Albert Jaragua Corado 🔻

ALT PEOPLE'S CITY COUNCIL STATEMENT ON ZIONIST REPRESSION LAWSUIT DURING THIS TIME OF HEIGHTENED REPRESSION PEOPLE'S CITY COUNCIL (PCC) AND NATIONAL STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE (NSJP] ARE BEING SUED UNDER THE "KU KLUX KLAN ACT." THE SUIT, FILED ON BEHALF OF LOCAL ZIONIST REACTIONARIES LIKE ELI TSIVES THROUGH ATTORNEYS BACKED BY THE LOUIS BRANDEIS CENTER, ALLEGES THAT NSJP AND PCC ENTERED INTO A "CONSPIRACY" TO ORGANIZE THE APRIL 2024 UCLA PALESTINE SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT WITH THE PURPOSE OF DEPRIVING JEWISH PEOPLE OF THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS ON UCLA CAMPUS. A JUDGE RULED AGAINST OUR MOTION TO DISMISS THIS LAWSUIT LATE LAST YEAR AND OUR SUBSEQUENT APPEAL IN APRIL, ALLOWING THIS CASE TO MOVE FORWARD. WE HAVE RETAINED A SOLID LEGAL DEFEAT THIS LAWSUIT, BUT UNFORTUNATELY WE NEED TO RAISE FUNDS FOR LITIGATION COSTS TO SEE THE PROCESS ALL THE WAY THROUGH

ALT THIS DEVELOPMENT COMES AS ATTACKS ON US AND OTHERS WITHIN THE MOVEMENT CONTINUE TO RAMP UP. EARLIER THIS YEAR AT THE 10TH ISRAELI-AMERICAN COUNCIL (IAC) NATIONAL SUMMIT, ADAM MILSTEIN - AN EX-IOF MULTI-MILLIONAIRE WHO FOUNDED AND FUNDS THE NOTORIOUS CANARY MISSION AND IS A MAJOR DONOR TO THE BRANDEIS CENTER - NAMED PCC AS AN ENEMY THAT MUST BE ATTACKED AS PART OF ZIONISTS' AGGRESSIVE AND OFFENSIVE STRATEGY TO TARGET GROUPS CRITICAL OF ISRAEL. [SEE NEXT SLIDE]. WITHIN THIS CONTEXT, IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT DESPITE THE LAWSUIT'S FLIMSY CLAIMS OF VICTIMHOOD WHICH RELY ON THE INDISCRIMINATE CONFLATION OF ANTISEMITISM AND ANTIZIONISM, THIS IS NOT TRULY ABOUT THE "DEFENSE" NOR "DEPRIVATION" OF THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS AT ALL. RATHER, AS MILSTEIN HIMSELF ADMITS, IT IS YET ANOTHER THINLY VEILED ATTEMPT TO WEAPONIZE THE LEGAL SYSTEM TO INTIMIDATE US INTO SILENCE AND INCAPACITATE ANY FORM OF RESISTANCE AGAINST THE ZIONIST ENTITY'S ONGOING GENOCIDE OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.

ALT go fund me page: Support Bryan’s Daughter and Seek Justice $696 raised of $100k

ALT No parent should have to bury their child. I am grieving not only the loss of my son, but the future we had planned and were supposed to share — the moments, the conversations, the love and life that was taken far too soon. Bryan leaves behind his beautiful daughter — his heart & soul, his purpose, his everything. Everything he did was for her. Now she is left to grow up without her father, and I am doing everything in my power to ensure she is protected , supported, loved & cared for during a time so tragic.

ALT We wanted to provide some clarifications on our initial statement regarding allegations against a former PCC organizer. After we shared our initial statement, we followed up with the 3rd-party mediator to check in with the individual who brought forward the most severe allegations. Before speaking any further on the situation, we wanted to get a better understanding on what should be shared publicly, and to respect that process, we paused posting on social media. We’ve since been told that all those harmed want us to name him publicly, something we have done in private but haven’t yet shared online. We can now move forward with sharing more details about what occured:

ALT In September 2021, the Robinson SPACE was made aware of allegations about then-PCC organizer Trinidad Ruiz making unwanted romantic and sexual advances onto two women. In the interest of making this difficult process more comfortable for the women harmed, the femmes leading Robinson SPACE and PCC initially decided to take the lead on handling this matter. They agreed that the alleged harm should be addressed in a principled way, in line with our belief in the need to develop our own systems of accountability outside of the carceral and punitive frameworks of a reactionary capitalist society. As part of this, we worked with the impacted parties to find a 3rd-party mediator/facilitator of their choice who was experienced in transformative justice processes. The women harmed informed us that their intention was not to excommunicate him, but to hold him accountable, have him seek therapy, and work to find whatever level of justice that they saw fit.

ALT It wasn’t until late February 2022 that more details of these allegations were shared with PCC as a whole. There were varying levels of harm alleged, from unwanted flirting, persistent behavior that pushed or violated peoples’ boundaries, and sexual coercion with a prior partner. He was subsequently removed from both PCC and Robinson SPACE at the beginning of March. Trinidad refused to take accountability and, ultimately, the process failed because of this. The accountability process continued without him and the group had multiple facilitated conversations throughout the following months. However, various community agreements around online conduct and confidentiality were broken by both Trinidad and others involved which significantly disrupted the process. Nonetheless, it remains clear that the movement still struggles with this long-standing contradiction as women and other gender-oppressed people continue to be harmed. The tools and acccountability processes the movement has collec

ALT To address the prior mention of misinformation, there is a white individual who has continually made vague and ambiguous allegations about this situation both online and in-person to others in the movement, leading to insinuations that other members of PCC were the perpetrators of the alleged harm when they were not. The harm is compounded given that many of these insinuations by this white individual have been directed towards POC members of PCC. We have always been as transparent as possible with any organization or group that has approached us with questions about what occured. Together we must all fight to create spaces where women and all gender-oppressed people are truly safe, not just in theory, but in practice. When harm happens, it’s on us as communities to show up with care, accountability, and support. Over the past few years, PCC has confronted hard truths, and we understand that it is not only our responsibility but our duty to resist and dismantle these oppressive system

ALT There is a person who has been spreading misinformation for years both online & privately about PCC. In late 2021, serious allegations from multiple women were brought to the Robinson SPACE (a community 3rd space we helped create) about an organizer with PCC & other local orgs who was accused of sexualized harm. The person was removed from PCC & Robinson SPACE in March 2022 and was never allowed back. We are not attempting to protect him or shield him from accountability. We engaged with Just Media, a 3rd party mediator (@Just.meditation on Instagram), and took part in a year-long transformative justice process with the attempt to not abandon or isolate anyone. Throughout this process and beyond, each time someone/group has come to us with what they’ve heard, we have sat down, addressed the misinformation and given the facts.

ALT We understand the need for real transparency, to be held accountable, and we always want to receive principled critique. If there are people who are in community with us and would like clarity or a full breakdown, please reach out to us. If all parties harmed want details of the transformative justice process and communication around it to be posted online, we very much welcome that, but that is not a decision for us to make. The reality is that there is deep rooted misogyny, sexualized harm, and chauvinism in our culture and this is especially true in left spaces/organizations. There needs to be a reckoning and a shift immediately. These issues are often minimized or outright ignored, despite the principles and values espoused by organizations on the left. To be clear, we are asking others not to go after those who shared this misinformation or to defend us in any capacity. We must all contribute to an environment where people are able to speak openly about harm and even more so whe