Editors’ Note: Because students at other universities have previously had their personal information leaked as a result of their views on the conflict in the Middle East, the Quest will not publish participants’ names, identifying characteristics, or photos containing visible faces.
Photography by Adrian Keller Feld
On Wednesday, October 25, at 1:00pm, approximately a hundred students gathered in Eliot Circle to protest Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip and demonstrate support for Palestine. The walkout, which was organized by the newly formed Students For Justice in Palestine at Reed, was scheduled to align with several other student protests at colleges across the country.
The walkout began with a reading of the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, a celebrated Palestinian poet. A third student listed the organization’s demands, which they said were “a little off the cuff.” They asked that the Reed administration publish a statement condemning the “ethnic cleansing” occurring in Gaza, that they disclose any financial relationships with the Israeli government, and that they cancel study abroad programs at Ben-Gurion University and Hebrew University. The organization also criticized the administration for not providing adequate support to Palestinian students.
Around a dozen students not associated with the organization came to the microphone to speak. One, a member of Anakbayan East Portland, a Filipino-run activism organization, expressed solidarity between Filipinos and Palestinians. Though almost all of the statements were benign, two speakers advocated for violence. One said that “liberation [of Palestine] will be violent,” and another said Palestinians had “the right to resist occupation by any means necessary.”
Earlier this week, Chris Toutain and Jessika Chi, respectively the Dean of Students and the Associate Dean for Institutional Diversity, sent an email to the student body, asking students to “please let us know ways that we can support you,” and to treat others with “kindness, empathy, and care.” At 9am on Friday, October 27, Reed faculty will also host a “teach-in” in Eliot 103 regarding the current state of the conflict.
about the author
Finn is a junior English Creative Writing Major, and this is his first year editing for the Quest, but third-ish year writing for it. His burgeoning journalism career began in middle school and he went on to be the editor for his high school newspaper. In his free time he enjoys listening to music, playing video games, and sometimes reading but not all the time.
Sam King is a freshman history major from South Dakota. He’s interested in 20th century American Literature and 19th century British imperial history.
The Economist has some good coverage of the conflict and reactions:
https://www.economist.com/films/2023/10/10/israel-and-the-palestinians-a-century-of-conflict
https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2023/10/10/the-crisis-shows-the-failure-of-israeli-policy-towards-palestinians-says-shlomo-brom
https://www.economist.com/international/2023/10/28/the-culture-war-over-the-gaza-war
“Though almost all of the statements were benign, two speakers advocated for violence. One said that “liberation [of Palestine] will be violent,” and another said Palestinians had “the right to resist occupation by any means necessary.”
This is how the QUEST covers students calling for violence after the slaughter of Jews? Not benign? Wokie dokie. Looks like antisemitism is quite expectedly running amok at the college under the thin veil of nonsense activism that isn’t–um–shall we say “benign.”
It’s hard for me to understand how having security fences to prevent violent attacks is “occupation”. Gaza is occupied…by Hamas. Billions of dollars of foreign aid is provided to Gaza and Hamas spends it on tunnels and weapons instead of on infrastructure. There are 2 million Arab Muslims who live peacefully in Israel with government representation. There is no “Occupation” or “Apartheid” in Israel. Jews have been kicked out of almost every Arab Muslim country, and Israel is the only place they can live in relative peace. Folks are simply not educated about this, and should not be associating with Students for Justice in Palestine that might very well be considered a terrorist propaganda group funded by Hamas or Iran. Thanks to this group we now have swastikas in the Reed library. Folks should be supporting one another through the violence, not advocating for “violent resistance” against an eternally oppressed people (Jews in Israel).
https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1114702
This is maybe the most ignorant analysis of this situation I have seen. Jews are not the oppressed group in Israel and saying that is crazy seeing as they set up all of the legal structures in their favor. I encourage you to look through United Nations reports of apartheid in Palestine as the one I linked gives limited information but you can also listen to Palestinian voices in Gaza who are claiming they are in fact occupied. It is truly vile for you to act as if the occupation of Gaza is not real while claiming others are uneducated, my phone number is 5098761234 if you would like to discuss this with someone who wholeheartedly supports Palestine, SJP, and violent resistance within Palestine instead of making anonymous harmful claims on the internet. SJP is not a terrorist group funded by Hamas and Gaza it is kind of hilarious that you would say that seriously lmao.
Claiming that the two speakers advocated for violence is unjust, when it was contextually clear that they were acknowledging how frequently oppressive regimes are retaliated against with violence.