(((SusanSilverman)))

These students, who demand more funds for their schools, are marching with Palestinian flags and chanting, "we're all antifa." But we know Palestinian flags and chants don't hire teachers. What this protest is really about is the ritual of white guilt innocence. Italy, like the rest of Europe, has kept alive the shame of its history from colonialism to fascism. These students are taught that this guilt is tied to their white skin and is their inheritance. But this white guilt offers them a way out. If they dissociate from the West that they've been taught to see as racist and ally with the oppressed, they will gain innocence, a false innocence. The Palestinian flag here is a symbol of this bargain for innocence. In the eyes of the students, the Palestinians are the oppressed and Israel stands in for the evil West. Waving that flag allows these students to stand with the "oppressed" against their own civilization. And these students believe this because their failed education systems have taught them to think this way. Instead of developing individual talents, their schools are manufacturing the desire for white guilt innocence. But this innocence is nothing but an illusion that won't teach a child math or land him a job. Worst of all, it has taught these students that their own society, which gave them every privilege known to man, is the obstacle to their own innocence.