We must stop U.S. support for Israel's genocide.
As repression grows, so does solidarity.
In schools and universities across the country, the demand for an immediate ceasefire and an end to genocide is spreading. Right now, it’s clear that educational institutions can either be places where dissent is stifled and students are censored and repressed — or places where we fight together for liberation.
Repression on campus
As the Israeli military carries out a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, anti-Palestinian groups in the U.S. are working overtime to shut down demands for a ceasefire — including at Columbia University, where the student chapters of JVP and Students for Justice in Palestine were just suspended.
In response to this appalling act of censorship and intimidation, Columbia SJP and JVP students released a powerful statement:
College campuses have long been a crucial front of the struggle against U.S. military violence, and brave students across the country are fighting every day to demand a ceasefire and an end to their universities’ complicity in Israeli apartheid. This wave of repression is a direct result of anti-Palestinian organizations working to put a target on the backs of student organizers, many of whom are teenagers — threatening both the students themselves and their universities with legal repercussions.
At Brown University, Jewish students are facing charges after their school called the police on a sit-in demanding a ceasefire. Students at Brandeis University, too, are fighting censorship and repression after the school banned their SJP chapter.
Across the U.S., thousands of brave students are standing up for justice. It’s critical that we have their backs.
Stand against repression.
Write to Columbia President Minouche Shafik now to ask that she immediately reinstate SJP and JVP, and commit to protecting the rights of Columbia students to speak and organize on campus, including their right to criticize Israel and to advocate for Palestinian rights.
Solidarity is growing
In contrast to this culture of repression, teachers in Chicago are showing us how our educational institutions can also instruct us in integrity and solidarity. On Monday, the Chicago Teachers Union came out strongly in support of an immediate ceasefire — and called on other unions across the U.S. to do the same.
“As a union of educators dedicated to empowering the next generation, we are deeply concerned by the loss of civilian life and indiscriminate bombing throughout Gaza, where half the Palestinians living there are children.
As a fighting union dedicated to the adherence of human rights, our most important representative body voted overwhelmingly in favor of a ceasefire to stop the senseless bloodshed of innocents and call for the return of all hostages. We can’t stand idly by while the U.S. government continues to send weapons and military aid with the tax dollars that would be better spent addressing the root causes of violence. We need a ceasefire to save Palestinian and Israeli lives, bring Israeli hostages home, and pull the region back from the brink of catastrophic war. And we need more fighting unions across the country to join us in this movement.”
Jackson Potter, Vice President of Chicago Teachers Union.
This call from CTU follows the American Postal Workers Union’s statement on November 8, calling for an immediate ceasefire as a union that stands for “equality, social justice, human and labor rights, and international solidarity.” The AMPU is a union of over 200,000 postal workers — just one sign of how the demand for justice is growing across movements.
All of us, from Palestine to Chicago, are struggling for a better world, where our families can live and learn in freedom. The way we get there is by fighting together.
Solidarity requires action.
The anti-Palestinian lobby works overtime to punish anyone who speaks out for justice and freedom for Palestinians. As one of the first major unions standing up for ceasefire, we can expect that they’ll receive backlash — so we need to make sure that they feel that they have a movement behind them.
Use our tool to send a tweet thanking Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter for standing up for human rights and calling for a ceasefire.
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