COMMEMORATING AL-AQSA FLOOD | HONORING OUR MARTYRS | TACTICAL LESSONS FROM BRAZILIAN STUDENTS
Contents:
I. ONE YEAR ON FROM GAZA'S PRISON BREAK, STUDENTS FLOOD COLUMBIA
II. WHERE THE PEOPLE STAND
III. WE WILL HONOR ALL OUR MARTYRS
IV. COMMEMORATING AL-AQSA FLOOD: LESSONS ON GUERRILLA WARFARE
V. STUDENTS IN BRAZIL OCCUPY BUILDINGS AND AVOID MASS ARREST: LESSONS FROM THE UERJ STUDENT STRUGGLE
VI. RESISTANCE STRIKES DEEP INTO OCCUPIED PALESTINE; GAZA AND LEBANON HOLD THE LINE
VII. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
ONE YEAR ON FROM GAZA'S PRISON BREAK, STUDENTS FLOOD COLUMBIA
Under a remarkably clear October sky, Columbia students flooded the steps of Low Library to commemorate the anniversary of the historic Al-Aqsa Flood.
In the early morning, students had already clustered at Alma to continue reading the names of the over 100,000 martyrs of the genocide. While the vigil continued, masses of students walked out of their classes near noon to rally on the steps. With numbers growing steadily, student organizers disseminated literature to contextualize October 7. Among the distributed material was the latest edition of the New York War Crimes, emblazoned with an ode to the martyrs, as well as pamphlets about the right to resist. The stickers which were also handed out by CUAD were soon seen plastered over Broadway and campus buildings.
The swelling numbers of pro-Palestinian students easily overwhelmed the corporate-bought Zionist displays and counter-protestors. Students chanted steadily and speakers discussed the significance of October 7. Marking the day that Gaza broke free of its chains, one Palestinian student spoke:
"We do not do justice by our people by leaving the resistance out of the discussion. The people who just like us choose to take their unimaginable circumstances and turn them into a fight for their freedom. What happened on October 7 was a result of over 75 years of genocidal Zionist occupation. As a result of the Palestinian people's commitment to resist this occupation and genocide, we bear witness to heroic acts by the Palestinian resistance and its allies in the region. The struggle against Zionism is not a struggle only for the Palestinian people, but a struggle for all people, for all colonized people across the world.
"October 7, 2023 was a monumental step in the popular delegitimization of the Zionist entity, backed by over 75 years of consistent struggle and resistance to this Zionist monstrosity. The act of Palestinian resistance on October 7, known as the Al-Aqsa Flood, breached Israeli security and made significant military advances. [This is] a day that will go down in history. A day [in which] Palestinians took it upon themselves to break down their prison fence and open Gaza to the rest of Palestine."
The walkout was attended by hundreds of students and demonstrated that the spirit of the encampment that had united the campus in love and protest last spring was alive and well. Energies soared in the center of the rally as one student led a call-and-response homage to her homeland. The protesters echoed "راجع" ("Raaji'a" - I am returning") each time the chant leader repeated the name of a Palestinian city: Akka, Haifa, Al-Quds, Yaffa... With each city remembered, the students emphasized the Palestinian commitment to return to the lands from which they have been dispossessed.
The tide of protestors soon formed a vast ocean of bodies that nearly wrapped around Low Library as the march began. Walking coolly past the typical gamut of Zionist instigators, students marched with discipline up the steps, behind Low, and down to college walk. The size of the crowd was a heart-warming reminder that the people of the world stand firmly on the side of Palestinian liberation. With the rally coming to a close at 1:30 PM, students left in hundreds to join Within Our Lifetime's city-wide action.
Reader, we leave you with these words from the rally:
"After one year of grief and rage, Gaza and all of occupied Palestine continue to usher in the new world. They teach us things about our humanity and our role in this world that no institution ever could. All of Palestine’s students — its student-journalists (Hassan Hamad), student-doctors (Izzeddin Lulu), student-teachers, student-freedom fighters — each has a lesson to teach you: Make sacrifices of your own comfort. Liberation is neither cheap nor easy, but it’s worth it.
Ask yourself what use is an education that does not serve the interests of our people.
Remember the words of martyred freedom fighter Abu Shujaa, not much older than us: 'I have neither a home nor a car after the occupation destroyed them. But what I do have is a cause for which I would die.'"
WHERE THE PEOPLE STAND
The campus Zionists also decided to host a rally with inane speeches, a sound system playing kitschy music, and more flags than people. They also set up an "art" exhibit with missing person milk cartons in a reference to American culture.
But what about the innumerable Palestinians that have been and are being killed in the Zionist entity's genocide? When we hold vigils to honor our martyrs, these same Zionists come by to laugh at and try to intimidate us. But we won't be intimidated. Though they have trucks full of laminated signs and massive flags they wave like Nazi banners, we have resilience. We have the numbers. They have a smattering; we have a mass.
All of their astroturfed rallies, all of their hysterical fibs about "antisemitism," and all of their temper tantrums only show the fragility at the heart of Zionism. It is an ideology that requires genocide. Without dehumanization, it fails to cohere. Just like Nazism, it requires that one live in a fantasy world. Though Zionists always use the canard of "complexity" to distract from the underlying settler-colonial relationship at the core of their ideology ("these keffiyeh-wearing college kids just don't understand nuance and complexity," they shriek), it is them who cannot reckon with the underlying, gut-wrenching reality of the world. The reality that they are complicit in mass death. That their supposed "homeland" is premised on mass death. That a whole world dies with each Palestinian murdered.
They cannot bear these facts. They deny massacres, then they celebrate them. Because to them, Palestinians are not human. That's why they fly into a rage when they see our demonstrations: they are confronted with the results of their worldview. We do not insulate them like the New York Times and other media, whose journalism is only apologia or stenography for the Zionist entity's war crimes. These institutions make the Zionist feel comfortable, allow them to settle any contradiction within their ideology.
But we will not stop reminding them of their complicity. We will not stop demonstrating until Zionism ends. This is why we did not hand wring about demonstrating on October 7th. We know how history goes, and we know that repression breeds resistance. Colonial projects all die, and Zionism will not be saved.
WE WILL HONOR ALL OUR MARTYRS
Every name is someone’s entire universe. Every name has a story. The very word martyr, known as shaheed in Arabic (شهيد), means to witness, to die unjustly. For the past two weeks, students have read the names of over 40,000 martyrs in Gaza as part of our ongoing vigil and name recitation at Low Library Steps. As horrifying as this number is, leading publications such as the Lancet cite a much larger death toll, around 186,000. For every single number, there is a name and a story. As Columbia students, saying the names of our loved ones in Gaza who were murdered in a horrific genocide is the very least we can do.
Throughout our nightly vigils, which began on October 2nd 2024, Columbia students, faculty, and staff have gathered to grieve. While faculty members read the names of professors murdered in Gaza one evening, student journalists read the names of journalists murdered in Gaza on another. We will continue until every name has been read. We invite you to join us in community on weekday afternoons and evenings. Bring flowers and invite friends.
COMMEMORATING AL-AQSA FLOOD: LESSONS ON GUERRILLA WARFARE
For our last reading group, we read several articles analyzing the rationale and impact of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to commemorate its anniversary. We also read Chairman Mao’s On Guerrilla Warfare, Ch. 1 to ground our discussion in military theory.
In applying Mao’s analysis to our own conditions, one comrade pointed out that each tactical decision we make should concretely serve a larger strategic goal. In our organization, there has been a shift in applying a more scientific approach to our organizing. An event or action might seem like a good idea, but that is not enough to pursue it. We must analyze how this serves our goals and consider potential positive and negative outcomes.
One comrade noted that one of the fundamental steps outlined by Mao is achieving internal unification politically. In mass movements, this task can seem daunting. We must unite broadly to put significant pressure on Columbia. However, we must maintain our revolutionary aspirations and not be weakened by liberalism and capitulation. Pursuing internal unity is multifaceted. One method to develop this is through political education, such as teach-ins, reading groups, or our Substack. One comrade noted that another method is through successful actions. Paraphrasing Ghassan Kanafani, this comrade asserted that the best propaganda comes from demonstrating the success of our methods. She suggested that our success in pursuing smaller demands will show the masses that our tactics work. In turn, these successes will develop our confidence and bring more people into our movement, allowing us to conquer larger demands.
We discussed several actions we've held, such as our second encampment and our first day of school picket. We analyzed the successes and shortcomings of each one and what we could improve on based on these principles of winning students, staff, and community members over to our cause.
One comrade said she remembered someone’s reflection at a past reading group that outlined their shift in consciousness. At first, this comrade bought into the monopoly media narrative that Al-Aqsa Flood was an act of “senseless violence.” In learning more about the operation, this comrade came to realize that this it was in fact strategic. Applying this to our conditions, the comrade said we should be more deliberate in our propaganda to explicitly connect our tactics to our strategy. While we disrupted students getting to class on the first day, we need to explicitly signal to them that our antagonism is directed towards the administration and not them. The administration's unwillingness to divest from genocide and the strict security measures they put into place are the reasons these students couldn’t easily get to class.
One comrade used this topic to reflect on what Mao says about hitting the enemy’s weak points. This comrade noted the importance of the picket in exploiting Columbia’s weak point, namely, their hyper-securitization. The new, strict swipe access requirements allowed us to easily shut down the few remaining gates left open. This comrade said the picket further emphasizes the crucial role of the masses. While we successfully attacked the administration’s weak point, our action could have seen a greater impact had there been greater student involvement.
Struck by this observation, one comrade noted how what makes an enemy seemingly “superior” often actually signals their weakness. We see this fact in the securitization of both Columbia and the Zionist entity. For the former, it reveals how deeply they fear our movement. They are willing to frustrate and anger students in a vain attempt to cease our activity. In so-called israel, the securitization overcompensates for their insecurity. Beyond surveillance, one comrade pointed out how all the IOF can do successfully is carpet bomb. They rely on US-funded technology to assert their dominance. Meanwhile, any ground invasion, which relies on bravery and technical ability, results in their destruction.
On the destruction of the Zionist entity, one comrade noted that we are witnessing the most significant delegitimization of israel in its history, further demonstrating the success of Al-Aqsa Flood. She contrasted the current Zionist government to those in the past that would make prisoner swap and ceasefire deals. What we see now is a supposed show of force that actually reveals how insecure and weak they are. The Zionist regime fears the strength and resolve of the Palestinian people, the Lebanese people, and so on, so they resort to genocide as their only means of recourse to prop up their heinous regime.
We discussed how on a much smaller scale, we see this trend with our administration. If they felt confident in their power to suppress our movement, they would be more lenient and grant us concessions to appease us. However, they are scared of our collective power and thus are quick to resort to open violence.
One comrade remarked on the optimism that pervaded the conversation, noting how easy it is to fall into disillusionment amidst so much suffering. Throughout our discussion, many comrades pointed that we are witnessing the death throes of imperialism. This comrade contrasted the monopoly media’s portrayal of Palestinians as victims with CUAD’s focus on celebrating the resistance, that will ultimately lead to their liberation. We reflected on the long and ongoing struggle for Palestinian freedom, recognizing that every act of resistance, from the days of British colonialism to today, has progressed toward this moment. At Columbia, the fight for divestment will be a protracted struggle, as was the fight to divest from South African apartheid and research for the Vietnam War. Our process is the continuation of this long process of anti-imperialism, one that can only reach its conclusion through the conclusion of imperialism everywhere.
STUDENTS IN BRAZIL OCCUPY BUILDINGS AND AVOID MASS ARREST: LESSONS FROM THE UERJ STUDENT STRUGGLE
Last month, students at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) resisted the state-ordered military polices’ attempts to break up their building occupations. Since late August, over 500 students had been occupying university buildings to demand the reversal of the Executive Administrative Decision Act (AEDA), which withdrew financial aid to more than 6,000 students and reduced the amount of aid by half. Student occupations expanded throughout September as the successes of the movement drew hundreds more into joining the fight. The university escalated in response, sending in military police to attack the occupations. For days, students resisted physically, forcing the police and paramilitaries to withdraw repeatedly. On September 20th, following a state order, hundreds of shock troops with military equipment surrounded the central occupation. With creative uses of surprises and deceptions, students distracted and divided the troops and succeeded in a tactical retreat, with students dispersing from the buildings and avoiding mass arrests and injuries. The forces, momentum, and morale of the student movement remain intact, while the administration and military police failed to achieve their objectives of repressing the students and making them surrender. The following are lessons we can draw from the UERJ student struggle.
Lesson 1: Military police can be defeated by a militant mass movement.
Through study and practice, the UERJ student body was educated in militant tactics and mobilized into a mass movement capable of defeating the military police. Throughout the struggle, the students used every instance of imperialist crimes to show that the interests of the administration and the students are diametrically opposed, agitating more students into joining them and taking up militant tactics. For example, when a group of students took over the nursing school, they exposed the dangerous work conditions resulting from the administration’s cut in spending on first aid and maintenance. Every time the dean refused to meet students’ demands and criminalized students at the negotiation table, this was broadcasted widely on social media and sparked more students to join the occupations and the picket lines surrounding the campus. Students utilized the dean's deployment of military police to expose the thin veil of the administration's leftist-masquerade, who associates themselves with Brazilian President Lula da Silva's false "left" party. Demonstrations continued to be held outside of the occupations with propaganda on the crimes of the administration, encouraging protestors to join the occupations. Students also organized closely with professors, civil servants, and outsourced workers, who were mobilized by the student struggle, showed active solidarity, and denounced the harassment and delayed salaries they face at the university.
Through the development of the struggle, hundreds of students, faculty, and workers were mobilized into the militant movement, and protestors defeated the police multiple times in their escalated attempts to enter campus and break up the occupations. While the military police threw tear gas and stun grenades from outside the campus, students planned out tactics and escape routes and defeated the police with barricades of burning tires, flagpoles, handmade clubs, and stones. Dolls with faces of the deans were burned outside of campus, raising the spirit of the student movement. With each successful resistance against the military police, more students became emboldened by the unrestrained strength of the organized and militant students, and they themselves organized mass jumping of the gates and breaking of police blockades to join the occupations. The student struggle at UERJ teaches us that the militant masses in their hundreds can defeat the police and their military equipment. Mobilizing a mass movement involves exposing every crime of our blood-thirsty administration to agitate students, faculty, workers, and community and integrating them into our movement by proving the effectiveness of our tactics. Developing a mass militant movement in our current conditions starts by winning quick and decisive victories with our currently small forces in order to reinvigorate confidence in our movement and our application of militant tactics.
Lesson 2: Effective tactics are developed from the ideas and creative practices of participants.
In the UERJ student struggle, tactics of escalation and retreat were developed by collecting, synthesizing, and creatively applying the ideas of participants. Decisions on tactics were made at assemblies comprised of various student groups and faculty unions, where protestors analyzed existing conditions and came up with ideas on next steps. Once decisions were made democratically, protestors, including those who were in the minority vote, maintained discipline in applying the tactics agreed upon by the majority.
The democratic decision-making process resulted in more active participation from protesters and also greater flexibility and better ideas. For example, when the administration announced that state-ordered troops were being deployed to crack down on the occupations, protestors at the assembly analyzed the forces of the troops and their own forces and agreed to move forward with a tactical retreat rather than risking mass arrests. Protestors then planned out ways in which they could retreat from the occupations safely and devised creative tactics to surprise and deceive the troops surrounding the campus. Groups of students took up their respective post in the devised plan. Some groups blocked entrances to the campus with burning barricades, diverting the attention of troops. Others threw fireworks, rocks, and other objects at the other side of the campus, distracting the police force from the center of the occupation. This allowed groups of students inside the central occupation to shatter the padlocks of the military siege and retreat safely. Leaders of student movements need to practice democracy, investigate the ideas of those engaged in the struggle, and centralize tactics and plans based on those ideas that most accurately reflect the situation. This not only allows better plans and methods to develop, but also develops more buy-in from participants and educates everyone in the process.
Lesson 3: We fight when we can win and we retreat when we cannot.
While the 57-day occupation of the university ended, the students analyzed their tactical retreat as a victory, as no students were injured, and only 3 out of over 500 students occupying the buildings were arrested. Mao explains strategic military retreat as “a planned strategic step taken by an inferior force for the purpose of conserving its strength and biding its time to defeat the enemy, when it finds itself confronted with a superior force whose offensive it is unable to smash quickly.” Understanding that the struggle to win the demand of overturning AEDA is a protracted one, students decided that attempting to resist the state troops could risk losing the movements’ forces, momentum, and morale in the long run, and that a retreat would preserve the movement while demoralizing the administration for their inability to crush the student movement. Students were invigorated by the successes of the retreat, cheering at the sight of the graffiti left by one of the student groups, Revolutionary Popular Student Movement (MEPR), in the building stating, “We will come back stronger and more prepared!” Following the retreat, protestors continue militant demonstrations around the university this month, including marches through classrooms agitating and educating fellow students to join the struggle. Another protest successfully expelled the reactionary dean from the university restaurant. By retreating in the short-term, the student movement avoided a drop in morale and organization that may follow mass arrests, and the movements’ organizing core remains intact.
In our conditions, our enemy is strong, and while we in our thousands will certainly win divestment, this struggle will be a long and difficult one, as nothing worth fighting is given up for free. We must learn from our own experiences, the experiences of advanced student movements around the world, and apply these lessons creatively to impose our demands on the genocidal institution.
RESISTANCE STRIKES DEEP INTO OCCUPIED PALESTINE; GAZA AND LEBANON HOLD THE LINE
More than a year has passed since Israel escalated its genocidal campaign in Palestine. An estimated 10 percent of Gaza's population has been killed, injured, or detained by Israeli forces, while 90 percent of its 2.3 million people have been displaced, often multiple times. Since Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, thousands have been killed and millions forcibly displaced. Israel has also been responsible for a record number of journalist deaths and abductions. Meanwhile, the Axis of Resistance continues to sharpen its tactics against Israel, achieving significant successes.
On Saturday, October 5, Israel began a brutal massacre in Jabaliya. The siege has continued, leading to hundreds of Palestinian deaths. Tens of thousands remain displaced and trapped, as supplies run out. The situation is dire at al-Awda, the Indonesian Hospital, and Kamal Adwan Hospital, where Israel's siege has forced hospitals and UN schools-turned-shelters to shut down. The United Nations established the Jabaliya refugee camp in 1948 for Palestinians displaced after the Nakba, but Israel has carried out repeated massacres in Gaza, targeting schools and tents of displaced people. On Monday, October 14, the Israeli army launched a major attack in Jabaliya’s al-Faluja neighborhood, planting explosives to destroy buildings and homes. That same day, Israel killed at least 10 people waiting in line for food.
On Sunday, October 6, consecutive missile strikes bombarded the al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque in Deir al-Balah and the Ibn Rushd school-turned-shelter, killing at least 27 Palestinians. A week later, on Sunday, October 13, Israeli jets bombed tents sheltering displaced Palestinians near al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing 22 and wounding 80. Early on Monday, October 14, Israeli forces attacked the hospital’s tent camp, setting fires and burning dozens of tents as Palestinians slept, leaving at least four dead and many others severely burned. This marked the seventh time this year and the third time in recent weeks that this hospital has been attacked by Israel.
In Lebanon, on October 10, Israeli strikes killed at least 22 people in Beirut, marking the deadliest attack so far. Nearly 300 humanitarian aid workers and peacekeepers have been killed, with Israel deliberately targeting UN peacekeepers at three different locations. Despite Israeli orders to vacate, UN peacekeepers remain at all their positions. On Monday, October 14, an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Zgharta, northern Lebanon, killing at least 21 people, including 11 children—all displaced due to previous bombings.
The olive harvest season began in Palestine in early October, continuing amid violence. On October 5, in al-Lubban al-Gharbi, northwest of Ramallah, 50 masked and armed Israeli settlers attacked Hasem Salamaa’s family as they harvested olives. The family attempted to defend themselves but 11 were injured, including women and children left with bone fractures. Israeli forces soon arrived, siding with the settlers and forcibly removing the family from their land by firing sound bombs. These violent tactics have long been used to drive Palestinian farmers from their land, and over the past year, at least one million olive trees have been uprooted by the Israeli military. Despite this, Palestinians in Gaza continue harvesting olives as a form of resistance.
Meanwhile, al-Qassam Brigades report successful attacks on Israeli military vehicles and soldiers as the IOF continues its siege of northern Gaza, which began on October 5. Palestinian fighters destroyed Merkava tanks near Jabaliya and launched mortar rounds at Israeli forces gathering near the refugee camp. Resistance fighters also launched a series of successful rocket attacks on settlements and military positions across Israel, including Nahariyya, Shalom, and Ahihud. On October 12, al-Qassam Brigades reported killing and wounding some 15 Israeli soldiers with an explosive device in Jabaliya. Hezbollah has also launched drones and fired over 115 rockets from Lebanon into Israel, with resistance operations causing significant Israeli casualties, particularly at a training camp in Binyamina, where dozens of Israeli officers and soldiers were injured.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has wiped out 902 entire families. Israeli forces strike homes every four hours, tents every 17 hours, schools and hospitals every four days, and aid warehouses every 15 days. Eighty percent of Gaza’s agricultural land has been destroyed, while Israel continues to block the delivery of food, water, and medicine to Palestinian civilians in desperate need. Over a year ago, U.S. Secretary Blinken traveled to Israel, reaffirming U.S. support and urging Netanyahu to allow humanitarian aid, but only if it didn’t reach Hamas. Since then, the Rafah crossing has been blocked, and aid has not reached Gaza. This policy, supported by U.S. arms and sanctions, has resulted in widespread famine. Recently, the U.S. announced plans to send additional air defense systems to Israel, underscoring continued U.S. backing. However, strict Israeli censorship over the situation hints at difficult days ahead for the occupation, as the resistance remains relentless.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
We would love to hear your comments, critiques, and perspectives! If you would like to contribute to The Barricade, please email cuadthebarricade@proton.me. You can also follow us @ColumbiaBDS on Twitter/X and @CUApartheidDivest on Instagram. Sign this petition to unsuspend two students from the Columbia School of Social Work.
LONG LIVE OPERATION AL-AQSA FLOOD
GLORY TO THE RESISTANCE
GLORY TO ALL OUR MARTYRS
FREE PALESTINE FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA WITHIN OUR LIFETIME
DIVEST AND BOYCOTT THE GENOCIDAL APARTHEID STATE OF SO-CALLED ISRAEL
GRANT COMPLETE AMNESTY TO STUDENT PROTESTORS
LONG LIVE THE STUDENT INTIFADA