What's Really Going On At the Columbia Palestine Encampment

obviously like Columbia. There's like CSU, Humboldt, University of Texas, at Austin, Ohio, State Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, some University in Italy, Emerson Tuffs, MIT, NYU, City, University of New York, the New Schools, University of Rochester, University of Pittsburgh USC, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, Vanderbilt UNC, Chapel Hill. I mean, there's so many of these. By the time that this goes up, there will be more of them. Yeah, it's

been wild. There's been a lot of I mean at Humboldt there was a lot of very intense fighting with the police. A bunch of kids occupied a building. They beat the shit while Okay, that's going a bit too far, but they barricaded it, kept the cops from coming in, cops ran off of campus. So, lots of incredibly wild stuff happening. Yeah, which I guess brings us to the Gauza the I guess the original one, the first one they got a lot of media attention, the Gauza Solidarity Acampment at Columbia.

soldiers who are also students here. And just this, you know, building tension of there is a actual genocide occurring, and universities are being forced to bend towards the people committing the genocide instead of standing on the right side of history, or they're actively choosing to do that too, because their whole thing is not about actually educating people and preparing them to be tomorrow's leaders and managers or baristas, but to get people, you know, to give them money to

fill their coffers and portray this image of you know, exceptionalism and elitism and whatnot. So that was the genesis. And then on Tuesday night I got a text at like eleven pm, I want to say, asking me if I wanted to come cover a late night slash early morning de occupation demo. And this was from someone I'd never talked to before. I had no idea who it was, but they said it was a Columbia and they said

it was late night, early morning. I thought I'd be out of here at you know, ten am the next day, and then, you know, standing there witnessing it all unfold, it became pretty evident that that was not the case. And I think the reason why this stands out is because this is an elite university where you can't say, oh, well, these are just dumb TikTok kids. These are kids who have like the these are like adults who have you know,

they have incredible resumes, really high academic excellence. They got into an extremely difficult school to get into, and they are joining the ranks of the you know, frazzled fringe, stinky anarchists and the silly kids who are being brainwashed by TikTok. And they said, like, no, those people are right, like this is bad and you need to disclose and divest and we're not going to stop until you do. And I think that that stance from a position of

fledge really shook things up. What followed also set a tone of the university deciding to call the police and claiming that this encampment was it posed a clear and present danger to the safety of students on campus, which you know, anyone who has spent any length of time in or around the encampment can plainly see that that is nonsensical. It's absurd. These are kids that are studying

on a lawn. But that choice of bringing the NYPD in and having one hundred and eight students arrested by the NYPD Strategic Response Group, which is their you know, counter terrorism goon squad that violently represses protests pretty consistently, to have them arrest one hundred nate people, including carrying them out from by their arms and lengths and arresting legal observers. You know that that was like this is that it was an outsized response for something that was straightforward.

They're hanging out on a lawn. They have everything set

up to sustain within that space. They are not going out and roaming around and you know, breaking things or assaulting people or anything like that, and they're just using this to call attention to their cause, which is divestment from genocide and from you know, war profiteering and to and the school's gentrification of Harlem and to you know, a institute an academic boycott of Israel and Israeli campuses that are in community with Colombia, like their satellite schools,

that bring the IOF soldiers to Colombia to commit harm against students here. And you know, so these are these are very basic asks and they were met with state force, signed off by the president of the school. And seeing that, I think is what provoked a lot of other schools of like Columbia's doing it. Then we definitely got to because you have a major elite institution taking this step making clear that this is not just a cause that you know, the scrappy little weirdos at the bottom like

me care about, you know. And so I think that's what set it off. And the fact that they returned they just took over the other lawn while while their classmates were being processed after being arrested, they just took over the other one and they're like, all right, we're gonna set it up here was such a hilariously like based move that it was like the defiance and the

determination was undeniable. And when you see a group like with the students at Humboldt, where the cops with the riot shields are trying to barge in and they're pushing them back and they're screaming get the fuck out, and they're bonking them over the head with the empty water jug.

When you see things like that, yeah, when you see things like that, it's very like there is an energy to this that has always been there but that has not been very easily seen by the masses, and we're now seeing it show its head of like, no, we're not fucking around, like you need to listen to us.

We're tired of the song and dance game that you're doing dismissing all of our valid concerns because we know concretely and statistically that we are on the right side of history, and we're going to make you listen and trust that if you beat us up, we're coming back. Like we're not going away. It doesn't scare us, which is what the kids at a UT Austin were chanting. I think when they brought the horses and the state

troopers in. It's like, we're not scared of you. And that tone has permeated throughout the demonstration's four Palace to New Liberation since in prior to October. But if you don't follow the protests, or if you only go by what the major news outlets are saying about them, you don't see that tone. So this, for me, is not surprising. This is a continuation of an energy that has not ceased for upwards of six months. I think it's the two hundred and first day of the genocide. So it's

not surprising for people who've paid attention. It's a relief for kids who are here and who have been involved, and who have been silenced and ignored and written off this whole time. It's a very long answer.

the student protests that I have been involved in. I'm just going to say that, and I can remember, like the reaction by students when seeing that fellow students being assaulted by the police was like, okay, fuck this, Like you know, like Georgio Wah has this thing about like when I see a real flesh and blood worker of fighting is natural lending me the policeman. I don't have to ask myself what side I'm on, Like did you find the same thing with students where they were like okay,

I wasn't out here. And now I've seen the way the university and the cops have responded to this, and now I'm coming out because it's not okay.

daisy chain where they were chanting. The more you try to silence us the louder we will be and disclose, divest, We will not stop, We will not rest all night around the encampment to keep it safe and to show that they had larger support beyond the students who chose to stay on the lawn at risk of being arrested. After they were arrested, more students came onto the other lawn and have continued to occupy that second lawn. So

absolutely it was a strissand effect. They tried to shut it down, and it made people feel very strongly that they need to show up and put themselves on the line as well. And they also I think they saw what I think it also showed them what the state does and what the university does, and seeing it firsthand eliminates a lot of the mystery that, you know, the fear that can circulate of like the uncertainty of it.

Seeing what it looks like, they're like, oh whatever. And now they're seeing, you know, videos of protesters being brutalized on other campuses, and like I heard, someone told me last night. They said that they overheard someone like talking to another student on the lawn and they were like, oh, so you a jail support They're like, yes, you're there, Like it's it's this sort of they're gonna they're gonna do what they're gonna do. We don't care, like because

these are the threat of violence. Physical harm, is a threat to cease whatever it is that you're doing, of academic harm. These are things that are trying to get you to stop doing what you're doing. And when you know that they are being deployed as tools and tactics, you're not going to stop because they're not scary to you. Well, what are you gonna do. You're gonna suspend me for joining in a historic protest? Okay, see if I care, you know, I think that's the energy for a lot of students.

between the university and the students. I want to know what have you actually heard about these because the statements that have been coming out don't seem to really be matching anything else I've seen going on on the ground. Do you know what's happening.

very firm, and their their demands are very reasonable. It's saying, like, tell us where your money comes from, so we can look into it and see that you're keeping your nose clean. This isn't a difficult to ask. I think if you ask to see my receipts, I could hill to you. Although I'm not an elite university, but I'm also not you know, profiting off of weapons manufacturing. And so the university's stance is very much trying to kind of spook

them into quitting. And there was a statement released by the president last night at four am, saying that the students made some concessions, two of which were things that they're already doing, one of which was an easy adjustment that's not a concession, which was just making the camp more ADA accessible and in compliance with FD and Y regulations for fire safety, which I think would be crazy if a fire broke out at this camp. Anyway, I

was a tangent. And then there was a thing saying that they're going to be ending negotiations in forty eight hours and with the students reported out from those negotiations at the time was at the university at around midnight threatened to call in the National Guard and to call

in the NYPD, and that shut down negotiations. And it was only after they put out these wide spread calls and thousands of people gathered on the lawn in support of the encampment that that was changed and the university agreed in writing to not call the YPD and to not mobilized National Guard, which I don't think they have the authority to do regardless, but it was this written concession from the university, and their perspective of it was

that the students provided concessions, and I think it's kind of it speaks to who each side is speaking to. The students are speaking to the movement that they have kind of shepherded into existence, and the university is speaking to their donors and their trustees and the right wingers who are having nuclear meltdowns on Twitter.

National Guard. There is interest from Eric Adams, who is a former cop and basically still a cop, to use the NYPD, and the NYPD has been very allergic to when the National Guard comes out here because they want to be the ones cracking skulls and being in charge of brutalizing New Yorkers, and they take a great offense when someone else comes in and does it for them, So they wouldn't really be on board with the National Guard mobilizing here either. The school doesn't have the authority

to do that. It's only the governor. The governor hasn't made any indication, and Mike Johnson is doing conservative stunt work. He was joined by Elise Staphonik, who is a conservative and you know she regularly disseminates disinformation and inflammatory propaganda

to demonize unhoused people, migrants, queer people. So it's no surprise that they're you know, banging this drum, which was also pushed by Shy davidy or however he pronounce his name, who's an assistant professor here, who attempted to hold a rally in the center of the Cause of Solidarity encampment with a slew of Zionists and his ID card was deactivated and he found out in real time time in front of a bunch of cameras that he called to

come watch him. It was It's one of those things that you witness in real time that you feel like you're you're living in a movie. But it was great. And he had a nuclear tantrum and claimed that it was because he wasn't safe on campus when he was

told that his protest was not safe for their students. So, you know, I think it's we're seeing a lot of rhetoric and a lot of saber rattling from the far right, from conservatives, from people who have never had any kind of support for Palestinians or for the cause of Palestinian liberation. You know, Mike Johnson makes he receives over a quarter

million dollars from APAC. You know, these are these are not people whose statements should be taken seriously in the context of what is possible, what is reasonable, and what is you know, reality to put it nicely, yeah.

particularly in the US, is like their safe space. And I think the reason that they're so mad at this is that they feel like it's not just that it's happening, it's it's where it's happening, and like that that's called them to have these massive tantrums like you've reported on.

campuses of higher learning. But it doesn't matter either way. They don't care. They don't actually care. They just hate the cause and will do anything they can to bring it to a halt. But the DNA of this cause is to keep going regardless of the efforts to stop it.

the National Guard to eliminate this protest. Their argument is that this protest is inherently anti Semitic because it rejects the state of Israel and the genocide and apartheid that the state has been doing since its inception and prior to its inception of the Palestinian people, and in the IHRA. In the IHRA definition of anti semitism, it is any criticism of the state of Israel, which would include people who are living in Israel criticizing their own government would

be labeled as anti Semitic. And they're trying to redefine reality in real time by claiming that these students who just don't want for mass death to be occurring and they don't want their university to be responsible in facilitating that, are somehow anti Semitic. Meanwhile, a large number of them are Jews themselves, who you know they held satter at the start of Passover.

Columbia University to antagonize people. They brought thick wooden poles with flags fixed to them to a demonstration on Wall Street the week prior to this encampment launching, and they were antagonizing people, They were getting in, they were trying to, you know, instigate arguments with people, and you know, they were just kind of trying to incite, and then they claim to be victims when people respond to their inciting behavior, and it's very much like an abusive mentality that they have.

But in terms of like actual anti Semitism, all of that, all of that rhetoric ends up being a distraction from actual instances of anti Semitism. And the more that you try to fuse the political ideology of Zionism with the prejudice against Jewish people for being Jewish, the more you try to fuse those together as one thing, like you know, fusing Jewish identity to Zionism, the more you see instances

of anti Semitism actually antisemitism. So, if anything, like the students who are coming in cheering on Israel and boasting about the murderers of you know, tens of thousands of children, the starvations and the displacements of millions people. The more that they do that, the more that teaches people like, oh, maybe all Jews are like that, maybe all Jews are bad.

And then I end up getting DMS from people photoshopping my face into an oven calling for my death when you know, I don't give a fuck about the state of Israel. I don't give a fuck about any states, you know. So it's just it's it's one of those things like this is like they are they are planting toxic seeds and then flipping out when they sprout.

movement right like the state, the university, whatever. Will seek to appoint people leaders and allow them to negotiate on behalf of everyone, even if those people have not consented to be negotiated for, and then they'll use that to corrupt the movement, offer concessions that these particular people might want, and in doing so kind of defang the original sort

of protest. Is that something that you've seen happening or the university's tried to do to like divide people or to kind of pull people out and appoint them as leaders.

those SJP chapters have been suspended. So, you know, I think in terms of the possibility of the university having any sort of in to build some sort of op is very low. The solidarity that we're seeing is I don't think I've seen levels of people on the same page and able to organize the literacy of it is

just phenomenal. You know, there's people who are just they're all very like clearly knowledgeable about what it is that they're organizing for, what the risks are, what the history of the movement is, and they've spent a lot of time learning those things to make sure that when they decide to take a step forward, that they are doing so fully informed and fully empowered. And trying to break that down is something that has not been successful. And

we've seen that, you know, time and time again. They have this chance. The more you try to silence us, the louder we will be. And it's true, and these institutions should probably start believing it because it would save them a lot of trouble by you know, trying to write this off is something that you know, people don't know what they're doing or you know, whatever it is,

because they are they know everything. They know everything. These are kids that all they do is study, you know, like you're talking about huge nerds joining into a massive, you know, decades long social movement. They've done the reading.

but still has then president and things like that. And there was a huge faculty walkout from both campuses that gathered on the Low the steps of the Low Library, and it was easily hundreds I would say, maybe like five hundred people and that was it. That was it Columbia and then NYU. The students set up an encampment and they were surrounded by faculty who had linked arms as a as a datacy chain around the encampment to

protect the students. So we're seeing a very real, you know, multi layer of solidarity emerging in these spaces, And I think it's you know, even if the even if professors and faculty don't necess cssarily wholly agree or wholly understand,

they're not fully on the same wavelength as the student organizers. Necessarily, they're still showing up on the basis of, like, these students of the right to express their opinions, and they should not be getting met with severe academic or state discipline for doing so, because we've seen these same campuses open their doors to people like Charlie Charlie Kirk and Gavin McGinnis and you know, like white supremacists and white nationalists who are able to go on their campuses and

spread hate and you know, right going disinformation and try and recruit people through their you know, Young Republican School chapters. Those chapters aren't being disbanded. You know, there's there isn't an urgent rush to prevent the hosting of white nationalists and white supremacists and you know, people who are.

food or meal plans. Where is the Columbia students have been suspended are still able to access housing and meal plans, but they aren't allowed to go to class or any campus events, which is fine because the only one that's happening right now is the encampment. But you know, there was there was a security person who sent me email to the school at Barnard saying like I quit, like this is this is inhumane, this is undignified, this is crazy.

You're giving these students fifteen minutes to uproot themselves from their rooms. They might not have another place to go. These you know, these might be students who don't have a family's house nearby or you know, or the funds or the means to live somewhere else and not worry about the cost. You're you know, destabilizing people's lives in a very severe way. And this this you know, security

person resigned. They're like this is nuts. So I think there's there's the fact that just the the overall what is of how these universities are responding has provided a type of solidarity. And then there's also the fact that a lot of people just generally understand that genocide is bad, and it's gotten to a point where there's a lot of rhetoric trying to obscure that and obfuskate like what

is genocide? And you know, israel isseroid t exist in all this other like bullshit like propaganda and disinformation and you know, fear mongering and all these things. And people can see very clearly what the game is, and so we're kind of at a pivotal moment for just common reality and critical thinking. And I think that we're seeing a lot of people show that the efforts to alter what our established common reality is is not working.

also a story that I ended up breaking. And you know, like, so this is this is big, and I think that right now, in the midst of it, it's hard to guess what's going to happen two weeks from now or six months from now. But I guarantee you we all know what's going to happen fifty years from now. We're all going to look at this fifty years from now and be like, Wow, Stay was on some dumb shit. Those parts were right, and it's good that they didn't stop totally.

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