About 70 El Camino College students, faculty and other individuals not affiliated with the college marched around campus on Tuesday, May 21 to protest the war between Israel and Hamas.

The protest started as a student-led “Teach-In for Palestine” which held discussions and allowed a variety of people to speak on current events.

During the teach-in, the crowd yelled, “Money for health and education, not for war and destruction” while waving signs that said, “Cease Fire Now!” and “Resistance is Justified When People Are Occupied!”

Following the teach-in, supporters led a march throughout the El Camino College campus, starting at the Student Services Plaza and making their way to the corner of Manhattan Beach and Crenshaw Boulevards.

As supporters marched, they continued to express their opinions and chanted as cars drove by. Some cars honked in support of their cause, while others expressed displeasure with the group.

“Students have every right to express their opinions and views… that’s what makes college, college,” Kerri Webb, director of public information and government relations, said. “What we’re seeing more than anything are students expressing their First Amendment rights, and that’s exactly what they are doing.”

The march continued onward in front of the Administration Building and made its way through some parts of campus toward the Student Services Building, where the teach-in started.

The primary student organizer of the teach-in is 16-year-old political science major Abiya Hasan, who came up with the idea and shared it with other students.

“I reached out to many students here at El Camino and they were all really interested in having something like this happen on campus,” Hasan said. “We’ve had a lot of silence here, especially regarding recent events and we all want to try to break that silence.”

Protests against the Israel-Hamas war have been happening on campuses since the beginning of May with a consistent theme of a call for the divestment of funds that are linked to Israel.

The event started with Hasan reciting a poem in Arabic and later translating it into English for those who couldn’t understand.

She then handed the microphone to a student named Mahmud, who went over definitions and explained key concepts of the conflict, including Zionism, settler colonialism and the Jewish religion.

Mahmud did not want to give The Union his last name.

Later on, 21-year-old political economy major Uzair Pasta gave a speech on the history of Palestine and what led to the ongoing conflict.

Pasta mentioned a wide range of the region’s history, such as Nakba, or “The Catastrophe,” which he said displaced around 750,000 Palestinians in 1948.

“This is an apartheid situation, and by teaching people the history of what happened, we can go against the very mainstream narrative,” Pasta said. “By sharing this history, we’re teaching people that this situation is a lot more simple than when people say it’s complex.”

Along with student speakers, representatives of clubs around El Camino made appearances to show support for Palestine.

Dean Jophiel, vice president of the Gender Sexuality Alliance Club, was there to speak on Queers for Palestine and show his support for the cause.

“I’ve been involved in anti-genocide work for the last year or so,” Jophiel said. “Right now Palestinians face [the horrors of genocide], I’ve always been very oriented toward awareness over genocide, and to me, it’s a global perspective of connection with [transgender] people as well.”

Carmen Nichols, vice president of the Black Student Union, feels a connection between the Black community and the Palestinian community through past issues related to voices being unheard.

“All oppression is connected… and we’re here to call a break in the silence,” Nichols said.

Another point brought up at the teach-in was the cancellation of the commencement speaker for El Camino’s 2024 graduation ceremony.

“I’m also disappointed in our campus [for canceling the commencement speaker] after what happened last year… they just don’t want to deal with the possibility of a student using the platform they earned for a cause they support,” Nichols said.

Calls for El Camino’s administration to acknowledge what’s going on with protests across the country came from the crowd in the late stages of the event, led by Pasta.

“We can see colleges across the U.S. funding this genocide, and El Camino is no better,” Pasta said. “We have seen consistently that voices that go against the mainstream narrative are ostracized and silenced… we saw it last year following the commencement speech.”

Pasta was referring to former Associated Students Organization President Jana Abulaban’s speech during the June 9, 2023 Commencement Ceremony where she made comments in support of the Palestinian people and accused Israel of violence.

Some attendees at the teach-in were interested in what the various speakers had to say.

Nineteen-year-old philosophy major Alonzo Vega heard about the event from his professor in an English 1C class and decided to attend in support of Palestine.

“I learned a lot here,” Vega said. “I enjoyed hearing the free Palestine chants from the crowd and learned that there are more supporters of this cause than I thought.”

Ali Ahmadpour, art history professor and key contributor to the teach-in, made it clear the purpose of the event was not to spread hate but to promote change in a world filled with rage.

“The organizers are here to advocate for peace, solidarity and practice their constitutional rights,” Ahmadpour said. “I pose the question to anyone listening: when a great number of defenseless people are being slaughtered, what exactly is the responsibility of human beings when witnessing these things?”