The Gaza solidarity encampments at universities reimagine political movements as communities where we materialize our commitments to a better world. From co-leading Pitzer College’s encampment, I learned the power of the invitation: American students have been invited by our peers in Palestine to commit to creative, principled forms of protest that make our movement for peace impossible to ignore. For years students have demanded that our schools divest from Israeli apartheid. But even amid genocide, our institutions weren’t listening, so we reclaimed university space as a “liberated zone” in order to not be ignored.
When we set up the first tent of Pitzer’s encampment on April 26, 2024, I had no idea that leading a Gaza solidarity encampment would be the most impactful learning experience of my college career. Some of us were concerned about the risks of creating an encampment and potential consequences, including…