Here are some photos I took followed by my reflections in the wake of this powerful experience of joining the students who are standing up for a Free Palestine. Please feel free to comment and share.
News reports of “violence” yesterday at UCLA are sensationalist propaganda aimed at discrediting the courageous people who are calling out the true, massive and genocidal violence of Zionist/Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people. 35,000 lives taken and counting, mostly women and children. Culture and futures destroyed, universities reduced to rubble. Starvation is survivors’ only succor.
Sadly, these aren’t novel developments for our fellow human beings in Gaza. The brutal realities of US-backed Israeli occupation and apartheid have made life more hellish than any of us outsiders could truly comprehend. Among the cruelest ironies of this whole situation is the bait-and-switch of Zionism. Supposedly aimed at safeguarding the Jewish people’s well-being, it has arguably become the foremost generator of anti-semitism in the world today.
Like the frontline settler-colonialists they defend, the pro-Zionist demonstrators invaded the pro-Palestinian encampment and paraded their unquestioned privilege and blind allegiance to a cause that is perhaps their own worst enemy: Zionism. It saddens me to see the true historical horror of the Holocaust cynically used to justify its reenactment by its survivors. I’m filled with hope at the sight of so many Jews who see through the lies and declare: Not in Our Name!
The interlopers waved the US flag, chanted U-S-A, played the national anthem and “God Bless America”, ostensibly in recognition of the crucial US role in enabling all of this. They touted free speech while blaring their state-of-the art sound system aimed at stifling students’ free speech. A veritable potpourri of ironies here: laughable if not for their murderous reality.
As the late, great Howard Zinn challenged us all: you can’t remain neutral on a moving train. People of conscience and love for humanity are needed to help realize this movement’s demands. I hope you’ll find your own way to stand up on the side of justice and let your voice be heard. Free Palestine! 🍉✊❤️
#freepalestine #standwithgaza #jewsforpalestine #antizionism #howardzinn #stopthegenocide #ucla #gobruins
human writes 