Students at UC San Diego have settled into their encampment of support for Palestinians in the Middle East, near the Geisel Library. And due to the protest, UC San Diego officials announced the cancellation of the annual Sun God Festival that was scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 4.
The UCSDivest Coalition is demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Among the group’s other demands is a call for the university to divest from all of its Israeli financial interests.
“We won’t leave until our demands are met,” said Hala Abdullah, a senior at UC San Diego with extended family in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Jewish Faculty and Students at UCSD just released a statement of solidarity with the campus protest.
Hala Abdullah is a UC San Diego senior with extended family in the West Bank. She is staying in the encampment while also attending classes. She joined hundreds of other students and community activists who say they do not want violence to erupt at their camp as has happened on so many other campuses in the past week.
“The amount of cultures, identities, and religions that we have in this encampment, in this community that we have created is bringing us together,” Abdullah said. “It’s not just centered on Gazan people, but it’s centered on all marginalized and oppressed people across the world.”
Byron Morton took the following photos
UC San Diego is on a quarter system, which means students still have about a month left for their regular classes. Some faculty support this protest and are using it for a teachable moment.
Curtis Marez is a UC San Diego professor of ethnic studies who joined the encampment protest, Thursday, in between teaching his classes, La Jolla, Calif., May 2, 2024
“If you oppose student movements on campus, you’re really on the wrong side of history,” said Curtis Marez, holding a sign of support in front of the encampment Thursday.
He is a professor of ethnic studies who protested in between teaching his classes.
“Free speech protests, anti-war protests, protests for ethnic studies … all of those things have been on the right side of history and good, even though they were opposed by administrations at the time,” Marez said.
So far, the university has not responded to the group’s demands. Officials say they are committed to keeping everyone safe. UC San Diego’s chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla has said he supports the right to free speech. He, however, has also released a statement stating the encampment “violates campus policy,” which prohibits unauthorized encampments.
Hundreds of students with the UCSDivest Coalition are rotating protestors through their encampment along Library Way on campus, La Jolla, Calif., May 2, 2024
For now, the encampment remains.
In the spirit of community, organizers have planned for a visit from a rabbi on Friday, along with study groups for student protesters, daily prayer time, and sharing of stories.
“The way to learn about people, about cultures, and history is through storytelling,” Abdullah said.
Jewish Faculty and Students at UCSD Stand in Solidarity with Campus Protest for Gaza; Support the Shabbat Celebration at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment
Jewish faculty, students and staff at University of California San Diego, together with Jewish community groups, stand in full solidarity with student protestors who have erected the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on Library Walk on the La Jolla campus.
Tonight Jewish students and faculty, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace at UCSD and Jewish Voice for Peace San Diego and led by Rabbi Alexis Pearce, will join to light candles and say the Shabbat blessing together with students and community members from diverse faiths and backgrounds. As we observe the Sabbath, we seek to envision a world with safety and freedom for all.
After nearly 7 months of Israel’s onslaught of Gaza, where every plane and helicopter and every bomb and shell are made in the US and often paid for by US taxpayers, we are inspired by a worldwide movement of students in solidarity with the people of Palestine. This movement, including the movement at UCSD, is demanding that universities divest from their financial interests and academic ties to the State of Israel, and is more broadly bringing political pressure in the US to change policy. We agree with Professor Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University when he said “This is the conscience of a nation, speaking through your kids” and we recognize the courage and commitment of the students who are camping out.
We reject the dismissal of these peaceful encampments as anti-Semitic, or that they create a hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty. We recognize anti-Semitism as a real form of discrimination that harms our communities but reject the premise that criticism of the state of Israel and its actions is inherently anti-Semitic. We stand together with thousands of Jews in the US who are appalled by the collective punishment being meted out indiscriminately to the people of Gaza, and to the obliteration of every institution of higher learning in Gaza, all with the support of our government.
Gaza Solidarity Encampment, UCSD Campus, Library Walk at 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA
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Gosh, we probably shouldn’t comment on this protest lest we be labeled
anti-semitic.
If I remember correctly, LBJ & Nixon & their ilk killed about 58, 000 U.S. military personnel during the Viet Nam war era. And they bombed the shit out of Laos & Cambodia & Viet Nam. And we protested. Four died in Ohio. And we protested. And there was Agent Orange & mass murders similar to the My Lai massacre.
And we protested.
Jeremy Scahill wrote Dirty Wars, did he not?
Nick Turse wrote Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Viet Nam.
IDF has killed about 35, 000 and people protest the death & the razing of
the Gaza strip. And once again the right wing clamps down. The imperialists clamp down. Looks to me as though it’s just tradition to mow people down with impunity.