A call for united action against fascist threats in Buffalo

Buffalo

In an Oct. 17, 2024, article in Workers World, this writer discussed an event called the State of the People where various progressive groups came together to rally against the University at Buffalo’s (UB) corruption and complicity in the genocide in Palestine. (workers.org/2024/10/81433/)

The Communist Student League (CSL) issued 15 demands to the university administration with one of them being the investigation and expulsion of “white nationalist and Zionist students and staff” from campus. The UB Spectrum, a student-run university newspaper, published an article on Oct. 22 outlining the CSL’s demands along with quotes from other campus groups on the issue of the Palestinian genocide and the university’s treatment of protesters. (tinyurl.com/49kxdcer)

After the article was published, many Zionists, neo-Nazis and conservatives took to the university’s subreddit to encourage harm towards communists and socialists on campus with some even calling for our deaths. 

Congress member Elise Stefanik ( R-N.Y.) exacerbated this by calling for “@Ubuffalo leadership [to] investigate the antisemitic comments made by a communist group.” She also called for the university to protect Israeli students on campus. Other pro-Israel right-wing media commentators took to X (formerly Twitter) to demand legal action be taken against anti-Zionists at UB. Once again they falsely argued that the entire Jewish community supports the settler colony of Israel and the false claim that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. 

Vice President of Student Life Brian Hamluk sent a letter to the editor of the UB Spectrum published on Oct. 29.. In his letter he once again repeated the lie that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. He made vague references to Title VI and to an investigation of the CSL. Around the same time as his letter, the university issued immediate human resources training to all staff — including student workers — on Title VI. This training included sections which argued that under New York state and federal law, Israelis are a “protected group” and activists organizing against Israel are violating the law by making that “protected group unsafe.” (tinyurl.com/yckctnbm)

Countering fear factor

Due to this campaign of intimidation and misinformation, many students and staff at both UB and Buffalo State University (Buff State) voiced new concerns about their support of the movement for Palestine. One professor at UB who had planned to show non-politicized art made by a Palestinian artist allegedly said in her class that due to recent events she was afraid to show that content to her class out of fear of being accused of antisemitism and losing her job. 

And several students from Buff State came forward and reported to the CSL that they were afraid of losing their dorms and becoming homeless because of their support for Palestine. Most of these same students, however, stated that they would still organize for Palestine and hope that the community would support them somehow if the worst case scenario came to pass. 

In response to this, the CSL and allied groups did a series of banner drops to show the university and the community that we are not afraid to continue organizing. Furthermore, a statement was drafted by the organizers of the CSL which was only just published in the UB Spectrum on the morning of Nov. 11. In this statement the hypocrisy of the university is made clear, and Zionism as an ideology is explained in simple terms. Read the CSL statement at tinyurl.com/43dkcddb.

Unfortunately, in the wake of Donald Trump’s electoral victory, many of his supporters decided to take further actions against working-class and oppressed students, both in Buffalo and on a countrywide scale. 

On the evening of Nov.6, a group of nine individuals — most of whom were wearing MAGA hats — went to the Global Gender and Sexuality Studies (GGSS) department in Clemens Hall on UB’s north campus. The GGSS department historically attracts many transgender scholars as well as other women. 

These nine individuals went through the department, harassing students and staff, with a special focus on gender minorities. They trashed several classrooms by turning over bookshelves, upturning tables and throwing chairs around the room. The UB Police Department was quickly notified of these events, but all reports seem to indicate that the UBPD officers decided to stay in their office monitoring the camera feeds until the Trump supporters were gone. 

The university president issued a statement the next day stating that students and staff should report these kinds of incidents to the UBPD and that the campus police are there to “protect and serve.” This empty public relations statement from the president was countered by another statement from the CSL, wherein the individuals who attacked the GGSS department were called out, the community was urged to report instances of fascist activities to progressive forces for the purpose of community solidarity and antifascist action, and the university was condemned for once again failing to protect women (cisgender, transgender and demigender) and other gender oppressed persons on campus from right-wing violence. (tinyurl.com/NovStmtCSL)

Build worker solidarity!

On Nov 7, many professors and graduate students in the humanities departments at UB were privately urged to work from behind closed and locked doors “as if you are under a modified lockdown,” to quote one professor who wishes to remain anonymous. 

On the same day, many Black students at Buff State were receiving copies of a racist mass text which was sent out to students of color nationwide. Once again the administration, this time of Buff State, issued a message to the university community saying that the FCC and FBI are handling things and that the university community doesn’t need to worry. This event was also discussed and condemned in the CSL letter from Nov. 7 cited above. 

Between the continued genocidal devastation of occupied Palestine and southern Lebanon, U.S. imperialism’s continued aggression against Russia and China and the U.S. fascist movement gaining the win of a second Trump presidency, it has become clear that united action of progressive forces is necessary to overcome the choke hold of fascist violence and decaying capitalism. 

In Buffalo, as in many other cities, in the interests of community solidarity against capitalism, white supremacy and cis-hetero-patriarchy, as well as in solidarity with our oppressed siblings abroad, a variety of progressive forces — including the CSL and Workers World Party’s Buffalo branch — are working together to organize upcoming actions, educate members of the working class and empower our fellow working-class and oppressed folks to exercise our power together. 

When the people are united, we cannot be defeated!