The Student Intifada Is Alive and Well, and on Both Coasts: Talking with Members of Students for Justice in Palestine

Intimidation, repression, and punishment with regard to activism for Palestine has only increased over the past year. Today I speak with three campus organizers from Students for Justice in Palestine who remain determined and committed, even in the face of their university’s complicity with genocide.  They come from both coasts of the United States—from the City University of New York and from San Jose State University. They explain what is happening on their campuses, and the ways in which they have created new tactics and actions in order to continue their work.

Haddy Barghouti is the secretary of Students for Justice in Palestine at San José State University.  He is a senior majoring in journalism.

Lucien Baskin is a doctoral student in Urban Education at the Grad Center researching abolition, social movements, and the university. Their dissertation focuses on histories of solidarity and organizing at CUNY. Lucien’s writing has been published in outlets such as Truthout, Society & Space, The Abusable Past, and Mondoweiss. Currently, they serve as co-chair of the American Studies Association Critical Prison Studies Caucus, are an inaugural Freedom and Justice Institute fellow at Scholars for Social Justice, and work as a media and publicity fellow at Conversations in Black Freedom Studies at the Schomburg Center. They organize with Graduate Center for Palestine and are a (strike-ready!) rank-and-file member of the PSC.

Sarah Southey is a third year student at CUNY School of Law and a member of CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine and CUNY4Palestine. In 2024, Sarah and other C4P members submitted a freedom of information act request for CUNY's investments as part of a campaign to demand that CUNY divest from companies aiding and profiting off of israeli settler colonialism and genocide. CUNY illegally denied that request. C4P challenged the denial in court and won disclosure in Southey v CUNY. CUNY is now appealing that decision in a shameful attempt to continue to evade their legal and moral obligation to disclose and divest.