University students – making their voices heard ++ UCLA a tinderbox waiting to blow

University students voicing displeasure with authorities and the status quo is practically a rite of passage from the anti-Vietnam uprisings in the mid 1960s alongside anti-apartheid and pro-civil rights demos when the revolutionary transiting Uranus Pluto conjunction was in place. French students staging mass protests in 1968, involving street fights, demanded democratic and educational reforms, cultural liberation, social justice, and better working conditions. The protests had a lasting impact on French society and politics and also on a global level, inspiring similar movements in other countries.

  There are armed clashes at the moment at Columbia University in New York and UCLA over the Palestine situation, with some blaming outside agitators. The 1960s protests had the advantage of being fought on simpler issues – apartheid is wrong, the Vietnam War is a disaster and should be stopped, freedom of speech should be inviolable.

 That Gaza and the Palestinians have been badly treated by successive Israel governments with the complicit (and inexplicable) support of USA governments over the years is not in question. But as Janet Daley argued, the pro-Palestine demonstrators are putting their bodies on the line for – an alignment with forces supported by the most illiberal, authoritarian, repressive regime in the world.

  I’m not sure I have much that is illuminating apart from a few pointers.  Assuming the students who are demanding their right to be heard are around 20 at the moment they were born, some of them, with the Uranus in Pisces square Pluto in dogmatic Sagittarius so will be rebels by nature; with the added turmoil of the North Node in Taurus.

 Columbia University, 25 May 1754, oddly enough also has Uranus in Pisces square Pluto in Sagittarius, so echoes of the past have come back to set off a few firecrackers of resistance.  If this chart is anything to go by the disruptions will continue for another two years at least, if not five.

 UCLA has had a muddled history since the start, with the earliest version being founded 2 May 1862, which has a determined Taurus Sun and Pluto square Mars and trine Jupiter Saturn in Virgo; with Saturn Jupiter square Uranus. The Mercury is conjunct the can-be-fanatical Uranus Neptune midpoint.

  Perhaps the USA 4 July 1776 11 am chart with the Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the 9th house (= higher education) Mars almost exactly now is stoking up some of the destructive, fractious, irritable energy.

  The students may be embroiled in a more complicated issue than they know but if they could exert enough pressure to persuade the US government to insist on a civilized solution to the Palestinians’ seventy five year ordeal, then it may not all be wasted effort.

ADD ON: A later date for UCLA is 23 May 1919. This certainly shows up a propensity for ructions, disruptions and violent protests with its Sun in Gemini conjunct Mars in Taurus conjunction square Saturn in Leo. Tr Uranus is square the Saturn exactly now and moving on to conjunct the Mars and Sun in 2025 – so it won’t settle anytime soon.  This chart in particular clashes with Israel’s Taurus Sun square Mars in Leo.

37 thoughts on “University students – making their voices heard ++ UCLA a tinderbox waiting to blow”

  2. Why does the UCLA natal chart have San Jose as its location?
    Also, my reading of the local news is that USC has been more problematic.
    (LOL—cross town rivals of local world class unis)
    San Jose has a state university – I’ve not seen coverage of protests there nor of any protests at Stanford which is very close to San Jose.
    UC Santa Cruz is also close to San Jose. No big news of out of control protests there.

    Politico has a great article in which they interviewed student journalists -reporters for the campus papers. People can read what the kids see from inside.

    Re: UCLA-the counter protestors were not students. Before the confrontation with these ppl Tuesday the protests were peaceful

    • @KG, my husband’s a Stanford alum. They’ve had lots of protests, which he’s been following in the San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate.com, but so far they’ve been peaceful and the university has allowed the tents to remain a long as they don’t interfere with normal activities. They also lost their president last year through a different scandal and are still looking for a replacement. Who would want to be a major university president right now? It’s a no-win situation.

      • Thank you!
        I was born there.
        My parents went there.
        Aunts
        A step-grandmother
        And lots of friends
        And my cousin’s kid (she had an important event cancelled due to the protests)
        It’s an important place to my family
        I was going to transfer there but the journalism department was closed out

        I saw protests in the 60s when my mom was a student there -I was young & found it scary

  3. I’m not at all opposed to university students and young people protesting war crimes against humanity and demanding social justice. However, I have been a bit dubious of many of these pro-Palestine protesters because some of it does come across as virtue signaling.

    When I was a college and university student back in the 2000s, I took part in many human rights causes myself. For example, I supported ending the genocide of Indigenous Black African ethnic groups by Arab militias in Darfur (a crisis that is still ongoing). I was part of the mass protests against the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq. Also, I protested the Sri Lankan Tamil genocide and the Russian invasion of Georgia.

    Even some years after I graduated from college, I took part in projects aimed at helping Yazidi, Rohingya, and Uyghur peoples who’ve been victims of genocides waged by ISIS, Myanmar’s nationalist militia, and China’s government. Now, I’m active in helping Kurds and Ukrainians.

    Anyway, at the beginning of these mass demonstrations on behalf of the Palestinians in Gaza, I had no objections to them. However, then I began seeing a lot of hypocrisy with many of these wannabe “humanitarians.”

    For starters, I wondered why the humanitarian crisis in Gaza appeared to be the ONLY trigger for these protesters? After all, Vladimir Putin and Erdoğan are, essentially, committing the SAME war crimes in Ukraine and Kurdistan (like indiscriminately bombing hospitals, schools, residential areas, cultural heritage sites. etc.) while China is STILL holding ethnic Uyghurs, Hui, Kazakhs, and Tibetans in “re-education camps” and threatening Taiwan with invasion, Myanmar is still ethnically cleansing the Rohingya, Indonesia is still terrorizing Indigenous West Papauans, and new humanitarian crises have sprung up in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

    In other words, it infuriates me to some extent that ALL of the many other plights and war crimes around the planet go on unmentioned, unreported, and ignored….but Gaza is treated by these very protesters as the only humanitarian crisis deserving of immediate justice.

    Also, the Palestinian plight appears to be the only cause these students are willing to sacrifice their entire academic career for. For example, some of these universities have warned that if these students continue with these demonstrations, they could face expulsion.

    Some people are unaware of this, but if you get expelled from a college or university, the credits you’ve earned are NON-transferable to another school. So, all that time, money, and work you’ve invested will be GONE. Apparently, the students who are aware of this risk seem undeterred (because they’re under the impression that future employers won’t go through the hassle of checking their academic histories).

    I’m also appalled that some (I know not all of them) of these protesters have resorted to antisemitic rhetoric, outrageous conspiracy theories about “Zionists,” and even admiration for groups like Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah.

    One white woman who called herself a pro-Palestinian protester even took to social media to promulgate a ridiculous conspiracy theory that Israeli Zionist Jews were secretly working with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy (who happens to be of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage) to keep the war going in Ukraine in order to make Ukraine a “second Jewish state.” She went on to post videos of Ukrainian soldiers (probably Ukrainians who recently discovered they had hidden Jewish ancestry) converting to Judaism under the direction of an Israeli rabbi living in Ukraine. The woman went on to claim that Israeli Zionists and Zelenskyy were allowing all of the ethnic Ukrainians who choose not to convert to Judaism to perish under Russian bombs (and she believes Russia is only defending itself from Zionists and Nazis).

    Normally, I would scroll past and ignore such a outlandish post. However, I noticed that it was being habitually retweeted by mainly self-proclaimed pro-Palestine protesters. I found that deeply disturbing.

    We should also consider the “privilege” factor in some of these demonstrations too. For example, many of these protesters are from well-to-do White American backgrounds and their behavior has been peculiar to say the least. They’ve been complaining about not receiving war, sanitary wipes, blankets, feminine hygiene products, and other basic necessities at their encampments….but they seem to forget that Palestinian civilians in Gaza are lacking these necessities on a daily basis…and unlike the protesters, they can’t simply up and leave when conditions become unbearable for them.

    Anyway, I generally don’t like engaging in “whataboutism” but I felt it was unavoidable in this particular situation. I tend to be suspicious of anyone who calls themselves a humanitarian or a social justice warrior when selective empathy is in play.

    All in all, I do support the protesters who genuinely do support a peaceful resolution to the Gaza crisis and hope to see both Israeli and Palestinian civilians working together rather than being pitted against each other.

    • Neptune has recently been conjunct Mars. It is associated with aggression mixed with a sense of victimisation leading to anger overflowing uncontrollably in a mist of confusion. I think what is to be noted is that now Mars is out of Pisces and in early Aries the Neptunian overflowing of sympathy for the underdog in the case of the Palestinians is now prompting more direct action by protestors and some rather more robust response from the authorities. This is really going to be fully manifested in 2026 when Neptune is conjunct Saturn at 0 Aries in February. Mars is conjunct Neptune at 2 Aries and then Saturn and Mercury at 7 Aries in April 2026.

      • That would explain a lot about the shadowy side of my own Scorpio Mars/Neptune, Hugh which I share with the slippery (shudder) Michael Gove! But yes, Mars moving into Aries will often be synchronous with activism, and planets in Aries occur at the beginning of a movement, the first wave if you like is marked by Aries which frequently crops up in the charts of those at the forefront of historical movements (such as the Civil Rights movement in America). The Sun’s ingress into Aries marks the beginning of Spring and the sign is ruled by Mars, thus traditionally following the Spring equinox and after planting, in the Northern hemisphere soldiers would go to war. So the timing of these protests is interesting.

        It makes me wonder about Neptune’s ingress into the sign in 2026 and its potential for yet more protest and political/social/justice movements.

        • I think it will be a real clash of revolt against reaction and there will be casualties. The Peasants Revolt in England broke out in June 1381 after a Mars Neptune conjunction in Aries in April of that year. It was initially successful in taking over control of parts of London but was ultimately crushed by royal forces after Mars conjoined first Saturn and then Pluto in Taurus.

          • Thanks Hugh for the info on Saturn/Neptune in 1381. Saturn/Neptune also appears in the chart of the Peterloo Massacre (16/8/1819) with Uranus/Neptune in late Sag square Saturn on fixed star Scheat in Pisces. Saturn is also conjunct Chiron/Pluto, all in the last degrees of Pisces. The North Node in Aries.

            I notice a tendency for outer planets at 29 degrees of a sign in the charts of marches, crusades and rallies. The People’s Crusade is marked by Uranus in the final degrees of Uranus and Neptune at 29 of Cancer. The Million Man March has Pluto at 29 Scorpio as well as the Uranus/Neptune conjunction in Capricorn. The Jarrow March, Pluto at 28 Cancer. So with our own times, the final degrees of Pisces have seen the rise of the Palestinian cause and consequent protests. I think the timing of protest movements is an interesting study astrologically.

          • I thought the new consensus on the Peasants Revolt was actually the middleman – small businesses traders – not the peasants. It was the small burgeoning businesses that were beginning grow; with an interest in rocking the dynamics.. However, what interests me about the Neptune/Saturn conjunction is that Neptune rules the 12th house hidden concepts? . Saturn Rules 10th house of leadership. I think this conjunction will bring hidden aspects to light. We are going to learn a lot more about the motives behind these uprisings. Maybe an illusion being brought down to a earth?

          • Apologies I was thinking of a Saturn/England, Peasants/ Rulership when reading your post, rather than Mars. /Aries. However, I can remember reading a very good article about the Peasants Revolt. That is was not instigated by the peasants. Mars/ Aries represent being number one, the leader. It stated that it was really the middle men drumming up their anger to get more power. Businessmen and commercial enterprises certainly started to gain more power after that rising.

        • Thanks Marjorie, VF and Hugh. All very interesting re now, and past uprisings and protests.
          I had a look at May 2nd 1968, when the French student protests began. I hadn’t realised what a significant effect those had, eventually triggering a snap election in France and sympathy strikes by the unions.

          There’s a solid Mars in Taurus, opposing Neptune at 25 Scorpio. Jupiter, 25 Leo makes a t-square. That’s loudly echoing France 1792’s fixed planets, with Mars then at 25 Scorpio – another example of Neptune/Mars together? I would count Mars as co-ruler of Scorpio too. Tr Uranus in Taurus with Mars in July looks relevant, and may be another serious flashpoint in the world.

          Also of interest is May 68’s Saturn in Aries, conjunct the North Node 18 Aries. Chiron had just left Pisces, and was at 1 Aries that month. The spring eclipses that year were 8 Aries Solar in March, and 23 Libra Lunar in April. There’s a kind of “I” versus “We” dynamic with that Aries/Libra theme that’s around now with the Nodes (and possibly Chiron) in Aries again. Either way the horned animals of impulsive Aries and obstinate Taurus are definitely restless!

          • Some interpretations of Mars/Neptune in a natal chart tend to interpret this conjunction as the will to fight for the underdog/those who they perceive as oppressed/excluded from society. It even has a touch of the martyr about it in some respects and I don’t mean that in a pejorative way, but there is something of the holy warrior or crusader in the conjunction depending on house placement and aspects.

            Jane – yes, it occurred to me too thinking about the Uranus/Pluto conjunction in Virgo of that time as well as a NN in Aries along with Chiron. It was when Chiron entered Aries around the time of the Covid pandemic that we saw the rise of the BLM movement, following the shocking muder of George Floyd.

            Finally, the prevalence of Cardinal signs in the charts of movements and members of movements is marked. I see Aries as the initial drive towards a campaign and the demonstration of it followed by Cancer wherein the movement gains popular awareness and support. Then in Libra, the drive for justice and finally in Capricorn, the aims of the movement are enshrined in law.

          • Also interesting in this exploration, is that the USA 4th July has Mars square Neptune. UK a wide opposition between Taurus Mars and Scorpio Neptune (with that Venus in Aquarius). UK also about to have a nodal return, 14 Aries. But I haven’t looked at other UK charts at this point. Possibly a quiet voter revolt of some kind is currently happening in the local election results!

          • Perhaps worth noting, too, that Neptune was moving between Aquarius and Pisces in 1848 – the year which saw the publication on 21 February of Marx and Engels Communist Manifesto. That was also the Year of Revolutions, which took place in France, Germany, Italy, Sicily and the Austrian Empire. Saturn was in Pisces, and aligned with the Moon’s South Node more than once that year. Uranus and Pluto were in Aries.

    • Chris,

      Respectively….

      Humankind has never been able to witness in graphic detail, in realtime what we see with the current atrocities. Gen Z who were born with devices in their hands, can see moment by moment what is happening, and are rightfully appalled, aren’t we all? They have also become aware of Congo and other ongoing genocides, but have you seen the videos made by the IDF soldiers in Gaza?

      I am Gen X and have seen many wars, but this war and it’s indiscriminate death and destruction makes me support Hamas in many ways and completely turn against Israel – unless you learn the entire 75 year history of the Palestinian displacement, ongoing apartheid and ‘mowing the lawn’ by Israel you won’t get it. Once you start down that rabbit hole, which Gen Z has done via TikTok, it’s very hard to have any other view than the view they have. They do not watch mainstream media, which is basically propaganda to support a narrative that is dishonest.

      There is nothing antisemitic about what they are doing – NOTHING – they want to see an end the senseless death of innocent children women and men. 40,000 Palestinians blown to pieces, or shot in the back of the head by snipers, or the aid trucks being blocked by settlers. There is far more islamophobia, but that gets little to no air time.

      And do you think they prioritise their degree’s over all of that lol. The fact that these Ivy league universities educate the children of the elite should tell you everything you need to know about their moral positions, they don’t care about race, religion or privilege and that should be applauded.

      This should be a wake up call to humanity and the lack of humanity and ignorance of many is in full view and we are appalled by it.

      I’ll get off my soap box now.

      • @ Mel,

        I do happen to know the history of Palestine. Also, I’ve traveled to both Israel and Palestine (the West Bank) many times over the years….and I even lived in the multi-ethnic northern town of Tzfat for 4 months back in 2005.

        Also, despite not having been raised as a Jew, I’m still technically a Jew by Halakha standards.

  5. The official date for UCLA IS May 23, 1919. Before it wasn’t part of the UC system. The location is Los Angeles . Not San Jose. The name was San Jose for awhile but it is not the location. Other – to define the situation as “the Israeli didn’t treat the Palestinians very nicely” is ..well – it is a relationship. Palestinians terrorized Israel and Israelis around the world for many years. In 1993 there was a peace agreement that the Palestinians broke and started a violent Intifada . In 2005 Israel withdraw from Gaza. They elected Hamas and started to terrorized Israelis by throwing rockets on Civilians …
    Students these days are connected to information from tiktok . Their knowledge is limited. Also -anti-israel groups built cells inside the universities for long time.

  6. Thanks for clarifying that it was UCLA. Most of the press seemed to be unaware that there are quite a few universities under the University of California umbrella.

    I found it quite disconcerting that protesters were being ordered to not speak to the press as well as covering their faces with masks. You would think that such people would welcome the chance to air their grievances, otherwise why bother to protest and take over campuses in the first place?

  7. Sometime back I came across a post on Spiritual Warriors born with Pluto sextile Neptune. These sextile happened often and across various generations. So some university age kids will be born with Pluto in Sagittarius sextile Neptune in Aquarius. Different signs will have different focus. I think Marjorie’s previous post on the various organisations Exit, Maid are examples of 2 different sets of Pluto sextile Neptune.

  8. This from BBC – “They have released information showing some of those arrested were well above the average age of university students – 90 of those arrested are in their 30s and 40s, and 3 are over 50.

    The police also have more details on the reasons people were arrested:

    115 people were detained for disorderly conduct
    3 for assault and
    48 for burglary
    Around one in 10 of those arrested had been detained on previous occasions for unlawful protest actions – and the vast majority of them are aged 22 years and above – older than undergraduate student age.”

    Seems outsiders took over the protests.

  10. Thanks Marjorie
    From interviews with the students at Columbia it is quite clear that majority of students are not pro Hamas or pro terrorist but they are protesting the human rights violations by Israel against innocent Palestinians women and children. The US state Dept recently confirmed violations https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/415610_WEST-BANK-AND-GAZA-2022-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf according to Reuters believed to be the Netzah Yehuda battalion of the Israel Defense Forces units and date back to even before the conflict began. The Intl Court of Justice is also currently investigating war crimes committed by Israel while the conflict is ongoing. The are several write ups with Amnesty International. Senator Bernie Sanders agrees and an outspoken critic.

    • I suspect that you are correct
      I think the kids are protesting the 30k + deaths
      And also that the US’s supplying expensive weapons

      I taught high school for several years
      Young people can be very idealistic
      It’s bothered me that young people in the US haven’t protested the war crimes in other countries but—they aren’t going to protest against Putin or Bashar Al-Asad (for example) because it’s US involvement that offends them

      Also—they are stoked up with the idea that US $ should be spent in the US—

      Some of that feeling is authentic and some is being propagated by bots

  11. I am reminded that Columbia–then known as King’s College–was Alexander Hamilton’s alma mater. The revolutionary spirit seems to be deeply established there, if not more than a little indiscriminate.

    Anyway, the protests aren’t just happening at Columbia or UCLA; students at dozens of universities across the country are demonstrating on behalf of the Palestinians. Shades of 1968, indeed.

    When they are calling for an end to the destruction in Gaza, and an end to support for the Netanyahu government’s brutality, and a peace that benefits all people, they are on the side of the angels.

    However, too many of them have veered from support for Palestinians to support for Hamas and Hizbollah, and loudly expressed hatred for not only the government of Israel, but for Jewish people in general. This subset have become useful idiots, utter fools and bigots.

    Interestingly enough, though, many of the people who occupied Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, vandalizing, destroying, and threatening employees, then brawling with police who were called in to clear them out, turned out NOT to be students; rather, they were people unconnected to the university who had come from outside to escalate the protests. That’s a development that lends itself to conspiracy theories about hostile foreign actors sowing chaos on U.S. campuses. (That’s not such an outlandish suggestion; we have notoriously porous borders, and we’re talking about enemy states that are so bold they don’t blink at perpetrating Novichock attacks on the streets of London.)

    This seems to be a pattern repeating around the country–mostly peaceful students and faculty whose protests are at some point hijacked by more violent agitators from outside the university.

    As for why the U.S. has continued to support Israel, that’s not so hard to work out: Israel is–or was, until Netanyahu’s right-wing government managed to engineer a soft authoritarian takeover–the only genuine democracy in the Middle East, and our only real ally there. Plus, the U.S. has the largest Jewish population on the planet–a bit larger even than Israel’s–and many people here have dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship. Jewish immigrants have had an outsize positive impact on the country’s development in many ways, going back centuries, and the U.S. was the main destination for Jewish refugees (other than Israel) after World War II. The cultural and political influence, largely positive, can’t be understated.

    Most people realize this, which is why most adult Americans view the protests unfavorably–fairly or not, they see a group of entitled young twits, for whom the history of humanity before the rise of social media is a big blur, spouting anti-semitic, pro-terrorist slogans that they learned on TikTok from Iranian and Russian propaganda mills. Some of these kids mean well, some don’t, but they have definitely imbibed the latter-day antisemitism of the far left.

    It’s a heartbreaking mess, because they are right–the response to the Oct. 7 attacks on Gaza have been vicious and cruel and have involved war crimes. However, students’ protests lack both historical and geopolitical context, and seem to be based largely on ignorance of history, the uncritical acceptance of propaganda, and misplaced self-righteousness.

    They don’t seem to understand that when you go from deploring the Gaza military response to explicitly cheering the rape and murder of civilians because they are Jews, as more than a few of these demonstrators have, you’ve lost the moral high ground. At the very least, you are too childish to have a valid opinion. I wish there were some way to keep people from protesting until their frontal lobes are fully developed.

    The worst of it is, these demonstrations accomplish little, other than to make a right-wing authoritarian backlash more likely. It would be horribly ironic if these student demonstrators indirectly helped Trump–one of the cruellest and most thoughtless men who ever held the levers of power–to get re-elected. If they think Biden is “genocide Joe,” imagine their shock when Trump makes anti-Muslim bigotry, including a wholehearted embrace of Netanyahu’s worst impulses, a pillar of his second term.

    • Very good analysis, AI22. I agree with most of what you say. I need to send another email to the president, begging him to stop arms shipments to Netanyahu. Interestingly, almost all my American Jewish friends deplore what Netanyahu has done and blame him for the initial situation and all the unnecessary killings.

      • The arms shipment is not for Netanyahu! If Israel will not be able to defend itself many Israelis civilians will died ! You might want to think what you wish for. For half a year civilians in Israel continuously bombard by all kind of rockets. The reason you don’t all the time hear is because the defense . The first week after 10/7 the 10,000 rockets were directed from Gaze to the center of cities in Israel.

        • Unfortunately, Aya, cutting off or restricting arms shipments is the only message the vile Netanyahu would understand now. The Israelis have a right to defend themselves but not to massacre tens of thousands of innocent civilians.

          My message will recommend cutting off US arms unless Netanyahu agrees to a ceasefire and realistic terms for a hostage exchange.

          Yes, the Israelis may suffer, but the Palestinians have suffered disproportionately already.

    • Unfortunately we allow ourselves to be hyped by the media. In the case of Columbia the NYPD has yet to prove their claim that that large groups of outside agitators were involved. In fact it was very few, according to students journalists and eyewitness reports the protesters were primarily made up of Columbia students and faculty including those who took Hamilton Hall.

      • There were some, including a woman who is married to a terrorist who is incarcerated. Eric Adams gave a report on this, and you can find his statement on youtube. For those who do not know all major cities on the east coast have facial imaging and there are cameras on the building, and the police can identify you. This is how they caught the Boston Bombers. DC, NYC, Boston for sure. Not sure about Philly but probably. If you are walking around a major city on the East Coast, smile, you are on camera.

  12. If western governments insisted on a ceasefire to release hostages and stop the unspeakable carnage being perpetrated by some loathsome Israeli politicians, the students and many others around the world would calm down. There are many civilised and humane Israelis, unfortunately they are not in control there.

  13. The question is how has the woke liberal tolerant secular educated aligned themselves with Islam which is rigid and the opposite in every way. Of course these are the naive foot soldiers. Those who pull the strings/influencers will remain in the shadows. Imo both sides are playing each other to pull down the other eventually.

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