Columbia Uni students unify to 'challenge settler-colonial violence'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Websites
16 Nov 2023 09:32

The coalition identifies as a continuation of the Vietnam anti-war movement and the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa, noting that the genocide in Gaza and the siege are being funded by US taxpayer money and financial investments made by institutions like Columbia University.

Demonstrators gather with signs near the Butler Library on the Columbia University campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City on Sunday, October 8, 2023. (AP)

Columbia University in New York witnessed over 40 of its student groups form an alliance to demand the university divest from Israeli aggression and “challenge the settler-colonial violence” perpetrated by "Israel" with support from the US and the West.

In a statement published on Wednesday, the coalition announced that Columbia University Apartheid Divest intends to force the university to withdraw its entire economic and academic shares in the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine as a result of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian Rally Held On Columbia University @anadoluagency pic.twitter.com/nWnQQ4oMT0
— L. Vural Elibol (@vuralelibol) November 16, 2023

The coalition identified itself as a continuation of the Vietnam anti-war movement and the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa, noting that the genocide in Gaza and the siege are being funded by US taxpayer money and financial investments made by institutions like Columbia University.

It added that its mission will involve aiming to cancel Columbia’s dual-degree partnership with "Israel’s" "Tel Aviv" University in order to end a project called "Tel Aviv" Global Center, which is restricting the access of Palestinian affiliates of Columbia as a result.

Columbia is one of the colleges that has turned into a focal point for anti-war demonstrations.

A sizable contingent of pro-"Israel" demonstrators attended a rally organized by National Students for Justice in Palestine last month on campus, as part of a "day of resistance" against "Israel's" military aggression in Gaza.

'Freedom incomplete without freedom of Palestinians'

US President Joe Biden and Congress members, alongside government officials in the US, will also be called on by the coalition to support the demands of implementing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The statement underlined that true collective safety in the world will only be found when everyone, including the Palestinians in Gaza, has access to food, water, housing, education, freedom of movement, and dignity.

It cited South Africa’s anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela's quote stating: "We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians".

This follows the US federal government's initiation of new efforts to monitor and address the purported rise in what is alleged to be "anti-semitism" on college campuses across the country, which is fallaciously argued to have surged since the war on Gaza began earlier this month.

NBC News reported that the Biden administration has instructed the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice to collaborate with law enforcement agencies at colleges and universities nationwide to surveil online "hate" activities.