Walkouts, Blockades, and Student Occupations in Solidarity with Palestine Continue

Resistance to the US backed Israeli war and genocide against Palestinians living in the occupied territories remains ongoing, with a chorus of mass protests, sabotage, occupations at US universities, and blockades of weapons suppliers continuing into the spring, as a call grows “to disrupt and blockade economic logistical hubs and the flow of capital” on April 15th.

Despite attempts by the Democratic Party brass to rally behind Biden’s rabid support for the war, as the US war machine pushes to green-light even more billions in military aid and equipment, anger continues to mount against the bloodshed and deepening social crisis as the threat of mass starvation in Gaza grows, Israeli forces slaughter aid workers and attack humanitarian efforts, and the military directly targets hospitals, such as the Al-Shifa Medical complex.

As the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported:

The Israeli army carried out a massive, shockingly horrific military operation in Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City over the course of the past two weeks, indiscriminately targeting and attacking Palestinians regardless of their civilian status, professional standing, gender, age, or health condition.

Though the exact number of casualties from the atrocity is still unknown, preliminary reports suggest that over 1,500 Palestinians have been killed, injured, or are reported missing as a result of the massacre at Al-Shifa, with women and children making up half of the casualties. Euro-Med Monitor is able to confirm from its initial investigation and testimonies that hundreds of dead bodies, including some burned, and others with their heads and limbs severed, have been discovered both inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex and in the hospital’s surrounding area.

The attack on Al-Shifa Medical Complex is the most visible aspect yet of Israel’s systematic and carefully-crafted plan to destroy and besiege the Gaza Strip’s health sector, bring it to the brink of collapse, and deny the Palestinian population any chance at survival or medical care, or shelter.

Mass opposition against the war in the US has grown, with the majority of Americans now opposing the conflict, as Israel rallies to attack the Palestinian city of Rafah, where many refugees have been pushed since the war broke out in October of 2023. Meanwhile in Israel, “tens of thousands of Israelis have flooded the streets…calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation and urging the government to secure a ceasefire…”

Despite this growing rejection of the war effort, the Democratic Party leadership has remained steadfast in its backing of the Israeli state with billions of dollars in aid and weapons, while billionaire fascist Donald Trump has called Israel to “finish up” its war and third party candidate and conspiracy-peddler Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has backed Israel, calling it a “moral nation.” Meanwhile, US politicians have also been pushing for the criminalization of protest in support of Palestine under the banner of stopping ‘anti-Semitism,’ while actual anti-Semitism explodes as the Republican party embraces white nationalist conspiracy theories such as the “Great Replacement.”

Despite attempts by elites and the corporate media to derail and suppress the movement, protests, sabotage, and mass actions continue. Currently, there is a growing call for mass protests and blockades on April 15th. According to the A15 Action website:

The proposal states that in each city, we will identify and blockade major choke points in the economy, focusing on points of production and circulation with the aim of causing the most economic impact, as did the port shutdowns in recent months in Oakland, California and Melbourne, Australia, as just a few examples.

There is a sense in the streets in this recent and unprecedented movement for Palestine that escalation has become necessary: there is a need to shift from symbolic actions to those that cause pain to the economy.

As Yemen is bombed to secure global trade, and billions of dollars are sent to the Zionist war machine, we must recognize that the global economy is complicit in genocide and together we will coordinate to disrupt and blockade economic logistical hubs and the flow of capital.

See the A15 Action website for more information and check out our roundup of recent actions across the so-called US here.

Mass Actions and Blockades Target Military and Weapons Manufactures

In Sacramento, CA, hundreds marched on the Sacramento bridge, shutting it down in solidarity with Palestine.

In Seattle, WA, hundreds gathered to protest the Aerospace and Defense Supplier Summit, which was ultimately shut down due to fear of demonstrators. According to local independent journalist Alissa Azar, “Boeing got intimidated by the threat of confrontation and moved the event online.” Graffiti slogans and posters were also placed up around the shuttered event during the demonstration.

In Fairfield, CA, protesters were attacked by violent riot police after converging on Travis Air-force base, blocking intersections. This action followed other blockades the week before:

Organized outside of the view of the imperialist apparatus, we organized a simultaneous shut across two separate gates at Beale AFB. At 6:30am 3 activists blockaded the entrance to the Schneider Gate at Beale AFB, and another 3 blocked the entrance to the Wheatland Gate, the two busiest gates at imperialist installation.

At the Schneider gate the blockade was held for over an hour before the activists were arrested by military police. The blockade at the Wheatland gate on the other hand was held for over two hours, before arrests were made. After around an hour all arrestee’s were released.

Demonstrators rallied outside of Radio City Music Hall in New York, as President Biden spoke alongside former Presidents Clinton and Obama at an elite presidential fundraiser. Protesters managed to repeatedly interrupt the event.

In San Francisco, hundreds clashed with police while attempting to stop a Navy ship from departing the bay area. As MSN reported, some protesters “reportedly chain[ed] themselves to the ship’s gangway in an attempt to disrupt a media event held by local and national politicians, and to block the vessel from reportedly transporting supplies to the Middle East.”

In Boston, MA:

At the same time as a mass demonstration held the Mass Ave Bridge, an autonomous group of activists blocked all Cambridge-bound traffic on the Longfellow Bridge using a length of chain and bike locks.

CAMBRIDGE IS CLOSED UNTIL ELBIT IS OUT

Elbit weapons are used every day to carry out genocide in Palestine. Elbit has an office – an “innovation center” – in Cambridge. What will you do to get them out?

Lastly in Texas, hundreds rallied in Austin against the “Israel Block Party…the largest pro-Israel event on a college campus in North America…”

Walkouts, Demonstrations, and University Occupations Spread

Despite organized attempts to label students organizing in solidarity with Palestine as “anti-Semitic,” students across the US have continued to take action, organizing walkouts, sit-ins, and the occupation of campus buildings – often facing arrests from police.

Students in Durham, NC walked out in support of a teacher who had been fired after a photo circulated of her classroom that featured a Palestinian flag. Students held signs reading, “Free Palestine,” and “Intifada, intifada.” Students in the Boston area at Emerson university also held a mass walkout in solidarity with Palestine, and in protest of recent arrests of demonstrators. College students in Massachusetts walked out of class, demanding that the university cut ties to Raytheon. Hundreds of students in Portland, Vermont, Minnesota, Staten Island, and Berkeley, CA also took to the streets in walkouts against the ongoing war in Gaza.

Students at Cornell University in Ithica, New York “…began an indefinite sit-in at Day Hall, the university’s primary administrative building, on March 21st. The sit-in was organized by the Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML) and demanded that Cornell University call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and divest from weapons manufacturers complicit in…genocide.”

A group of students “occupied a Vanderbilt University building in Nashville, Tennessee, to protest the university administration’s suppression of pro-Palestinian voices [and were] forcibly removed by campus police.”

In Northampton, MA:

Hundreds of students occupied Smith College’s administration building on Wednesday, demanding that the college divest from military contractors and weapons manufacturers they say are aiding in the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. The students plan to occupy College Hall until their demands are met or until they are arrested and removed.

At the time of this writing, the occupation has lasted one week.

Sabotage and Targeted Vandalism

Sabotage and targeted vandalism also continued to take place across the US in solidarity with Palestine. In Portland, OR “[a] massive 60x30ft banner was dropped at the Morrison bridge over the river today in Portland, Oregon by an autonomous group. The banner reads “Don’t look away” and “stop the genocide” accompanied by two large Palestinian flags.”

At the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, “someone wrote “Free Palestine” on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Golda Meir Library, named after Israel’s former prime minister, and broke a library window, according to UWM police.”

In Anchorage, Alaska, “Multiple mayoral campaign signs in Anchorage have been stricken with vandalism…The mayor says some of this signs have had the words “genocide” and “Free Palestine” scribbled on them.”

In Bozeman, MT,”U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s downtown Bozeman office was vandalized during the weekend with expletives and red and black spray paint reading, “Tester funds genocide.”

A communique posted to Unoffensive Animal took credit for gluing the locks of a Starbucks in San Diego, CA. The claim of responsibility wrote:

This was done because Starbucks is complicit in genocide in Gaza. It’s former CEO, and current top shareholder is a zionist. Howard Shultz is just as guilty in the mass murder of innocent lives in Palestine as the iof terrorists.

The gluing of the locks did shut down store for hours, and resulted in a loss of profit. Which is the only language the capitalist death cult understands.

In solidarity. Free Gaza. Free Palestine.

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Cover photo from Indybay.org and Alissa Azar.