Photos by Beatrice Lee / Staff
Students, faculty and members of the UCI community joined UCI Divest to rally along Ring Road, calling for the UC Regents to pull investments from companies profiting from weapon sales to Israel and an end to occupation in Palestine, on April 25.
“As students, allies and members of the community, it is up to us to call out these colonizer’s powers and demand our institutions to divest from Zionist occupation and stop the funding of genocide,” a speaker at the rally stated. “We will continue to show our unwavering support until we have claimed back our university and Palestine is free.”
The rally, organized by the coalition UCI Divest, featured over 60 participants from a variety of student organizations as they marched along Ring Road, beginning at Flagpoles and stopping at the Anteater Learning Pavillion (ALP), School of Humanities, Science Library, Engineering Quad and the Social Sciences Plaza to engage with speakers. Protesters held signs, chanted and waved the Palestinian flag, echoing demands in English, Arabic, Spanish and Urdu.
Reflecting the diversity of the UCI community, the rally displayed solidarity between campus organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine at UCI (SJP at UCI), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan (M.E.Ch.A), Anakbayan at UCI and more as they united under UCI Divest. Established in spring 2023, UCI Divest serves as a local branch of the broader UC Divest movement.
Connecting five UC campuses, UC Divest demands the UC Regents to “DIVEST all assets invested in war, weapons manufacturing, and genocide and RE-INVEST those funds into the well-being of students and workers!” as written in an Instagram post in January. In light of pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the country as reported by ABC News, speakers at the UCI rally highlighted the importance of standing with fellow students and the power of collective effort.
In an interview with New University, John Nonato, UCI student and member of Anakbayan at UCI and UCI Divest, stressed how communities can create change through recognizing shared goals. Protesters at the rally emphasized violence at the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. military in the Philippines and the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri among others in connection to the Palestinian liberation movement.
“It’s really important to help people understand that this issue is not just for Palestinians or for Arabs,” Nonato stated. “We really believe in international solidarity – really none of us are free until all of us are free… that’s our connected struggle and fight, it’s against imperialism. The UC is part of the U.S. war machine.”
In its route, the rally procession paused at the Engineering Quad to illustrate an additional role of UCI in supporting violence according to Nonato and UCI Divest leadership.
“The UC is funneling students into the military industrial complex where some of the only jobs they can get is with Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, where they’re really being funneled to work for genocide,” Nonato stated.
According to protestors, UC and UCI administration have not significantly responded to UCI Divest’s demands. A protestor and member of M.E.Ch.A., who requested anonymity, spoke to the New University about the response from UCI leadership on calls for divestment and a condemnation of silence as complicity.
“Personally, I don’t think UCI has been effective nor has ASUCI been effective,” they stated. “I believe it is time for them to take the risk on their roles … to fight for what’s right. At the end of the day it’s not about if it works for UCI or if it’s going to lose us money, it’s about what’s morally right.”
Nonato cited a shift in the university as an institution to explain the lack of response and resistance from school administrators at UCI and beyond.
“One thing that all these universities have in common is that they are no longer institutions that serve the purpose of education, they’re really running as businesses and corporations… The reason why these campuses have been pushing back and repressing activists and pro-Palestinian voices is because they want to protect their businesses,” Nonato stated.
As the rally processed through campus, students and faculty passed by or stood near the crowd, listening to speakers or taking pictures. In an interview with New University, a first-year computer science and engineering student watching the rally spoke on the right to protest and free speech on campuses.
“I think everyone has the right to speak about whatever they want to speak about, as long as they’re not harming anyone. We have the First Amendment right,” the student, who requested anonymity, stated.
The 2023-2024 academic year marks the Year of Free Speech at UCI as announced by the university’s leadership. According to Nonato, the UCI student body has historically exercised the right to free speech and assembly, however UCI Divest and affiliated organizations claim that the university silences pro-Palestinian activism.
“UCI was actually one of the most active campuses in supporting Palestinian liberation, until UCI had the police arrest 11 students known as the Irvine 11,” Nonato stated, referencing the “Irvine 11” who were criminally prosecuted for disrupting an Israeli ambassador’s speech at UCI in 2010 to protest occupation in Gaza. “That was really when UCI oppression of SJP escalated… that history is also being suppressed and erased and censored.”
The rally concluded at Anteater Plaza with speeches and chants as Nonato emphasized the mission of UCI Divest to serve and advocate for communities around the world.
“The immediate goal is to empower the people of the campuses to understand that this is their tuition, their tax dollars, going to this genocide. They have the power to change that,” Nonato stated. “[However,] the movement doesn’t stop at divestment. It doesn’t stop until Palestine is free and liberated – it doesn’t stop until all countries are free from imperialism.”
Beatrice Lee is a City News Editor for the spring 2024 quarter. She can be reached at beatrirl@uci.edu.
