University campus protests have erupted across the United States in opposition to the genocide in Gaza.
She gives a personal account of the repression students have faced — and the special place of arms giant RTX Raytheon in contaminating land from Turtle Island to Palestine. Follow the orders of police. Leave the area immediately. Updates to follow. Toggling to other social media platforms, my screen fills with images of the Tucson Police Department in riot gear, state trooper and SWAT team trucks, as well as several unmarked white vans sealing off Park Avenue and University Boulevard—the entrance to and heartbeat of The University of Arizona UA.
I spent a few hours at this second iteration as the cluster of tents were freshly erected—it was a tense but peaceful space stocked with water, a medic and communications station, and plentiful signage demanding permanent ceasefire, divestment and embargo.
I left before nightfall, returning to my tiny adobe home less than one mile away. By early morning, testimonies and clips flooded in: fired into the crowd , locked arms , chemical agents , rubber bullets, ripped down , held the line , batons. The University will continue to act in the best interests of our students, faculty and staff to ensure their safety. Air Force and Navy. Business, in Tucson, is bombing. In , the Hughes Aircraft Co. Raytheon, whose massive and ever-expanding operations also occupy this site, proves part of this palimpsest of desecration of fragile ecology; the collusion of corrupt multinational corporations poisoning Palestine, as well as these borderlands.
Elevated levels of chromium were detected in a municipal water supply well near AFP, and nearby residents detected waning quality in private wells. Trichloroethane TCE was the primary groundwater contaminant. While certainly not a toxicologist, my understanding is that 1,4-dioxane, a heterocyclic organic compound classified as an ether, is an eye and respiratory irritant. It is also classified by the IARC as a Group 2B carcinogen: possibly carcinogenic to humans because it is a known carcinogen in other animals.
