#you can also always keep sending asks lol i just think it'd be more convenient

[vamptastic]

I definitely agree about a lot of protests around the country feeling aimless/underplanned -- I think the reason the protests I've been involved in have felt more focused is that the college I go to has direct ties with defense contractors, so there's a specific and definable goal of ending recruitment partnerships instead of the kind of broad goal of just 'support palestine', which seems to be the (emotionally understandable but not particularly actionable) thrust of a lot of protests right now. I also get what you mean with regards to revolutionary 'aesthetics' taking precedence over practicality in a lot of discussions about what should be done, especially with regards to the goal of a ceasefire; I feel like rejecting practical short-term solutions in favor of a more revolutionary end goal that never comes is an unfortunately common phenomenon in leftist spaces in general.

I definitely misinterpreted what you meant in the original post, and the added explanation was very helpful -- thanks for taking the time to respond! I totally understand the assumption that my first ask was in bad faith due to the general state of discourse on this website + the fact that I didn't elaborate on what I was saying

first of all, sorry to make you wait on this response, and second, really glad we reached an understanding here and sorry again for jumping to conclusions about the intent of your first ask.

i would certainly like it if american universities severed their ties to the defense industry! on some level i do think if we were to convince x university that they should cut ties with the companies they feed students into, it would be better for that movement to be focused on the STEM students who actually end up taking those jobs though. on a practical level, a university is much more likely to stop accepting funding from say, lockheed martin if promising engineering students make it clear that they will refuse to enroll in schools that work with that company. perhaps the PR hit universities are taking right now will be enough but in my state at least i don't think most universities are concerned enough with maintaining their image as 'liberal institutions' as they are at making money, and imo there are more productive ways to cost a university money. i do think protesting against your school's military ties is a good idea and would like for it to succeed- i question if they will continue to uphold that longterm if cutting military connections is tied to a cause that is fundamentally temporary. (hopefully, in that hopefully the conflict will end soon and a longterm solution will begin to take shape). i guess best case scenario i would hope that this motivates people to look into the broader issue of the ties between universities (particularly engineering programs) and military contractors, and examine and start to solve that issue on a wider scale than the current conflict. i also just sort of think this may be something that can only end permanently if laws are passed to stop it because there will always be a motive for it (profit). in the short term, though, it seems straightforwardly obvious that weapons manufacturers receiving a financial blow could help to reduce the level of suffering in Gaza, so i do agree that it's a good thing to focus on for college protests.

i just wish that on a national level the antiZionist movement had its shit together a little more. like it makes sense that things are messy, there's a language barrier, many people have become justifiably passionate about Palestine without having a lot of background knowledge, leftists in general are horrible at working on achievable shortterm goals and longterm solutions at the same time and without viciously fighting about it. i'm far more annoyed with large organizations (cough JVP cough) behaving in unproductive ways than with individual people being a bit stupid about complicated political causes. genuinely glad that you seem to be working towards something both achievable and worthy. i really just hope everybody involved in antiZionist activism knows what they're actually working towards, why, and whether their methods are successful.

but overall it does seem like we agree on the important things. i think i'm also just more cynical about this because i grew up hearing a lot of batshit propaganda and misinformation about Israel and Gaza and am more on guard for it, and more familiar with antisemitic tropes and thus more likely to notice such rhetoric. idk if you're jewish or not but i kinda just think for better or for worse being jewish makes you more jaded about this by virtue of living your entire life aware of it and without seeing significant change. cause whether you're a zionist or antizionist i really don't think you're likely to feel there's been any significant victories in the past couple decades. certainly most of the older jews i talk to are not terribly optimistic about the current wave of attention going anywhere, and understandably tend to be concerned that this will increase hate crimes against us as literally any national news about us tends to do so.