THE GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT AT THE NEW SCHOOL
The Gaza Solidarity Encampment is a rightful response to the genocide in Gaza and the ongoing Nakba in Palestine. We are escalating because there are no universities left in Gaza and we, people of conscience, refuse to sit idly by while our Palestinian brothers and sisters are being slaughtered; and when our institution is complicit in their deaths—escalation and pressure is the merest of efforts for our people.
The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) formulated a list of demands that, if fulfilled, would conclude the encampment. We took a pledge of commitment in making our presence known for however long it took to accomplish these demands—making sure that Palestinian resistance was the focal theme. Our demands are as follows:
1. Divest from Death
The New School must commit to a complete divestment from all corporations benefiting from and complicit in the ongoing genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people. We demand the divestment from the 13 arms and surveillance technology manufacturers disclosed in the university endowment portfolio: Axa, The Boeing Company, Caterpillar Inc., Cemex, The Chevron Corporation, Elbit Systems LTD., General Electric, Google LLC, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, Motorola Solutions.
2. Protection for pro-Palestine protesters
The dismissal of academic disciplinary charges, as well as the withdrawal of the university’s criminal trespassing charges against 45 students.
3. Academic Boycott of the Apartheid State
We reject normalized collaboration with any educational and cultural institutions of the genocidal apartheid state of Israel, which are inherently complicit in the legitimization of the occupation of Palestine and opporession of the Palestinian people. We demand that The New School enact a full academic boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions.
4. No Cops on Campus
The New School must permanently end collaborative measures with the NYPD in favor of de-escalate and collective justice-oriented processes.
Alongside the tents, we occupied the space with a myriad of programmings. The encampment encouraged professors to hold their classes at the space; and we invited thinkers and revolutionists. The negligence of political education wasn’t endured as an excuse as political education helps the development of organizing for liberation struggles while ripening our personal politic and assessment of our surrounding environment.
We offered teach-ins that detailed the role of students in resistance, interconnected struggles of Kashmir, Sudan, Puerto Rico, and the Congo, and filled the capacity with art, community, and love while constantly centering our demands.
BRIEF TIMELINE OF THE ENCAMPMENT:
April 21st
First day of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, we were told by administration that the encampment violates fire code and protest guidelines; and were threatened with suspension by the administration. Despite multiple threats, we remained steadfast in our pursuits. Repression increased as heads of security took down all our posters and stepped on the names of academic martyrs multiple of times.April 29th
Our encampment expanded to the Parsons School of Design building, lengthening and deepening the pressure for divestment from war profiteers and weapon manufacturers.We received partial disclosure of investments. Among the companies invested in is *Chevron Corporation—One of the world's largest oil and gas companies. Its subsidiary Noble Energy extracts gas off the shores of the Gaza Strip, devastating the Gaza strip. The New School has claimed to have divested from fossil fuels in 2015. This information makes it clear that transparency is a crucial endeavor following the deceitful and hypocritical act of claiming to be green. It is widely implausible that The New School never divested from fossil fuels.
May 2nd
The Gaza Solidarity Encampment stationed a soft blockade of Bisan Hall (University Center), closing down the building to further the constraint on the Board of Trustees to call a meeting to vote on divestment. We continued to block the doors, keeping one entrance open while simultaneously mobilizing a rally outside with the unwavering support from city organizers. We blocked the entrance to the Kerrey Hall dormitory and were threatened with a police raid unless we moved. We confirmed with administration that students would get a written warning before cops stepped foot on campus.May 3rd
Donna Shalala ordered the NYPD to sweep both encampments at Bisan Hall (University Center) and Parsons School of Design. The NYPD arrested 45 peaceful students. They were not given a written notice as promised nor were they given the time or a chance to leave before the arrests were issued. The arrestees were then put on interim suspension following their release.Both encampments were completely removed from the premises, posters were taken down, and the buildings looked aseptic. The emptiness of the lobbies truly showcased the vibrant community that occupied those spaces for those two weeks. We created a realm The New School longed for. We know all too well that The New School will slap our encampment on a brochure trying to lure prospective students in and further their facade narrative that they are this different leftist institution. It will claim that it was on the right side of history.
May 8th
The encampments, however, prevailed. Five days following the raid of the encampments, New School faculty formed an encampment of their own. The first faculty solidarity encampment in the nation—The Refaat Alareer Faculty Solidarity Encampment, named after the Palestinian poet, writer, and activist, who was martyred by an Israeli airstrike alongside six members of his family. The Refaat Alareer Solidarity Encampment hosted a rally to support the last standing encampment in New York City, in which protestors were maced by two Zionist provocateurs. The police wrongfully detained a Black comrade; In response, the community staged a sit-in in front of the police van, refraining them from moving, in an attempt to de-arrest our comrade. At least 11 community members were arrested, many of them assaulted by police.May 16th
The New School community liberated the Welcome Center, a seven-story building right across Bisan Hall, renaming it, the Lama Jamous Center, honoring the 9-year old Palestinian journalist from Gaza. This building stands as an emblem of commercial capitalism, being situated on 5th avenue, known for being one of the most expensive streets in NYC. The building is predominately used to host tours to prospective students. In the process of occupancy, security guards attempted to remove our tents, and assaulted our comrades as they tried to interfere. A security guard shoved one of our comrades and stomped on her, leaving her with injuries to her abdomen. The Lama Jamous Center was fully occupied, with students and faculty organizers controlling entrances and exits, determining who is allowed access. No cops, no security, and no administration were present/allowed in the building.Find our digital photo archive here!