Showing posts with label Duke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Duke. Show all posts

Monday, May 13, 2024

ICMLPO in Europe on NATO and the upcoming European Parliament elections, Jill Stein and New York ballot access, graduation protests, and more anti-war news

According to the Independent Weekly, protesters put handprints on South Building, the UNC-Chapel Hill administration building, with red paint and left a sign saying "UNC has blood on its hands" a few hours before the graduation ceremonies on Saturday, May 11th (under cover of darkness?).  In recent years a history is forming of red blood and/or paint being daubed on UNC monuments and buildings, which presumably would be the crime of vandalism, though abundant paint has been accidentally and intentionally put on UNC's brick walkways and plazas and other features.  Is there any actual evidence that students put up the handprints?  UNC's graduation speaker was Zena Cardman, an astronaut and UNC alumna.  Lee Roberts also spoke at Kenan Stadium.  Around 6,700 students graduated.  UNC educators resisted turning in final grades in protest a few years ago, but not now?


At Duke University on May 12th about 100 graduates walked out before Jerry Seinfeld spoke at Wallace Wade Stadium, around 10:35am, according to Indy Week and the Duke Chronicle. There had been leafletting beforehand and there was a people's graduation at the Languages Building.


PSL organized a march in Raleigh May 11th, for the upcoming 76th Nakba Day?


An article on the Chapel Hill/Carrboro's old left bookstore, Internationalist Books (it closed several years ago, after a few decades in operation), was in UNC's Daily Tar Heel in late April:  www.dailytarheel.com/article/2024/04/lifestyle-internationalist-bookstore-legacy-in-chapel-hill-bob-sheldon




On the recent auroras and CMEs, visible as far south as Puerto Rico in the Northern Hemisphere over the past few nights:  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/05/13/edkj-m13.html


The May 13, 1999 NATO bombing of Korisa in Kosova; the May 15, 1974 storming of the Netiv Meir Elementary School, held by DFLP guerrillas, killing the three militants and 31 civilians or hostages, including 25 children; Israel bombed Lebanese refugee camps May 16th;  May 12, 1949 the British Parliament approved the treaty to join NATO and May 18th two Labour Party members who had voted against were purged by Labour:  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/05/13/dcdl-m13.html


www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/the-sudden-hesitation-over-israels


www.mintpressnews.com/new-lines-magazine-washington-weaponizes-media/287375/


Capitalists (and Alan Dershowitz) promise far-reaching private retaliation against student protesters for their free speech (liberals like to point out that the 1st amendment doesn't apply to companies and liberals or those further right say that speech has consequences):  diario-octubre.com/2024/05/12/grandes-empresas-de-eeuu-amenazan-a-estudiantes-a-favor-de-gaza/


Does the Biden administration plan to blame China if or when Ukraine loses? – www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/13/us-is-losing-in-ukraine-blame-china-says-blinken/


Did the US goverment let Ukraine's SBU kill Chilean-American Gonzalo Lira? – diario-octubre.com/2024/01/14/zajarova-la-casa-blanca-es-responsable-de-la-muerte-del-periodista-gonzalo-lira-encarcelado-en-ucrania/


www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2024/05/13/u-s-activists-condemn-acquittal-of-attacker-against-cuban-embassy/


www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/12/small-islands-deadly-stakes/


The Bushnell's Men hacking group:  thecradle.co/articles/bushnells-men-hack-30000-western-printers-in-protest-of-gaza-genocide


The US student intifada:  Palestine's new soft power leverage – thecradle.co/articles-id/24649


thecradle.co/articles/us-offers-israel-intel-on-hamas-leaders-in-exchange-for-limited-rafah-op


www.nknews.org/2024/05/both-north-and-south-korea-back-un-resolution-calling-for-palestinian-membership/


thecradle.co/articles/hamas-reorganizes-in-gazas-north-battles-invading-army-in-rafah


thecradle.co/articles/yemens-strategic-escalation-into-the-mediterranean


Yemen expands front against Israel to include the Mediterranean Sea:  thecradle.co/articles-id/24712


EU naval mission falls apart against Yemen:  thecradle.co/articles-id/24740


Bahraini resistance opens front against Israel [Saraya al-Ashtar/Al-Ashtar Brigades]:  thecradle.co/articles-id/24698


ISIS kills Palestinian fighters in Syrian desert [Liwa al-Quds]:  thecradle.co/articles-id/24478


To Israel's horror, Hamas brings 'two-state solution' back into focus:  thecradle.co/articles-id/24687


thecradle.co/articles/the-pijs-defiance-amid-diplomacy-gaza-will-not-be-allowed-to-fall


Israeli organ-trafficking network busted in Turkiye:  thecradle.co/articles-id/24729


Mass graves:  thecradle.co/articles-id/24783


thecradle.co/articles/shocking-abuse-of-gazans-inside-israeli-detention-camp-whistleblowers


Israel gives extremist settler 'absolute' control of occupied West Bank:  thecradle.co/articles-id/24714


thecradle.co/articles/frustrated-israeli-north-plans-to-secede-into-state-of-galilee


thecradle.co/articles/the-gaza-aid-pier-a-us-geopolitical-ploy


thecradle.co/articles/dialing-down-expectations-on-a-us-saudi-security-pact


www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/11/biden-blinks-bibi-bites-blinken-rewrites/


www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/12/oh-how-violent-hollywood-usc-and-the-sickness-of-denial/


portside.org/2024-05-13/israeli-war-gaza-post-war-scenarios


From Bon Appetit:  portside.org/2024-05-13/food-blogger-cooking-through-gazas-hunger-crisis


In Puerto Rico:  diario-octubre.com/2024/05/12/quitan-la-bandera-de-ee-uu-e-izan-la-de-🇵🇸-palestina-en-universidad-de-puerto-rico-video/


In Mexico:  revcom.us/en/mexico-encampment-unam-against-us-imperialism-backed-israeli-state-genocide-and-solidarity


revcom.us/en/anti-semitism-awareness-act-banning-opposition-zionism-crushing-academic-freedom


Israeli lawsuits:  theintercept.com/2024/05/10/october-7-survivors-lawsuit-palestine-hamas-sjp-protests/


chrishedges.substack.com/p/israels-willing-executioners


geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/lindsey-graham-israel-nuclear-weapons-gaza


A bipartisan war:  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/05/13/ezhc-m13.html


diario-octubre.com/2024/05/13/admision-de-nuevos-miembros-en-las-naciones-unidas/


Mobilization in Ukraine:  diario-octubre.com/2024/05/12/kiev-promete-poner-fin-a-la-vida-tranquila-de-los-hombres-ucranianos-lejos-del-frente/


Benin and Niger:  diario-octubre.com/2024/05/13/francia-esta-desestabilizando-niger-a-traves-de-benin/


US smallpox biological weapon research under Biden and Soros? -- diario-octubre.com/2024/01/16/moscu-ee-uu-experimenta-con-cepas-del-virus-de-la-viruela-a-pesar-de-la-prohibicion-de-la-oms/


fair.org/home/the-media-mogul-trying-to-buy-baltimores-mayoral-race/


Judging protest movements by whether a Biden can get elected, as if the anti-Vietnam War protests or the Gaza solidarity encampments were about keeping a pro-war Democrat in the White House (note that I didn't read beyond the paywall)  And abortion rights? – www.slowboring.com/p/did-the-vietnam-war-protests-backfire




The No War But the Class War Conference will be May 31-June 2 at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus and is being organized by Historical Materialism, The Institute for the Critical Imagination, and the Left Forum, serving as a replacement for the old Left Forum conference.  Speakers will include Kali Akuno, David Harvey, Chris Hedges, Sophie Lewis, Andreas Malm, and Helga Tawil-Souri.  Attention to the "moralism" and "Manichean perspective" of the current anti-war movement and the lack of systematic analysis.  The Torch (IWP) is organizing "a panel on The need for a genuine revolutionary party of the working class and the fight against sectarianism."  Contact:  HM.IRI.NYC at gmail


For more information and tickets:  www.eventbrite.com/e/hm-iri-conference-no-war-but-the-class-war-tickets-841674640507






Jill Stein:  This is do or die for our campaign [New York's punitive ballot access rules, created by the Democratic Party] 



Right now our campaign is fighting an intense battle against the biggest challenge we’ve faced yet. We need tens of thousands more signatures to get on the ballot in New York - and with just two weeks left, we’re behind where we need to be.


From the bottom of my heart, I’m asking every one of you to do whatever you can now to help us get on the ballot in New York and keep us on track to put an anti-genocide, pro-worker, climate action campaign on every single ballot across the country.


[Join in at:  www.jillstein2024.com/nyballot  There is also a state by state ballot access map linked on the main site]


Genocide in Gaza is going off the charts right now with the assault on Rafah, where 1.4 million people have been herded like cattle and are now targeted like fish in a barrel - including 600,000 wounded, malnourished, sick, traumatized children. With Israel's closure of the Rafah crossing last week choking off the little water and food that were getting in, and bombing the entire Gaza strip, this is a grand finale to 75 years of ethnic cleansing. 


We must do everything in our power to shut this genocide down. That means turning up the political demand by getting our opposition to genocide on the ballot in New York - ensuring this is a national force that cannot be stopped!


To make that happen, we urgently need volunteers as well as people who would like to get paid to petition. If you can come, let us know and we’ll get in touch to make arrangements for your visit, including accommodations if you need them. If you live within a bus ride of New York, and need help getting there, we can help you get there. We also need folks in NY or nearby who can provide housing or transportation for petitioners.


However you can help, please sign up now:


[ www.jillstein2024.com/nyballot ]


We also need everyone to donate whatever you can to help fund this urgent ballot drive. Every dollar you can donate moves us closer to the critical goal of getting 45,000 valid signatures in New York. Please pitch in as much as you can now to help make it happen - all donations will be matched up to the first $250 by federal matching funds!


[Donate now:  www.jillstein2024.com/donation_ny ]


Watch my new short video about this urgent fight and help spread the word by sharing it on Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.


In this historic moment of surging resistance to empire, our campaign is building momentum fast. A recent CBS poll from Wisconsin had us at 8% in a 3-way race, including 22% among voters 18-30 and 16% among voters 30-44. Our media coverage has exploded, and endorsements are rolling in, from Professor Jeffrey Sachs to Medea Benjamin, Kyle Kulinski, Jenan Matari, Andy Shallal, Professor Anthony Zenkus, and more.


If we get on the ballot in New York, it will shock the establishment and power our campaign to complete our ballot access nationwide - a process that’s over 75% completed already. With multiple systemic crises hitting at the same time and rejection of the establishment candidates at a record high, the sky's the limit for what lies ahead in this race - including a real shot at the White House.


This is do or die for our campaign. And it's do or die for putting opposition to genocide front and center in this election. Every day matters and every signature counts. 


If you can collect signatures in New York, we need your help now. If you can donate to help us fund our petition drive, please pitch in whatever you can now.


If you believe in this movement for people, planet, and peace, I ask you to join me in this historic moment and do whatever you can to help us get on the ballot in New York now!


[ www.jillstein2024.com/nyballot ]


Please share this urgent message with your friends, family, and fellow activists. We can do this if we all work together, but we need everyone to answer the call.


Thank you for everything you do to fight for an America and a world that works for all of us!


In gratitude,


Jill Stein


[Donate now:  www.jillstein2024.com/donation_ny ]






Scintilla #145 – piattaformacomunista.com/index.php/scintilla-n-145-maggio-2024/


May 11th – piattaformacomunista.com/index.php/i-75-anni-della-nato-diciamo-no-alle-vostre-guerre-di-terrore-e-saccheggio/  


May 12th – piattaformacomunista.com/index.php/elezioni-del-parlamento-europeo-una-truffa-democratica/  


Scintilla #145, May 2024 by Communist Platform – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy
75th Anniversary of NATO; No to your wars of terror and plunder!

Resolution of European Parties and Organizations members of the ICMLPO, adopted in April 2024 (the signatories are listed at the end).
According to the preamble of the NATO Treaty, it defends ''peace, democracy, freedom and the rule of law''. In fact, it is the opposite: it has been and is a military alliance of Western imperialist states to impose their economic and political interests by military means. NATO is a guarantee for war, not peace. It is a guarantee for national subservience to U.S. interests, not for independence.
From the beginning, it has been led by U.S. imperialism, which has always provided the military high command. It had been a tool of U.S. imperialism against the Soviet Union and the labor and communist movement. Since 1949, the Atlantic Alliance and its member states have been engaged in numerous brutal wars. NATO has also meant a steady increase in military spending at the expense of the working masses.
Instead of ''freedom and the rule of law'', NATO means exploitation, oppression and war. Dictatorships such as those of Portugal under Salazar or Turkey under General Evren have never been an obstacle to NATO membership and still are not.
NATO was and is a leading participant in numerous imperialist and neo-colonialist wars. In 1999, NATO attacked Serbia and continued to do so in the Kosovo war. Since 2001, it has used lies as a pretext for the war against Afghanistan, which ended in defeat in August 2021. In 2011, NATO states attacked Libya and largely destroyed the country. NATO has also intervened in Turkey's fight against Syria since 2013 and has supported Turkey militarily.
Atlantic Alliance troops are currently deployed in Africa, the Balkans, the Mediterranean and Iraq.
In recent years there has been a continuous process of NATO expansion to the east, which is the main cause of the current war between the imperialist powers of the USA, NATO and the EU against Russian imperialism.
At the same time, NATO is giving massive support to the war in Ukraine by providing infrastructure, weapons and advisers. NATO is in an unofficial war with Russia. In Israel's war against Gaza, NATO states are actively participating in war crimes and genocide by providing weapons and political support. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg has assured Israel that NATO is on its side.
The struggle between the imperialist blocs of NATO with the EU against imperialist China with Russia has become a serious danger to peace. The EU, in alliance with US imperialism, plays a complementary role with its common policy of ''security and defense'', in a logic of division of labor. The EU is also using the situation to strengthen its role in the competition with the US.
All this is being carried out at the expense of the working class and its social and political achievements. The workers and peoples are suffering heavily from the consequences of NATO's war plans and their implementation by governments: cuts in social spending, high prices for basic products, pressure on wages, tax increases, etc.
Nationalists, reactionaries and fascist movements have been further strengthened to make the peoples "ready for war". We are therefore taking political action in our countries to withdraw from NATO! We are against any participation in NATO wars!
No to NATO! Out of NATO and all imperialist military alliances!
No to the European Military Union!
NATO and US bases out of our countries!
No to the arms race and to the sending of weapons!
Immediate withdrawal from war missions abroad!
Peace and friendship among peoples, instead of rearmament and war!



Scintilla #145, May 2024 by Communist Platform – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy
European Parliament elections: a "democratic" scam
Resolution of European Parties and Organizations members of ICMLPO

The EU presents itself as an island of prosperity, security and freedom. For the European Parliament elections on 9 June, the propaganda is about democracy.
The people were never consulted when the EU was founded. It was a project of capital. Referendums in which the EU failed were ignored or repeated until the desired result emerged.
For example, when the majority of the Danish people rejected the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, there was another referendum the following year in which a small majority was reached after incessant propaganda.
For example, in 2005 when the "European Constitution" was rejected by a large majority in France and the Netherlands, this was not accepted by those in power. On the contrary, work on the project continued under another name and without a referendum, and in 2007 the "Lisbon Treaty" was concluded with the same content.
Instead of an island of prosperity, security and freedom, the EU is a project of capital for a huge labor market with low wages, a huge outlet market and a tool in competition with other imperialist powers. The EU has also increasingly developed as an instrument of military power with joint armaments and military maneuvers. With the war in Ukraine, this aspect has taken on a special significance. The EU is also an instrument of neocolonial influence of the monopolies in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
In Europe, the EU is an expanding imperialist power with an anti-working-class character: it increases competition between workers in different countries, lowering wages and worsening working conditions. To the detriment of small farmers, the EU is also a tool of agribusiness, which has ruined thousands of farmers.
Not in the service of peace and friendship among peoples, but of the domination of monopolies and capital.
Reformist groups such as the "European Left", which brings together various reformist, revisionist and Trotskyist currents, promise to "democratize" the EU and transform it into a "democratic, peaceful, social and ecological Europe". These are illusions that conceal the domination of capital. The progressive forces are thus harnessed to the chariot of a capitalist and imperialist project. The European Parliament is part of this imperialist apparatus and is not a democratic institution. Therefore, we do not participate and cannot support any list. In addition, the European Parliament is used by right-wing parties to gain influence.
Instead of defending the EU of monopolies, the workers and peoples must fight for their own interests and unite for them. Instead of hoping for election results in the EU, they must stand up to exploitation and war!
We call on the workers to develop struggles and unity on the basis of their own class interests, against the monopolies and the capitalist offensive, the reaction and war policy of imperialism. We call for the development of active solidarity with the workers and peoples of the world, especially with those peoples who suffer and fight imperialist and Zionist oppression, aggression and plunder, such as the Palestinian people.
We reaffirm our commitment to a revolutionary break with the capitalist-imperialist system, to socialism!
With these intentions and this perspective, we must fight together
– Against low wages and the very denial of wages!
– Against the destruction of jobs!
– For the full right to strike!
– Against social cuts!
– Against the dismantling of democratic rights!
– Against racism, division and fascism!
– Against armaments and war!
– For peace, international solidarity and socialism!
April 2024
Workers' Communist Party of Denmark – APK
Communist Party of the Workers of France – PCOF
Organization for the Construction of a Communist Party of the Workers of Germany (Arbeit Zukunft)
Communist Platform – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy
Marxist-Leninist organization Revolusjon – Norway
Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) – PCEML
      Workers' Party, EMEP, of Turkey


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Saturday, May 04, 2024

The continuing crackdown on protest at UNC-CH and elsewhere + Congressional moves to silence dissent

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? –   


diario-octubre.com/2024/05/02/israel-preparara-grupos-armados-para-que-actuen-contra-los-movimientos-por-la-paz-en-los-paises-occidentales/


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:


  1. Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

  2. 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). 

  3. Stop deploying police forces to disperse peaceful demonstrations and ensure the safety of protesters on campus. 

  4. Drop all charges and discontinue any other disciplinary action related to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

  5. Provide fair treatment and avoid retaliation against all students, faculty, and staff protesting against the genocide.

  6. 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


Letter by Faculty and Staff for Students' Right to Free Speech and Protest


"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 --


"On Tuesday, April 30th—the fifth day of the Triangle Solidarity Encampment at UNC—student, faculty, and community protesters were twice violently brutalized by police from across the state.

30 protesters were arrested and trespassed from UNC campus, many of them UNC undergraduate and graduate students. As of May 1st, the administration suspended all UNC arrestees. Undergrads have been kicked out of their homes in the dorms and withdrawn from their classes; grad students are now unemployed without their stipend, healthcare, or any income.

Duke Academics and Staff for Justice in Palestine is calling on our communities to show up to support these students. We are prioritizing funds to UNC students at this time given the unprecedented harsh disciplinary conditions, but funds will also go toward supporting all arrestees as material needs arise.

Members of Duke ASJP were among those arrested and we have close coalitional ties with protesters at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill that will be receiving these funds through our joint organizing. The funds will be used to assist in lost wages, housing and job precarity, and healthcare costs resulting from the disciplinary treatment leveled against these peaceful protesters. Funds will be delivered directly to the arrestees via the Duke ASJP members that were arrested alongside them.

As of May 4, 2024, UNC has retroactively suspended two lead organizers of student groups (Graduate Workers Union and SJP) who were not among those arrested on the morning of April 30th, but were affiliated with the protests. We will be including them in the support from this funds as needs arise."


$50,530 has been raised and the GoFundMe is currently paused. 


indyweek.com/news/orange/our-campuses-have-been-turned-into-war-zones-the-aftermath-of-police-action-at-uncs-pro-palestinian-encampment/


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:





[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/


ncnewsline.com/briefs/hundreds-of-faculty-and-staff-members-call-on-unc-ch-to-dismiss-charges-against-student-protesters/


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


www.ncleg.gov/BillLookup/2023/H942?sourceid=1002968&emci=e3f9e989-920c-ef11-96f3-7c1e521b07f9&emdi=782dfe1f-a60c-ef11-96f3-7c1e521b07f9&ceid=901759


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 and 

Grad Workers, Must Must Challenge this Repression

We 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 Petition

And 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,

  1. We demand that all students who have been suspended as a result of their participation in the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” to be reinstated immediately.
  2. We further demand that any financial aid or scholarships these students might have remain in place.
  3. We demand that all charges against those who participated in the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” be dropped.
  4. We demand that the University reinstates Campus Y and Students for Justice in Palestine.
  5. We condemn, with the strongest possible terms, the University’s violent crackdown against the peaceful acts of protest and civil disobedience that took place on April 30th.
  6. We are deeply troubled by the militarization of the police forces on campus and the erection of barriers around campus.
  7. We declare that we have no confidence in interim Chancellor Lee Roberts’s leadership and demand his immediate removal.

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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