Blog

By “Autumn”

Last month, classes began at Stanford University on September 23rd.

Though in some ways it may seem routine, in other ways, the start of this new year will be unlike any other in recent history. 12 student organizers are still banned from campus, having lost access to housing, income, and medical care while facing potential felony charges. The Stanford University Police Department still holds property from last spring’s People’s University for Palestine, Stanford’s second iteration of the encampment movement that swept the entire country. And of course, student organizers are ready to come back strong after a summer spent intensively studying and leading campaigns to Drop the Charges. 

Despite the administration’s best efforts to return to business as usual, the students who participated in last year’s historic wave of protests have no intention of ceasing, not when Stanford failed to even consider our call for divestment and answered peaceful protest with escalation and repression.

This fall, I will not be returning to campus to see the new school year begin, but I have complete faith in my fellow students and their ability to keep pushing forward. Whatever the future has in store wouldn't have been possible without the community that came together last year, which has shaped my identity as an organizer for the rest of my life.

I’ll never forget the first time I met members of Stanford’s Students for Justice in Palestine while tabling last fall. I had no idea that in just a few weeks, I would be marching alongside them and thousands of others in the streets of San Francisco, nor that they would become some of my dearest comrades and friends.

This year was a first for me on two different levels. One, we as students came face to face with an unprecedented level of repression on our campus. Marches became characterized by full face coverings and constant vigilance for hostile individuals that would not hesitate to dox us. This was coupled with surveillance from the university. Administration never refrained from pursuing disciplinary action against peaceful protesters, and like other institutions around the country, targeted those who were Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim.

But more importantly, I was able to experience firsthand the beauty and power of solidarity—it was only through solidarity that we could face this repression undeterred. As part of the student movement for Palestine, pockets of our campus community came together like I had never seen before. Against an enemy that wields fear as a weapon, we built bonds of love and radical optimism that strengthened our commitment to one another and our faith that a free Palestine is within our reach.

The Asian American contingent, which I have dedicated myself to building, has a special place in my heart. The Stanford Asian American Action Committee has become a major part of coalition spaces on campus, committed to connecting the Palestinian movement to the anti-imperialist struggles that persist in our homelands. We’ve showed up to Cancel RIMPAC, put on events spanning lessons from the Korean War to the connection between Hindutva and Zionism, and could always be counted on to drum at rallies. Through this work, we’ve connected with other Bay Area Asian diaspora organizations—among many others, GABRIELA, BAYAN, Nodutdol, MSU Skyline, and ASATA have inspired us to look towards the revolutionary histories and practices of our people from Palestine to Okinawa, to the Philippines, to Kashmir.

Though the encampment is long gone, the hope, commitment, and deep trust in one another that we’ve built over the past year are not. It is those values which makes me certain that what we are witnessing is historic, and that there will be no turning back until we achieve the freedom of Palestine and of all oppressed people. 

The movement is not over. Students are readier than ever to launch the next phase of their work, and other sectors of society should be prepared to do the same. I’ll be participating in a different capacity this time around, but to those students who are returning: as essayist ismatu gwendolyn writes, HOLD THE LINE. Liberation is within our lifetime.

To those reading, you can support the Drop the Charges campaign here: bit.ly/S13ActionToolkit. Mutual aid can be sent to @stanford-PUP on Venmo.