Solidarity with Students in Liberation Zones
We, the core faculty of the Global Asian Studies Program at the University of Illinois Chicago, stand in solidarity with students representing over 105 campuses who have established encampments to denounce the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and call on campuses to financially divest from corporations and institutions that have profited from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and occupation. We represent an academic unit built on a legacy of a 30-year-old student-led movement where students demanded an ethnic studies program that highlighted the histories and lived experiences of Asian Americans. Our existence as an academic unit rests on the legacy of the 1960s ethnic studies movement led by a multi-racial and multi-ethnic coalition of students. Thus, we see these current student-led movements as recent examples in a long history of transformative student activism in the US - from the 1960s civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. We also take inspiration from student-led movements beyond the US - the 1970s first quarter storm in the Philippines in response to the Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship, the pro-democracy unrests that unfolded in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and more recently, in Iran, or the spate of protests supporting Dalit rights in the wake of Rohith Vemula’s suicide and against the anti-Muslim Citizen Amendment Act in India.
We condemn the use of police force, intimidation, and arrests to shut down peaceful protests on college campuses. We urge universities to uphold the rights of students, faculty, and staff to free expression, protest, and debate without fear of retaliation.
As academics, we deplore the destruction of educational and cultural institutions in Gaza and understand that this has been an ongoing process for 75 years. We denounce the killing of hundreds of educators, artists, writers, journalists, university administrators, and staff this past year alone. We stand in solidarity with those who are calling these acts a scholasticide and a willful destruction of intellectual life in Gaza.
We are part of interdisciplinary professional associations that have adopted a BDS resolution - including the Association for Asian American Studies, the American Anthropological Association, the American Studies Association, the Middle East Studies Association, and the National Women’s Studies Association. The Boycott and Divestment movement was historically effective in the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa; it could also be an effective strategy in calling for an immediate ceasefire and eventually the liberation of Palestine.
We invite you to learn more about the current (and growing) student-led movement and their specific demands on each campus: https://students4gaza.directory
*This statement does not reflect the position or policies of the University of Illinois Chicago or the University of Illinois System
Signed by: The GLAS Core Faculty
Date: April 29, 2024