UCLA has declared the pro-Palestinian encampment unlawful, saying students who fail to leave it may face discipline.
  • Flying Squid
    86•2 months ago

    I’m not usually one to invoke the founders, because they were a bunch of misogynist slave owners, but for fuck’s sake, this country was literally founded on protesting!

  • @[email protected]
    63•2 months ago

    Zionist counter-protesters threatening protesters with violence to try to get a reaction so they can retaliate and play victim. Initiate violence anyway. Sounds familiar…

  • @[email protected]
    46•2 months ago

    The “counter-protestors” all wore black hoodies and white masks.

    This was not a reaction to violence from the Gaza side. It was planned by the attackers.

    So we’ve got people in favor of IDF being violent against peaceful protestors. I can’t even begin with the irony of that.

    We’ve also got police who were called immediately but did nothing to stop the violent attackers (some of those that work forces…).

  • @[email protected]English
    29•2 months ago

    This is really disappointing. The violence by the counter-protestors is:

    • morally wrong
    • terrible for publicity
    • pointless, since the police have been breaking up these protests anyway

    Who did this and why?

    • @[email protected]
      19•2 months ago

      Well the police didn’t step in to stop the violence against the protestors, and the news outlets are all reporting this as “both sides” - so it sounds like the attackers got what they wanted.

    • @[email protected]
      English
      11•2 months ago

      The news outlets I saw reporting on this were mostly calling out that violence was started by agitators rather than counter-protestors

        • @[email protected]
          6•2 months ago

          [One way of reading the comment you replied to is that] the point is that the media is both-sides-ing this instead of truthfully reporting that the violence was directed against the protestors. This allows the protests to be portrayed as “radical” and feeds into the false “pro-terrorism” and “extremist” narrative being portrayed against Gazan and Palestinian sympathizers.

  • @[email protected]
    19•2 months ago

    The real headline (maybe LA Times changed it after this was posted):

    UCLA cancels classes after counterprotesters violently attack pro-Palestinian camp

    Snippets from the article:

    Just before midnight, a large group of counterdemonstrators, wearing black outfits and white masks, arrived on campus and tried to tear down the barricades surrounding the encampment. Campers, some holding lumber and wearing goggles and helmets, rallied to defend the encampment’s perimeter.

    A group of security guards could be seen observing the clashes but did not move in to stop them.

    At around 1:40 a.m., police officers in riot gear arrived, and some counterprotesters began to leave. But the police did not immediately break up the clashes at the camp, which continued despite the law enforcement presence.

    “It gives people impunity to come to our campus as a rampaging mob,” she said early Wednesday. “The word is out they can do this repeatedly and get away with it. I am ashamed of my university.”

    I bet dollars to donuts there were fascists in that group who hate Jews but just wanted cover to go bash some Leftists.

  • @[email protected]
    18•2 months ago

    In a statement Tuesday, UC President Michael V. Drake said he “fully” supported UCLA’s action. UC must be “as flexible as it can” in matters of free speech, he said, but must act in cases where student learning and expression are blocked, university functions disrupted and safety threatened.

    The students are learning tho. You just don’t like what they’re learning, ie: how to protest, how to manage their own power base by protesting, etc etc.

    I guess young people are only supposed to learn how to mold themselves into productive cogs for the machine.

  • @[email protected]
    -1•2 months ago

    Weird to think I went to UCLA for undergrad. I knew the type to participate in protests, though, and they do get pretty passionate. Back then, it was the dreamers act support and the level of extreme was mostly occupying a few very busy streets and ultimate just ruining people’s day with terrible traffic.

    But that was 2008 (I think) pre-TikTok and pretty early into social media. I think there are actors that stoke the fires on both sides with either misinformation and/or more persuasive material because so much more is recorded (e.g. most people get fired up when seeing video of people fucking dying). It’s one thing to know people are dying, it’s another to see first hand accounts.

    For instance, in 2008 we were informed of fucked up things the US did in Iraq, but footage was scarce and the most we really had to get pissed off about were pictures of that one lady who posed prisoners in weird fucked up ways. If it was today, we’d have been given a lot more civilian death stats along with videos of people getting shot, bombed (plus again, lots of false info too). I’m pretty sure students would have been a lot more disruptive than just holding up traffic.