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Tag: Palestine

Intersectionality and Palestinian Liberation, with San Marcos City Council’s Amanda Rodriguez

Posted in Journalism

Recently, I spent several hours getting to know community organizers in San Marcos, a college town in Central Texas where there’s a dedicated, and persistent coalition organized around Palestinian Liberation and ending the genocide in Gaza. 

According to Scott Cove, one of the founders of Palestine Solidarity SMTX, the group began with a vigil at the historic courthouse in their town square in December of 2023. Like so many of us, they were appalled by “the children being slaughtered and just the carnage taking place.” The earliest members, Cove told me, felt a bit “isolated and alone” in their town, so they came together over this troubling and vital cause. Since then, they’ve held film screenings and marches, BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) protests outside targets like Texaco and Chevron, even a kite building workshop. 

Along the way, they’ve also gotten deeply involved with local politics, to the point that they elected a city council member — Amanda Rodriguez — in order to force the council to hear their ceasefire resolution. 

As activists, there’s an ongoing struggle between how much we should focus on direct action compared to how much we should engage with more conventional, electoral politics. What struck me about this group, from the outside anyway, was their success at grappling with both.

Deceleration: How Pro-Palestine Organizers Transformed San Marcos, Texas

Posted in Activism, Deceleration, and Journalism

As they raise awareness of an ongoing genocide, activists for Palestinian liberation in San Marcos are transforming local politics in their Central Texas community. 

Last week, their city council became the first in Texas to vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. In a state where even a hint of public support for Palestine brought threats from the governor to defund vital services, getting the resolution to a vote required years of coordinated organizing from a diverse, deeply engaged community who remain passionately opposed to the unfolding horrors of the Israeli occupation. 

After hearing public comments from over 100 local residents in a meeting that stretched until late at night, the council members ultimately voted 5-2 against the measure. Despite this setback, the extreme dedication of the “San Martians” who wrote the resolution — and forced the city to hear hours of public testimony in support of human rights — may offer valuable lessons to other communities about what can be accomplished even in the face of intense opposition from a powerful Republican-led state political establishment.

Deceleration: Governor Abbott Threatens To Defund Police in San Marcos Over Gaza

Posted in Activism, Deceleration, and Journalism

Greg Abbott could defund the police in San Marcos—at least partially—if the Texas governor carries through with his threats over a proposed city council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

On Tuesday, May 6, the city council in this city of about 67,000 people will vote on a resolution which condemns “the humanitarian catastrophe and genocide in Palestine.” However, Abbott and others in the state Republican party establishment have threatened to pull millions in funding from the city if the resolution passes, including about $500,000 in state funds which go towards the police and public safety measures like opioid abuse mitigation. 

That’s according to a spreadsheet shared among city council members in the lead up to the vote on the resolution, which was provided to Deceleration by the group Palestine Solidarity SMTX. Over $18 million in federal funding which the state passes on to San Marcos could also be at risk, including over $2 million in grants from the Women, Infants and Children program, which ensures vulnerable residents have access to nutritious food.

Austin Free Press: A U.T. professor and state trooper collide

Posted in Austin, Austin Free Press, and Journalism

Reporter’s Notebook: Kit O’Connell reflects on pro-Palestinian protests on UT-Austin’s campus last spring. Their commentary is accompanied by a video of the incident never before released to the public.

On a blistering April day I arrived at the University of Texas at Austin last year, after receiving a tip that more Gaza protests were breaking out at UT’s South Mall. I didn’t know then that a well-regarded professor whom I previously interviewed was about to have a life-changing altercation that would land him in jail and end his UT career.

Five days before, students had gathered in that grassy, open area to oppose Israel’s bombing campaign. Dozens of Department of Public Safety State Troopers, under orders from Governor Greg Abbott and with support of then-UT Austin president Jay Hartzell, had aggressively broken up the protest. Then, on April 29, the students were back; this time, they planned to pitch tents and form a protest encampment.

Deceleration: Palestine Protesters Disrupt Harris Rally in Houston

Posted in Journalism

Outside of Houston’s Shell Energy Stadium on October 25, 2025, a group of area residents gathered outside a campaign rally of presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris to drive awareness of the U.S. administration’s material support for genocide in Gaza and demand that the U.S. stop supplying weapons to Israel. 

The effort was organized by a coalition of groups that included Palestinian Youth Movement, Houston for Palestinian Liberation, and Al Awda, a group that supports the right of Palestinian peoples to return to their original lands in what is now the state of Israel. The rally’s message: 

“If you want to beat Donald Trump, get Kamala Harris to stop killing Arab people!”

The Barbed Wire: First Arrests at Austin Pride in Over a Decade

Posted in Austin, Journalism, LGBTQIA, and The Barbed Wire

At Austin’s Pride Parade in August, while rainbow-painted police horses stood guard and brightly decorated floats passed by, officers tackled two men, using kicks and pressure points to pin their bodies to the ground. They were taken to jail on charges of ignoring law enforcement commands and resisting arrest. 

They were the first arrests at an Austin Pride event in years — perhaps more than a decade, according to one of the event’s longtime organizers. And it left many who watched it unfold, including journalists like myself, with one unshakeable thought: That didn’t need to happen. 

I’ve spent the weeks since reporting on why it did.