November 29, PELHAM, NY—On Sunday, more than 40 faculty, students, and staff from the City University of New York (CUNY) marched to the home of Félix (Felo) Matos-Rodriguez, the CUNY Chancellor. Like liberal fascists around the world, Matos-Rodriguez’s reaction to the U.S.-Israel genocide of workers in Gaza has been to demonize worker-student solidarity with the working class in Palestine struggling against Israeli fascism and to minimize the suffering of workers in Palestine as U.S.-made bombs rain down on Gaza. The protest was organized to object to his statement of October 11th, which ran to more than 450 words and didn’t mention “Palestine” or “Gaza” a single time.
The march gave us, members and friends of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP), an opportunity to put forward an internationalist line – unity between workers in Palestine, Israel, and around the world – that is absolutely critical in this period of crisis and war. The opening speech (see box) highlighted the connections between the genocide happening in Gaza and CUNY’s treatment of its mostly Black and Latin students and its super-exploitation of part-time professors, most of whom make poverty wages. The success of our efforts was highlighted by the fact that instead of the “Free Palestine!” or “Ceasefire Now!” chants that dominate most of the recent protests, our main chant was “Arab, Jewish, Black and White, Workers of the World Unite.”
As we marched up to the Chancellor’s home, the quiet town of Pelham heard our chants. At his home, students and workers spoke about struggling to survive on adjunct wages, about how the voices of Palestinian and antiracist groups have been muffled on campus, and how we need international solidarity to fight back. Throughout, PLP members tried to drive home key points: capitalist crises will always lead to war and fascism, U.S. bosses need Ukraine and Israel as allies against their imperialist rivals, and they will make workers and students pay for their wars. Meanwhile, there is no money for heat in our buildings, or for functioning cafeterias.
Workers protect one another
We also had discussions about the necessity of taking risks and putting something on the line. One student asked us recently in a meeting if there could be repercussions for this kind of public protest against the Chancellor. And we had to respond truthfully - we couldn’t make any promises, but of course the bigger the turnout, the safer we are. The working class keeps us safe, in other words.
Those of us who work or study at CUNY have a big job ahead of us. We must participate in the fight against Israeli fascism and, in doing so, put forward internationalism and working-class solidarity as the only solution. Our motto should be “No War but Class War!” We must continue to be a part of the class struggle and keep building PLP so that we can permanently end the horrors of capitalism, whether in Gaza, Haiti, the Bronx, or anywhere. And the only way to end these horrors is with communism, where workers run society.
Speech:
Good morning! Originally planned around adjunct poverty, uncertainty racist austerity, and issues that workers and students have been fighting for decades. Then, of course, the Hamas attack on October 7th was followed on the 11th by the Chancellor’s horrible, racist statement. 450 words and not one single one about what was already an unfolding slaughter in Gaza. Israel’s 75-year campaign of terror against Palestinians went unmentioned. The horrors of the occupation and settler violence were nowhere to be found. In short, absolutely no context - just the acknowledgment of Israeli lives and the erasure of Palestinians. And so in some sense, our focus for today needed to change. The Chancellor’s denial of Palestinian humanity and his attacks on those of us fighting against genocide demand a response.
But in many ways, our message is the same. CUNY administration’s attitude towards Palestine and those of us fighting for its liberation is really just a sharper, more openly fascistic expression of the racist disregard that they have shown for CUNY’s Black and brown students for decades. In the Bronx, we’ve had to fight for basic services, such as heat in the winter, a cafeteria on campus, and functioning elevators. Throughout CUNY our buildings are crumbling, class sizes are increasing and the treatment of students and workers is being degraded.
The chancellor’s erasure of Palestinians mirrors the way adjunct super-exploitation and precarity are erased. We shouldn’t really be surprised that there was no mention of Israel’s brutal occupation. CUNY has never had anything to say about the cops who occupy our students’ neighborhoods and they welcomed the cops who are currently occupying our campuses attempting to intimidate and silence us. They have also said absolutely nothing about a Zionist councilwoman who threatened pro-Palestinian demonstrators with a gun. This councilwoman, by the way, has had her charges dropped because the gun, which she turned in more than a day after the fact, was “inoperable.” I met a public defender at a demonstration yesterday who told me she wished she could use that defense for her clients. But no, this is a defense reserved only for those doing the work of the U.S. ruling class who are desperate to squash mass opposition to the fascist regime in Israel - their only reliable ally in the oil-rich region.
All of this shows why we say from New York to Palestine, occupation is a crime!
I also want us to take a moment to look around. This is our way forward - solidarity between Arab, Jewish, Black, white, Latin, and Asian students and workers. This is not only how we defeat the attempt to erase the Palestinian struggle, racist austerity at CUNY, and the impoverishment of adjuncts. It’s the basis of a new world without capitalist-caused racism, occupation, and genocide. Arab, Jewish, Black, and white, workers of the world unite!
Thank you all for being here, for standing up and saying we will not be silent as the Chancellor continues to impoverish our adjunct brothers and sisters. We will not be silent as the Chancellor continues his program of racist austerity, degrading the education of our wonderful students. And we will not be silent as the Chancellor erases a people, excuses apartheid, and condones genocide!
We were here last year, we’re here today and we’ll be back again, for as long as needed, until we have won!
Hey, Felo you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!