A group of protesters held a protest at LBCC today.
The protest took place in front of Long Beach City College’s library on the Liberal Arts Campus around 12 p.m. on Wednesday. The protestors wanted to spread awareness towards the injustices happening in Gaza against Palestinians.
Nana E (LBCC student who declined to give their full name) talked about the Women’s History Month event taking place at LBCC.
Nana felt as though since LBCC is celebrating Women’s History Month they should also discuss Palestine’s struggles, specifically with women’s struggles.
“If we’re celebrating Women’s History Month, we should talk about Palestine. Women are dealing with a lot over there including kidnappings, and losing their children. This shouldn’t be ignored,” Nana said.
Nana herself has experienced some of these injustices herself and could relate to the Palestinians. Specifically with losing her own home at one point in her life.
“I’ve been a victim of displacement out of homes, and I’ve seen what happens. We’re connected in that way,” Nana said.
Other protestors were writing messages on the ground using chalk. These messages connected women’s rights with Palestinian rights.
“Women’s rights are Palestinian rights, 63 women will be killed by Israel today, more than half will be mothers.” was one of the statements written in chalk in front of the LAC library.
Some students ended up joining in on the protest and started writing on the ground, and chanting along with the others.
“People think propaganda is something from the past, that is a lie, propaganda is real, the media spreads lies, but it also spreads the truth. People need to know where to find the correct information.” Jennifer Cortez said, a student at LBCC who was watching the protests at first but then joined in.
During the protest, Heather Batha, a non LBCC student was handing out flyers, which talked about companies that are supporting Israel. These companies include Mcdonalds, Hewlett-Packard Company, and Chevron.
Their goal was to bring awareness to people about these companies and get them to stop buying products from them.
One of the quotes alongside the list of companies said, “Make sure your shopping spree is not a killing spree. Boycott products from these pro-Israel companies.”
Despite the support being shown in the protest, the protestors were hesitant in giving their full names for the quotes.
They feel as though it’s too dangerous to do so as other people have gotten harassed online or even getting doxxed because of their involvement in speaking out.
Doxxing is when people get their information leaked online, including their full name and address.
“I’ve seen a lot of people getting doxxed after putting their full name in the quotes. I stand by everything I say and do here but I fear for my safety.” said an anonymous protester.