Protesters march for Gaza
Demonstrators advocated for Palestinians and urged others to do the same.
By ZACHARY WHALEN
Around 200 students gathered Tuesday evening at the Jefferson Street entrance to campus to “call on USC to protect [their] right to demonstrate and end [USC’s] complicity of genocide,” according to a post on the USC Students for Justice in Palestine’s Instagram page. Students arrived with signs, Palestinian flags, pamphlets titled “Victory to the Palestinian Struggle” and a list of Gazans killed in the Israel-Hamas war.
The protest began at 5 p.m. when a student leader who requested anonymity because of the recent death threats and hate crimes they had faced, addressed the crowd, instructing students to remain peaceful, not engage with potential counter-protesters and to not bring anything that the Department of Public Safety could consider a weapon.
Daily headlines, sent straight to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the latest at and around USC.
“We’re here to lower the temperature on campus, not worsen the situation,” they said. “Let us exercise our rights responsibly and ensure our collective voice is heard. Together, on this campus, we stand for justice, unity and the preservation of our First Amendment freedoms.”
The opening speaker went on to criticize USC Hillel for its alleged support of the Canary Mission, an organization that publishes information about individuals and organizations that it believes promote antisemitism. The speaker also alleged that USC Hillel, Trojans for Israel and Chabad at USC spread misinformation regarding Palestinian protesters, specifically that the Arabic word “intifada” refers to the cleansings of Jews, while the speaker described it as a cry for an oppressed people to stand up against their oppression.
“Additionally, if Hillel was to get on a high horse and honor all the innocent lives lost in Israel … Why are they only honoring innocent Israelis?” the speaker said. “From the moment I began speaking, three children have died in Palestine … How long will Hillel, Trojans for Israel, Chabad, hide behind misinformation that puts us students at risk?”
Following the remarks, protesters began marching down Trousdale Parkway and around the Medicine Crow Center for International and Public Affairs, chanting “Stop the killing, stop the hate, Israel’s an apartheid state” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The demonstrators paused midway across McCarthy Quad, where the opening speaker addressed the crowd again. They said students at USC could not be ignorant regarding the attacks against Palestinians in Gaza and had a responsibility to find factual news sources rather than propaganda. The speaker then said students should speak up for Palestinians.
“We are all stakeholders in the discussion that shapes our campus and that ultimately shapes this world,” the speaker said. “We must speak up because silence is complacency. At this point in time, there is no space for silence on the campus, in the Middle East or anywhere else.”
The speaker proceeded to address USC’s “Trojan Family,” calling on USC students, Undergraduate Student Government and President Carol Folt to stop the Israel-Hamas war from causing a divide in the campus community and preventing students from engaging in safe dialogue surrounding the war.
“We must actively foster an environment where every voice is heard, every voice is respected and every voice is protected,” the speaker said. “How can [you] let something going on thousands of miles away lead you to send a death threat to someone you call your Trojan Family?”
Demonstrators carried signs, Palestinian flags, pamphlets on the ‘Palestinian Struggle’ and a list of Gazans killed in the Israel-Hamas war. (Emma Silverstein / Daily Trojan)
Protesters then continued marching, traveling across the campus center before pausing again in front of Annenberg Hall. There, the speaker criticized the Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
They alleged the Daily Trojan published misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war and that writers were allowed to draw inappropriate comparisons between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Nazis. Protesters called for the protection of pro-Palestinian contributors and writers.
“How can we use terms like ‘a Trojan Family’ … when supporting human rights is equated to Nazism by our own campus production,” a protester said. “We demand accurate and unbiased reporting. The Daily Trojan must take immediate action to ensure the integrity of the information it publishes.”
The speaker then criticized Annenberg Media for alleged mischaracterization of pro-Palestinian demonstrators and specifically called on Annenberg Media’s video production team to interview pro-Palestinian students alongside pro-Israeli students, who they said had been overrepresented in Annenberg Media’s coverage.
The protesters then walked back to Tommy Trojan for the closing remarks of the protest. The speaker said the campus community has a responsibility to ensure every student’s freedom of speech and that supporters of Palestine would not be intimidated or silenced.
“One day, this Trojan Family will let me take off this mask without fearing for my family, the family of my friends, my family abroad,” the speaker said. “One day, we will not need to be afraid.”
The protest concluded after these remarks, with several members standing in front of a Palestinian flag and reciting the Maghrib prayer, the fourth of five daily Muslim prayers made after sunset.
In interviews with the Daily Trojan after the protest, leaders said their main goals were to raise awareness about campus administration’s lackluster protection of students’ free speech, the current divide in the student body and the Israel-Hamas war.
Protest leaders also said they were disappointed in USG for changing their weekly senate meeting to be held virtually rather than in person, especially because both Jewish and Palestinian students and supporters had previously voiced their concerns in person.
“Now, when word was being spread that both sides were gonna be coming to the table, at the last minute [USG] goes purely online. Why? Is this not USG’s job to listen to the voices on campus?” the student said. “USG, in my humble opinion, simply lacks the backbone to be able to be looked in the eyes and be told that they are not doing enough to protect the students on this campus.”
In an Instagram story, USG stated that “the decision to move the senate meeting to a virtual format was made with the recommendation from the university’s senior leadership. The safety of our fellow students remains of utmost importance to us.”
Speakers said they felt they had succeeded in raising awareness for Palestine during Tuesday’s protest, but also said they did not feel their work was finished. They said students need to continue discussions on campus and that the University needs to continue to protect First Amendment rights.
“We came here, we stood on our morals, we stood on our beliefs, we stood on the right side of history … we had nearly 200 people come together, purely peaceful[ly]. So it is absolutely blasphemous for USG, for USC, for Carol Folt, for any of these people to entertain a conversation about abolishing our First Amendment rights,” the student said.
