How does the world view the protests on US campuses?
The world watches what happens on American campuses with shock, pride, joy and alarm. Scenes of protests – and arrests of demonstrators – were headline news around the world, from Bogotá to Berlin, from Tehran to Paris.In some countries, including France, students have staged protests of their own, though not with the scale and intensity of those in the United States.Some applaud the protests. Others, especially in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes, see the crackdown as evidence of American hypocrisy on human rights and free speech. Still others see them as the latest sordid chapter in America's ongoing culture wars.In some ways, the protests and the response to them are a Rorschach test for the world: The analysis often offers more insight into local politics than American p...