University of Washington group cancels encampment for being too white

Pro-Palestinian students at the University of Washington announced their plans to postpone what was supposed to be Thursday’s Gaza solidarity encampment because too many white students were involved. The group in the Pacific Northwest had been criticized for failing to include enough Muslim and Arab students in the planning of the encampment.

The disruptive demonstration was scheduled to go up Thursday morning at the Seattle university, where the administration told members of the Jewish community that they did not plan to intervene unless ‘the event escalates and threatens life safety,’ according to My Northwest.

Without a significant threat from those at the head of the institution, students opted to delay the protest in order to ‘make sure this encampment is a better reflection of the UW community, and having even greater unity with Muslim, Palestinian and Arab students.’ ‘We want to be part of a much larger coalition of groups and make no mistake, WE WILL HAVE A UW ENCAMPMENT! We want to make sure everyone’s voice is included and this action is as safe, secure, and strong as possible, a post to the school’s Progressive Student Union’s Instagram read.

Commenters claiming to be students harshly criticized the PSU for its failure to effectively organize the protest and recruit enough Muslim and Arab students into the the effort occurring in the notoriously white and liberal Seattle area.

‘I really hope you make sure to take proper security precautions this time and learn what operational security means. Without prioritizing security for all the students involved, the action is hollow and reckless,’ wrote one user. ‘These issues are happening repeatedly and reflect badly on you. Please do better and actually get security training and have procedures. What about all the people who want this to happen ASAP. Announcing this and then pulling it back is irresponsible. You’ve put people in danger who decide to show up because they didn’t see this slide,’ wrote user Bailee McCauley, who apparently remained in favor of moving forward with protest plans, while others advocated for the event’s total cancelation. ‘Please listen to the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students criticizing this event and cancel it,’ wrote a user named Sofie.

A user by the name of Jess Schutz harpooned the entire effort, writing: ‘You guys need to learn basic organizing skills truly this is so incredibly opportunist it’s insane!! LISTEN to our concerns. listen to Arab & Muslim students. don’t announce actions like this in advance. Postponing this event is not enough- let super/uf/uw jvp organize and announce actions like this. your reputation as an organization proceeds you and it carries with you into the events you organize and endorse.’

Evidently, this is not the first time UW’s PSU has failed to abide by the laws of intersectionality when planning an event or demonstration.

The Columbia encampment, launched last week in New York City, has sparked similar demonstrations at college campuses across the country, including those at Yale, Boston and Michigan universities.

Washington state’s campus is yet another area where progressive students see an opportunity to set up an encampment that will undoubtedly disturb university life.

On Thursday, students in Austin and SoCal also came to blows with authorities ordered to break up the demonstrations.

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