University Students Protest and Counter Throughout Southern California
Cebelihle Hlatshwayo | Editor-in-Chief; Libna Florencio | Staff Photographer; Renée Bartlett-Webber | Managing Editor
Student protesters across the U.S. have been setting up encampments, demanding that their university divest from funding Israeli military. While Santa Monica College (SMC) has not had any encampments or large protests on campus, students have decided to participate in the neighboring university protests and counter protests across Southern California.
SMCs Muslim Student Association (MSA) president Yousef Khadjah said that he has gone to both the University of Southern California (USC) and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) encampments. He said that most Muslim and Arab students at SMC “wouldn't have a huge [protest] going on, like at UCLA or USC, because a lot of them are international [students] and are scared of being blacklisted or of the consequences that could come from being arrested.”
Members of SMC’s Students Supporting Israel (SSI) club have not responded to the Corsair’s attempts for comment. However an SSI organizer from USC who requested not to be identified said that they have been in touch with many regional chapters of SSI throughout Southern California and were planning to attend a counter protest at UCLA on Sunday.
Over the past week, both USC and UCLA have had huge escalations and developments in the encampments including counter-protests and heavy police presence on campuses.
At USC, students expressed their anger towards the administration, after more than 93 protesters were arrested last Wednesday by USC’s Department of Public Safety and Los Angeles Police Department. One member of USC’s Divest from Death organization who was arrested and back at the encampment on Saturday said, “I have bruises from my zip ties from when I was arrested. None of this justifies any of the violence that they’ve used, especially since we have been nothing but peaceful here.”
At UCLA, the pro-Palestine encampments have been ongoing for six days and counter-protests have gained momentum over the weekend. Four protests converged at the campus with pro-Palestine and pro-Israel facing off on Sunday. One pro-Israel counter protester named Rami told The Corsair, “This is not about peace, this is not about anything other than destroying the Jewish state and destroying Jews and thats why I’m here because I can’t allow that.”
On the other hand, a pro-Palestine protester from USC said, “We have incredible Jewish students who have done incredible laboring work to untie their Judaism from Zionism and look towards the radical history of the tradition of Judaism and use that to intertwine their fight for liberation, both for Palestine but also Jewish people.”
Administration and student protesters seem to be at a stalemate at both campuses, with administrators demanding the encampments to disperse. The UCLA’s campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin, reported that the chancellor has signaled disciplinary action for protesters who don’t leave the “unlawful” encampment.
