Why Palestine?: Interviews with Pro-Palestine Students at UCLA

Over the last nine months, UCLA students have mobilized en masse to protest the Israeli apartheid, occupation, and genocide in Palestine. Pro-Palestine protestors have organized rallies, teach-ins, and three Palestine Solidarity Encampments as of this article’s publication date.

During this critical moment in the fight for Palestinian liberation, I hope to record pro-Palestine UCLA students’ experiences and motivations. I compiled statements from five pro-Palestine students, including myself, who have attended pro-Palestine political actions over the past school year.

Toloposungo: All Police Are a Gonorrhea

Daniela Maldonado Salamanca, a transgender Colombian sex worker activist and punk singer, spoke about queer resistance at the People’s University for a Liberated Palestine on May 20. Hosted by the UCLA chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the People’s University offers a space “to foster our own learning and mutual support.” SJP established the People’s University following UCLA’s failure to protect and care for its people.

“Diversity”: A Piece Lost to the Pandemic

Art by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) Right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, OutWrite participated in the early stages of a still-unnamed Community Issue, a print compiling pieces from all of UCLA’s newsmagazines. Unfortunately, the project fell through in Spring 2020. As…

Coming Out(Write): Our Stories

Graphic by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) Members of the queer community are expected to “come out” because our society views being cisgender and heterosexual as the default. However, everyone’s identity is their own. We should be able to come out on…

LGBTQ+ Research Symposium Uplifts Underrepresented Scholarship

On Friday, April 26th, the UCLA LGBTQ Studies program will present its 6th annual Q Scholars Undergraduate Research Symposium entitled “Our Existence is Resistance: [Art]iculating our Lives, Identities, and Activism in the New Millennium.” The symposium offers a safe space…

Facing Expanding Class Sizes and Dwindling Resources, LA Teachers Go On Strike

Teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) continue to strike this week amidst increasing class sizes and insufficient support for low-income students across the city. Demonstrators cite a lack of school nurses, librarians, and counselors, as well as…

On the Importance of Community

Graphic by Angela Zheng Group distinctions, and the separation of people by identity, are sometimes suggested to be divisive and contrary to the idea of progress. Why divide by specific identity when you can connect through shared humanity? What fails…