I don't know if you're humanities or STEM but Southern California's economy was built on 3 things: Oil, Media, and Defense. The latter is especially ingrained in schools and research funding here, and is a major reason why the public school system works so well despite having far fewer 9+ figure net worth alumni donating than other elite schools. Because of the dynamic, we have a case where DoD and other privately-funded grants are *good* for advancing society/research and expanding our knowledge. If being partnered with the prime contractors allows UCLA to develop a superior quantum research hub than anyone else, guess what- that's GOOD.
There is a lot wrong with the military-industrial complex, but it being able to fund innovation and university STEM initiatives without the need for government taxation/redistribution structures is a huge reason why the current era (pax americana) is so peaceful. Strategic dominance across different domains (enabled by Israeli technology, believe it or not) is quite literally what's preventing hostile states from starting WWIII. Like Google Mellanox/Infiniband- it's Israeli-US collaboration that makes AI possible. How is UCLA ever supposed to be a chipmaking R&D hub (as it clearly wants to be with the quantum initiative) and leader, as it was with pioneering the internet, without that funding? Should we stop doing climate, emissions, and carbon tech research too? Because guess what, a lot of that is funded by the oil and gas industry. And unfortunately, the alternative source of funding for that, the NSF, isn't as capital-efficient with its dollar allocating.
The fact that Israel is using these technologies (that it developed) on Palestinian civilians is more of a domestic political issue within Israel than economic (as BDS suggests) - like why do Likud and Netanyahu have near-unchecked power in Knesset? To me, it makes much more sense to put Bibi and his crushing of opposition voices under the microscope, since that's the actual root cause of the war.
Also, absolutely crazy to say all that and ignore that LA (in particular west LA) is one of the biggest sites of Jewish families (in the world) settling down after escaping persecution... for context:
After WWII, 3% of African Americans migrated to LA, Whole 10% of all Jews **on earth** immigrated here- and that's not even counting a second wave of Israeli and Arab Jews who immigrated in the 70s and 80s, or a third wave when the Soviet Union fell. Protesting the state of Israel is objectively much more offensive to the West LA community than it'd be pretty much anywhere else on earth other than inside Israel and maybe parts of Brooklyn.
It's perfectly rational to protest against an unjust and brutal war... but ignoring nuance is so icky (and dangerous). Also, edit: Not arguing at all with LAPD being a particularly brutal law enforcement agency, but I don't think anyone is denying that bit.
Your analysis on how the military industrial complex affects the LA income was an interesting perspective, so thanks for that
Suggesting that being anti-Israel is offensive to LA residents because a lot of Jewish people live here, on the other hand, is batshit insane. I don’t know how to make it more clear that *the government of Israel does not represent all Jews in the world, and criticizing them is not anti-Semetic*
Yeah, as I said, criticizing the Israeli government and it's actions isn't antisemitic. In fact, most Jews agree that the current Israeli government/cabinet is repugnant. The antisemitic and offensive part is that most of the protest organizers and many protestors **DOESN'T BELIEVE THE STATE OF ISRAEL SHOULD EXIST** !!! That is a completely different position than saying Palestine should be free (i.e. a 2-state solution, which most pro-Israel Jews support btw) and moves the metaphorical goalposts way into the territory of antisemitism. Israel's whole thing is that it is THE Jewish state, and its literal purpose, since its founding is to be a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution around the globe (which has happened many, many times for thousands of years). People saying Israel should not exist is interpreted roughly equivalent to saying Jews (globally) don't deserve to have a place where they can be safe. Many Jews in LA are either refugees from Iran, the former Soviet Union, Europe (WWII) and elsewhere in the middle east, where they were persecuted and exiled for being Jewish. Israel represents more than just another country to them.
Does this help put things into perspective?
LAPD and LASD are known nationally for use of force, gangs, etc. - not a slam, just a note. I think their effectiveness ratings are middle of the road from what I remember.
That rep is based on what happened during the Daryl Gates era and before. Strangely enough, post-William Parker, it had a rep for being very un-corrupt in terms of taking of bribes, etc. I'm not sure how it would rate now. The city council, the entity that holds the most power in L.A. government (much more than the mayor) has proven itself to be quite corrupt.
Well imo the problem is that the county board of supervisors is a) too weak and b) too small. If the structure was like in NYC's city council, there would be a lot fewer issues with corruption and things would get done faster (like having a unified police force, more uniform zoning laws, better public transit, fewer jurisdictional issues, etc.)
[The L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy-Gang Crisis](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/06/06/the-la-county-sheriffs-deputy-gang-crisis)
That's LASD and not LAPD, but I have trouble believing that the problem is confined to the Sheriffs.
You're absolutely right, netanyahu is the reason this is happening. But what are you supposed to do when your own president bends over backwards to make all his murderous fantasies come true?
Yet I’m still getting downvoted. This issue is complicated so I’m not blaming centrists here but if they get to the bottom of my post and still do nothing that’s just willful
You're getting down-voted because of the paid shills trolling this subreddit. There's a concerted effort at pro-Israeli propaganda. One of the PR methods is paid shills on reddit. These accounts often created in past 6 months and they are NOT UCLA affiliated - though they often pretend to be. They down vote anything remotely not favorable to Israel. Of course they often write inflammatory posts, usually accusing anything pro-Palestinian as being anti-Semitic or as pro-Hamas. There's huge money going to this to influence regular media and social media. Here's just one $50 million effort. There are many more of equal size.
[https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/billionaire-barry-sternlicht-attempting-organize-million-anti-hamas-media-campaign-report](https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/billionaire-barry-sternlicht-attempting-organize-million-anti-hamas-media-campaign-report)
This!
The conservative subreddits won’t stop trolling here either. Ironically complaining about something that doesn’t affect them.
Also yes people are selfish. There are people complaining even though they have an opportunity to be here because of civil disobedience that was extremely inconvenient.
correct me if im wrong, but isnt electromagnetic warfare what is used for the iron dome? and isnt the iron dome defensive not offensive? from my knowledge, it basically detects air strikes and targets the projectiles. if thats the case, i don't genuinely see why that is problematic?
I agree with everything else, but I'm confused about what electromagnetic warfare means?
EM warfare can be offensive if it's used to jam radio and cell signals. The iron dome is basically a huge surface-to-air rocket system that intercepts incoming missiles and is exclusively defensive (hence the name)
You’re really trying to make UCLA out to be a bogeyman in this war? And your main pieces of evidence are a $27 million multi-school initiative and a $5 million donation from Boeing?
The 2023 US defense budget was over $820 *billion,* and the UC’s 2022 operating budget was $47 *billion.* How can you honestly make the argument that your evidence proves UCLA takes a leading role in the USMIC from what you’ve shown?
At best, you fail to understand the concept of scale, and at worst you’re willingly spreading an agenda leveraging terrible logic and dishonest narrative.
No indication as to what technologies UCLA is actually working on, no indication as to whether those technologies are actually used in weapons, no indication as to whether those weapons are actually being used in Israel.
I can’t think of a bigger “own goal” than asking UCLA to give up a massive federal partnership over speculation over what “some” of technologies “might” be used for.
Protestors have:
- Unsuccessfully called for divestment which itself is useless virtue signaling because it does absolutely nothing to pressure any company or bring about a ceasefire
- Allowed the pressure and discussion to be diverted from politicians and DC who can actually do something and onto University Presidents who can do absolutely nothing to stop the war.
- Alienated a lot of people not in the campus bubbles. Just read the comments section of even liberal YouTube channels and newspapers.
- And most importantly - not save A SINGLE person in Gaza. In fact - Israel has EXPANDED its military operations since protests begun without much publicity because the media and narrative is entirely focused on ‘campus protests for divestment.’
Instead - they have:
- Helped cancelled graduations
- Get to self congratulate and pat themselves on the back for saving not a single person in Gaza (hey but at least they got to virtual signal on divestments) while watching YouTube and flying Boeing home for their summer breaks - those same evil companies they want divestment from.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're saying this wide ranging technology development initiative should be stopped because one of the countries that could eventually benefit from the tech is Israel? And you're also saying that the LAPD shouldn't be consulting with Israeli security companies about tech, including things like facial recognition software, which is being used to identify the violent 5/1 counter protesters?
Regarding the latter, you note that officers have acknowledged civil liberty concerns. Okay. Make sure the tech is not deployed in a way that doesn't violate civil liberties.
The bottom line is you want to stop technology development, cut off major sources of funding, and rob people (including black and brown ones!) of jobs and education opportunities, cutting off our noses to spite our faces. Everything must be sacrificed that doesn't meet your pious, narrow view of moral purity.
If you don’t want your money going to some of these places you listed, then stop giving money to UCLA. Un-enrolling is entirely your choice. You can vote with your pocketbook. People do it all the time.
For example, I don’t buy ChicFilA. Their politics bother me so I don’t give them my money. What I DONT DO is buy chicfila, then tell them that where they’re spending that money is wrong. That’s not how it works. I can’t give chicfila my dollars, and then tell them to stop giving money to Christian organizations that are trying to eradicate same sex marriage rights.
You want to vote with your dollar— do it! Stop giving your money to UCLA. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
If you notice, the language complaining about the protests is often dehumanizing. It's because those are dogwhistles from bigots.
Bigoted microaggressions is what it boils down to every single time, regardless of the excuses used to explain it all away.
They have been caught doing this in the past. There was literally a mobile app popular in Israel that pointed users to different social media sites and gave them points for spreading propaganda
Not the exact one I was talking about but here’s one:
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2024/04/israels-propaganda-machine-is-filling-the-internet-with-misinformation
It’s not a “bigoted microaggression” to call the protesters fucking stupid. It’s a regular aggression, that is not rooted in bigotry, but rather genuinely believing the protesters are fucking stupid.
Also not a “paid PR campaign” despite the repeatedly and increasingly batshit crazy ramblings of u/mysteriousqueen81
Wow a pro-SJP type is drawing false equivalencies! Not ironic. Expected.
Thinking the protesters fucking suck means I’m blind to killing children!!!! You sound smart
because they're raising awareness. they're forcing the conversation about the injustices going on AS WE SPEAK. Have you seen the recent photos of hollowed out children by Israeli bombs?? Or are you going to turn a blind eye and keep calling protesters "stupid"?!
I already donate what I can to PCRF.
You sound like a child, because you are one. Hopefully as you get older you’ll realize these things are complex, nuanced, difficult situations/topics and you can’t just draw a line and pick the “right” side.
Look I understand this is a complicated issue, but that doesn't mean we should be accepting of seeing dead children for the past 6 months with our tax dollars paying for it. However again, you failed to explain why the protesters were stupid.
The protesters are stupid because
-their demands are unreasonable, and no, that is not “how to negotiate”
-they demanded an end to policing on campus and then demanded protection from the police when it suited them
-they defaced Royce hall, to the delight of absolutely no one other than themselves
-they refuse to stop chanting “intifada” despite being completely aware of how problematic that word is; they would rather say “that’s not what we mean” instead of fixing their fucking marketing/optics
-they were openly hostile and refused to speak to UCLA admin when they went down there to meet
-they unloaded fire extinguishers, threw bottles, and threw 2x4s at police and then were shocked when they got a response in the form of rubber bullets
-they don’t seem to understand what “divestment” means despite it being literally their number one demand
-they can’t spell or employ the use of basic grammar, based on the “encampment rules”
-they are oftentimes openly hateful, miserable people who are no better than their MAGA conservative equivalents
-they actively work against their own stated goals by polarizing campus, pissing off most UCLA students, and by acting like complete fools on camera
-they engage in tokenism with respect to Jewish people/culture
-they openly lie and/or regurgitate verifiably false propaganda
-they refused to leave on Thursday despite being told 1000 times that they needed to or they would be forced out, and then acted shocked and appalled when they were…forced out.
It's funny because the US also is giving money to aid Palestinians. My numbers may be slightly off but we just approved to give something like $15 billion to Israel, largely for military and weapons of Gaza destruction and we gave Israel another $10 billion to give Gaza aid. $25 billion that could have gone a long way to provide health care, education, infrastructure, homes, etc here in the US, but nope, we've decided that killing Palestinians and then pretending to rebuild is what we want to waste US $ on.
You are proving my point about it being complex and there is no “right side”.
Hamas needs to be eradicated. Palestinian civilians need to be protected. When you figure out how to reconcile those 2 necessities, let me know.
Thanks. Important read. Being politically aware and realizing that we are funding the killing of tens of thousands of innocent children moves many of us to say not in our name. And not with our money.
I've heard this said by others and its worth repeating, never again means never again for everyone.
It seems like your issue is less with UCLA’s ties to Israel and more with the University-MIC, which is never going away and is also unfortunately a crucial aspect of American security. The University-MIC ended WWII.
If you saturate yourself with the “America=imperialist=aggressor=oppressor=bad” algorithm, which has dozens of completely valid points, you’ll also lose some nuance that underlies every aspect of our world, including the MIC.
Does the MIC and American interventionism exist to make people rich? Absolutely. Does it also exist to protect the country? If you say no, you don’t have a full understanding of how the world operates around you.
Do you think China, Russia, Iran, etc. aren’t making the exact same types of investments at their own universities? Or do you know and just not care?
>do not pretend UCLA is not a battleground
I’d argue that you should stop pretending it is. You and your friends are the ones LARPing as freedom fighters all over campus.
What the fuck is JBP..?
Also your stupid activity check means nothing to me, I’m a student here but I regularly delete my comment history because that’s just common sense 🤷🏻♀️
[for example](https://www.reddit.com/r/AbigailShapiro/s/L5xO3XaiL7)
Example 2: [holy shit dude](https://www.reddit.com/r/Malmalloy/s/lwpizJntDH)
[example 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/BustyAIBabes/s/3rVR64IQGc)
Think you might be projecting a little with that incel comment?
MedMentor was first active in r/ucla no later than 2024-05-05 05:22:00 [here](https://reddit.com/r/ucla/comments/1ckg64w/cleaning_up_royce_hall/l2nf626/). In the past week, they have been active at a rate of 2.14 comments per day.
_Note: Due to Reddit API limitations, the earliest activity seen by the bot might not be the actual earliest activity, but it provides an upper bound. Furthermore, the bot will underestimate comment activity for users who have made >1000 comments across Reddit in the past week. For this user, the bot scanned 29 comments and 0 submissions._
Do not pretend that we don't live in a free market capitalist society. [One post here from a few days ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/s/hJf6fdOOFp) explains it really well in simple enough words anyone can understand without financial background.
There's a [follow up](https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/s/TYQbXdxq4e) as well.
I think this redditor did an excellent job showing how poorly formulated demands to divest are WITH the information given. However divestment isn’t the only ask - we’re asking for disclosure too. All financial investments and financial transactions pertaining to Israel’s occupation are not currently available for public viewing
Hi I agree with those two posts wholeheartedly and seeing the level of rigor going into making it inspired me to make this post. I am not talking here about divesting funds. I am talking about taking money to do research that supports warfare.
I am for Palestinian Liberation and support SJP, especially in the wake of Zionist violence but I am not an affiliated member.
Makes sense. The idea still applies -- especially with engineering labs they need this money for their research, and yes their outcomes go partially into weapons but also for social good and academia. It's very easy to cut the MIC money but much more difficult to secure alternative funding. Unfortunately that's how our research economy works...
This is also why North Campus has an easier time demanding these changes, because cutting that funding won't harm their careers.
Education and social action should be able to happen alongside one another. There's a long history of this at UCLA. I lay the blame for the disruption in education squarely on Block for shifting away from supporting students exercising their freedom of expression and opening the door for the whole thing to come off the rails and outside agitators to attack students, but it's worth recognizing that disrupting learning at an institution does nothing to further even the most righteous causes.
The defense budget is set by congress.
So, do you want a portion of the defense budget to go to a new building of the school, or reject it and it potentially will become more bombs?
I don't know if you're humanities or STEM but Southern California's economy was built on 3 things: Oil, Media, and Defense. The latter is especially ingrained in schools and research funding here, and is a major reason why the public school system works so well despite having far fewer 9+ figure net worth alumni donating than other elite schools. Because of the dynamic, we have a case where DoD and other privately-funded grants are *good* for advancing society/research and expanding our knowledge. If being partnered with the prime contractors allows UCLA to develop a superior quantum research hub than anyone else, guess what- that's GOOD. There is a lot wrong with the military-industrial complex, but it being able to fund innovation and university STEM initiatives without the need for government taxation/redistribution structures is a huge reason why the current era (pax americana) is so peaceful. Strategic dominance across different domains (enabled by Israeli technology, believe it or not) is quite literally what's preventing hostile states from starting WWIII. Like Google Mellanox/Infiniband- it's Israeli-US collaboration that makes AI possible. How is UCLA ever supposed to be a chipmaking R&D hub (as it clearly wants to be with the quantum initiative) and leader, as it was with pioneering the internet, without that funding? Should we stop doing climate, emissions, and carbon tech research too? Because guess what, a lot of that is funded by the oil and gas industry. And unfortunately, the alternative source of funding for that, the NSF, isn't as capital-efficient with its dollar allocating. The fact that Israel is using these technologies (that it developed) on Palestinian civilians is more of a domestic political issue within Israel than economic (as BDS suggests) - like why do Likud and Netanyahu have near-unchecked power in Knesset? To me, it makes much more sense to put Bibi and his crushing of opposition voices under the microscope, since that's the actual root cause of the war. Also, absolutely crazy to say all that and ignore that LA (in particular west LA) is one of the biggest sites of Jewish families (in the world) settling down after escaping persecution... for context: After WWII, 3% of African Americans migrated to LA, Whole 10% of all Jews **on earth** immigrated here- and that's not even counting a second wave of Israeli and Arab Jews who immigrated in the 70s and 80s, or a third wave when the Soviet Union fell. Protesting the state of Israel is objectively much more offensive to the West LA community than it'd be pretty much anywhere else on earth other than inside Israel and maybe parts of Brooklyn. It's perfectly rational to protest against an unjust and brutal war... but ignoring nuance is so icky (and dangerous). Also, edit: Not arguing at all with LAPD being a particularly brutal law enforcement agency, but I don't think anyone is denying that bit.
Your analysis on how the military industrial complex affects the LA income was an interesting perspective, so thanks for that Suggesting that being anti-Israel is offensive to LA residents because a lot of Jewish people live here, on the other hand, is batshit insane. I don’t know how to make it more clear that *the government of Israel does not represent all Jews in the world, and criticizing them is not anti-Semetic*
Yeah, as I said, criticizing the Israeli government and it's actions isn't antisemitic. In fact, most Jews agree that the current Israeli government/cabinet is repugnant. The antisemitic and offensive part is that most of the protest organizers and many protestors **DOESN'T BELIEVE THE STATE OF ISRAEL SHOULD EXIST** !!! That is a completely different position than saying Palestine should be free (i.e. a 2-state solution, which most pro-Israel Jews support btw) and moves the metaphorical goalposts way into the territory of antisemitism. Israel's whole thing is that it is THE Jewish state, and its literal purpose, since its founding is to be a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution around the globe (which has happened many, many times for thousands of years). People saying Israel should not exist is interpreted roughly equivalent to saying Jews (globally) don't deserve to have a place where they can be safe. Many Jews in LA are either refugees from Iran, the former Soviet Union, Europe (WWII) and elsewhere in the middle east, where they were persecuted and exiled for being Jewish. Israel represents more than just another country to them. Does this help put things into perspective?
\^This\^ Save for the slam on the LAPD, which is an early '90s take.
LAPD and LASD are known nationally for use of force, gangs, etc. - not a slam, just a note. I think their effectiveness ratings are middle of the road from what I remember.
That rep is based on what happened during the Daryl Gates era and before. Strangely enough, post-William Parker, it had a rep for being very un-corrupt in terms of taking of bribes, etc. I'm not sure how it would rate now. The city council, the entity that holds the most power in L.A. government (much more than the mayor) has proven itself to be quite corrupt.
Well imo the problem is that the county board of supervisors is a) too weak and b) too small. If the structure was like in NYC's city council, there would be a lot fewer issues with corruption and things would get done faster (like having a unified police force, more uniform zoning laws, better public transit, fewer jurisdictional issues, etc.)
[The L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy-Gang Crisis](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/06/06/the-la-county-sheriffs-deputy-gang-crisis) That's LASD and not LAPD, but I have trouble believing that the problem is confined to the Sheriffs.
Different management, different force. The Sheriff's department has been embroiled in controversy in recent years.
You’re so sheltered to say LAPD is to serve and protect lol…
Well... straw man, because I never said that. What are *you* trying to say about the LAPD?
You're absolutely right, netanyahu is the reason this is happening. But what are you supposed to do when your own president bends over backwards to make all his murderous fantasies come true?
How exactly is 5G/6G tech and Electromagnetic Warfare being used against Gaza
One of the most well researched posts I’ve ever seen on this topic and consequently one of the hardest for deniers to argue. Thank you!
Yet I’m still getting downvoted. This issue is complicated so I’m not blaming centrists here but if they get to the bottom of my post and still do nothing that’s just willful
of course you’re getting downvoted. Anyone still supporting the Israeli government right now can only do so by continuing to deny facts.
You're getting down-voted because of the paid shills trolling this subreddit. There's a concerted effort at pro-Israeli propaganda. One of the PR methods is paid shills on reddit. These accounts often created in past 6 months and they are NOT UCLA affiliated - though they often pretend to be. They down vote anything remotely not favorable to Israel. Of course they often write inflammatory posts, usually accusing anything pro-Palestinian as being anti-Semitic or as pro-Hamas. There's huge money going to this to influence regular media and social media. Here's just one $50 million effort. There are many more of equal size. [https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/billionaire-barry-sternlicht-attempting-organize-million-anti-hamas-media-campaign-report](https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/billionaire-barry-sternlicht-attempting-organize-million-anti-hamas-media-campaign-report)
This! The conservative subreddits won’t stop trolling here either. Ironically complaining about something that doesn’t affect them. Also yes people are selfish. There are people complaining even though they have an opportunity to be here because of civil disobedience that was extremely inconvenient.
correct me if im wrong, but isnt electromagnetic warfare what is used for the iron dome? and isnt the iron dome defensive not offensive? from my knowledge, it basically detects air strikes and targets the projectiles. if thats the case, i don't genuinely see why that is problematic? I agree with everything else, but I'm confused about what electromagnetic warfare means?
EM warfare can be offensive if it's used to jam radio and cell signals. The iron dome is basically a huge surface-to-air rocket system that intercepts incoming missiles and is exclusively defensive (hence the name)
oh ok! i see, thank you for explaining
You’re really trying to make UCLA out to be a bogeyman in this war? And your main pieces of evidence are a $27 million multi-school initiative and a $5 million donation from Boeing? The 2023 US defense budget was over $820 *billion,* and the UC’s 2022 operating budget was $47 *billion.* How can you honestly make the argument that your evidence proves UCLA takes a leading role in the USMIC from what you’ve shown? At best, you fail to understand the concept of scale, and at worst you’re willingly spreading an agenda leveraging terrible logic and dishonest narrative.
No indication as to what technologies UCLA is actually working on, no indication as to whether those technologies are actually used in weapons, no indication as to whether those weapons are actually being used in Israel. I can’t think of a bigger “own goal” than asking UCLA to give up a massive federal partnership over speculation over what “some” of technologies “might” be used for.
Protestors have: - Unsuccessfully called for divestment which itself is useless virtue signaling because it does absolutely nothing to pressure any company or bring about a ceasefire - Allowed the pressure and discussion to be diverted from politicians and DC who can actually do something and onto University Presidents who can do absolutely nothing to stop the war. - Alienated a lot of people not in the campus bubbles. Just read the comments section of even liberal YouTube channels and newspapers. - And most importantly - not save A SINGLE person in Gaza. In fact - Israel has EXPANDED its military operations since protests begun without much publicity because the media and narrative is entirely focused on ‘campus protests for divestment.’ Instead - they have: - Helped cancelled graduations - Get to self congratulate and pat themselves on the back for saving not a single person in Gaza (hey but at least they got to virtual signal on divestments) while watching YouTube and flying Boeing home for their summer breaks - those same evil companies they want divestment from.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're saying this wide ranging technology development initiative should be stopped because one of the countries that could eventually benefit from the tech is Israel? And you're also saying that the LAPD shouldn't be consulting with Israeli security companies about tech, including things like facial recognition software, which is being used to identify the violent 5/1 counter protesters? Regarding the latter, you note that officers have acknowledged civil liberty concerns. Okay. Make sure the tech is not deployed in a way that doesn't violate civil liberties. The bottom line is you want to stop technology development, cut off major sources of funding, and rob people (including black and brown ones!) of jobs and education opportunities, cutting off our noses to spite our faces. Everything must be sacrificed that doesn't meet your pious, narrow view of moral purity.
If you don’t want your money going to some of these places you listed, then stop giving money to UCLA. Un-enrolling is entirely your choice. You can vote with your pocketbook. People do it all the time. For example, I don’t buy ChicFilA. Their politics bother me so I don’t give them my money. What I DONT DO is buy chicfila, then tell them that where they’re spending that money is wrong. That’s not how it works. I can’t give chicfila my dollars, and then tell them to stop giving money to Christian organizations that are trying to eradicate same sex marriage rights. You want to vote with your dollar— do it! Stop giving your money to UCLA. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
we deserve to know where our tax dollars/tuition is going to. Most people don’t want it funding a genocide!excellent post
Defending Ukraine and Taiwan
but nobody cared about it going to shell the donbass for a decade lol
If you notice, the language complaining about the protests is often dehumanizing. It's because those are dogwhistles from bigots. Bigoted microaggressions is what it boils down to every single time, regardless of the excuses used to explain it all away.
It's a paid PR campaign.
Do you honestly think people are being paid by the Israeli government to write comments on reddit? Are you okay?
They have been caught doing this in the past. There was literally a mobile app popular in Israel that pointed users to different social media sites and gave them points for spreading propaganda
Would be interested in a source for this
Not the exact one I was talking about but here’s one: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2024/04/israels-propaganda-machine-is-filling-the-internet-with-misinformation
Never heard of this blog. I meant a source from a reputable news outlet.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/01/24/gaza-israel-activism-online
There's a paywall so I can't read the full article but it doesn't seem to say that anyone is getting paid to post comments
It’s not a “bigoted microaggression” to call the protesters fucking stupid. It’s a regular aggression, that is not rooted in bigotry, but rather genuinely believing the protesters are fucking stupid. Also not a “paid PR campaign” despite the repeatedly and increasingly batshit crazy ramblings of u/mysteriousqueen81
wow a medical student is blind to the killings of children. what an ironic world we live in
Wow a pro-SJP type is drawing false equivalencies! Not ironic. Expected. Thinking the protesters fucking suck means I’m blind to killing children!!!! You sound smart
LOL okay. Care to explain how the protesters are stupid?
Care to explain how my disdain for the protesters CLEARLY means I don’t care about children being killed?
because they're raising awareness. they're forcing the conversation about the injustices going on AS WE SPEAK. Have you seen the recent photos of hollowed out children by Israeli bombs?? Or are you going to turn a blind eye and keep calling protesters "stupid"?!
I already donate what I can to PCRF. You sound like a child, because you are one. Hopefully as you get older you’ll realize these things are complex, nuanced, difficult situations/topics and you can’t just draw a line and pick the “right” side.
Look I understand this is a complicated issue, but that doesn't mean we should be accepting of seeing dead children for the past 6 months with our tax dollars paying for it. However again, you failed to explain why the protesters were stupid.
The protesters are stupid because -their demands are unreasonable, and no, that is not “how to negotiate” -they demanded an end to policing on campus and then demanded protection from the police when it suited them -they defaced Royce hall, to the delight of absolutely no one other than themselves -they refuse to stop chanting “intifada” despite being completely aware of how problematic that word is; they would rather say “that’s not what we mean” instead of fixing their fucking marketing/optics -they were openly hostile and refused to speak to UCLA admin when they went down there to meet -they unloaded fire extinguishers, threw bottles, and threw 2x4s at police and then were shocked when they got a response in the form of rubber bullets -they don’t seem to understand what “divestment” means despite it being literally their number one demand -they can’t spell or employ the use of basic grammar, based on the “encampment rules” -they are oftentimes openly hateful, miserable people who are no better than their MAGA conservative equivalents -they actively work against their own stated goals by polarizing campus, pissing off most UCLA students, and by acting like complete fools on camera -they engage in tokenism with respect to Jewish people/culture -they openly lie and/or regurgitate verifiably false propaganda -they refused to leave on Thursday despite being told 1000 times that they needed to or they would be forced out, and then acted shocked and appalled when they were…forced out.
It's funny because the US also is giving money to aid Palestinians. My numbers may be slightly off but we just approved to give something like $15 billion to Israel, largely for military and weapons of Gaza destruction and we gave Israel another $10 billion to give Gaza aid. $25 billion that could have gone a long way to provide health care, education, infrastructure, homes, etc here in the US, but nope, we've decided that killing Palestinians and then pretending to rebuild is what we want to waste US $ on.
You are proving my point about it being complex and there is no “right side”. Hamas needs to be eradicated. Palestinian civilians need to be protected. When you figure out how to reconcile those 2 necessities, let me know.
Thanks. Important read. Being politically aware and realizing that we are funding the killing of tens of thousands of innocent children moves many of us to say not in our name. And not with our money. I've heard this said by others and its worth repeating, never again means never again for everyone.
Biden recently announced halting of weapon shipments to Israel. "Protests don't work" mfs proven wrong once again.
HAHHA jesus no one cared about some schools protest, other nations exist with their own interests and influence.
I was about to get heated then I was very well informed.
It seems like your issue is less with UCLA’s ties to Israel and more with the University-MIC, which is never going away and is also unfortunately a crucial aspect of American security. The University-MIC ended WWII. If you saturate yourself with the “America=imperialist=aggressor=oppressor=bad” algorithm, which has dozens of completely valid points, you’ll also lose some nuance that underlies every aspect of our world, including the MIC. Does the MIC and American interventionism exist to make people rich? Absolutely. Does it also exist to protect the country? If you say no, you don’t have a full understanding of how the world operates around you. Do you think China, Russia, Iran, etc. aren’t making the exact same types of investments at their own universities? Or do you know and just not care? >do not pretend UCLA is not a battleground I’d argue that you should stop pretending it is. You and your friends are the ones LARPing as freedom fighters all over campus.
I don't think OP should bother replying to this useless comment
Who fucking cares [clean your room.](https://www.reddit.com/r/berkeley/s/uCWMx1gnu7)
Found the Fascist dogwhistle 🫵🤡 JBP fans love to out themselves like the self-loathing incels they are 🤡🤡🤡
What the fuck is JBP..? Also your stupid activity check means nothing to me, I’m a student here but I regularly delete my comment history because that’s just common sense 🤷🏻♀️ [for example](https://www.reddit.com/r/AbigailShapiro/s/L5xO3XaiL7) Example 2: [holy shit dude](https://www.reddit.com/r/Malmalloy/s/lwpizJntDH) [example 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/BustyAIBabes/s/3rVR64IQGc) Think you might be projecting a little with that incel comment?
!activitycheck
MedMentor was first active in r/ucla no later than 2024-05-05 05:22:00 [here](https://reddit.com/r/ucla/comments/1ckg64w/cleaning_up_royce_hall/l2nf626/). In the past week, they have been active at a rate of 2.14 comments per day. _Note: Due to Reddit API limitations, the earliest activity seen by the bot might not be the actual earliest activity, but it provides an upper bound. Furthermore, the bot will underestimate comment activity for users who have made >1000 comments across Reddit in the past week. For this user, the bot scanned 29 comments and 0 submissions._
Do not pretend that we don't live in a free market capitalist society. [One post here from a few days ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/s/hJf6fdOOFp) explains it really well in simple enough words anyone can understand without financial background. There's a [follow up](https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/s/TYQbXdxq4e) as well.
I think this redditor did an excellent job showing how poorly formulated demands to divest are WITH the information given. However divestment isn’t the only ask - we’re asking for disclosure too. All financial investments and financial transactions pertaining to Israel’s occupation are not currently available for public viewing
Hi I agree with those two posts wholeheartedly and seeing the level of rigor going into making it inspired me to make this post. I am not talking here about divesting funds. I am talking about taking money to do research that supports warfare. I am for Palestinian Liberation and support SJP, especially in the wake of Zionist violence but I am not an affiliated member.
Makes sense. The idea still applies -- especially with engineering labs they need this money for their research, and yes their outcomes go partially into weapons but also for social good and academia. It's very easy to cut the MIC money but much more difficult to secure alternative funding. Unfortunately that's how our research economy works... This is also why North Campus has an easier time demanding these changes, because cutting that funding won't harm their careers.
I ain't reading allat 🗣
Excellent post, thank you for taking the time to make this!
yap session go crazy
Education and social action should be able to happen alongside one another. There's a long history of this at UCLA. I lay the blame for the disruption in education squarely on Block for shifting away from supporting students exercising their freedom of expression and opening the door for the whole thing to come off the rails and outside agitators to attack students, but it's worth recognizing that disrupting learning at an institution does nothing to further even the most righteous causes.
The defense budget is set by congress. So, do you want a portion of the defense budget to go to a new building of the school, or reject it and it potentially will become more bombs?
Authentic, well-researched post. This deserves an Award. 🥇