Drop the Charges: Demands for CUNY to Divest from Israel Met by Violent Police Repression
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Published 2024-05-15
Students and workers at the City University of New York held a peaceful occupation Tuesday of the school's Graduate Center in solidarity with Palestine and renamed its library "The Al Aqsa University Library," after Gaza's oldest public university, which was destroyed by Israel's bombardment. This comes as over 500 faculty and staff at CUNY have signed a letter demanding the charges be dropped against at least 173 people arrested in April when NYPD violently raided a peaceful Gaza solidarity encampment on the City College campus. "This is really the most egregious example we've seen of violent repression of pro-Palestinian organizing," says pro-Palestine activist and CUNY alumni Musabika Nabiha, who says the crackdown wasn't in response to the tents, rallies or free food, but because the "encampment's demands themselves proved a threat to the constant accumulation of profit and profiting off of genocide that CUNY is engaged in." Alex Vitale, coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at CUNY's Brooklyn College, criticizes the school administration for being relatively harsh on student activists. "CUNY is spending millions of dollars for a security apparatus that fails to address the real security needs of students and is really there in moments like this to be a tool, a kind of private army, for the administration to suppress student dissent."
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All Comments (21)
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I think the students should file lawsuits against the university and the police department for over reacting to a peaceful protest.
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I support their efforts to practice their First Amendment 👍
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Thumbs up 👍 to the Students for Standing up for Truth & Humanity
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May be disturbing who ever want to study.
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UNITED NATIONS STAND UP and STOP NATHANYAHU NOW Thank you 🌹
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Israeli Hasbara 101: 1. We haven't heard reports of deaths, will check into it. 2. Palestinians were killed, but by a faulty Hamas rocket. 3. Okay, we killed them, but they were terrorists. 4. Okay, they were civilians, but they were being used as human shields. 5. Okay, there were no fighters in the area, it was our mistake, but we don’t target civilians, like Hamas. 6. Okay, we've killed far more civilians than Hamas, but look at how terrible other countries are! 7. Why are you still talking about Israel? Are you some kind of anti-semite?
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Massive respect 🫡 to these students and teachers fighting for justice and freedom of Palestine ❤️🇵🇸✌️
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They quit because the administration promised to “address their concerns.” Yeah, ok. Good luck with that. We’ll see how long THAT lasts…
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Proud of students against genocide Right side of history and morality
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How do activists find out where all money comes from?
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Drop the charges
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as a CUNY employee i back them 100%. admin needs to get cops off campus and drop the charges immediately.
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The police are just making these people more determined
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If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
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The dragons and their golden hoards creating reckless destruction wherever they go. Corrupting men's hearts in service to the one dragon.
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This is much the same protest that boomers did about the Vietnam war as well as those demanding the end of apartheid in SA. Or even other protests for social change. I'm embarrassed to say I attended a CUNY college. I know I boycotted and protested. But this oppression of students is horrid With that said - NO STUDENT SHOULD BE FEARFUL OF ATTENDING CLASSES EVER REGARDLESS OF THEIR POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, or ETHNIC AFFILIATION
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these students are my heroes thank you for reporting
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Love the song❤
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6:26 Do you know what real student descent is? not going to college in the first place, and finding other means of making money and not being forever tired into debt?
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I'm really proud of the young generation. They are going to save our country now and generations to come. It is extremely important for these movements to succeed otherwise our children will not have a future.
