On Friday, April 26, students at New York University (NYU) set up a pro-Gaza outdoor encampment adjacent to a campus building. This was only days after an earlier encampment had been brutally dispersed by New York City police—pepper-spraying and arresting 120 protesters, including NYU faculty and staff. A key demand of the occupation is “disclose and divest.” It is a call for NYU to reveal and get rid of university investments in companies and funds aiding Israel and its genocidal war—and a demand to shut down the NYU campus in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Hanging over the new encampment are threats of new moves by the university administration to break it up. But students are holding strong. The occupation has also gained support from the surrounding community and students from other universities.   

This past Saturday, several revcoms brought the message of revolution on to the scene—distributing key flyers and the pamphlet of a new compilation of writings by Bob Avakian on Israel, the Middle East, imperialism and the revolution humanity needs. We set up an A-frame posing two questions: “Ask us why Biden and the rulers are backing genocide in Gaza,” and “Ask us why the system is coming down so hard on student protesters.” Some 40-50 students inside the encampment were chanting and singing; some 50 supporters outside the police barricade were looking in and joining in chants. 

Seizing a Moment, Fighting to Open Up Debate

There was a pause in the chanting, and Raymond Lotta jumped at an opportunity to speak to the assembled crowd. It was loud, unexpected, and grabbed attention; and most people turned towards him. He explained who we are—the revcoms and Revolution Books; and why we were here—to stand with and call on people to defend this and other encampments and to bring the message of the revolution humanity needs. He quickly broadcast the slogans of the revcoms: demanding an end to the genocide, pointing to the role of the U.S. in this; stop the repression coming down; anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism; and from Palestine to the U.S., people need revolution. He put before people that the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian has developed the new communism, the framework to make the revolution to overthrow this system and create a society and world in which human beings could flourish. 

At this point, two organizers approached Raymond and asked him to stop. He continued but quickly ended with the message that now's the time not only to step up this fight but also to dig deeper into the causes of this horror and other horrors of this system—from climate catastrophe, to the danger of world war, to attacks on women's right to abortion and LGBTQ rights—and to dig into the revolutionary way out. There was loud applause from the crowd. 

An Arab woman with two children had overheard one of the organizers telling Raymond to stop because this was supposedly making it harder to ensure people's safety. The woman came to our table and said, “No, what he's saying doesn't make people unsafe, everyone needs to hear it.” She bought two copies of the pamphlet from Bob Avakian, BA, and said she'd reproduce more at work. 

A number of other people approached our table—getting into discussion, getting materials, especially the BA compilation, and finding out about Revolution Books and the upcoming Revolutionary Internationalist May Day. A “hater” tried to interpose himself between revcoms and interested people, working to scare people away with lies about “cult.” We told people this was utter bullshit and struggled with people to understand that he wants to turn people away from revolution, and they should learn the truth of who BA is and what this revolution is about. After a while the “hater” left. Our table attracted students, neighborhood people, an older couple who had gotten the BA compilation outside Columbia University, had read it and wanted to find out more about BA; an artist who is part of a coalition doing a solidarity art show, and others. 

At the same time, the Zionists were out in force—confronting supporters of the encampment and the revcoms with loud taunts and interruptions, waving a combined U.S.-Israel flag in people's faces. Many in the crowd would shout them down with chants. But it was  a continuing back and forth. 

An Ever-Roiling Situation

Clearly, this is a growing phenomenon: the Zionists going more aggressively into encampment scenes with more people and more vitriol. An African-American high school grad who had been drawn to our table was talking with one of us when eight Zionists surrounded us, insisting that they be part of the discussion. She said she wanted no part of them and told them to fuck off, that she wanted to hear from us and what we are about. She was so adamant that two of the encampment organizers advised her to cool it, as they were worried about what this might set off. 

We got out 44 BA compilations and raised $98. We met people newly discovering and open to learning about this revolution and BA. 

All this is a reflection of the intensifying “hot mix” around the genocide in Gaza. There is the righteous upsurge on campuses... there are “haters” who try to ice out the revcoms from different scenes... there is the “identity politics” thinking that has a lot of traction in the encampments... there are the Zionists more brazenly intervening... there are the forces of repression attacking, and at the ready to attack even more viciously. It is in this swirl that we are building the revolution and fighting for the forces to be the “early initiators” of this revolution.