An evidence. When we ask Citlaly Hernandez, 21, what brings her to participate in a pro-Palestinian encampment, the answer bursts out: “I’m of Mexican origin!” » For her, solidarity with Gaza makes sense, that of a community of destinies. “I saw the same struggles”she says.
Also read the story | Article reserved for our subscribers The war in Gaza sets American campuses in turmoil
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The student wears a sweatshirt that calls for “liberate Palestine” and a “Yellowstone” cap (the national park), from which a few strands of pink escape. Since April 25, she has occupied a tent on the Auraria campus in Denver (Colorado), one of the first pitched on the “quad”, the central reservation. On the 26th, she was arrested by Denver police, along with 40 comrades, for trespassing. A few hours later, the tents were back. Since then, the police have not shown up.
After months of “marches against the genocide”, after besieging the Colorado capitol to demand elected officials support a cease-fire in Gaza, Denver students followed the national movement launched at Columbia University in New York. They are camping. “We were tired of not being heard, explains Citlaly, a final year psychology student. We wanted to gain momentum. » The esplanade now has around fifty tents. His own reflects his indignation: “The United States has sent more than $300 billion to Israel since 1948.” Held in detention for less than twenty-four hours, Citlaly Hernandez received a court summons for May 24.
At Auraria, most students are from modest backgrounds. Many work to pay for their studies. The campus, which brings together three public institutions (the Community College of Denver, the Metropolitan State University and a branch of the University of Colorado, whose main campus is in Boulder), is far from the elite universities of large metropolises. The pro-Palestinian mobilization there has a different tone. “My parents taught me to have a generous heart”, explains Randi Fuentes, a young man of Salvadoran origin, the first in his family to pursue higher education.
Also read the report | Article reserved for our subscribers In the United States, the Columbia campus under siege against the backdrop of the war in Gaza
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Like Citlaly Hernandez, many equate the conflict with a struggle for land, the one from which the indigenous people have been dispossessed ” in the whole world “. “It’s their right to be there, she says quietly, about the Palestinians. Their right to demand that the land be returned to them. »
Angela Davis coming
On the first day of occupation, the mayor, Mike Johnston, came to the site. He who had had all the trouble in the world to eliminate homeless tents from the city center did not seem delighted to see new ones on public land, which the university administration had rightly forbidden to homeless, under the settlement invoked today against the students. The mayor invited them to dismantle the camp. “We are trying to make sure we can help you exercise your right to peaceful protest”he argued. “Fascist!” »retorted an activist.
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