Campus Battleground: The Internal Struggle

Yaman’s family escaped to America because of political persecution in Syria, and through the milieu of the film, he undergoes a religious transformation, in which the context of his past became exceedingly clearer as the Israel-Palestine conflict evolved. Yaman arrived at UC Berkeley as an agnostic, and within a few short months, converted to the Islam faith. The film shadows his life for a semester, starting with a prayer at a peaceful Muslim prayer room on campus, and extending to political anti-Israel protests where he devotedly supports and defends Palestine. Nearing the end of the film, Yaman expresses yet another transformation of religious beliefs towards his Muslim and Palestinian identity. As he reflects on the exploitation of Islam for political gain, he finds himself beginning to feel apathetic about religion again, and disappointment about the manipulation of Islam and all religions because of political agendas.

Khadija, a young Iraqi-American student attending Columbia University, is upset by the constant feeling of isolation from the outside because of her Muslim heritage. She recalls her realization of her Muslim and Arab identity after September 11, 2001, when the weightiness of her heritage became unpredictably clear. An active member in the Arab Student’s Association, Khadija struggles, like many of these other students, to find a place of belonging within her Muslim and Arab heritage and within the walls of Columbia’s campus. She eloquently states in regards to pro-Israelis—“I don’t hate you, I disagree with you. When was that ever wrong?” Her growth and strength is apparent as we watch her transform from an American college student clad in typical dorm wear—jeans and t-shirts—into a young woman wearing a hijab (head scarf) and attending religious services at a Mosque in the heart of New York City. Through the evolution of a semester, she has learned to not only embrace her heritage, but to embrace herself.

These are just a few of the many young students whose lives are documented throughout the course of a semester at Columbia and UC Berkeley. Campus Battleground examines important themes such as writing vs. talking and protest vs. dialogue. Perhaps what is most compelling is how profoundly each and every one of these students is affected by the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is hard to imagine the actuality of life in the midst of chaos on the actual battleground in Israel and Palestine. These passionate young students are merely interlopers who are deeply affected by a battle occurring thousands of miles away.