CP clubs support student protests against Gaza genocide

Editor's note: Party clubs and district have been mobilizing in support of students demanding an end to U.S. support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Following are statements from some of them.

Connecticut district

The Communist Party of Connecticut CPUSA and Connecticut Young Communist League stand in solidarity with the student protests across Connecticut, including the ongoing encampments at the University of Connecticut and Yale University. We support the protests' demands for full transparency of university investments, divestment from the war industry, including corporations contributing to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Alongside community members and hundreds of university educators across Connecticut, we denounce university administration's intimidation of students, including disciplinary action and the arrest of over 40 peaceful protesters. We celebrate the collaboration of student and community groups in the struggle for an immediate ceasefire and end of US military support to Israel.

Queens, New York club

The Queens Club of the Communist Party USA recognizes we are at a crucial time in U.S. history where so many systems of oppression are being challenged. White supremacy, imperialism, colonialism, and zionism all act as systems of oppression that affect many Americans, and more importantly, many working class Americans. To fight one of these systems, is to fight all. Therefore, we stand in solidarity with the members of the working class who will give their time, safety, and security in order to stand in unity against these systems. To those students at City College of New York, Columbia, New York University, The New School, Fashion Institute of Technology and all other universities where students are protesting for the betterment of their fellow man, woman, child, and comrade: we are with you in heart, mind, body, and soul.

San Diego, California club

Universities across the country are protesting the U.S.-backed Israeli government's accelerated genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. Southern California campuses including UCLA, USC, CSU San Marcos, and SDSU are joining the movement. The San Diego Club of the CPUSA stands with the student protesters. We are proud that comrades attending at some of the campuses are participating in the protests. These students, and in some cases faculty members, are risking their careers, suspension and expulsion in standing up for the Palestinian people. The level of perseverance we are seeing is truly admirable. This is not a matter of Democrat or Republican. This is a matter of Humanity. We condemn our government's involvement in the genocide. We wholeheartedly support the protests happening in SoCal and around the country, and join in demanding an end to the Israeli government's genocide of the Palestinian people. These protests demonstrate the passion of American youth for change. We fully support the demand and call for an end to these heinous war crimes of genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinian people.

Western North Carolina club

The Western North Carolina Club of the Communist Party USA expresses solidarity with students, community members, club members, and all those at UNC Asheville who have spoken out against genocide and demanded that the university's administration divest from investments linked to the State of Israel and companies supporting Israeli apartheid. On April 26, in collaboration with others, the UNCA Young Communist League voiced opposition to scholasticide in Gaza, police repression at US universities, the ongoing occupation of indigenous lands in Palestine and the US, and the pursuit of profits driving these unpopular policies. Some older comrades drew parallels between the current movement and anti-war movements in the early 2000s and 1970s. Participants are committed to continuing demonstrations, increasing education and involvement, and pressuring UNCA to fully divest from Israel.

Houston, Texas club

As we watch the genocide in Palestine intensify, the anti war movement also mounts in Texas. Students across Texas, UT Austin, UT Dallas, UH, Rice University and more have taken to protests and sit ins to demand their schools divest from Israel.

As the contradictions intensify, the ruling class unleashes its violence using university administrators and the state itself. They have set their police like guard dogs on students, and professors, to force silence on the issue of Palestinian liberation. Texas Governor Abbot has been working for months to restrict freedom of speech on college campuses, in anticipation of these protests.

As communists, we should expect the contradictions to intensify further, as more taxpayer money is delivered. We ask party members to increase your organizing efforts. Stand in solidarity with these students. Attend actions, protests, sit ins, and study sessions.

From the Houston Club, we wish to send a message of love and support to the brave Palestinian people, and solidarity with all students and activist resisting this genocide. Free Palestine! Hasta la Victoria Siempre! Workers of the world, unite!

Austin, Texas club

CPUSA Austin stands firmly in solidarity with students at UT, and all over the world, who are walking out and occupying their campuses, demanding that their schools divest from weapons manufacturers and the Zionist entity. We condemn in the strongest terms the fascist crackdowns on these protests by Governor Abbott, college leadership, and all branches of the agents of capital. Young people standing together and demanding better from those in charge of their lives is inspirational, and we support their efforts.

Michigan district

Why are youth and students rising up and camping out? Because they are angry over the massacre in Gaza, enabled by U.S. weapons flowing to Israel. They are angry that their universities invest in companies that do business with an apartheid state. They are angry because the promises of a Palestinian state have been broken. And rightfully so. But the encampments sprouting up on college campuses are also expressions of solidarity, hope, love for humanity, and bravery. We, the Michigan District, Communist Party USA, welcome this growing movement. We celebrate the youth who, as in many social justice movements of the past, are leading the way. Millions more must rise up to end the carnage in Gaza, stop the flow of U.S. weapons around the world, and demand a lasting, meaningful peace that includes an independent, and internationally recognized, Palestinian state. We call on labor and people's organizations to support our young people and this powerful solidarity movement.

Washington DC club and YCL

The District of Columbia Communist Party and Young Communist League salute the brave students currently camping on University Yard at George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C. They join the dozens of campuses around the country demanding their universities to disclose their ties t0m and end their financial investment in, the State of Israel. The university is also conveniently located right next to the U.S. State Department, which is currently giving diplomatic cover for Israel's war crimes.

Several encampments were set up early Thursday morning, and the university administration threatened to have them removed by 7 p.m that same day. The D.C. community came out to support the students with a massive rally, which seemed to have staved off initial police encroachment. Around 3 a.m D.C. police were ordered to stand down, supposedly to avoid imagery of violent altercations between police and protestors, like those happening around the country. This was after the university urged police to clear the encampments.

Students from Georgetown, American, Gallaudet, Howard, University of Maryland (Baltimore and College Park), and George Mason University are all taking part in the encampment at GWU to show their collective strength, with most organized under the banner of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The main demands are: (1) Drop the charges against pro-Palestine student organizers; (2) Protect pro-Palestine speech on campus; (3) Divest from companies selling technology and weapons to Israel; (4) Immediately disclose all endowments and investments and; (5) End all academic partnerships with Israel. Supportive faculty and alumni from those same campuses have embarked on the encampment and have vowed to protect their students from police repression.

Two days in, the university administration has now escalated and suspended seven student leaders of the encampment with nine charges of misconduct each leading to them having their housing revoked. This repression follows similar anti-Palestinian repression from several months ago, where GWU attempted to permanently ban SJP from campus, and placed Arab-American student organizer Lance Loka on disciplinary probation. These are all serious violations of these students' first amendment rights and we denounce this racist and political repression to silence the protest movement for ending the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza.

These students have the absolute right to challenge their university's administration and board of trustees due to the skyrocketing tuition and housing crises leading to the ballooning $1.9 trillion student debt crisis around the country. The attacks on diversity and affirmative action programs by state governments and the supreme court, give all the more reason for these students to have a stake in this fight. Our comrades support you in this struggle and will continue to show our solidarity unequivocally.

Northern California district

We, the Communists of the Northern California district of the Communist Party USA, applaud the courage and consciousness of the students around the country and in our region who are rising up in vigorous protest against the Israeli genocidal campaign against the people of Gaza and the US complicity in that campaign, and we express our outrage at the attempts to shut down protests by police violence or other draconian measures. More and more young people are coming to understand that the US imperialism that underlies US support for Israeli apartheid is grounded in the capitalism that burdens them with exorbitant student debt and the other evils inherent in the US socio-economic system. We, as communists, pledge ourselves to do all we can to support and nurture these students and the movement they are building for a peaceful and democratic future.

Eastern Mass club

The Eastern Massachusetts Club of the Communist Party USA applauds the courage and solidarity of the students, community members and others at Emerson College who faced a violent and aggressive Boston Police Department raid in the early hours of the morning Thursday, April 25 while holding a peaceful demonstration to demand Emerson sever financial ties with Israel, among other demands. Demonstrators were surrounded by police, thrown to the ground with knees shoved in their backs, bloodied and dragged into police vans as over 100 were arrested for exercising their right to peaceful protest. Far from succeeding in intimidating protestors and suppressing the movement, encampments at other area colleges have swelled in response, as encampments and demonstrations at colleges and universities across Massachusetts and the U.S. show no sign of slowing down. These shows of courage and solidarity represent the best that humanity can offer in the face of genocide and violent state repression.

Indiana district

The Communist Party of Indiana, CPUSA stands in solidarity with Indiana students and other workers and community people democratically and peacefully demanding the immediate end to U.S. financial and military support for Israeli genocide against the peoples of Palestine. We denounce the violent repression of protesters, journalists, faculty, staff, and other workers on campuses across Indiana. These student led protests are not anti-semitic, they are anti-genocide. We demand that the $26 billion newly allocated for the Israeli military by the U.S. be reallocated to meet the needs of workers, black and brown folks, students, women, indigenous, LGBTQ+, migrants, and other oppressed peoples in the U.S. NOW. We demand the release and removal of any penalties on student protesters in Indiana and across the U.S.

Among campuses in Indiana at which protests have occurred, most violently repressed by police, are Notre Dame (S. Bend), Indiana University (Bloomington & Indianapolis), Purdue (W. Lafayette), and Ball State (Muncie). CPUSA members have been among the protesters and remain engaged in these struggles. Contact us at [email protected].

Ceasefire in Palestine now!

Long Island, New York club with coalition partner The Healthcare Equity Action League of Long Island

College and university students are protesting for peace and against the genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli government.

The peaceful encampments, protests, and rallies by all groups are against the war - which is funded by the US - and to stop the invasion of Palestinian land, displacement of millions of people, collective punishment, destruction of civil society in Gaza, and environmental catastrophe. However, the authorities and major media are wrongfully trying to present demonstrators as being against Jewish people and therefore antisemitic.

These student movements have a rich history, going back more than 50 years to protests during the Vietnam war, the Iraq invasion, police brutality, and now against genocide in Gaza.

Campuses are reflections of the real world, and students rightfully express their opinions against war and killings. The introduction of police and the National Guard to college campuses to make arrests is a heavy-handed practice to shut the voice of dissent and criminalize students.

We progressives, peace, and environmental groups in Long Island, NY support college and university students in their demands for an immediate cease-fire, a stop to genocide, and the bringing of peace between Israel and Palestine, and we condemn authoritarian policies.

Humbolt County, California club

Comrades from our club in formation in Humboldt County, California, have been deeply inspired and impressed by the responsibility and determination of the students of Cal Poly Humboldt, who have occupied the campus to press the University administration to withdraw from any complicity with the mass slaughter of civilians in Gaza. Their demands, which include the disclosure and divestment of any funds invested in Israeli enterprises and the issuing of a statement calling for a ceasefire, are entirely just and reasonable. We are moved by the self-sacrifice and consciousness of these students who are thus joining in a nationwide upsurge of student activists for peace against the ongoing depredations of US imperialism. We are dismayed and outraged by attacks on these young people by both the University and the city of Arcata, including a police assault on Monday evening and the suspension of several student leaders of this protest, and we call on the University to rescind the suspensions and on the city to refrain from police violence against the protesters.

San Jose, California club

The San Jose Ross-Galarza Club praises the efforts of Stanford University students in taking the initiative to establish an on-campus encampment in solidarity with the people of Gaza. This encampment, declared "The People's University", was built adjacent to the White Memorial Fountain on Friday, April 26. The students bring four demands to the university:

• Disclose fully how institutional funds are spent.
• Divest from any and all companies participating in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
• Defend the rights of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and their allies against repression and racist, Islamophobic attacks from Zionists.
• Declare the occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people by the U.S. and Israel illegal and indefensible.

The encampment's establishment deliberately coincided with Stanford "Admit Weekend," while prospective students and their parents visited campus. Throughout the weekend, the encampment hosted Islamic prayers, Passover Seder, teach-ins, dabke folk dancing, meals, and other community activities. These inspired solidarity between students and community members of all races, genders, and creeds with the Palestinian people in their continued struggle against genocidal Zionist apartheid.

Editor's note: The opinions stated here are the author's and may not be those of the Communist Party, USA.

Images: All images special to cpusa.org.

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