Until Liberation and Return: Organizing for Palestinian Liberation in Higher Education

• In Event: Palestinian Liberation and Solidarity

Abstract

During the Spring 2024 semester, students, staff, and faculty escalated their organizing for Palestinian liberation. Their tactics, goals, and the efficacy of their actions can be understood through the prism of decolonization, abolition, and organized anarchism. Using thematic analysis of materials produced by and about activist organizations on six college campuses that demonstrated high amounts of risk-taking and creativity—as well as experienced violent state repression—key takeaways about how to practice powerful and sustainable solidarity from Turtle Island to Palestine became evident. These lessons should inform how we approach Palestinian liberation within institutions of higher education and provide a blueprint for how we can challenge oppressive forces that seek to defang people’s movements across an array of interconnected issues.

Author

• Alexandria Hollett, California State University - Northridge