On Aug. 29, Students for Gaza (S4G) at San Francisco State University held a rally addressing SFSU’s recent divestment from four corporations tied to weapons manufacturing.
S4G announced via an Instagram post that they worked with university administration and faculty to form a summer work group, one that reviews SFSU’s investments and develops new language surrounding investment policies.
The rally, which took place at Malcolm X Plaza, brought nearly 200 students together and the chant “The people united, will never be divided” echoed through and through between each new student speaker. Max Flynt, a member of S4G SFSU, said this rally was not only to announce the wins but also to encourage people across the country to do the same.
“We have divested from Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, and Leonardo, all of which are companies that violate human rights defined by international law, and we are the first college to do so in the country,” said Flynt.
Since reaching a divestment agreement in May, the SFSU administration has yet to meet S4G’s final demand, which is to declare the Israel-Palestine war as an ongoing genocide. Other demands such as disclosing investments, defending the rights to free speech on campus and now divesting, have all been met.
“Palestine is connected to all our liberation,” said Brian Yan, a student from S4G. “If the people of Palestine are still facing the genocide at the hands of Israel and our money is going towards it, that means we’re still being exploited. That means our labor, our work is still going to fund a genocide in Palestine. But I think if we want all of us to be free, we all have to work towards the freedom of the Palestinian people.”
The summer group also worked on a new website proposal that will disclose SFSU investments on a quarterly basis and their connection to the investment policy, including the new proposed language.
“It’s a huge success and it really shows the power of organizing. I think our encampment was maybe one of the most successful in the United States, and I think it was because there was a lot of solidarity between the faculty and the students. Everyone was really well organized and thoughtful and prevented the police,” said James Martel, SFSU political science professor.
Following the rally, S4G held a new member orientation on the lawn for new students interested in getting involved and becoming an organizer.
“I think that we can all agree that genocide is not OK, and just the simple fact that our country is like, so OK, with this going on and even going as far as supporting it as well as other countries, it’s kind of like what the fuck?” said Saige Diosdado, a first-year psychology student who attended the rally.
Additional rallies were also held by other S4G chapters at UC Berkeley, San Jose State University, and the University of San Francisco. Beyond the Bay Area, a student from the University of California, Santa Cruz attended the rally and addressed an incident on their campus that involved a student being thrown down to the ground and receiving brain injury and partial memory loss.
“It’s time that the students decided where their money goes and we say no more investing in genocide. We say invest in your students, invest in us,” said Manny Nevarez, a student member of the Gaza Solidarity encampment at UC Santa Cruz. “Our campus may have been torn down and destroyed, but our spirit and resolve has only gotten stronger and that’s because the encampment was never the goal.”
