UNC's Campus Y has been kept closed, for alleged security reasons, following the crushing of the nearby Gaza Solidarity Encampment April 30th [On the fifth day?]. I don't know about today, but when I was a student progressive groups such as SURGE had offices and meetings there. Recognized student groups might have space in what was then a new addition to the Student Union. [The Independent Weekly says that the Y was to reopen today, May 6th, with more limited hours, and that the Y hosts 22 "student social justice committees." According to the Duke and UNC GoFundMe linked below, the leaders of the Graduate Workers Union (UE150a?) and UNC Students for Justice in Palestine were suspended by May 4th, though they had not been arrested on the 30th. They, or their groups, "were affiliated with the protests." A real chill under at UNC under Roberts, and it has probably been even worse at Columbia, etc.?] Apparently the Y, dating back to 1840, assisted the Gaza protesters by leaving doors unlocked. The Y has some degree of independence from UNC, though it is the next building west of the administration building on Cameron Avenue. Apparently the Y wasn't closed during the recent shooting of a professor, but is now. A dun-colored mine-resistant armored military-type police vehicle was used at UNC last week, according to the UE150/UE150a email (see below).
The 'YIMBY' new Democratic Party Chapel Hill blog has a professor's account claiming that the police randomly attacked people in front of the Y with a chemical weapon after breaking up the protest, as the police were marching to Gerrard Hall, just to the west, where the military-type police vehicle was parked: triangleblogblog.com/2024/04/30/unc-faculty-member-i-dont-think-i-will-ever-get-over-what-i-saw-my-employer-do-to-its-own-students-and-faculty-today/
Covers UNC and many other universities: portside.org/2024-05-03/whats-really-happening-college-campuses-according-student-journalists UNC-Charlotte isn't covered, but I think they also have or had an encampment. Apparently an encampment was put down at Duke as well and there have been protests at NCSU.
portside.org/2024-05-02/students-right-side-history-distortion-campus-protests-over-gaza
portside.org/2024-05-02/will-they-crush-biggest-student-movement-vietnam
Given what happened at UCLA, does Israel have paramilitary forces (in addition to its spies) in the US right now, and are the attacks at UCLA and worse the future in any country that allows Israel to have a free hand in their internal affairs? –
Columbia, the NYPD, and Israel; other articles cover protests Germany and Australia:
consortiumnews.com/2024/05/03/the-israeli-connection-to-the-raid-on-columbia-university/
consortiumnews.com/2024/05/04/omar-says-student-terror-watch-call-insanely-dangerous/
consortiumnews.com/2024/05/04/enforcing-silence-on-genocide/
Why would a person, especially if they are supposed to be on the left, "worry" about the campus protest movement? -- portside.org/2024-05-03/campus-protest-heres-what-you-should-worry-about
Are people reconsidering there educational or career choices in 2024, or even giving up on higher education in light of these events? Become a student or employee at one of these universities, so that they can mistreat you and help the government tar you, over anti-war speech, and give material and moral support to the military-industrial complex/national security state and its foreign adventures. Some "Marxist" professors won't stand up for their students. I've thought about my future and these events. Why is NPR so interested in the FAFSA form, while saying almost nothing about prospective and current graduate students or other studies beyond undergraduate? Some people might not have a choice about their education and employment, after their institution expelled/fired and lied about them for the warmongering government. Biden was supposed to save "our democracy," and instead it is like the late Vietnam War-era or the interwar period, though violent street battles between left and right are still rare. Today is the anniversary of the Kent State Massacre in 1970 (not the only bloody or deadly state attack on students over Vietnam War opposition), and it might feel like that time as well. There are calls to bring out the National Guard now, and the year is still young, though maybe that is mainly a Republican thing. Apparently May 10th is the anniversary of Nazi bookburning in 1933 at Humboldt University, on the Unter den Linden in Berlin. Something like 20,000 books, representing more than 100 authors, were burned. I often take books and magazines out of trash or recycling bins in general, even if I might disagree with them, or if removing recyclables is prohibited. Are the Democrats, supposedly so worried about Trump and "fascism," going to give the already powerful 'imperial' executive even more power, and with Trump close to getting a second term? Cracking heads at colleges and abridging free speech and association over peaceful protest and assisting with genocide and torture is pretty fascistic, but it is okay if "adults" (and the "Resistance") are in the White House. Would Biden veto the bills covered in the ADC email at the bottom of this post? Go down like a cicada?
[5/5: UNC Chapel Hill Alumni Gaza Solidarity campaign
Petition: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe0WHg_RADb8bPAkpSQaWHHV0AptGtz1Byb3-9nxDAMqWhP3g/viewform
Full letter:
[From the organizers: UNC Chapel Hill Alumni wishing to sign this letter may do so here. The signatory list (below) will be updated on a daily basis.]
April 30, 2024
Interim Chancellor Lee H. Roberts and Provost Christopher Clemens:
We write to you as alumni of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to express our support for the students, staff, and faculty of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Polk Place and their demands for an immediate ceasefire and divestment. We are proud to see the Carolina community carrying on the long tradition of speaking out against injustice at home and abroad–from South African apartheid to Silent Sam and the renaming of Carolina Hall.
We condemn your decision to bring armed police from around the state to arrest students and other Carolina community members exercising their First Amendment right to protest the UNC System’s complicity in the ongoing genocide against Palestinians and Israeli apartheid. These actions violate the values that we learned from and expect of the University: a commitment to justice, free speech, dialogue, and education for the benefit of all.
The statement you released to accompany this shameful action mischaracterizes realities on the ground and illustrates the pretextual nature of your purported justifications. There has been no disruption of campus operations due to the encampment: no sidewalks have been blocked, no barricades erected, no building entrances made inaccessible, and no classes have been disrupted. Further, your statements insinuating that there have been threats to students or damage to property are verifiably false.
We reject your characterization of the movement framing the participants as “not members of the Carolina community.” UNC students have led this movement from day one, and we and other members of the Triangle community stand in solidarity with them in standing against genocide and apartheid.
We demand that UNC immediately:
Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Divest from companies profiting from Israel’s oppression of Palestinians in accordance with student demands for disclosure and divestment and the Gaza Ceasefire and Israel Divestment Resolution recently passed by the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG).
Stop deploying police forces to disperse peaceful demonstrations and ensure the safety of protesters on campus.
Drop all charges and discontinue any other disciplinary action related to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
Provide fair treatment and avoid retaliation against all students, faculty, and staff protesting against the genocide.
Avoid further dangerous mischaracterization of the peaceful demonstrations being conducted by UNC students, staff, and faculty.
The University and its endowment should have no connection–direct or indirect–with companies or academic institutions that are complicit in the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people. We stand in solidarity with the brave students, staff, and faculty members who are demanding accountability and ethical investment practices from UNC. Their courageous actions exemplify the spirit of social justice that has long been a cornerstone of the Carolina community. We commend their dedication to upholding the principles of human dignity.
As stakeholders in the University's legacy, we urge the UNC administration to heed the voices of its students and faculty and take immediate action to divest from companies and academic institutions implicated in Israeli apartheid. We demand that the University prioritize ethical investment practices that align with a commitment to social responsibility and global justice that are a cornerstone of the University. In solidarity, we intend to withhold donations to the University until the demands of the students are met.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We trust that you will act swiftly and decisively to align with the values of our UNC Community.
In steadfast solidarity,
UNC alumni
(See 3027 signatories below as of 05/03/2024)]
[5/5 [5/6] This UNC staff letter is open for more signatures at: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSedAqjd5HL3gm85a3-h3tvWh67N8UrTSbq0ZjHOJxIhQAb0kA/viewform
"Dear Interim Chancellor Roberts and Provost Clemens,
We write to voice our concerns about the University’s actions on April 30th.
The student encampment located on Polk Place was an example of the kind of peaceful free expression that our university claims to uphold. Free speech is often challenging; it can make people uncomfortable, and it can grow heated. But until that speech crosses the line into violence or obstruction, it must be protected, even at the cost of discomfort or patches of grass yellowed by tents. The administration’s decision to call in police from across the state to storm our students’ encampment at 5:30 in the morning on Tuesday, April 30, created a militarized and unsafe climate on the UNC campus. It subjected the very students it is charged with protecting to violence and trauma. Subsequent actions by the administration–including but not limited to the sudden, unexplained closing of the Campus Y, a 160-year old student organization that opened its facilities to members of the encampment; the interim chancellor’s public statement about the events of April 30, which averred that arrested students had violated university policy without providing any details of their supposed misconduct; and, as of May 3, the continued withholding of arrest records from public scrutiny–have further undermined the public trust.
On May 3, three university vice-chancellors wrote to the campus community, detailing a long list of actions and conditions that the university cannot tolerate. All of these conditions and actions were the direct result of violence introduced to campus when university administrators first ordered police to interfere with students’ legitimate political expression. The vice chancellors’ communications misrepresented facts, unjustly blaming students for disruptions and violence that they themselves had caused. We reject their duplicitous communication to the campus community. We denounce the unjust treatment of our students and the administration’s abdication of its responsibility to foster and protect freedom of speech on campus.
We call for accountability for the administrators whose decisions during the protest dishonored the university’s noble traditions of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and respecting students’ rights to protest. We further remind the university administration of decisions made by university leaders during past tumultuous times, including the protests of 1969. According to The Carolina Story: A Virtual Museum of University History, "even during the most heated moments of national protest, classes at Chapel Hill continued, and police stayed off campus." The university must immediately dismiss all suspensions and other charges against students involved in the protest, return the confiscated belongings of our students, remove the fence around the flagpole in the quad, and re-open Campus Y in recognition of its central importance to our university community."
Petition (4875 have signed so far): www.change.org/p/vote-of-no-confidence-in-lee-roberts
www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-unc-palestine-encampment-arrestees --
There has been at least one official statement from UNC's administration.
[5/7: What Biden will say about the anti-war protests today, while demanding that people on the left vote for him, just because he isn't Trump. A Trump victory in 2024 might be Pyrrhic for Israel, long-term. From other rightist NATOland establishment neoliberal warmongers, on HR 6090, etc, May 6th:
CEP ENDORSE IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM |
(New York, N.Y.) – Today, in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel (Yom HaShoah), the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), including more than one dozen signatories from CEP’s board of global leaders and experts, is officially endorsing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism.
CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace stated:
“It is truly shocking that the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust has resulted in a significant increase in antisemitic incidents worldwide, including in Western nations. The hyperbolic demonization of the world’s only Jewish state, having suffered more loss of innocent life on a single day than any other in its history, has played an unmistakably preeminent role in fueling this hatred. In view of the demonstrably widespread failure to recognize this link, IHRA’s working definition makes the critical distinction that extreme vilification of Israel is often simply a contemporary manifestation of the world’s most ancient hatred.”
The IHRA definition provides the most comprehensive and widely agreed upon definition of antisemitism in the world, and is already adopted by the governments of at least 40 countries—including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union—as well as more than 160 Jewish organizations globally. It lists several examples of what constitutes antisemitism, including obvious behaviors such as harassment of and physical attacks on Jews as Jews, as well as Holocaust denial and blaming Jews as a whole for global ills. Crucially, IHRA also addresses the delegitimization and demonization of the Jewish state of Israel. While IHRA recognizes that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic,” it explicitly notes that the application of double standards to Israel and the denial of self-determination to the Jewish people do fall under the rubric of antisemitism.
Nations across the West—including Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States—have recorded a record-high number of incidents targeting Jews since the horrific Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. In the United States alone, antisemitism watchdogs noted a 360 percent spike in antisemitism between October 7 and January 7, 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, while 2023 saw the incidence rate “breaking all records,” according to the ADL. Antisemitic incidents have surged 598 percent in the United Kingdom since October 7, 320 percent in Germany, and 700 percent across U.S. college campuses. Much of the surge is attributable to anti-Israel activism.
Former U.K. Ambassador to Yemen and CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown added:
“Antisemitism in all its forms is deplorable. As a reaction to the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7 we have witnessed a resurgence of antisemitism, cautioning us once again that the world’s oldest hatred is also its most enduring. The IHRA definition reminds us that hatred of Jewish people may take diverse forms and is often the connective tissue for extremism in all its forms from the far right and far left, and to extremist Islamism.”
CEP calls on the United Nations, governments, NGOs, and the broader general public to likewise adopt the IHRA definition, and commends the recent passing in the House by 310-90 votes of the Antisemitism Awareness Act (HR. 6090) to require the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to consider the IHRA definition when investigating complaints of discrimination.
To read CEP’s extensive resources on antisemitism, click here.
Signed:
### ] |
[5/11: I think there was a demonstration in front of Wilson Library a few days ago, and a people's graduation today. UNC and several other schools are holding their commencement ceremonies today. Duke's commencement will be tomorrow, anti-war Mother's Day, which had been the usual date for UNC. Jerry Seinfeld, whose wife helped fund the attack on the UCLA encampment (given a free hand by the police) is the speaker at Duke's commencement. I wonder when that was set up. Jessica Seinfeld gave $5000 and William Albert Ackman gave $10,000 to a GoFundMe campaign: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_University_of_California,_Los_Angeles_pro-Palestinian_campus_occupation#Counter-protester_attack
By a professor at NCSU, about the events at UNC, etc: www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/07/university-leaders-are-teaching-us-how-holocausts-happen/
www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/8221?s=1&r=1
Three vice chancellors at UNC tarring their students May 3rd: www.unc.edu/posts/2024/05/03/safety-update-about-recent-campus-events/
www.unc.edu/safety-update-about-recent-campus-events/
Roberts and the Provost tarring their students as anti-semites and dangerous, April 30th, with photos of the thoroughly pulverized Gaza Solidarity Encampment: chancellor.unc.edu/2024/04/30/a-message-from-university-leaders-on-campus-protests/
A letter from before the police raid: chancellor.unc.edu/2024/04/30/statement-from-interim-chancellor-roberts-and-provost-clemens-on-campus-demonstrations/
It might pick up again in the fall, and Biden sacrificed his re-election chances for Netanyahu, who is closer to the Republicans. I don't think Israel controls the US government, but Biden has gone so far, for what benefit, for his party or the 'national interests' of the USA? The menace Trump might win, because Biden attacked the left youth, Arab, Muslim, anti-war, etc voters who might have turned out for him. I didn't plan to ever vote for Biden, and here is a visceral, infuriating reason to be against Biden, Adam Schiff, Dean Phillips, Wib Gulley, etc. On NPR's Due South yesterday it was suggested that Governor Roy Cooper won't veto the SHALOM Act if it gets to him, since it has such bipartisan support, so far (and he is a Biden-type Democrat anyway; where does Josh Stein stand, and his Republican opponent is a Trump-style extremist, or even beyond Trump):
On the SHALOM Act in the NC House, only four Democrats voted against, Marcia Morey, Pricey Harrison, Nasif Majeed, and Renee Price; a members were absent at the time, for whatever reason: ncnewsline.com/2024/05/09/nc-house-easily-passes-shalom-act-to-enshrine-antisemitism-definition-in-state-law/
Text: efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2023/Bills/House/PDF/H942v1.pdf
How they voted May 8th at 2:52pm: www.ncleg.gov/Legislation/Votes/RollCallVoteTranscript/2023/H/620
Jewish Voice for Peace had/has an email campaign and held a protest that day: act.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/a/shalom-act-c2e?sourceid=1002968&emci=e3f9e989-920c-ef11-96f3-7c1e521b07f9&emdi=782dfe1f-a60c-ef11-96f3-7c1e521b07f9&ceid=901759 ]
UE150's May 3rd statement (only on Instagram?)? -- www.instagram.com/p/C6eZr7bLGnv/?img_index=1 --
 Police Brutality Attacked Pro-Palestine Students andGrad Workers, Must Must Challenge this RepressionWe are writing in the wake of April 30th and the brutal police assault of students and faculty on UNC's campus. This was led and cheered on by our interim Chancellor, Lee Roberts. Many are unaware of the full extent of these events including that graduate and undergraduate students have been suspended and banned from the campus. Peaceful protests of students and workers at NC State and other universities where UE150 has members have also been attacked. The encampment on Duke's campus was also suppressed. The members of UE150 as well as faculty and other graduate and undergraduate students will not accept this violence on our campus and we are actively organizing a response. Now is the time to keep pushing forward! We are asking everyone to please fill out this petition (takes a minute to load). Some of you may have already seen and signed this. Thank you. Sign PetitionAnd for those of you here this summer (or on Zoom), we will continue to meet and organize. There is a lot of anger and energy now and we are actively speaking with graduate workers across departments who are fed up with our low pay, lack of fair treatment and overwork, and now the very apparent disregard for our safety on campus. Don't mourn, organize! UE 150 Ps. Here is a picture of a mine-resistant armored military vehicle that they deployed against students in Chapel Hill. Really. [Somewhere on [near?] West Franklin Street]
UNC Graduate and Professional Students:Sign Statement Regarding University Actions on April 30============== STATEMENT BEGINS HERE ============== Graduate and Professional Students’ Statement Regarding University Actions on April 30 We, the undersigned, are graduate and professional students at UNC Chapel Hill. We are writing this statement in response to the University’s violent attack on students. On April 26, students and workers from UNC, Duke, NC State, and the surrounding community established an encampment in Polk Place on campus to protest the University’s complicity in the ongoing Palestinian genocide. As members of our organizations can attest, this form of protest was peaceful and educational. Within the encampment, student organizers led teach-ins, distributed educational materials, and created art. Students also held spaces for religious services including Muslim, Jewish, and Christian services. During this time, the University administration refused to engage meaningfully with the protesters. Instead, on April 30, they called on law enforcement from at least eight different police departments to violently remove the encampment. Later that day, protestors peacefully decried these actions, reiterated their demands for the university to divest from Israel, and, in an act of civil-disobedience, hoisted a Palestinian flag on the pole at the center of campus. Accompanied by Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts, the police response was violent and vicious. We witnessed first-hand incidents of brutalization including police officers pulling a student by her hair, knocking over a student in a wheelchair, and the use of mace and pepper spray. Several students have reported that UNC Health police Sergeant Darin Lee called several students homophobic slurs. A video has also been circulating of Darin Lee spitting on the Palestinian flag. Furthermore, students also reported that some of the officers’ body cams were either removed or turned off. On May 1, the University suspended all the students that were charged at the encampment (unrelated to the flag incident). UNC has also suspended the student organization “Students for Justice in Palestine” and indefinitely closed the “Campus Y”, a revered UNC institution that has been serving students since 1840. Therefore,
Sign Petition |
Jewish rightists are against the anti-free speech HR 6090 bill? – www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/not-in-our-name
ADC – Action Alert: Tell Congress to Vote No on Four Anti-Palestine Bills
Washington, DC | www.adc.org | May 4, 2024 – Pro-Palestine protests are continuing to grow, and that is making lawmakers nervous. Over the last month, the unhinged leadership of both parties have capitulated to AIPAC and the ADL by introducing four (4) bills which curtail the rights of all Americans, two of which have already passed the House and are awaiting a vote in the Senate. Congress, on a bipartisan basis, has been singularly focused on attacking, criminalizing, and demonizing Palestinians and the pro-Palestine movement. Republicans and Democrats alike are willing to take away your rights in this country so they can shield and protect Israel from any criticism or accountability over the ongoing genocide [See: www.congress.gov].
Take Action: Tell Congress to Vote No, Protect our Freedoms!
ADC National Government Affairs and Advocacy Director Chris Habiby said, “Rather than reckoning with Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, the US’s complicity in the annihilation of Palestinians, or the clearly documented Israeli system of apartheid, Congress has decided to fixate on dangerous and diversionary bills. ADC is staunchly opposed to every effort which seeks to distract from the ongoing genocide and demonize those taking the principled, moral, human stance against the dispossession and destruction of Palestinians.”
Members of both the House and the Senate need to hear from their constituents that we see these efforts for what they are – an obvious attempt to avoid Congress’s duty to ensure that the US is not complicit in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Congress must vote NO on all four of these bills to ensure that the rights of all Americans are protected .
The four bills that attack, criminalize, and demonize Palestinians and the movement are:
- The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act - This bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 6090), and is now in the U.S. Senate. The bill dangerously conflates First Amendment-protected political speech critical of the Israeli government and state with antisemitism. If passed this bill will chill the free speech of all Americans. The House passed this bill and it is now awaiting a vote in the Senate.
- H.R. 6408, Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to terminate the tax-exempt status of “terrorist supporting organizations” - If passed this bill would give a single US official the authority to strip nonprofit organizations of their tax-exempt status with virtually no limitations or accountability, simply because the organizations have viewpoints that official or presidential administration disagrees with.
- H.R. 7914, the Accountability for Terrorist Perpetrators of October 7th Act - This bill would criminalize Palestinians beyond the State Department’s already politicized Foreign Terrorist Organization process by enacting sanctions against Palestinian organizations that have not been designated a terrorist organization. It would set a precedent that will allow Congress to implement sanctions on organizations that administration officials have not found to meet the criteria for designation.
- H.R. 7921, the Countering Antisemitism Act - This bill would codify and further entrench the narrative that the pro-Palestine movement is responsible for the antisemitism seen in the US. It is a continuation of Congress’s myopic focus on “combating antisemitism” at a time when Arab, and especially Palestinian, Americans are being targeted and attacked across the country.
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