SJSU students protest Flock cameras on campus, say ‘Get the Flock Out!’

San Jose, CA – On November 9, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at San Jose State University led a demonstration against the arrival of Flock surveillance cameras on campus. The appearance of Flock was the result of San Jose City Council failing to issue any sort of moratorium against the establishment of Flock throughout the city.

The route of the march went past the several sites around campus where Flock cameras had been put up. Chants such as “Get the Flock off our campus!” as well as “Flock, you can’t hide, you’re supporting ICE’s crimes!” were commonly heard. Speeches and slogans also called attention to the Flock’s collaboration with ICE and police forces.

Flock inordinately targets Black and Chicano communities, and there have been many high-profile cases of law enforcement officers using Flock cameras to stalk their ex-partners, meaning Flock also poses issues for women’s safety and privacy.

The protest also tied into SDS SJSU’s larger campaign of getting companies that collaborate with Israel, the U.S. military, Trump, and ICE off campus. This has included overt war profiteers like Northrop and Lockheed, but also other companies such as Nvidia and OpenAI. Flock’s collaboration with ICE has made them a new target of this local campaign.

SDS member Malik Shim stated, “It’s not just our campus, but also our neighborhoods.” He added, “80 percent of black neighborhoods have had at least one Flock camera in them.”

Shim called attention to how Flock cameras have been used as a tool of institutional racism, incorrectly identifying criminals and leading to the wrongful arrest of Black people, stating, “As a black individual myself, I ask SJSU today, with these Flock cameras terrorizing my community and our campus, who do you represent? Are you on the side of mass surveillance or are you on the side of students?”

Ethan Maruyama, a member of FRSO, said, “Flock is just a symptom of national oppression under monopoly capitalism. This technology is being utilized to attack our neighbors and immigrants. It is also being used by the police to attack women and Black people. Flock is set up by the monopoly capitalists, the same parasitic assholes who screw us over every day. Get Flock off campus, and if you want to take the fight to capitalism, join Freedom Road today.”

The action against Flock by SDS was met with support by the student body, both through its publicization in online posts, but also by passersby during the action itself, many of whom were not aware of Flock’s presence beforehand. As hatred towards Flock grows among the student body, SDS is now putting pressure on SJSU administration to do something about Flock’s presence.

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