Waving signs, flags and chanting, hundreds of vocal students joined a pro-Palestine rally on Cal State L.A.’s campus on Wednesday, May 1.
The demonstration started midday in front of the Golden Eagle statue, outside the student bookstore in the center of campus, as students were preparing for final exams next week.
Related: Classes postponed after violence breaks out at UCLA protest
Organizers from different student groups said the “emergency mobilization” rally was planned specifically for May Day, a day honoring labor struggles and advancement also known as International Workers’ Day. On Instagram, they called the demonstration “May Day for Palestine,” and said that May Day emphasizes “the connection between the working class and Palestine.”
“We are standing in solidarity with our peers at Columbia, UCLA, USC and dozens of other campuses protesting our complicity in the horrendous attack on Palestine!” the students shared Wednesday, announcing their encampment set-up outside of the physical education building.
“Palestinian workers have issued a call to their fellow international worker community to halting the production of weapons worldwide and to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine,” the organizers wrote. “Fighting for the end of the exploration of workers is critically important, especially because many workers are producing labor for companies that are perpetuating genocides and the killing and surveillance of oppressed and marginalized populations.”
In their demands, Students for Justice in Palestine at Cal State LA called for officials to “divest from the military industrial complex and the “genocidal Zionist regime, Israel,” in hopes of building “a People’s University.”
In speeches made at the rally, the students demanded a “complete divestment” from companies they say “fund money to the genocide.”
They also demanded a disclosure of their schools’ investments, and a list of what Cal State LA spends…
Read the full article here
