Hundreds of high school students walked out of school across New York City on Thursday, November 9, to protest the Israeli attack on Gaza as well as US support, and to call for an immediate cease-fire. They then rallied in front of the New York Public Library at 3pm and were joined by many others. The rally quickly grew to many thousands and turned into a march.
Along with students at the main rally were educators from schools and colleges, some holding signs saying “CUNY Teachers Stand with Palestine” and “Teachers for Palestine Liberation.” Some high-school teachers were associated with the MORE (Movement of Rank-and-File Educators) rank-and-file caucus within their union. One teacher said that they taught social studies and critical thinking, and had to support their students when they acted on it.
The walkout, called “Shut It Down! For Palestine,” was organized by “Schools Out For #CeasefireNow” coalition, in which the Palestinian Youth Movement played a big part. A useful toolkit preceded the day, which MORE and other groups contributed to, giving tips on rights, on organizing walkouts, and on passing resolutions in union chapters and Community Education Councils. According to students there, other networks (like those built over climate change walkouts, or the Ya-Ya Network, which has opposed police presence in public schools) had prepared a layer of activists who helped in the turnout. Students walked from Manhattan schools, and took subways from across all the boroughs, including dozens from Bay Ridge Brooklyn, a neighborhood with a sizable Arab population. The rally at the library was promoted by the Answer coalition, and many speakers connected what was going on in Gaza to other struggles, although most of the crowd could not hear what was being said from the stage.
The rally spilled into 5th Avenue and began marching downtown–without a permit–all the while chanting and waving Palestinian flags. Well over ten thousand of us then turned east on 34th street, disrupting traffic, marching past the Empire State and Macys. Bypassers and tourists were filming and many expressed support. These marches have been an almost daily occurrence throughout the city, with tens of thousands of protesters, some going well into the night, reminiscent of the explosion of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
Many held signs or banners supporting the call for an immediate cease fire, all the while chanting “The Occupation Has to Go,” and “No Justice, No Peace!” The action took place as the reported deaths in Gaza passed 10,000, and Israel rejected a cease-fire to float four-hour partial “pauses” to the slaughter, in order to facilitate ethnic cleansing.
As nighttime descended, the still energetic crowd turned up Eighth Avenue toward Times Square. The march paused to chant in front of the New York Times building, where according to a NYT reporter, “a group of journalists and writers had also gathered in the lobby to demand The Times’ Editorial Board call for a ceasefire.” The media workers occupied the lobby and read the names of Palestinians killed in Gaza “by apartheid Israel.” Some individuals from the protest outside graffitied the New York Times building, and there were some scuffles as the demonstration dwindled down, but despite a large contingent of NYPD following the march, there were no arrests.
The NYC schools chancellor David Banks threatened to take action “on a case-by-case basis” against any teacher who walked out for the protest. It is the job of the union to protect their members and stand up to the bullying tactics of the administration. Key organizers or visible participants should not be victimized for their political views and actions. Even before the walkout, the chancellor had warned against “personal political views,” and several teachers on the demo worried that language would give administration the go-ahead to “cherry pick” teachers to punish for expressing opinions, even outside of teaching hours. Having fellow teachers push to get the union to stand up to defend teachers is not just basic union business, it can also be a step in member education and increasing labor and union involvement in the movement for justice in Palestine.
Eric Fretz, from NYC
The protests for Palestine are growing around the the world. Marx21 has posted several previous reports on pro-Palestine demonstrations this last month in the US and the Arab world, and have distributed our special bulletin on Palestine. A list of upcoming demonstrations can be found at Samidoun.
Marx21 US 