MIAMI.- Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society; FSU Divestment Coalition; and Tampa Alliance Against Political and Racist Repression are the three groups behind the marches at the University of South Florida (FSU) that advocated for the boycott of Israel and the condemnation of the bombings in Gaza, where more have lost their lives. of 34,000 Palestinians.
For several days, marches and protests in support of the Palestinians took place on the University of South Florida campus, one of which was broken up by police authorities with tear gas when students tried to camp with tents and had armed themselves. with shields and umbrellas.
Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (ETBSD), the main organizer of the marches, is made up of 15 left-wing student activists. ETBSD is one of 40 groups that operate under the national organization of the same name that emerged in 2006 during the war in Iraq.
Last April, ETBSD was a registered student organization. However, it was suspended when its members entered the Marshall Student Center in order to force an interview with Dean of Students Danielle McDonald “to discuss demands related to diversity on campus,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The chapter of this organization that operated at Florida State University was also recently suspended after its members interrupted a meeting of that university’s Board of Trustees in Tallahassee.
The National Students for a Democratic Society organization is encouraging local chapters across the country to set up camps on campuses, as other protesters did at Columbia, Yale and the University of Minnesota.
This can be seen on their ETBSD Instagram page, where they call for supporting Palestine by camping on campus, in defiance of campus codes.
The group FSU Divestment Coalition, which is not officially recognized by UFS, this group has been known since 2017 and defines itself as “a coalition of students and professors who support divestment from fossil fuels, fight against the violation of Human Rights, are in against private prisons and maquilas.” Last March, members of the Coalition went on hunger strike to try to force the university to disassociate itself from companies that support Israel’s war efforts in Gaza. Two of its members were arrested in recent protests.
The third organizing group of the demonstration is the Tampa Alliance against political and racist repression (ATRPR), which emerged in 2020 during the protests over the murder of George Floyd. It now has 15 members. ATRPR is a chapter of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, a left-wing organization founded in 1973 that claims to be against police brutality, racism and political repression, and in favor of the rights of marginalized communities and support to progressive social and political movements.
According to the organizations themselves on Instagram, the university suspended three students participating in the camping trip in solidarity with Gaza, who were prohibited from accessing any area of the campus.
On Wednesday, May 1, the day after the march was suspended with tear gas by the security forces, with a balance of 10 protesters arrested, another peaceful march was held in the same Martin Luther King Square in which almost 300 people participated and This time there were no incidents.
University Police Chief Daniel Nelson stated that “USF respects the right to free speech and the protection of the constitutional right of individuals and groups on campus to freely assemble and express themselves without violating university policy or putting to others in danger.”
In the early hours of October 7, 2023, some 3,000 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza, massacred some 20 Israeli civilian communities, killing 1,200 people, and kidnapped another 240. This fact was the trigger for the current conflict.
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