Students protest on campus to ‘Free Palestine’
More than 100 students marched across campus, raising signs and voices for an hour and a half.
By EVA HARTMAN & VICTORIA LEE
More than 100 USC students protested on campus Tuesday for Palestinian liberation and an end to Israeli occupation in Gaza, following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war Oct. 7. Beginning at the Royal Street entrance to campus, the protest lasted for approximately an hour and a half before transitioning to a sit-in at the Undergraduate Student Government’s weekly senate meeting.
The protest came just hours after a strike on a Gaza City hospital left more than 500 dead, many of them children.
One million Gazans have been displaced, and more than 3,000 civilians have been killed this week following Hamas’ most recent attack on Israel and subsequent retaliation, according to the United Nations’ Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
Egypt has closed the only humanitarian corridor out of Gaza, trapping civilians with limited aid following a 10-day water shutoff. A Russian-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution introduced Monday calling for a humanitarian ceasefire failed to pass. President Joe Biden left to visit Israel Tuesday afternoon, aiming to act on the United States’ support for Israel while advocating for humanitarian aid in Gaza. Biden had planned to also visit Jordan, but Jordan’s foreign minister abruptly canceled the meeting Monday morning.
Student attendees and organizers agreed to speak to the Daily Trojan anonymously, for fear of retribution from peers on campus and the Canary Mission — a website that posts personal information of college students who speak publicly in a way that could be considered anti-Israel.
“I would love to have my name on this because it’s my words, my story,” one Palestinian student said. But their request for anonymity “comes from a place of fear for my safety … I could be targeted on Instagram. I can be targeted on Sidechat. People could use my name to look up other information about me, or try and find my family members.”
A student described themselves as “exhausted” by the conflict while retaining a desire to “be a voice for the voiceless” in Palestine. (Jordan Renville / Daily Trojan)
Despite the perceived risks, the tone of the event was overwhelmingly supportive for those grieving.
“People coming out here and showing solidarity shows that we’re all one community, no matter what your background is,” a Lebanese student said. “This is just human understanding that innocent people are dying.”
Though the student said they were not Palestinian, they said they felt it was necessary to attend the protest to show unity with other Arab students.
“In the Arab world, we’re all brothers and sisters,” the student said. “We’re all one community. No matter what the country is, we all come as one. We support you.”
An Iranian student who helped organize the protest said they felt similarly compelled to attend because of their culture and heritage.
“I feel very close to the cause of the Palestinian people and I have been very deeply rooted and grown up with the Arab community,” the student said. “So I consider them my closest brothers and sisters.”
The student said they were “emotionally destroyed” by the Israel-Hamas war and images of the bombings.
“The thing that is currently consuming our minds is the killing of children. Babies are blown to bits. A father carrying the body parts of his children. These are really gruesome things that even I don’t have the stomach to see,” they said. “But I see them because that is something that we have to take upon ourselves, considering the privilege of being in America and being safe.”
Another student echoed the sentiment that Palestinians living in the United States felt obligated to advocate for Gazans.
“A lot of Palestinians in America feel an obligation to use their privilege as a Palestinian … I get to live in safety and security and peace, and they don’t,” they said. “Who am I to just turn my phone off and act like it’s not happening?”
That student, who is Palestinian and has family in Gaza, described themselves as “exhausted.”
“I’m just trying to be a student,” they said. “I’m just trying to learn, get an education, do what I love, be around people that I love and do what I feel called to do, which is to advocate for people to be the voice, a voice for people who feel voiceless.”
To the student, the war didn’t just start a week or two ago.
“I have been living with this pain since I could understand what was happening in Palestine — what my family members were going through,” they said. “So check in on your Palestinian friends. Ask them to get some good food, talk about their stories and just listen. Active listening is so valuable and so important.”
