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When leaders fail us, students lead. Student led “liberated zones” are popping up around the country to expose the system and demand better. These students are all of our teachers; not just in their demonstration of strategy and skillful action, but in their courage and commitment to justice. They are risking their individual futures for the promise of our collective liberation.

In return for their commitment to the more just world that we all deserve, students are met with snipers and military style tanks, rubber bullets and violent arrests, and a whole lot of gaslighting from powerful politicians, university administrators and major media outlets that demonizes protestors and weaponizes fear and anti-semitism as a cover for real truth - that western institutions/governments are more interested in maintaining power and accumulation than protecting lives and restoring democracy.

As James Baldwin said:

Americans keep wondering what has “got into” the students. What has “got into” the students is their history in this country. The question which they present the nation is whether or not we really want to be free.

Students are reminding us that we, the people, have power, that we are not alone, and despite the force of empire, we will prevail.

Keep going.

Kerri she/her

NTK (need to know)

• An anti-war movement is spreading on college campuses across America and beyond. Protests have been met with police violence, mass arrests and an unbending political class – all of which have only fueled the demonstrations further. Gen Z sees the Gaza protests as their 1968 moment: ‘We built this on their legacy’.

• Too many leaders, on campus and in government, are failing to uphold the First Amendment rights they claim to champion. Those Who Preach Free Speech Need to Practice It.

• As Biden administration and U.S. college and university administrators increasingly accuse peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters on school campuses of antisemitism, Israeli Holocaust Scholar Omer Bartov says they’re just weaponizing antisemitism & silencing dissent.

• “You are keeping no one safe, except for your donors, trustees, and the university’s endowment.” A letter to Columbia President Minouche Shafik from former Columbia University faculty, Robin G Kelley.

• Summer Lee Proves That “Opposing Genocide Is Good Politics and Good Policy”. Last week, the Pennsylvania representative voted against unconditional military aid for Israel. This week, she won what was supposed to be a tough primary by an overwhelming margin.

Solidarity

Why are students taking action? Students are demanding that universities divest from and cut ties with companies that do business with Israel. They follow a long legacy of protests in the spirit of harm reduction through boycott, divestment and sanctions. During the 1970s and 1980s, students at Columbia and other universities successfully pressed administrators to sell off investments in companies doing business with South Africa over the country's apartheid policies. And more recently, students have successfully called for some universities to divest themselves from companies tied to fossil fuels. Now 120+ schools around the country are collectively organizing to pressure institutions to withdraw their investments/support from Israel’s occupation. Here’s what they are asking for:

DIVEST: Students are demanding the institutions withdraw funds from companies and institutions that are contributing the Israeli occupation and apartheid. And some schools are listening….Brown, in an unprecedented move, struck a deal with its students to end their peaceful protest and encampment in exchange for a formal divestment vote from Israeli interests (and no students will be punished).

DISCLOSE: Provide full transparency of all assets including investments portfolios and funding through donations and grants.

ABOLISH POLICING: End the targeted repression and policing of pro-palestinan advocacy on campus and sever ties with law enforcement.

END THE SILENCE: Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the occupation and genocide in Palestine.

BOYCOTT: Sever all ties with Israeli universities and exchange programs.

For more on how we hold the line: follow the BDS movement.

Digging Deeper

Mainstream calls for “these students” to be more like the civil rights movement only shows how white washed our memory is. Empire has never allowed for peaceful protest. When thousands of school-aged children in Birmingham marched to protest segregation 61 years ago this week, they were met with hoses, attacked by police dogs and incarcerated. Students sitting at lunch counters, in movie theaters, in bus terminals and marching in public parks were met with violent suppression. We need to stop being surprised when protestors are demonized and met with violence..it is a direct replica of the violence enacted in justice movements of the past. Young people who are working to end mass slaughter are not the threat. The threat is the systemic effort to silence anyone who speaks up against the state. The threat are the riots squads that are sent in to brutalize peaceful protestors. The threat is the west’s obsession with dominance and greed that justifies horrific acts of colonization and violence. The kids are all right. Let’s follow them.

Art from @desireadee

We-ness

In these times, we’re turning to the words and wisdom of Grace Lee Boggs:

“A revolution that is based on the people exercising their creativity in the midst of devastation is one of the great historical contributions of humankind.”

“To make a revolution, people must not only struggle against existing institutions. They must make a philosophical/ spiritual leap and become more 'human' human beings. In order to change/ transform the world, they must change/ transform themselves.”

“People are aware that they cannot continue in the same old way but are immobilized because they cannot imagine an alternative. We need a vision that recognizes that we are at one of the great turning points in human history when the survival of our planet and the restoration of our humanity require a great sea change in our ecological, economic, political, and spiritual values.”

“We need to connect Visionary work with Resistance work. One is not possible without the other. Both are essential parts of a more holistic movement for change.

“These are the times to grow our souls. Each of us is called upon to embrace the conviction that despite the powers and principalities bent on commodifying all our human relationships, we have the power within us to create the world anew.”

“Love isn't about what we did yesterday; it's about what we do today and tomorrow and the day after”

Words by Grace Lee Boggs, Art by @chrisyisuh

Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last six years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going. 💛

Upgrade to paid