Tuesday, Oct. 7 marks the second year of the Israel-Hamas war. Vigils commemorating lives lost to the conflict, walk outs and strikes occurred across the 5C campuses. In solidarity and interest, students and community members met in The Motley Coffeehouse — closed due to staffing shortages on a day where the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement (BDS) issued national calls for strikes — to hear Shaheen Nassar, a lifelong Palestinian activist, speak in a talk titled “Beyond Recognition.”
The event was cohosted by six organizations: the 7C South West Asian and North African (SWANA) club, the Pitzer Center for Asian Pacific American Students, Pomona’s Asian American Resources Center, Scripps’ Anthropology Department, the Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies and the 5C Asian American Advisory Board.
Many students were drawn to the talk out of a desire to learn more about the history of the BDS movement from Nassar, who has been organizing in Pro-Palestinian spaces since the 2000s.
“I think it’s really important to have speakers like this to break out of this bubble and also just further education,” attendee Junee Manandhar SC ’27 said. “At least for me specifically, I haven’t had the chance to talk to anyone who is Palestinian before, and getting that specific perspective was really enlightening for me. It just opened my eyes to a different view.”
In 2010, Nassar and 10 other students — nicknamed the “Irvine 11” — were arrested for staging a protest during a speech by the Israeli ambassador Michael Oren at the University of Irvine. The Irvine 11’s protest, in which each student stood during Oren’s talk to recite sections of international law they believed Israel had violated, was inspired by Israel’s large military campaign in Gaza in 2008.
Nassar and his fellow students were convicted of misdemeanors in 2011 and sentenced to community service and informal probation. Since then, Nassar has continued organizing for the Palestinian cause in the LA area, and often writes Opinion-Editorial pieces for Al Jazeera.
7C SWANA official and event organizer Lena Abed PO ’26 noted that Nassar has had a working relationship with advocacy groups across the 5Cs for years, and previously spoke at other 5C events, including the Pitzer Encampment. Abed stressed the importance of having the 7C SWANA space for students on campus, and their ability to facilitate relationships with community organizers such as Nassar.
“[7C SWANA] is sort of like a hub for cultural cultivation, community or appreciation of culture,” Abed said. “Post Oct. 7, I feel I’ve been more interested in the political aspect of what the SWANA community could bring … particularly because I think SWANA identities are very politicized in and of themselves.”
Before his talk officially began at 3 p.m., a crowd of students had gathered around the entrance to the Motley, browsing tables of keffiyehs, student artwork, prints and educational materials. 7C SWANA organizers explained to students that they were selling the keffiyehs and other artwork at a sliding, pay-what-you-can rate to fundraise for the People’s Fund.
In his introduction to Nassar’s talk, 7C SWANA President Saif El Mosalami PZ ’26 explained that the People’s Fund is a local collective established to provide discounted and free medicine to Palestinians facing genocide in the Gaza strip, as well as Sudanese and Congolese people who are also facing critical humanitarian situations.
The crowd applauded as El Mosalami and organizers took their seats and Nassar stepped up to the microphone. As the last few students trickled in from outside, every seat in the Motley and much of the floor space was covered. Nassar began by leading the crowd in a call-and-response chant. “Free, free Palestine, long live Palestine.”
Over the hour and half of his talk, Nassar touched on everything from the lived experiences of his relatives in the Gaza Strip, to his story of arrest, to his goals for the future of the BDS movement and the Palestinian cause in general.
After echoing El Mosalami’s call to donate to the People’s Fund, Nassar highlighted the importance of direct action, arguing that mass protests are critical to both gaining support for the movement and undermining the hegemonic control of American mainstream media. He followed this point by highlighting the symbolic limitations of forms of activism that exclusively include mass protests.
“I love protests. However, there is a counterrevolutionary aspect to leading protests,” Nassar said. “Unfortunately, some of these people who are drawn to these protests, they get out, they shout, they create a public spectacle. However, sometimes it ends at that.”
Nassar’s comments did not critique mass protests, but rather encouraged activists to explore other avenues in conjunction with them, such as leveraging political pressure to engage with politicians.
“I think there are certain politicians that are a bit squirmish,” Nassar said. “And [they] can be pushed reluctantly into doing the right thing by exercising our organizing strength, and a combination of a two pronged approach with limited diplomacy and a whole lot of pressure.”
“I want you to understand,” Shaheen Nassar said, “in every formally colonized area in the world — in Africa, Asia, and South America — our oppressors did not leave of their own free will. They were evicted by the collective strength of our people.”
In addition to outlining his practical approach to activism, Nassar devoted much of his time to discussing the history of Palestine and its struggle to achieve statehood. He explained that the title of his talk, “Beyond Recognition,” refers to his desire to devalue and strive beyond the goal of lobbying Western countries to recognize Palestinian statehood.
Throughout his talk, Nassar drew from over 15 years of experience with organizing in activist circles. Despite the roadblocks and challenges he has faced in that time, he maintains a dedication to situating the struggles of Palestinians within the larger historical context of the world.
“I want you to understand,” Nassar said, “in every formally colonized area in the world — in Africa, Asia, and South America — our oppressors did not leave of their own free will. They were evicted by the collective strength of our people.”
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