Protesters ask UO to protect students, free speech

Presenter: At the University of Oregon March 11, a protest against the Trump administration’s arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, and KEPW’s Todd Boyle was there. Here are two speeches from the steps of Johnson Hall:

Speaker #1: Hi, everybody. I’m an organizer with SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine).

[00:00:26] I’m also one of the students with a conduct code against them. So boo on that.

[00:00:33] I’m here to speak today because obviously this is not only a turning point but a moment of realization for a lot of people of the direction that we are steadfastly going in as a country. Mahmoud Khalil has Palestinian descent and that is the only reason that he was arrested. He was not doing anything different from any of his fellow students.

[00:00:56] He was utilizing his First Amendment right to free speech on a campus that he paid to attend and they arrested him simply because of his heritage. (Shame!) This is fascism, point blank. You cannot sugarcoat it. This is, we live in a fascist country now. and this is going to continue to happen. And if it doesn’t happen to you, now, it will later.

[00:01:21] Because they’re not knocking on your door now does not mean that you’re safe, and siding with them will never ever protect you. And we all know that. That’s why we’re here.

[00:01:30] (Cheering) But I want to talk about Palestine really fast, as an SJP member. (Louder!) Sorry! Where Mahmoud and my family and Salem’s family all come from, this fascism is very plain to see.

[00:01:53] Israeli soldiers take over water supplies, villages that have been standing since eternity, and they cut out Indigenous practices of foraging for za’atar. They colonize the different herbs to make them Israeli herbs and this is exactly what we see not coming to this country.

[00:02:15] This is where it started, on Turtle Island, with the massacre of Indigenous peoples, with the Trail of Tears, with the history that we always seem to forget when we talk about how beautiful and great this nation is.

[00:02:29] It was here, it has always been here, and it has been allowed to grow by the people in charge, and that is the issue. What we need to do as the people is stand up against it as strong as we can, especially in this moment.

[00:02:41] As fascism grows, our movement grows. And that’s where our power is.

[00:02:52] Emily Beatty: I’m Emily. I use they/them pronouns. I’m a member of the GTFF (Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation), a very proud member. I’m a graduate of our graduate student labor union here at the University. I’m also a member of Graduates for Palestine. And equally important I think, I’m a student in political science and I teach in the WGS department (Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies).

[00:03:20] So as I stand up here today, I wanted to say a bit about why we’re here.

[00:03:24] First, we’re of course here to call for the release of political prisoner Mahmoud Khalil. Second, we’re here to demand that the UO administration ensure that they will not comply with ICE nor the Trump administration. And third, we’re here to ask our campus unions to stand in solidarity with us in getting this reassurance from our administration.

[00:03:50] And again, I see very, very many GTFF faces and that makes me so incredibly happy to have so many of my comrades here.

[00:03:58] So yes, to be clear, this is the bare minimum that the UO can offer us to make sure that its students and workers are protected from a fascist government.

[00:04:10] But just as I taught my students yesterday, standing up for something doesn’t mean just standing up against what is unjust or just saying what is unjust. It also means learning about why that injustice happened.

[00:04:24] This leads me to my second point. We’re here today because our university administration let this happen.

[00:04:32] For over a year, the UO administration has increasingly policed its student activists, labor leaders, faculty, and workers, and this policing has disproportionately affected those organizing against and teaching about the ongoing genocide in Palestine, particularly students of color. (Shame!)

[00:04:49] By targeting student and labor leaders, UO administration has attempted to create a culture of fear on our campus. It has tried to normalize regressive policies regarding student and worker protest, including banning all amplified sound unless authorized (Shame!)

[00:05:08] Threatening code of conduct violations and expulsions against those who rightfully protest against genocide; and (Shame!) and by encouraging students and faculty alike to report anyone who teaches political content in their classrooms. As somebody who studies political science, I find that policy in particular very confusing. What am I supposed to teach my students?

[00:05:40] This culture on our campus is exactly why my fellow workers called the University on its bulls*** when it said that it would protect international, undocumented, and DACA students.

[00:05:51] The University told us that we can trust them because the law protects us. This is exactly what they will say to our trans comrades in the coming weeks: ‘Don’t worry, the law is on our side.’ But the University changed our rules on campus as soon as they didn’t like what we were doing. Doesn’t that sound a bit familiar?

[00:06:11] Doesn’t that sound exactly like what Trump is doing? That’s right! That’s right! What we must understand is that the law only protects us if we demand it, if we fight for it.

[00:06:26] More and more, Trump is pushing on the bounds of what is normal in this country to see what he can get away with. And if he gets away with deporting Mahmoud, just as he has threatened, then it will be certain that the law is no longer a buffer between us and fascism.

[00:06:40] By continuing to passively wait for ICE to come onto our campus, for the police to take down our protesters, the University administration continues to participate in this backlash against student protesters. And let’s be clear, we mean protesters who fight for Palestine.

[00:07:02] At this point you’re probably asking, What can I do? What can we do? How do we protect ourselves? And how do we fight back? These are crucial questions, but as much as we understand how our administration’s actions have led us here, we must understand that resistance is not a one- day project, especially not to be done in an hour or two.

[00:07:28] I encourage you, I encourage you, find a group to organize with. We are incredibly I’m really lucky to be in a community full to the brim with active political and community organizations who are fighting for justice, even when there isn’t an active crisis. And many of its members are here today and helped us to organize this protest on such short notice.

[00:07:48] So I say, first of all, thank you to all of the community organizers here, community members here who have set this wonderful precedent for us to follow as student protesters.

[00:08:07] But for the rest of us, please talk to somebody, introduce yourself, ask what you can do. It’s not up to you alone to save the world, but you can’t help if you’re on your own. Thank you for being here today, because this is that first step.

[00:08:31] When the systems we have come to rely on begin to crumble, we only have each other, but those bonds can be stronger than anything you may have known before because you have to fight for them. You have to prove over and over and over again that you’re willing to put your comfort on the line to protect the people in your community.

[00:08:48] This is what I’m asking you to do, not just today, but every day. Get out of your comfort zone, get connected, and impress yourself with how much you’re capable of. This is your fight. This is my fight. We’re in this together. Solidarity forever. (cheering)

[00:09:17] Presenter: Todd Boyle reports from the UO, protesting the arrest of former Columbia University graduate student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. For the complete rally, see Todd Boyle’s YouTube channel.