NAARPR Condemns Repression on U.S. Campuses
The National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (NAARPR) stands in full solidarity with the student movement in the U.S. and condemns the repression waged by university administrators against students for their admirable support for Palestine.
The student movement is carrying forward solidarity efforts with Palestine in a rapid and inspiring fashion. Each day, new encampments are established across university and college campuses. Students are exercising their First Amendment rights and demanding universities and their administrators divest from and cut all ties to Israel. Where universities have failed to take action, students have taken matters into their own hands and are demanding for an end to the genocide in Palestine. A new world where Palestine is free is being born, and these brave students are making sure that it arrives within their lifetimes!
However, as campuses are turned into encampment zones, university administrators have given the green light to the repressive arms of the state to violently assault anyone standing with Palestine. Whether they are calling on university police, local law enforcement agencies or the National Guard, these cowardly administrators are seeking to repress the student movement. We are witnessing hundreds of police officers descending on campuses and making mass arrests of students and faculty. Riot police are being deployed to violently attack community members and the press who surround the encampment zones.
University administrators are operating in conjunction with the Biden administration, Congress, and law enforcement to attack students’ First Amendment rights and hold steadfast in their support of genocide. If it wasn’t previously clear, these attacks should signify to all that we are in the middle of a vicious wave of political repression in this country. The chickens have come home to roost, and the ugly face of repression has zeroed in on the students.
In order to successfully defeat this repression, we must continue to operate in unity with the student movement. Since October, we have called for and participated in numerous national calls to action with the student organizations leading these efforts - Students for Democratic Society (SDS), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). Our solidarity with the student movement only grows stronger in the face of this repression.
As such, the NAARPR and all our branches and affiliate organizations call for national solidarity with the student movement and the broader movement for Palestinian liberation. We join National SDS in their following demands:
- Universities fully divest from Israel
- Universities carry out an academic boycott in Israel
- Universities condemn Israel for its genocide in Gaza
- The protection of first amendment rights to free speech, protest, and academic freedom
- President Biden and Congress end all U.S. aid to Israel.