Photo Credit: Joseph Esteban

On Tuesday, the University of Washington invited ancient Zionist, Daniel Kurtzer, to campus. Students infiltrated the classroom, standing up in waves to read statements exposing Kurtzer’s lies, while supporters outside chanted so loudly that the door to the auditorium had to be closed.

The class in question, JSDS 478 D: War in the Middle East, is nothing but a parade of Zionist propagandists. For UW, this class was an opportunity to corral the revolutionary energy of the December sit-in and direct it towards academia, where radical action goes to die. This response was not only a clear attempt to stamp out pro-Palestinian sentiment, but literal Fed behavior. The 1944 “Simple Sabotage Field Manual” put out by the OSS, precursor to the CIA, lists the following as ways to sabotage the workings of organizations. UW has responded in these exact same ways to the United Front.

Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions. 

• Insisting on holding a lecture series instead of directly addressing demands because that’s the “proper channel” for a university. 

• Calling the cops on students at a sit-in because they weren’t going through the “proper channels.”

Make “speeches.” Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your “points” by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “patriotic” comments.

• An entire lecture series of speeches full of patriotic propaganda.

When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committees as large as possible– never less than five.

• Rather than actually address issues like Islamophobia, Cauce creates “working groups” that never produce any actual results.

Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.

• Radical action by students is punished for being “unreasonable.”

* * *

“If we want to rebuild Gaza, who pays for it?” Kurtzer said on Tuesday, neglecting to question who’s paying to destroy Gaza. His mindless Biden-style ramble was cut off by the first demonstrator, who questioned him about a previous lie about the over 75 years of Israeli occupation. Kurtzer had no answer.

Chaos ensued as the UWPD officer, on hand apparently, and others forced the demonstrator out of the room. Thinking he was in the clear Kurtzer laughed, an evil laugh, and then continued to speak. He talked about “diplomacy” and changing politics from the inside. “Join the state department,” the nasty little man said.

A constipated look came across Kurtzer’s face when another leftist stood up. Over the next half an hour, many in his audience stood up, yelled at him, and left.

At one point, several students stood up together and held up a Palestinian Flag. As UWPD pig Richard A. Newell escorted them out of the room, one student yelled, “UWPD has continued to suppress student voices on campus. Pigs like this one have used physical violence against students during protests. The zionists and the pigs at this institution are forever interlinked. Free Palestine!” At which point the crowd went wild in support of the protesters. 

Later, another student yelled, “Where are the pro-Palestinian speakers? Where are they? They aren’t here.” They were alluding to the class’s failure to even try to present both sides, instead choosing to platform the same people whose voices already dominate the discourse.

Yet another student yelled, “Shame on UW for promoting Zionist propaganda!”

“They make billions off of weapons manufacturing and kill children in the thousands,” a student closed, chanting repeatedly: “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for UW’s crime.” At this point the class ended ten minutes early. Kurtzer was heckled to the point where he had to leave. 

So what’s the lesson here? It’s not just that Daniel Kurtzer is a massive, quivering pussy. It’s that there is great strength to be had in fierce student resistance and that we need more of it.

Organizing at the UW has historically been focused on organization building. This style of organizing corrals people and ideas into a single group, at some expense to personal agency. We dare UW organizers to think beyond the organization. This might be a good way to grow the movement and reach those who we haven't been able to reach before. We need to build on past movements and autonomously expand mutual aid. As we seek to tear down systems of oppression, we should also build up systems of care. The fact that UW has very few mutual aid programs is a massive missed opportunity, but it can change. 

As free agents, we must not solely rely on coalitions like the United Front to guide our political action; this is not sustainable. A strong struggle needs vigilantes and agents of chaos to act independently and take on swift, strong, and caring action. In other words, if any of you anarchists sees Daniel Kurtzer on the street: you know what to do.