Kite Line: The Dunn Meadow Liberated Zone

Kite Line reports on the Palestine solidarity encampment at Indiana University in so-called Bloomington, IN.

Eight days ago, students and others established a tent camp – a Liberated Zone – at IU’s Dunn Meadow, as part of a national rising tide of protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.

Within hours, Indiana State Police arrived from Indianapolis and attacked the students, injuring dozens and arresting 34 students and faculty. The protesters were undaunted, rebuilt their encampment, and faced a repeat assault that Saturday. The repressive apparatus reached this level of violence across the country, with dozens of camps and occupied buildings facing militarized incursions by police.

This begs the question of why the state turned so quickly to naked violence, even compared to previous movements that have had to face down and defeat police violence. Many have pointed to Cop City and similar police training facilities, which have worked since the 2020 George Floyd Uprising to prepare cops to squash anti-racist protest. We have covered the Stop Cop City movement previously on Kite Line. There is certainly an intimate relationship between prisons, police violence, and this country’s long history of racist repression.

We spoke to local IU faculty and other movement participants about this sequence and what it says about the future.