Tents began to be set up at noon next to the administration building of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on Thursday, May 2, beginning the campout of the Interuniversity and Popular Assembly in Solidarity with Palestine. This action joins and becomes part of the international student protest and mobilization to demand “Stop the Israeli Zionist Genocide Against the Palestinian People in Gaza!” They also called out the repression and express their solidarity with the encampments in universities in the United States and other countries.
In a statement, they very correctly proclaim that “We are almost seven months from the genocide perpetrated by Israel on the Palestinian people as a continuation of a campaign of extermination that began more than 70 years ago, the root of which is the colonial and racist character of the illegitimate state of Israel.”
Israel is a theocratic state, founded and perpetuated by massacring and oppressing Palestinians and stealing their land. Although there are various positions in the movement against this genocide, the position of the revolutionary communists is that a revolution is needed to establish one single secular state in the historic territory of Palestine, with equal rights for Palestinians, Jews and others. This fight is primarily against the Zionist state and U.S. imperialism, but Hamas is also a reactionary force, which seeks to establish a repressive Islamic theocratic state, just as Iran is now. At the same time, we must emphatically insist that anti-Zionism is NOT anti-Semitism, as demonstrated by the prominent role that many Jewish students in the U.S. have played in the struggle against genocide in Gaza.
The encampment’s declaration also demands “an end to the genocide that has murdered more than 40,000 Palestinian people... Our compañeros on the other side of the Río Bravo / Grande have shaken the imperialist government of Joe Biden, who, together with the university authorities, has unleashed a violent onslaught with hundreds of expulsions and brutal repression by police forces…” (The official count is more than 34,500 dead as of May 3, but many more remain buried under the rubble). In fact, as of this writing, there have been more than 2,200 arrests at many universities in the United States, including cases of violent attacks with rubber bullets, stun grenades, pepper spray, and tear gas, ripping off the “democratic” mask of the government and universities, which operate in the interests of the U.S. capitalist-imperialist ruling class.
The demands of the UNAM encampment include “Stop Genocide and End the Zionist Occupation; Break Mexico’s Diplomatic Relations with Israel”—something that [Mexican] President López Obrador [AMLO] has refused to do due to the subordination of the Mexican state to the interests of U.S. imperialism. He says he is “neutral” about the “conflict” in Gaza. It is totally unacceptable to be “neutral” about the ongoing genocide! AMLO refuses to condemn the genocide, limiting himself to so-called spaces for “peace.”
Another very important demand of the encampment is “that the Mexican armed forces stop being trained by the Israeli army,” and could also include that they stop using Israeli software such as Pegasus to spy on government opponents. The truth is that Israel is not only an essential bastion for advancing the interests of the U.S. empire in the Middle East, but it also does its dirty work in many other parts of the world, including Latin America. The encampment also demands “an end to the university’s collaboration with companies that openly support Zionism, such as HP, Google and IBM.” The UNAM, acting in the service of the ruling classes, has refused to officially respond to this demand. On the contrary, in its statement about the encampment, the UNAM slipped in points to justify potential repressive measures in the future, declaring that “there are also those who disagree and may feel offended” by the encampment.
At the beginning of the encampment, the group of young university students, professors, university workers, organizations, and others had the Palestinian keffiyeh on their shoulders or covering their heads, others waved Palestinian flags while the tents were set up. The media interviewed some people or took photos. A moment that caught everyone’s attention was when a Palestinian flag was placed on top of a lamp post, and there was no shortage of shouts of “Free Palestine! Free, free Palestine!” and other slogans.
Some people began to arrive with some groceries and some money that they donated so that the encampment can sustain itself in its resistance and struggle.
There was also repudiation of the bourgeois electoral parties when some young people arrived with canvas banners that they collected of the “electoral garbage” of the electoral parties and then they reused them to paint slogans in favor of the Palestinian people, set up tents or caricature the images of the bourgeois candidates.
A contingent from the Department of Political and Social Sciences (FCPyS) marched in amidst chants and slogans to join the encampment. Thus, little by little, the participants in the encampment grew, until today there are more than 60 tents. In an assembly of the students, the regulations and security measures that will have to be taken up for collective care among all participants were announced. And the different committees met separately so that there was coordination of the tasks and activities in the encampment. There will be press conferences, security patrols, brigades, cultural activities, some workshops, and food preparation.
Much, much solidarity and encouragement are expressed aimed at exposing the atrocious genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people by Israeli Zionism, financed and backed by U.S. imperialism to reinforce its watchdog in that region of the Middle East and other parts of the world.
And they demand that the repression, in some cases brutal, stop against the students who bravely resist in the encampments in the universities in the United States, that all detained students and others be released immediately, and that the students expelled or with some punishment be reinstated in their classes. The same for other students from other universities in other countries who have set up encampments.
In the United States, the revolutionary communists—the Revcoms—have joined these encampments and are doing everything they can to take advantage of this rare moment when a revolution in the U.S. becomes more possible, as put forward and developed by Bob Avakian. They are bringing this real revolution to these university students and to the entire society. As Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader and architect of the new communism, points out:
... [the] representatives of the ruling class in this country have a definite sense that if youth especially at “elite” universities begin to seriously question and act against what this system is doing—if the system “loses the allegiance” of large numbers of those students—that can be a big factor in creating a real crisis for the system as a whole, as happened in the 1960s: a crisis that, now more than ever, this system really cannot afford, when the whole country is already being torn apart by deep divisions, with bitter clashes right among the ruling powers. So, at the same time as they are bitterly divided, the ruling powers of this country are firmly united in their determination to punish and intimidate especially students at elite universities who have stepped forward to protest the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians. The ruling class is desperate to prevent opposition to its fundamental interests from spreading and involving masses of people, from all parts of society.
Stop the U.S.-Backed Israeli Genocidal War Against Palestine!
The Palestinian People Must Be Free!
Down With the Racist Apartheid State of Israel and Its Master, U.S. Imperialism!
In Palestine, the U.S., Mexico, and all over the world, people need a real revolution based on the New Communism!
Aurora Roja
Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico
aurora-roja.blogspot.com | auroraroja.mx@gmail.com
May 5, 2024