April 15, Occidental Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held a walkout and march to protest against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and the conflict in Gaza.
A spokesperson for Oxy SJP said the event was spurred by a call to strike from the Palestinian Youth Movement, a transnational youth organization for Palestinian liberation from Israeli rule.
April 15 is Tax Day in the U.S., the final date to file tax returns. The Oxy SJP spokesperson also said holding the event on Tax Day was an intentional choice to protest against the American government funding that seems to prolong the conflict.
“We chose the day also, symbolically, because it’s Tax Day,” the Oxy SJP spokesperson said. “Seventy percent of the arms to Israel, billions of dollars [are] flowing to the country thanks to US taxpayers.”
The walkout and march started around 11:30 a.m. on the steps leading to the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center. A crowd of a little more than 40 students began gathering by the side entrance of Johnson Hall. A long banner was placed on the steps listing the names of Palestinian children under 5 years old killed by recent bombing in Gaza. By 11:50 a.m., a little more than 60 students had assembled by the steps.
At 11:55 a.m., an Oxy SJP member spoke to a crowd of what became around 80 students and faculty members.
In their speech, the Oxy SJP speaker said the conflict has now reached genocidal levels.
“Today is a literal representation of funding of the Palestinian genocide,” Oxy SJP speaker said.
The speaker said that Oxy SJP is continuing to call for Occidental to divest from companies associated with the Israeli state. According to them, Occidental has a history of divestment from companies on ethical and environmental grounds.
“In 2012 to 2014, Oxy’s Board of Trustees divested from military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines after the Sandy Hook massacre,” the Oxy SJP Speaker said. “Two years ago in 2022, Oxy divested and promised not to invest in fossil fuels.”
However, the Oxy SJP speaker said that when it comes to companies tied to the Israeli state, Occidental seems resistant and even hostile to calls for divestment.
“In 2019, when SJP, along with faculty, students and staff, demanded that Oxy’s Board of Trustees divest from companies that funded the state of Israel, not only did the Board of Trustees reject this divestment attempt, but SJP members were doxxed for this action,” the Oxy SJP speaker said.
Occidental College’s director of communications, Rachael Warecki, said via email that the College gave Oxy SJP formal procedures for proposing divestment following Oxy SJP’s overnight occupation of the AGC back in November.
“The College has a process through which student, faculty, or staff groups can submit proposals related to the College’s investment practices,” Warecki said. “Following the campus political activity earlier this academic year, that process was shared with students from the Occidental SJP chapter.”
However, she said that the administration has not received any new formal divestment requests since its earlier discussion with Oxy SJP but is open to providing answers on how to formally proceed with a request.
“Since then, the College has not received a proposal on this topic,” Warecki said. “Administrators have made themselves available to answer any questions that student groups may have about the process, and will continue to do so.”
The Oxy SJP speaker said this resistance is indicative of an immoral apathy toward certain minority interests.
“It tells us that when it comes to Black and Indigenous Palestinian lives, Oxy refuses to acknowledge their humanity and continues in apartheid and genocide and is more than complicit in murdering innocent people of color,” the Oxy SJP speaker said. “That’s shameful.”
According to the Oxy SJP speaker, the event is a part of the broader student activist movement for Palestinian independence that is being suppressed. They said nearby developments at Pomona College are exemplifying this suppression.
“Look at Pomona College and [Pomona College President] Gabi Starr arresting 20 students by riot gear who are occupying and demanding divestment from genocide,” the Oxy SJP speaker said.
The Oxy SJP speaker said that the movement advocates for the Palestinian cause regardless and that the walkout and march continue the call for ceasefire and divestment.
“In spite of all of this, we students speak for ourselves,” the Oxy SJP speaker said. “We have to speak for ourselves against the silencing of pro-Palestinian movement for a ceasefire statement and for divestment.”
After their speech, the speaker led students on a march circling twice around the Academic Quad, with two students holding the flag of Palestine at the front. Students chanted slogans such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Your profits are covered in Palestinian blood.”
After marching around the Academic Quad, the students walked inside the AGC, where two speakers from Stop LAPD Spying, an organization opposed to police surveillance, spoke to the crowd.
“History books will be written about what you all are doing here today,” the first Stop LAPD Spying speaker said. “And it’s scaring the s**t out of the people in power.”
According to the first Stop LAPD Spying speaker, both Democrats and Republicans have put forth bills aimed at shutting down pro-Palestine demonstrations, and demonstrations are often not supported by members of administrations.
“We see the way that the police are attacking SJP students in Claremont. We see the way that Canary Mission lists people’s faces, especially targeting Muslim, Black, Arab and other people of color youth to try to make them unemployable,” the first Stop LAPD Spying speaker said.
The first Stop LAPD Spying speaker said that they are opposed to the concept of a two-state solution.
“F**k all that, what we have to do is get rid of Zionism,” the first Stop LAPD Spying speaker said. “We know that Zionism is not just an issue that is important to people in Palestine; it’s integrally tied to all the white supremacist policing here.”
According to the second speaker, the struggle for Palestine and Stop LAPD Spying’s opposition to police surveillance are the same battle.
“We’re not merely here as supporters, right? We are involved in the same quest for liberation,” the second Stop LAPD Spying speaker said.
At around 12:10 p.m., the second speaker led students on a closing chant denouncing what they see as white supremacism ingrained in institutional forces of government: “LAPD, KKK, IDF, they’re all the same.” The event ended by 12:20 p.m., as students cheered and dispersed from the AGC.
Contact Noah Kim at nkim4@oxy.edu and Avinash Iyer at iyera@oxy.edu.
I was an Oxy student from 1967, graduating in 1971, and during that time I participated in many protests against the Vietnam War. I later became a conscientious objector. I am glad to see that the spirit of protest continues at Occidental college. I stand with and support the Students for Justice in Palestine in their demands for Occidental to divest from companies associated with the Israeli state. I also applaud President Harry J. Elam Jr.’s call to convene a task force to organize spring events “to promote constructive dialogue and conversation.” I was particularly happy to read in this article: “In 2012 to 2014, Oxy’s Board of Trustees divested from military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines after the Sandy Hook massacre,” the Oxy SJP Speaker said. “Two years ago in 2022, Oxy divested and promised not to invest in fossil fuels.”