Thread by @RaphMim

Just came back from the UCLA campus. A few quick thoughts:

1. The encampment is not very disruptive. It occupies a tiny part of UCLA's massive campus. Though it's been there for days, I saw a lot of students discovering it for the first time and asking "what's going on?"

1/10

The main disruption is that students have to walk around it (maybe 5 extra minutes) to go from one side to the other. The main path that is closed is actually closed by campus security, not protestors

So not exactly the riot we are told makes the students' lives impossible

2/10

This is just outside the encampment. Very peaceful, students chilling, living their student lives.

3/10

2. The protestors are very well organized: medic tent, media liaisons, security people trained in deescalation, etc. No smoking, drinking, drugs allowed. As of today, people need to have someone inside vouch for them before they are let in.

4/10

Anyone who's been at an occupation or a large protest before, especially very contentious ones, knows about the safety risks of counter protestors sneaking in to provoke and inflame, so vetting people seems reasonable.

This level of organization & precaution was impressive

5/10

3. The pro-Israel counter protest was ridiculous. There was nobody there, just one massive screen broadcasting images of October 7th. I'm guessing there aren't enough pro-Israel students to set up an encampment or they don't actually care that much to go through the trouble

6/10

4. A lot of people aren't let into the encampment. There wasn't anyone inside who knew me and could vouch for me, so despite my keffieh I wasn't let in.

Maybe 50% of people who were trying to go in couldn't because they didn't have someone to vouch for them.

7/10

I saw a few people who were clearly pro-Israel (one wearing a Golda Meir t-shirt, the others just saying "it is my right as a student to access all parts of the campus"). They tried to argue their way in for a few minutes and left.

8/10

But I can see how people who are more insistent and provocative can easily create videos for social media making it seem like they are being turned back because they are Jewish. I was just there for a few hours, but from what I saw it seems like nonsense.

9/10

My conclusion, without claiming to give a holistic picture of the protest movement or even of the situation at UCLA: very peaceful, well organized, and reasonable protest.

10/10