We are pleased to announce the launch of the public online course “If I Must Die: Public Health, Power, and Palestine.”
https://sites.google.com/view/ifimustdie-publichealth/palestine-course
In the aftermath of the attacks on the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment in May 2024, public health graduate students organized to develop a class where fellow students with interest in antiracism, anticolonialism, and health justice in Palestine could learn and process together in a productive and respectful manner. The course explores the pathways linking colonization and occupation as a “fundamental cause of health” to a range of issues including mental health; environmental and occupational health; communicable, maternal and perinatal conditions; and violence. Applied exercises center the history, stories, and voices of those individuals
currently experiencing the most harm and violence in the region and finding
solutions against it: Palestinians in Gaza.
When this course was officially cancelled by UCLA https://dailybruin.com/2025/04/01/fielding-school-of-public-health-class-on-palestine-ordered-to-be-canceled, we decided to focus our efforts on developing an online course that all could use. That website is now completed, and available for use by all. The course will always be a work in progress, and so we welcome feedback, suggestions, and partnerships. None of the course organizers are Palestinian and few of us have spent time in Palestine, so we humbly ask you to share your wisdom so that knowledge can spread. We strongly encourage the use of the website as a platform for collective learning and discussion in small groups, and are happy to support these efforts.
If you have feedback or would like support, please email me at kuhn@ucla.edu or the Health not Punishment Collective at healthnotpunishment.la@gmail.com.
In health and solidarity,