FSU Students march and rally in solidarity with Palestinians
Tallahassee, FL – On October 30, nearly 100 students and community members marched and rallied on the campus of Florida State University, demanding action from administration on Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
The march began from FSU’s Westcott Fountain with chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” It was led by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) members Chi Chi Amanze and Katy Kurzweil. The march continued down the campus’ Legacy Walk and landed at the Integration Statue.
The rally’s opening speaker, Victor Cardenas, immediately addressed FSU’s lack of empathy for Palestinians by denouncing a statement made by the university’s president on the matter. “It’s shameful how our own university has treated the conflict. You look at President Richard McCullough, who went to a vigil to mourn the Israeli victims. What about the Palestinians?”
After Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by the Palestinian freedom fighters, a vigil for Israel was held by Zionist organizations. At the vigil, Palestinians were called “barbarians” and “animals.” FSU President Richard McCullough, who was in attendance at the vigil for Israel, had already released a statement on the Israel-Palestine conflict to the entire student and faculty population. In the statement, he only gave condolences for the Israeli lives lost, never once mentioning the deaths of Palestinians. He offered support for Jewish and Israeli students at FSU without even mentioning the anguish and suffering of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students on campus. FSU SDS demanded a new statement that acknowledges the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza on campus, while condemning Israel’s genocide.
Part of this acknowledgement would include an apology to Ahmad Daraldik, a Palestinian student who was ousted from his position as president of the student senate after a targeted harassment campaign by Zionists in the Florida legislature. At the rally, Daraldik spoke on behalf of Florida Palestine Network, mentioning that this apartheid and its conflicts have been ongoing. “Today’s not the first time. The Great March of Return in 2018 ended with snipers taking the lives of over 200 Palestinians. It is continuous, but our resistance is continuous as well. They will not stop us from ending apartheid.” Throughout the event, Zionist counter-protesters heckled pro-Palestine demonstrators while waving a flag of the Israeli Occupation Force.
Daraldik addressed the opposition, stating, “They think they’re standing for something right. They’re standing for the eradication of a people. They’re standing for apartheid. They’re standing for illegal settlements. And they think we’re mad that they’re here? No, we’re mad because people are being massacred! I stand here, and I just see the vile smirks, and it shakes my core because how? How, in your mind, can you think that you’re standing for justice when genocide is what they stand for?”
Elijah Lieberman, a member of SDS, addressed his background as a Jewish and Israeli person in a powerful speech that dismantled the notion that these identities require one to endorse Zionism. “Through my Jewish upbringing, I have learned about the oppression and genocide of Jews throughout history, and because of it, I oppose bigotry and imperialism no matter what form it takes.”
FSU plays a role in Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The University’s Aero-Propulsion, Mechatronics, and Energy Center partners with Boeing, with a defense contractor that supplies weapons to the Israeli military. The campus also hosts Hillel and Chabad, two organizations with “Birthright” programs. Through these, Jewish students receive free ten-day trips to Israel. The Birthright program encourages students to live in Israel, even if it means moving into occupied territories the international community considers to be under the jurisdiction of Palestine. SDS included a demand that the tuition of students not be used to continue the displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Regina Joseph, a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, addressed the link between the Palestinian liberation movement and the Black liberation movement.
“We know that Palestinian people have stood for Black liberation. We know that Palestinian people have fought for those of us here in America. When I was in Ferguson, I was tear gassed, and it was Palestinians on Twitter that were telling us how to deal with tear gas. The same police officers that mutilate and attack the Black community are trained by the Israel Defense Forces.”
Delilah Pierre, president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, reiterated the link between the fight for Palestinian freedom and other fights, past and present. She said, “If you don’t stand with Palestine, you don’t stand with Black liberation. If you don’t stand with Palestine, you don’t stand with queer and trans liberation. The Black Panther Party, they stood with Palestine, and I’m standing with them.” She mentioned the solidarity Palestinians took with the massive uprising against police brutality in 2020 through their mural of George Floyd. She spoke of the beauty of oppressed groups standing in solidarity in the struggle for liberation.
The event was led by FSU’s Students for a Democratic Society in cooperation with Florida Palestine Network, Tallahassee Community Action Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Food Not Bombs, FSU Student Farmworker Alliance, FSU Planned Parenthood Generation Action, and the Tallahassee Industrial Workers of the World.
At the rally, there were dozens of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim members of the Tallahassee community. These students, children, parents and grandparents waved Palestinian flags and drowned out the Zionist hecklers with impassioned chants of “Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry! Palestine will never die!”