Student Encampment Serving As A Center Of Learning And Organizing
We took a 6 mile (round trip) walk yesterday morning over to University of Pennsylvania to observe the student protests and “Gaza Solidarity Encampment”.
As we approached campus from the South Street Bridge, we noted bomb trains parked literally under an occupied Office building:
Then we saw a water pollution outfall discharge plume to the Schuylkill River. It hadn’t rained recently, so the pollution source might be more than stormwater (hello EPA enforcement!):
And lots of police and traffic.
We mistakenly assumed that all the traffic was destined for the protest, but were disappointed that it was going to the Penn Relays, the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States.
Arriving on campus, we first stopped in a lovely courtyard and fountain next to the museum for some water for Charlie:
Refreshed and moving on, we noted a small encampment, with small groups of students circled to listen to training on non-violent protest and avoiding and documenting police arrests. We were asked not to photograph this circle. There was a real fear of people having their faces photographed – that fear reflects intimidation and harassment by Zionists. I also got the sense – and not the first time – that the young protesters assumed as an old white man that I was undercover cops.
We spoke with a few articulate and knowledgeable students, who explained their campaign and outlined some of the teach ins and activities they were conducting in group circles. There was absolutely no suggestion of any violence, anti-semitism, harassment, or aggressive or disorderly conduct. There was no disruption to campus life, as many students made their way through campus seemingly unfazed.
The Philadelphia police (on bicycles, not horses) and campus security were friendly and restrained, with only a handful even visible, standing remotely on the edge under shade trees. No violent crackdown seemed to be in the cards on the Penn campus:
I was surprised by the tranquility of the protest and business as usual mood of the campus.
I was surprised and disappointed that the demands and messages of the encampment failed to include any linkage to US politics and accountability for the Biden administration. (I was told there were chants of “Genocide Joe”, but I saw no signs or demands targeting Biden).
I think this failure reflects both a strategic over-reliance on the boycott, divestment, & sanctions tactics, as well as a kind of hostility to traditional politics. (I sense a similar misguided emphasis by climate activists, who focus on disinvestment and fail to engage political tools. I blame Bill McKibben for that Neoliberal protest model, which relies on market forces instead of government policy).
BDS tactics worked to end apartheid in South Africa, but that situation is very different from the current Israeli/Gaza situation.
Politically, the US had no where near the leverage and influence over South Africa as the US now has over Israel. Biden could end the genocide with a phone call threatening cutoff of all US military assistance.
Biden and the Democrats are incredibly vulnerable now going into the Fall elections and an August Convention in, of all places, Chicago. As I tried to explain to some of the students, there are echoes of the forces of 1968 and Vietnam, which forced the resignation of LBJ, which could be exploited to leverage change of Biden policy. Biden could at least immediately stop the killing and starvation and disease and provide humanitarian aid.
Of course, the end of the Israeli occupation and a free Palestinian State will require continued global pressure, including BDS.
Some scenes:
