By Susan Orlofsky
Walking up Library Walk on Thursday, May 1st (International Workers’ Day of Solidarity) the first evening of the UCSD Gaza Solidarity Encampment, I felt a connection amongst the students, faculty members, community members who were there. Something magical was happening—a community was being built.
Camping is nonviolent—setting up the tents, living arrangements, communal food, medics, and a responsible security system—and these acts establish the scene for communication rather than intimidation/confrontation. This camp posed no danger.
The tents facing Library Walk were decorated with artwork and banners proclaiming the campers’ four demands:
1. End UCSD’s silence on the ongoing genocide in Gaza;
2. Amnesty for all affiliated with the encampment;
3. A campus-wide boycott of military and private partnerships that enable genocide;
4. Divestment from those corporations.
Gary Fields, faculty member of UCSD Communications Department, spoke from the heart that night. Here are his words:
Salam Alekum / Shalom / Peace be upon you.
My name is Gary Fields, and I am a professor in the Department of Communication for the past 22 years. ...
Today, in this historic peaceful gathering, we the faculty are your students. We are learning about making the world a better place from all of you, so you are our teachers.
Today, as we protest against a great injustice, we are Palestinians, we are Jews, we are Muslims, we are Christians, we are people of all faiths, we are all colors of the rainbow, from every corner of the world.
For the past 6 months we have witnessed the horrors of a murderous genocidal war being conducted by the State of Israel against our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Gaza.
This assault is the most destructive military campaign against a territory and its people since the Second World War. The apartheid state of Israel has killed over 35,000 people including 14,000 children. It is trying to starve and annihilate the Palestinians of Gaza.
We are assembled here to say ENOUGH of this genocide.
For the past 6 months we have witnessed our own government, the U.S. supporting this genocidal campaign with weaponry paid for with our tax dollars, and diplomatically with vetos in the United Nations. We are here peacefully assembling, exercising our rights to free and open expression, which every university is obligated to support and uphold.
We are assembled here to say to Joe Biden and our own Government, ENOUGH of supporting this genocide.
We are here assembled peacefully, protesting the lies that we are hearing every day from the likes of our government denying that Israel is committing a genocide and justifying this genocidal madness. Our government has established a double standard in which other nations such as Russia and Myannamar are committing genocide but Israel has a free pass.
We say enough of this double standard. Enough of the free pass for Israel. Enough of the lies.
...
You, the students are courageous in showing all of us how to use our voices in standing up for what is right and just. You are showing us the meaning of free speech and academic freedom. You are showing all of us what a true university is. We extend our heartfelt thanks to you for the example you are setting of how we conduct ourselves to make change. You are the heirs of the 1968 protests that were so instrumental in ending the Vietnam war. You are the heirs of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa that brought down the infamous apartheid regime. You are showing the way to end the apartheid system in Israel, to stand up for equal rights for all. The faculty salutes you and stands by you.”
On Friday May 3rd, a Jewish Shabbat service was held in front of the encampment; it was like no other I had ever attended. The Rabbi called for an immediate end to the genocide in Gaza, and for an end to the U.S. weapons and dollars that enable the genocide. To me this was an exercise of a true Judaism, which values the sacredness of every life and recognizes the obligation of tikkun olam—the responsibility to repair our broken, shattered world. To be in that space was a profound experience for me; I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. It was the most meaningful Shabbat I ever experienced.
Chancellor Pradeep Khosla seriously overreacted when on the following Monday, May 6th, he brought onto campus 200 riot cops to tear down the Encampment and beat, arrest, and jail the campers.
During its five days of existence, the Encampment was peaceful and disrupted nothing. It was a place for coming together and envisioning a better way forward. It was the Chancellor who chose to disrupt all campus operations for a full day, not the campers.
Along with Professor Fields and so many others in the UCSD community, I stand with the students who had the courage to demand justice not slaughter for the people of Palestine.
Postscript:
On Thursday, May 16th, UCSD professors attempted to deliver petitions with over 500 faculty signatures to Chancellor Khosla’s office.
The petitions demand amnesty for student protesters arrested on May 6th. Faculty were denied entrance to the administrative building where the Chancellor’s office is located and were denied the chance to speak with his staff.
Read the petitions here: https://sites.google.com/view/sdfastatement/home
Call the UCSD Chancellor’s office at (858) 534-3135 and email Chancellor Khosla at chancellor@ucsd.edu to demand that he speak with faculty and drop all charges and disciplinary actions against the student protesters.
Susan Orlofsky is a retired UCSD employee still active in her union UPTE-CWA 9119 who continues to serve as UPTE delegate to the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council. She is also an environmental justice activist with the SDICLC Environmental Caucus and CA Labor for Climate Jobs, and Green New Deal (GND) at UCSD /UC GND Coalition.