APHA: Health students rage vs. Israel state terrorism

ATLANTA, GA, November 12—“Ho Ho, Hey Hey, Biden, how many kids have you killed today?” yelled the masked public health students as they descended, forty strong, on the Emory School of Public Health Dean’s Alumni Reception.  The protesting students were all wearing clear latex gloves painted red to represent the blood everyone has on their hands by staying silent while the imperialist U.S. government continued to send billions to fund the fascist Israeli government’s genocide of Palestinians.   

The gathering of public health alumni at the Rollins School of Public Health was being held Sunday evening to celebrate the American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting taking place in Atlanta.  While attendees of the reception drank wine and ate cheese as a live band played, the contrast between the masked, militant students with signs calling out genocide and chanting into bullhorns in the middle of this reception was stark.  

The students are furious at the silence of the School of Public Health administration regarding the ongoing genocide of Palestinian workers in Gaza.  The protest was multiracial; most of the protesters were Arab and Black students, but there were also Asian and white students present. They were united in their anger at the school’s unwillingness to call for a ceasefire. After marching through the reception and disrupting it, they went outside and stood at the windows with ongoing chanting. Two women from the reception left and came out to join the protest. They told demonstrators, “We couldn’t stay in there after you all came in, we would be on the wrong side.”  

Private universities often have ties to Israel, as does Emory. Emory’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel is one way that they fund students and faculty to participate in this ongoing imperialist project. Just this year, Emory boasted about strengthening their ties with Tel Aviv University (8/11). On October 11th, following Hamas’ attack on Israel, Emory University President Fenves declared support for Israel while acknowledging his Jewish heritage, but remained silent about the loss of Palestinian life and discrimination that Muslim students were facing on campus (10/11). It’s not surprising considering their financial ties – and personal ones with Emory Alum serving in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) (10/10). President Fenves encouraged respectful disagreement; the focus on “respect” and “professionalism” that liberal universities resort to in instances like these shows their true nature. Professionalism has no place during ethnic cleansing.

Public health “professionals” often tout the line that evidence-based strategies are the most important for healthy populations. However, it was clear here that evidence crumbles when there are financial incentives. One Emory student got on the bullhorn and said, “I learned in this very building that war and violence have detrimental effects on health.” They continued by explaining we know that a ceasefire is the answer for the health of the Palestinian people, but Emory doesn’t care because of their financial ties to Israel. Other students echoed this call: they learned at the School of Public Health that racism is a social determinant of health, yet the University is showing its true racist nature.

As Progressive Labor Party (PLP)members who had heard of this action from a friend and made the 5-mile trip out to the reception site from the APHA conference to participate in solidarity with the students, we were impressed by their multiracial, well-organized militancy.  The students were very serious in their organizing and security—they had planned the rally in secret and when we arrived at the reception, it was clear that no one knew the protest was coming. They had sent in advance scouts into the reception and communicated via secure text messages to coordinate. Almost every single person was wearing an N95 or KN95 mask and others took additional measures to conceal their identity, wearing sunglasses and head scarves. Many of the students were dressed almost completely in black.   

Once we were outside, there were speeches and we were invited to speak on the mic too.  Making connections between racism here and imperialism abroad was a point that was well-received by the students.  This point was made even clearer when a person from Emory University’s “Open Expression Committee” came to tell us that we were in violation of the school’s free speech policies! She said we had to either move the rally or stop using the bullhorn.  If we didn’t, we would be at risk of arrest by the Atlanta Police Department (APD).  The students called out the racism of siccing the police on Black and Brown students protesting racist genocide.  
The concept of “free speech” under capitalism is laughable. It is a liberal performance, tricking working-class people into thinking they have “freedom” in this system. It’s clear that the APD had no interest in supporting protestors’ freedoms of any kind. The students saw right through this. The rally ended safely and those of us in PLP were inspired by the internationalism, anti-racism, anti-imperialism, and sharp, confrontational nature of this action. Power to the working class!