The last two weeks have seen a rise in action, primarily through campus solidarity encampments, among the Palestinian diaspora and their supporting communities abroad. Inspired by the example Columbia University students set with their Gaza Solidarity Encampment beginning April 17, campus organizations across the world have followed suit. Universities as far as Sciences-Po in France have established encampments, with groups as far and wide as the Swaziland National Union of Students offering statements of support and solidarity. In fewer than two weeks, we have seen Solidarity Encampments spread rapidly across the United States and other countries allied with the zionist entity.
Having established this, Gaza Solidarity Encampments must undermine their geographical separation by employing proven and successful strategies to their struggle, namely the Unity of the Fields, in order to escalate from simple demands of divestment into a truly anti-colonial reality which can be imposed on western institutions.
Solidarity Encampments have been formed out of the conscience of righteous and free people who reject being forced to contribute to the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. This position converges naturally with that of the Palestinian people and the resistance waging the struggle on the front lines. Since the start of the zionist aggression on Gaza, the Palestinian people through their resistance have on numerous occasions declared that while international institutions are to blame for providing cover for the ongoing atrocities being committed in Gaza, it is the duty of the “free people” to rise in rejection of this status quo and act urgently to end the genocide and resolve the prisoners’ struggle through their liberation.
Following this coordinated Palestinian message, and more than 200 days into the ongoing genocide, those who support Palestinian liberation began to act and, in fewer than two weeks, have taken nearly 100 university campuses by storm. Universities have been quick to escalate against anti-colonial action with dozens of schools authorizing police force to assault and arrest by the hundreds, and cancelling classes and graduations entirely. Campuses have been isolated from their communities as authorities attempt to draw a line between the student and their broader community which has the ability to multiply the impact encampments have had so far. Zionist agents and other counterrevolutionaries have attempted to sabotage these movements as well, turning these campuses from places of demonstration into true fields of confrontation.
Many student and community organizers have risen to meet these challenges head-on. Students at Columbia University responded to zionist-police violence with a call to escalate their action beyond divestment, distilling their message to genuine Palestinian liberation. They declared that they “will stop at nothing less than an end to the genocide in Gaza.” Emory University has declared the goal of their encampment to be “total divestment from ‘israeli’ apartheid and Cop City.” Cal Poly Humboldt and University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign have distinguished themselves as a model of confrontational action, with the former occupying two campus buildings and the latter using reinforced banners and signs to successfully defend against police aggression. Many encampments have closed ranks among themselves and used innovative tactics to push back against zionist-backed police violence and engage in successful de-arrest.
Regardless of the distinctions in their stated goals and tactics, all of the movements that have emerged thus far are actively confronting zionist-backed repression, and by doing so have ignited new and very real fields in the Palestinian struggle for liberation. Gaza Solidarity Encampments have the opportunity to impede the objectives of the zionist colonial project by stripping it of its investment capital and ideological backing.
More importantly, they serve as a means to further the demands of the anti-colonial movement in the west beyond solely divestment (which as it pertains to fossil fuels, can and has been circumvented by financial instruments) and into the real isolation of the zionist entity from the normalization it enjoys on western university campuses. Especially in the United States, universities have deep ties to the zionist-aligned national institutions, be they defense companies or investment through endowment. As part of this project, their tendency to suppress genuine revolutionary movements inevitably creates real fields of confrontation in the struggle for Palestinian liberation.
In light of the emergence of these new fields, which have been sustained through the principled refusal of some encampments to negotiate for scraps, it is imperative that other encampments hold to this principled stance, and that Gaza Solidarity Encampments adopt and adhere to the Unity of the Fields.
The Unity of the Fields is a concept championed by the Palestinian resistance through its history of waging the struggle against imperialism on multiple fronts. Despite the various ideologies, short-term objectives, and locations of the factions participating in the struggle, the crux of this philosophy is that all can work towards one common goal without being placed under the same structure of governance. Unity of the Fields does not entail establishing a bureaucracy, though groups may remain in contact with one another to coordinate operations. Rather, it leverages the instant exchange of information available to us today to take facts on the ground and purpose them as “signals.” For instance, when news is confirmed that negotiations have ended between the Palestinian resistance and mediators, the resistance in Lebanon may intensify its strikes to apply pressure. When Lebanon is bombed heavily, Yemen or Iraq may respond with force.
Similarly, we must recognize that US campus authorities especially are suppressing Palestinian liberationist action as parts of one system and on the orders of the same benefactors. Columbia University took violent action against encampment participants, aiming to instill fear among students across the country. However, it backfired and led to the proliferation of new camps within hours. Gaza Solidarity Encampments must act with the same unity: When one encampment is stormed – and we all receive notice of this in real-time – other encampments must escalate their efforts in lockstep. When one encampment achieves a real victory, the others should learn from that victory, apply its lessons to their own, and leverage that victory as pressure against their own repressive administrations. In this way, 100 separate and independent encampments can act as one supersystem, erasing the spatial and temporal divide that has been imposed on them.
Gaza Solidarity Encampments did not emerge with the intention of starting a confrontation of this nature; their demands have been righteous, realistic, clear and principled. Regardless of this intention, however, confrontation has been imposed on them and they must rise to meet the challenges. We have the privilege of witnessing in real-time the most successful resistance movement of contemporary history, and with it a blueprint for how we can operate to achieve success. Without uniting the fields, individual encampments can be isolated and picked off, and the disgusting status quo which leaves blood on the hands of university administration maintained. With Unity of the Fields, we combat an oppressive system with a liberationist system, undermining illusory divisions while increasing the cost of sponsoring genocide in Gaza.