing war crimes, according to many international organizations and governments. It would be hasty to conclude that underlying causes of these mass movements have not played a role. These broader causes are far more significant than what appears on the surface either on the side of the protesters or the side of defenders of militarism as a solution to political crises, and advocates of continuance genocide in the specific case of Israel.

American society has been experiencing systemic political problems because both parties represent the same Wall Street interests who own most of the wealth, while the bottom two-thirds have been experiencing steady socioeconomic downward mobility and rising personal debt. The fact that China has eliminated extreme poverty while US poverty as well as inequality has been rising, while all along both political parties keep promising for decades to improve living standards has left most people cynical and dispirited about the social contract in America.

The unequal socioeconomic system resembling a Third World nation, the corrupt pro-Wall Street 'uni-party ' system, the lack of prospect for a better future for the very students engaged in mass protests across America's campuses illustrates the magnitude of the problem in society. In addition, mainstream institutions, led by the mass media, in which people lack confidence, exacerbates the problem by undermining its own credibility due to manufactured and heavily biased news stories in the age of the internet allowing people to cross-reference the often blatant lies, at other times massaged coverage, and always pro-Wall Street, pro-military industrial complex coverage intended to indoctrinate for the benefit of the elites demanding social conformity.

College students are the ones who are more aware of the systemic institutional failures and a social contract that works for the richest ten percent while the rest are asked to conform, work, and pay their taxes to benefit the business sector and feed the global military network which in the case of Israel has entailed genocide. When Senator Bernie Sanders goes public with the accusation of US complicity in Israel's quest to eliminate the Palestinian people, there is something seriously wrong, not because he is Jewish and progressive, but because he sees that the status quo is in crisis and he is simply warning that much worse may be ahead for American society.

It is no secret that China is the world's strongest economy - measured in PPP - with the largest manufacturing and global trade base. Because the global balance of power has shifted in China's favor, many people lack optimism for the American Dream.