Week featured marches, guest speakers, talks

From April 29 to May 3, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organized a series of talks, marches and activities as part of anti-Zionism Week.

In response, Aggies for Israel (AFI) also organized a series of tabling events and safe spaces in support of Zionism for those who felt targeted by anti-Zionism week.

On campus during the week, SJP and MSA organized events around the theme of Palestinian liberation and spoke out against the state of Israel.

Kauser Adenwala, a second-year history, political science and religious studies triple major, is the external vice president of the MSA and helped organize the week’s events.

“The goal is to shed light and bring awareness to people who don’t know what Zionism is,” Adenwala said. “Often times, especially with the current events, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are equated when they are two distinct ideologies.”

Anti-Zionism week concluded on the same day as global Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Hashoa and a memorial service to honor victims of the shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue. Adenwala said the timing was not intentional and the events were even postponed to avoid falling on Passover.

AFI organized tabling events, a lunch, debriefing spaces and a community vigil for the victims of the synagogue shooting in response to anti-Zionism Week.

AFI President Dana Benavi, a fourth-year communication major, commented on anti-Zionism week taking place during Yom Hashoah.

“The scheduling of anti-Zionism week during this time is offensive and hurtful to so many of us whose families suffered as a result of the Holocaust because the Jewish people did not have a safe haven during World War II,” Benavi said via email. “In the future we hope to see a week that does not call for Zionist destruction, but rather Palestinian empowerment.”

While the weeklong events are a part of anti-Zionism week, specific events organized by MSA and SJP focused on creating a space for Palestinian students on campus as the main goal. Adenwala commented on the organizations’ aims to promote an understanding of what it means to have student rights on a college campus.

“It means not having your events shut down by CSI; it means having a place to organize, not being targeted by Canary Mission or other student organizations who don’t agree with us,” Adenwala said.

When asked if Zionist groups should have the same rights to exist on campus, Adenwala said they should not.

“Zionism is an ideology rooted in racism, imperialism, colonialism and the subjugation of Palestinians,” Adenwala said. “The line is not arbitrary. When you’re a Zionist, you’re arguing that you are okay with the violence and the brutal subjugation that Palestinians endure every day.”

While many see Zionism as an endorsement of the modern state and government of Israel and anti-Zionism as a renouncement of that government, Professor David Biale has a different understanding.

“Many fall somewhere in between,” Biale said. “The term Zionism needs to be understood in its historical context. The problem today both on the side of the Palestinians and to some degree on the side of the Zionists, has become more and more narrow in terms of its definition.”

Biale is the director of the Jewish Studies Program at UC Davis and has been teaching courses on Jewish history and the Holocaust for over 40 years.

“Zionism arises out of a quite desperate need of the Jews to get out of Europe,” Biale said. “It was the idea that the Jews should have their own society in which they could govern themselves. Given where they were coming from in Poland, they were a minority, they were discriminated against, there was violence against them and Zionism offered one option for trying to save them from that situation.”

Events organized by MSA and SJP showcased different speakers, including filmmaker

Rebecca Peirce, who works with Jewish Voice for Peace.

Peirce’s lecture focused on the militarization of the modern Israeli state and the violence Palestinians and other marginalized groups have faced.

“Part of the division has to do with people having experienced being scapegoated by nationalist groups,” Peirce said. “It’s not just Jewish minorities, it’s other groups that experience this too.”

Peirce also addressed the historic emergence of the Israeli state which Biale conceptualizes as emerging out of the need for Jews to escape Nazi-occupied Europe.

“A lot of this is happening in an explicitly colonial framework,” Peirce said. “Today you

will hear [that] a lot of people strongly object to the idea that Zionism has anything to do with

colonialism.”

While the events highlighted current points of conflict in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and its impacts on individuals and diasporic communities, they did not include the future aims of either organization or alternative ways to address the conflict.

Biale commented on the purpose of SJP and MSA organizing on the Quad.

“If the goal of the Palestinian side of this is dismantling the state of Israel and its replacement by an Arab state, then that goes against the reasons there is a Jewish state there in the first place, that Jews and the world community feel there is a justice in the Jews, after centuries of persecution, having their own state,” Biale said.

Biale does not believe it’s possible to dismantle the current state of Israel.

“As a practical matter, the state of Israel is not going to be replaced,” Biale said. “We’re talking about a state that has something like the fifth most powerful army in the world; it has nuclear weapons. This is not a state that is going away just because there is a demonstration on the Quad.”

Adenwala spoke more on the purpose behind Anti-Zionism week.

“We are interested in talking about real solutions to these issues, and we are being pragmatic with our role as students,” Adenwala said. “The purpose of the lectures, workshops and demonstration at the Quad were not only to advocate for the replacement of Israel, but to expose other students to their unjust actions in the present day and throughout history.”

Adenwala commented on the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, beyond being simply one with clear-cut sides.

“We expressed and still do express solidarity with our Jewish, Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters,” Adenwala said. “Political ideologies should not interfere with the rights of those that should be united.”

Written by: Ally Russell — campus@theaggie.org

Monthlong celebration focuses on intersectionalities

Throughout May, the UC Davis Mental Health Initiative (MHI) hosts 20 different events and 10 themed days on campus to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month. The events range from therapy llamas on the quad to workshops focusing on the undocumented community.

The panels, workshops and activities are part of the MHI’s mission to create a broader definition of mental health. They seek to reveal the different aspects and intersectionalities associated with mental health — such as LGBTQIA+ mental health, body image mental health and more.

Each day and theme is intended to deepen students’ understanding of the topic and the various aspects that mental health can encompass.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately one in five adults in the U.S. experiences mental illness in a given year. UC Davis as a whole tries to increase well-being and destigmatize mental illness, recently ranking number two on “Top 10 Colleges Advocating for Mental Health Awareness.”

The MHI is one of the main mental health advocacy initiatives on campus, striving to destigmatize mental illness and create a safe space for the Davis community.

Deborah Widjaja, a fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and publicity coordinator for the MHI, explained that because mental health depends on intersectional experiences, the MHI found it essential to create a broad, encompassing theme for the month. She stressed that one main goal for the month is to reach far corners of different groups.

Widjaja also made it clear that students need not be experts on mental health to participate. The events are also meant to be educational for those who want to learn.

“We have a lot of different topics, such as mental health in general, what does mental health mean and what some examples of mental health illnesses are,” Widjaja said. “There’s a themed day that we organize called intro to mental health and it just talks about mental health, usually in the lens of people who don’t really understand it yet.”

Although the MHI hosts all events, Widjaja explained it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of other student organizations on campus. This year, the MHI partnered with the Coffee House and Unitrans to promote the wide variety of activities.

She also commended the 70-something volunteers who helped create a “cohesive team” within the MHI. One of these volunteers is Shreya Deshpande, a third-year cognitive science and sociology double major and the ASUCD vice president.

Deshpande played a crucial role in organizing the LGBTQIA+ mental health day, scheduled for May 30. They feel that giving each event a unique topic reveals an overarching theme for the month: intersecting identities.

They went on to explain the role that mental health plays in their life.

“Mental health is a lot of things,” Deshpande said. “It’s about self care, it’s about community care […] Mental health really prioritizes self awareness and making sure you’re constantly thinking about whether you’re okay, what could make you okay or who makes you okay.”

Another active volunteer was Shritha Gunturu, a second-year psychology major who worked the “Button Up for AAPI ME/SA Mental Health!” event at the Memorial Union patio on May 14. She said this month is intended to encourage students to open up about their emotions.

“It’s okay to talk about yourself when you’re not doing well,” Gunturu said. “It doesn’t make you less of a person if you have mental health issues. There’s no reason for that stigma, and I think this month is really about starting that conversation and opening up more of a dialogue so people have a better forum to talk about themselves.”

She also emphasized that an individual’s health should include physical and mental components, asserting that both should be treated as equally important — to her, people should have the same attitude about going to the doctor to stay healthy as they do when seeking mental health support.

“You have to make sure you take care of yourself as a person overall, and taking care of your mental health is all about self-care and checking in with yourself,” Gunturu said.

Although the month is drawing to a close, there are still two activity-filled days left: a Toxic Masculinity day on May 29, and an LGBTQIA+ day on May 30. More details can be found on the Facebook page.

Written by: Claire Dodd — campus@theaggie.org

Staff, advocates for center throughout the years share memories, challenges, triumphs

The UC Davis LGBTQIA Resource Center held its 25th anniversary celebration on May 7, providing food and presenting several speakers who reminisced and shared stories about the center’s history.

The theme of the anniversary celebration was “Heal, Embrace, Reclaim!” Monae Roberts, the director of the Center, encouraged those seated at the tables to grab an index card and answer a question pertaining to the theme, such as “How can we contribute to the healing of our past?” and “What about our present existence are you embracing?” The index cards were collected and put on display, Roberts said. The cards were paired with “old photos of past folks who used to work at the center,” continuing the theme of looking back in order to heal, along with “teaching how we do things [at the center.]”

Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Sheri Atkinson was the first speaker. She first came to UC Davis in 2003 to be the director of the then-named Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center. Atkinson remarked that she was excited at the prospects of working for the resource center on campus upon her arrival, as there were hopeful indicators of success and support such as having actual staff members, compared to her time at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota where they built the center from the ground up. But Atkinson also noted that there was work to be done.

“One of the things I heard pretty quickly was that students of color, queer students of color, LGBTQIA [people] of color didn’t feel comfortable or feel like this center served them at that time,” Atkinson said.

This led to Atkinson working with students, staff and other centers, such as the Cross Cultural Center, to promote intersectionality and inclusivity as much as possible.

“Even the LGBTQIA community is not immune to issues of oppression and racism, sexism, misogyny,” Atkinson said. “We started engaging with people making those [uninformed] comments and talking about the impact. We also started to center marginalized voices within our community and our programming.”

Among those seated in the crowd who were particularly reminiscent was John Dixon. Dixon worked on campus for 33 years, serving as the second chairperson for the LGBTQIA committee. His 33 years of work for the LGBTQIA community have shown Dixon that “things have come a long way.” What particularly stood out for Dixon with regard to how the center is currently established is the fact that you can “see it in the open.”

“People were still in the closet [when I was still working] and the building was on the west side of campus, so you didn’t see people going in,” Dixon said.

Written by: Deana Medina — campus@theaggie.org