Ismael Luz Romero

Professor Olivia Wood

English 21001

07 APR 2025

Rhetorical Analysis Project

Intended audience: My Classmates

Standing in Solidarity; A fight against EVIL

War crimes around the world tend to create division between many groups of individuals. This can be between two parties which either stand against or are in favor of a war. Events like these often separate the world based on people’s beliefs or thoughts. In recent times, there has been a war in the Middle East which has turned into a huge catastrophe and as a result, many people are furious with what’s going on. In horrible moments like these, students began taking actions. For example, in CUNY protests and campaigns have been issued to raise awareness about modern issues happening in students’ countries. That’s where “CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment Five Demands” is introduced. These five demands were created by CUNY students in regards with CUNY’s affiliation with companies and personnel who may be involved in some way or manner with the war. Students and faculty began this protest to show their anger towards the affiliation of certain companies with Israel and how they can provide weapons for their warfare. These five demands were a replica of CUNYs 1969 protests from the Black and Latino community. As a result, the students created these five demands towards the CUNY committee so they cut off all affiliations with companies who may have been taking part in the war. This would lead to political separation between communities who may be against the war and have created tension on the campus.

In modern days, it is quite easy to spread information across the internet and social media. Students can easily repost certain events which are taking place in a certain location. Additionally, the news and newspapers are also sources in which information spreads out quickly to the public. The point of this is to show how easily protests can be arranged with sources like these. Students and faculty were able to arrange a protest which took place in CCNY in which students stood against the recent war between Israel and Palestine. CUNY students who are the future of the world, speak out in “CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment” demanding to end relationships with Israel related companies due to recent war controversy in the Middle East. CUNY students name certain companies in which CUNY has contracts with and demand that they end all ties with these companies who support the Israel in the war due to all the bombings they have done to the innocent people in Gaza. These students are raising awareness to the thousands of students who attend CUNY schools annually so that they realize that CUNY is helping these companies. Overall, the goal is to provide a CUNY that welcomes anyone no matter what trace, gender, or beliefs they follow.

            In the beginning of the first two demands (“Disclose & Divest” & “Academic Boycott”), we are introduced into serious demands in which students believe is the right thing to do in order to stop providing funding into the war. Within the first demand, we get straight to data information which gives us an estimate amount CUNY gives to the stated companies, “Dell, IBM, HP, Lenovo, Cisco, and BMC Software.” With this information given, we move on to the total cost of hiring these companies which is estimated to an “exceeding $8.5 million USD.” Not only is it a large expander, it is also being paid for by all the students’ tuition. Although the exact amount is not confirmed, it is suspected that these 8.5 million USD are being used to to supply warfare equipment to countries like Israel. The students are not satisfied with how the tuition money is being handled. Helping a country fight a war which is killing thousands of individuals is inhumane and CUNY students are standing against these actions. Hence why they stand why the quote, “ We refuse to fund our education through genocide.“ This is a strong statement in which CUNY students stand by and believe in. This leads us into the second demand in which insists a boycott against any trips or relationships with colleges inside the country of Israel. CUNY students do not want to have any connection or relationship with countries who support war, and, in this demand, we see a call to action which is highly requested and supported. The examples of activities that are being boycotted are “birthright/perspectives trips, study-abroad trips to “israel”.” The demand is clearly stated, no student in CUNY wants any relationship. You cannot change the mind of the students because they are seeing how horrible Palestine is being treated. This is just an example of how the students speak out on what they believe and the right of their first amendment. The students are looking for what is best for them but also, they are peacefully stating their demands to the public who should also be aware of what’s going on.

           Following on the list of demands, the next demand brings us into protection of any students or faculty member who may be attacked for expressing their beliefs. Throughout history, there have been groups of people who have been persecuted for following different beliefs from the rest of the community. In this case, the third demand requests us to stand in solidarity with Palestine and be aware of the terrible moment that they are going through. The goal is to allow liberation for any Palestine individual who is suffering in the war but also to protect them. As the students’ state, “CUNY must protect from repression and solidarity its students and workers who are attacked for speaking out against the genocide in Gaza.” The third demand is summarized from the quote before. CUNY needs to protect anyone for speaking out on their beliefs and instead of being persecuted, they should be helped, so they do not stand in fear. The professors are also protected under this demand since there was information spreading around stating how professors were being fired for standing in favor of Palestine. It is important that every faculty member and students of CUNY should be protected for following what they believe in.

       To finish the list of five demands, the last two demands (“Demilitarize CUNY” & “A People’s CUNY”) give us and understand of how past events in the CUNY community has affected many individuals from different races. Staring off with an example of an individual who was brought into one of the CUNYs in an event. As said in part a of the fourth demand, “a senior official in the Israeli army was invited to speak about “israeli” military ethics at a John Jay event cosponsored by John Jay’s psychology department.” Students were unhappy about this event taking place and clearly, they want to avoid this soon. As a result, they have demanded that events like these cannot happen due to the situation they are in. In addition, the students believe it is harmful to the Gaza community due to the misinformation that officials may speak out when doing events like these. One specific example in the demand which came from the words of the “Israeli” official who spoke at the event. As stated, “the most moral army in the world.” The community believe this is a hard lie and after all, they are cruel for bombing out a country who only wants to fix a territory issue. Moving on from the first part of the fourth demand, we move on to the second part which demands to ban the NYPD from entering campus on any occasion. The reason why students want to ban the NYPD is because they believe they are “designed to protect private property and uphold white supremacy,” The strong use of violence from the NYPD in previous protests has students worried about the strong use of force from officers who may use paper spray or begin arrests just to calm down the protests. This leads us into the last demand which demands a CUNY for everyone. Due to the protests in 1969, the history of CUNY changed for the better. The college is now open to anyone regarding their race, gender, religion, etc. Although there are new demands for extra assistance to students who may struggle, CUNY is a better place for anyone in the community and for future students who plan to attend any of the CUNYs in the city.

            To conclude, throughout CUNYs history, there has been various instances in which students and faculty had to fight for what they believe. Since CUNY has a diverse community, it can be extremely easy to trigger a specific community and as a result, CUNY needs to be aware of how they can release statements regarding the students’ protests. As a result, this led to the recent creation of the GSE five demands which replicates the original five demands that were created in 1969. At the end of the day, the goal is to spread awareness to the community who may not be caught up to what is happening around the world. Hence why it is important to spread out information about the issues going on and how someone could help or at least spread awareness to everyone, especially in the CUNY community.