University of California Berkeley Ethnic Studies “Scholar Series” for High School Teachers Highlights Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and the Venceremos Brigade; Panelist Says “If You’re Not Talking About Palestine, You’re Not Doing Ethnic Studies”
Investigations
SUMMARY
A 2024 University of California Berkeley’s High School Ethnic Studies Initiative (HSESI) “Scholar Series” event titled “Teaching Histories of Anti-Imperialist Solidarity” geared towards high school teachers promotes the use of images of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and the Black Panthers as vehicles to “articulate a particular vision.” At the event, a panelist said, “If you’re not talking about Palestine, you’re not doing ethnic studies.” The webpage for the event promotes far-left radical groups and sites including the Venceremos Brigade, a fiscal project of The People’s Forum.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The session’s land acknowledgement starts with a “call to action” because they are “witnessing the ongoing genocide of Palestinians” and calls for “solidarity campaigns for the liberation of Palestine, Congo, and other oppressed countries.”
- A panelist admits that they utilize images and posters of radicals such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and the Black Panthers as “the vehicle to articulate a particular vision.”
- When asked to compare the 1960s and 1970s anti-war politics to the “war on Gaza,” one panelist states that it is the “same struggle – people struggling for self-determination against colonialism” and adds that one cannot be “for Black or Chicano liberation if you aren’t willing to struggle for the Palestinian people.”
- One of the panelists stated that “If you’re not talking about Palestine, you’re not doing ethnic studies.”
- Under a “resources” section, the UC Berkeley HSESI event page promotes the Venceremos Brigade, a fiscal project of The People’s Forum. The Brigade sends “delegates to Cuba to work on public projects” and “use their experience in Cuba to organize against the economic embargo on Cuba, from within the United States.”
TEACHING HISTORIES OF ANTI-IMPERIALIST SOLIDARITY
The University of California Berkeley High School Ethnic Studies Initiative (HSESI) is a “collaboration between The American Cultures Center, Department of Ethnic Studies, and History-Social Science Project developing curriculum materials to support Bay Area teachers and school districts offering California’s Ethnic Studies high school graduation requirement.”
HSESI Scholar Series: Teaching Histories of Anti-Imperialist Solidarity
The “HSESI Scholar Series” event begins with participants reciting a “Land Acknowledgement,” claiming that “every member of the Berkeley community benefits from the occupation of this land.” A second participant states that “part of the land acknowledgement is a call to action” because they are “witnessing the ongoing genocide of Palestinians” and “call upon community members to think of Anti-Imperialist struggle not just as history, but as an ongoing movement.” The speaker also calls for “solidarity campaigns for the liberation of Palestine, Congo, and other oppressed countries.”
One of the speakers claimed to be first introduced to ethnic studies in the late 1990s at Tyree Scott Freedom School in Seattle. “It was a political education space for youth of color,” the speaker said. He continued, noting that ethnic studies was based on the work of Tyree Scott, a “Black labor radical who linked domestic struggles to international ones, sending workers to Cuba and Mozambique to work on infrastructure projects as part of anti-imperialist solidarity.”
A San Francisco State University (SFSU) professor states that his introduction to ethnic studies was “born out of being a working-class Chicano in the ‘belly of the beast’—feeling the anger and shame of being otherized without the words to articulate it. Movement work saved my life.” He adds that he “came to Berkeley for grad school to be the professor I wanted to see as an activist student.”
When asked about how he teaches ethnic studies, Ferreira states that because “archives are often structured in domination,” he has to “approach teaching in unorthodox ways,” including using visuals such as “a picture from 1960 of Fidel Castro meeting Malcolm X in New York” or “poster art by Emory Douglas for the Black Panther Party, which explicitly declares solidarity with oppressed people of the world.”
Schulze-Ochetering Castaneda states that “solidarity” is “rejecting a ‘separate peace'” and “requires political education” and knowing “all forms of oppression.”
The host asked the panel participants to compare 1960s and 1970s anti-war politics to the “war on Gaza.” One panelist claims that these are the “same struggle – people struggling for self-determination against colonialism.” He continues: “The narrative of the Zionist regime no longer holds. As June Jordan said, this is the defining struggle. You can’t be for Black or Chicano liberation if you aren’t willing to struggle for the Palestinian people.”
In a message to teachers, Ferreira states that “there has been a struggle here in California – do we or do we not include Arab American Studies in ethnic studies…we have to do the work to show that Palestine and Arab American Studies has always been and is today a fundamental part of ethnic studies.” He concludes with the statement: “If you’re not talking about Palestine, you’re not doing ethnic studies.”
Teaching Histories of Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Slide Deck
Resources
The UC Berkeley HSESI event page lists a number of “resources” including the promotion of the Venceremos Brigade, a fiscal project of The People’s Forum. The Brigade sends “delegates to Cuba to work on public projects” and “use their experience in Cuba to organize against the economic embargo on Cuba, from within the United States.”
K-12 SCHOOL DISTRICTS
The following K-12 school districts have contracted with UC Berkeley’s History – Social Science Project, which joined with the American Cultures Center to form HSESI, for professional development and curriculum creation.
Also included below are links to news articles, reports, and curriculums related to the UC Berkeley program and districts.
Reports
LiberatED: K-12 Liberated Ethnic Studies Industrial Complex
- University of California Berkeley History-Social Science Project
LiberatED: Higher Education, Ethnic Studies and the Academic March Toward Intolerance
- University of California Berkeley High School Ethnic Studies Initiative (HSESI)
California
This is not a comprehensive list.
Antioch Unified School District
Belmont-Redwood Shores School District
Elk Grove Unified School District
Palo Alto Unified School District
- April 11, 2024 – $16,500
- August 8, 2024 – UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies training program leader urges parents to ‘trust the teachers’
- July 10, 2025 – Palo Alto Unified School District’s ethnic studies course features a focus on examining students’ power and privilege, including ‘white privilege;’ uses a document which states that discussions and content will bring ‘discomfort’ and ‘anger’
San Rafael City Schools
San Jose Unified School District
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