Speakers who did not disclose their identities are referred to as spokespersons in this article.
UC Santa Barbara Students for Justice in Palestine called for students to walk out of their classes on Oct. 9 and gather at the library steps to honor victims of violence in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 and in Lebanon due to recent missile strikes and ground invasion. Students demanded Palestine’s liberation and that UCSB divest from weapons manufacturing companies.
During the Oct. 7 attack by militant group Hamas, roughly 1,200 Israelis died and at least 8,730 were injured, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since Oct. 7, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have died due to the continued siege of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 10,000 are missing and 97,000 are injured. Since Israel’s intensified missile strikes in Lebanon in late September, over 2,000 people have died, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
The walkout was held as part of UCSB Students for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) “Week of Rage” from Oct. 5-11, during which campus activists organized a rally, art build, vigil, teach-in, film screening, Arabic workshop, art market and Jummah, or Islamic prayer.
Around 100 students and faculty members gathered at 1:15 p.m. for speeches, poetry recitations and chants. Members of SJP posted signage stating “Occupation is a crime” and “Generation after generation until total liberation,” while others chalked Palestinian flags on the ground.
The day before the walkout, SJP posted a walkout guide on its Instagram page, detailing a text, email and class announcement script they encouraged students to share with their classmates and professors.
“While I attend your class, American-made bombs have destroyed all universities in Gaza and the IOF is currently laying siege to Lebanon,” the example email read. “I will be walking out of class tomorrow alongside my fellow UCSB students to rally in the Arbor and demand that UCSB divest from weapon manufacturers and the war industry.”
A spokesperson from SJP addressed the group, first explaining their stance against “racism, colonialism and imperialism.” They then went over the organization’s protest guidelines, including refraining from police and counterprotest engagement, directing media questions to the SJP safety team, looking out for one another and wearing masks to conceal personal identity.
This comes after the University of California announced new protest guidelines on its campuses, banning encampments and masks used to conceal one’s identity during protests, and prohibiting protests which block building entrances.
“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains. Free, free Palestine,” the spokesperson encouraged the group to chant.
A spokesperson from Academics for Justice in Palestine (AJP), a collective of academic workers who are “committed to Palestinian liberation,” delivered a “ground report” of Palestine.
“We take the ground report to remind us to remain grounded as intentional practice despite increasing censorship, the noise of this information and most important, the diffusion of the news, has happened,” the spokesperson said.
According to the spokesperson, 32,280 people killed in Gaza have been identified, 10,627 of which are children and 5,956 are women, making up 60% of the casualties in Gaza. They noted that many of these numbers are underestimated and over 10,000 people are still missing or buried under the rubble which resulted from Israeli strikes.
They also said that Israeli military forces have destroyed schools, hospitals, agriculture and electric, health, waste and transportation infrastructures in Gaza, which has “systematically destroyed the conditions that make life possible.”
Diane Fujino, Asian American studies professor and member of AJP, recited a poem by Palestinian journalist, activist, filmmaker and recipient of a Peabody and Emmy award, Bisan Owda. Owda is known for her Peabody and Emmy-award winning documentary show “It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive,” in which she documented her experience living in Gaza during the bombings, filming mostly on her phone after her home and office were bombed, destroying her camera equipment.
“Before the genocide, I had walked in the Gaza Strip, inch by inch, memorizing it by heart. I told its entire stories, as I am a storyteller, but every time I arrived after the accursed army, I find that it is has stripped the color, light, spirit, and memories from everything,” the poem read.
Another AJP spokesperson highlighted the importance of using poetry as a form of expression to represent the emotions people experience in regards to ongoing violence. They said poetry gives them “the language that [they] need to process this moment.”
Communication professor and AJP member Walid Afifi spoke on his family’s personal history living in Palestine and being “ethnically cleansed” during the Nakba — a 1948 mass displacement of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war — prompting them to flee to Lebanon.
Afifi said that to this day his family is unable to retain physical ownership over their home in Gaza and cannot access their money held in banks in Palestine. During his childhood, Afifi said he witnessed violence in Beirut and Lebanon stemming from Israeli invasion, at one point being a victim of bombings himself.
“They put 50 kilos of TNT on the second floor of our building. The whole building exploded, I was on the fifth floor … and almost died from that explosion, so I have a long history with the beautiful state of Israel,” Afifi said.
He then recited a poem titled “My Grandfather Was A Terrorist” by Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha. Afifi described the poem as a way of “reclaiming language.”
“My grandfather was a terrorist — / He picked oranges and lemons, / fished with brothers until noon, / sang a comforting song en route / to the farrier’s with his piebald horse,” the poem read.
Other representatives from AJP and SJP recited the poems “This Is Why We Dance” by Palestinian writer Mohammed el-Kurd and “Requiem For The Croppies” by Irish poet Seamus Heaney, highlighting the similarities between the historic Irish and Palestinian “fight for liberation.”
A spokesperson for SJP reiterated the group’s continued dedication to organizing for a free Palestine and Lebanon after a year of collective efforts on campus. They ended the program with a chant in Arabic, “With you all I return, to my homeland, to Palestine.”
“We have organized for a year, and we will continue to organize until divestment and beyond, because Palestine will be free and Gaza will bloom again. Our siblings in Palestine and Lebanon will paint a liberated sky with stars and dreams, and in doing so, they will free us all,” an SJP spokesperson said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the Oct. 17, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.
I would like to offer my condolences to the Hamas terrorist supporters at UCSB, after today loss of their idol, Yahya Sinwar.