#north carolina for palestine

[catdotjpeg]

Dozens of students walked out of Duke University’s commencement ceremony as some chanted “free Palestine” to protest against the guest speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, for supporting Israel throughout its war on Gaza, Reuters reports, citing videos of the event on social media. The American actor visited Israel and has vocally supported it since October 7. The walkout was the latest manifestation of pro-Palestine protests that have roiled US campuses as students call for universities to divest from arms suppliers and other companies profiting from the war and amnesty for students and faculty members who have been disciplined or fired for protesting.

-- "Students walk out of university ceremony in protest at Jerry Seinfeld’s support for Israel" by Mersiha Gadzo for Al Jazeera, 12 May 2024 16:55 GMT

I think most people on here know this, but to be clear, Seinfeld has been a zionist his entire life, not just since October. He worked on Kibbutz Sa’ar in the western Galilee when he was 16, performed in Tel Aviv in 2015, took his family to a fantasy anti-terror camp located in the illegal settlement of Efrat in the West Bank in 2018, and visited the Ramon Airbase in the Negev during the same trip. His December 2023 visit to Kibbutz Be’eri in the Negev and his wife’s $5k donation to the zionist rally that was created to intimidate the UCLA encampment are just two of the most recent examples of this.

[taviamoth]

🚨 For the 5th consecutive night, students at Columbia University continue the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, undeterred by over 100 arrests, and returning with larger tents than before.

The students have declared that they will not stop until the University, with its $14 billion endowment, divests from zionism.

Despite a number of suspensions and censorship, students are not backing down. Tour guides for new students have resigned in protest of the repression. Support rallies continue outside the university.

The liberated zone at Columbia has inspired others: At Yale University in Connecticut, an encampment named Gaza Plaza with demands of divestment continues for the third consecutive night despite suspension threats. At Yale, a number of graduate students undertook an 8-day-long hunger strike to demand their university divest from zionism.

Students at the New School in New York also began an encampment, as did a number of students in Boston, creating three encampments at MIT, Emerson, and Tufts to demand divestment and cessation of attacks on students. Encampments are also taking place at the University of North Carolina, Washington University, and Miami University in Ohio.

[blueberiipie-art]

North Carolina Miku 😔

I don’t have like, an actual cultural background, so here’s my attempt at this trend

[sayruq]

[breawycker]

We will not be silenced. We will not stop until Palestine is free. Biden and Israel, what do you say? How many kids have you killed today?

[hero-israel]

The image went viral as protests over the Israel-Hamas war rattled college campuses around the country last spring: two dozen or so fraternity members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shielding a wrinkled American flag from pro-Palestinian protesters who had already taken it down once.

In interviews, several members of the U.N.C. chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity, said they were disappointed that the money raised on their behalf was paying for a party. They said they would rather that a significant portion of the money go to a charity that supports Jewish organizations or relief efforts in Gaza.

The “rager,” they said, felt callous given that it grew out of a painful moment for both Jews and Palestinians — all as the war in the Middle East continued.

“The use of our actions to promote a narrative that we were some right-wing, MAGA heroes has been a gross misrepresentation and a disservice to many of those who were actually there,” said Oliver Levine, a junior at the university and the president of its Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter.

Members of other fraternities had a rosier view of the party, saying it was simply about uniting around patriotism.

"You have this huge party with all of these people honoring us for what we did for the flag,” said Brendan Rosenblum, 23, a senior and a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, “but not as much honoring us for the Jewish piece that was the original reason we were all there.”

Zachary Serinsky, 19, a sophomore chemistry major and member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, said that he felt like the counterprotest in April was being made “into a joke” because of the party.

“We went through this horrific day, we were there supporting our faith, our beliefs, and then also supporting America,” Mr. Serinsky said. “To put all that money toward a party feels kind of like a slap in the face.”

He does not plan on attending.

Fucking of course. They will never stop stealing our history or our struggles and never stop rewriting it to actually be about themselves.

[vyorei]

FUCK YES, MORE USian SOLIDARITY

BASED NORTH CAROLINA✊🇵🇸

BASED PENNSYLVANIA ✊🇵🇸

[allthegeopolitics]

New anti-war encampments were established at the University of North Carolina and Arizona State University on Friday, as protests calling for their institutions of higher education to condemn Israel’s war on Gaza and divest from Israeli firms persist, Anadolu Agency reports. Police attempted to clear the sit-in at Arizona State University, but prosecutors defiantly remained on a campus lawn after their tents were torn down and carried away by law enforcement. Demonstrators attempted to gather what they could, and locked arms around a canopy that was left standing. School authorities attempted to clear them from the site by turning on sprinklers, but demonstrators quickly moved to place various objects, including large water bottles, on the sprinklers to block them. “Water is life,” the prosecutors chanted, according to a live feed from the local ABC television station affiliate. “One, two, three, four, occupation no more. Five, six, seven, eight, Israel is an Apartheid state. One, two three, four, we don’t want your dirty war. Five, six, seven, eight, Israel is a terrorist state,” they added.

Continue Reading.

[eretzyisrael]

by Peter Reitzes

About 25 minutes into the event, SJP activists simultaneously stood up and slowly walked out, screeching chants of “Bari Bari, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide.” Of course, she was not hiding. She was on stage, engaging in public discourse, offering to take questions from community members, including the very activists screaming at her.

The “walkout” amounted to a heckler’s veto that prevented the speakers from talking. Uniformed police, followed by Provost Clemons, ushered SJP activists out of the event. Some activists remained outside the auditorium, heckling and shouting at the audience after the event finished an hour later.

The conversation between Bruni and Weiss offered a model of how two people can engage in civil discourse about important issues while sometimes disagreeing. I will not summarize the impressive conversation here, except to say that Weiss mentioned how her highly respected media website — the Free Press — had recently received criticism for publishing a column by Andrew Sullivan that was viewed as being strongly critical of Israel.

UNC offered free pizza to attendees as we left. There were many uniformed police officers outside, and SJP activists were shouting chants and attempting to intimidate attendees who were leaving. A group of four masked SJP activists shouted at us and followed my group. Police officers appeared to follow the activists who were following us.

One reason SJP activists feel emboldened to act in such menacing ways on campus is that UNC continues to allow them to conceal their identities during protests and disruptions. UNC policy and North Carolina law prohibit the use of masks to hide identity. The great preponderance of the masked audience were SJP members, who were easily recognized as they sat in the same two areas and walked out in unison.

The “arguments” SJP activists screamed at us after the event indicated these young adults have no interest in engaging in difficult conversations. The activists following us were yelling about what they called “genocide pizza” and “apartheid pizza” that UNC offered.

[catdotjpeg]

Freshman Brandon Goodson wants his math teacher back. Goodson and approximately 30 other students walked out of class this morning at 9:30 to protest math teacher Kayla Thompson’s absence.  “It’s not fair,” Goodson said. “We’re standing for her because she can’t do it by herself.”

On Sunday, March 17, Thompson was named Pirate Hero of the Month. Riverside [High School in Durham, North Carolina] posted a photo of her posing with the award in front of a Palestinian flag on Facebook and Instagram. In the days that followed, dozens of commenters, many of whom are not affiliated with Riverside, criticized the flag.  “This kind of propaganda should not be allowed in the classroom,” one commenter who lives in Raleigh wrote. “She certainly isn’t creating a safe environment for her Jewish students.”  “Why does she have a Palestinian flag in her classroom? That is highly inappropriate and awful for her Jewish students to have to deal with in the classroom,” wrote another. Thompson’s students, however, thought differently.  “I didn’t view it as anti-semitic,” said junior Tiam Famet, Thompson’s second period teaching assistant. “Ms. Thompson saw that people in Palestine were hurting and she wanted to voice her support, and she did that by hanging up the flag.” “She had the flag up for a really long time,” said freshman Kyla Bannerman, a student in Thompson’s first period class.  The social media posts were deleted, and on Tuesday during first period RHS administrators asked Thompson to remove the flag. She took the flag down, then left campus and has not returned. Later that day, Thompson’s third period students recreated the flag with dry erase markers on the board. 

Assistant principal Greg Goble declined to comment about the week’s events. Thompson also declined an interview with The Pirates’ Hook, but said she hopes to speak about the incident soon.  During the protest, several students held signs saying “Free Palestine,” “Is This Scary DPS?” and “End The Occupation.”  A parent dropping off her child at school began arguing with students about a particular sign. The woman walked toward the protesters and began yelling, stating that they were “promoting suicide bombers.”  In response, students chanted “Free Palestine!”  Student Resource Officers (SROs) and administrators asked her to leave campus.  Thompson’s students protested again during A-Lunch. “[Administration] just brushed it to the side,” Goodson said. “That’s why we stood up for the class. We were her voice.”

-- "Kayla Thompson was named Pirate Hero of the Month. She hasn’t been to work since." by Isaiah Heinz, Delia Aguilar, Taliyah Cooper and Elena Paces-Wiles for The Pirates' Hook, 22 Mar 2024

[faguscarolinensis]

The first US city to ban police exchanges with Israel – Scalawag

I really love the city I live in now and this is just one of many reasons.

[tiggymalvern]

This is how you don't do it. Arrest your students for objecting to racism and genocide, then remove the funds from anti-racism initiatives and use the money for more cops to arrest your students. Obviously that solves everything.

[planetofsnarfs]

The bill passed the GOP-controlled state Senate on Wednesday in a vote on party lines, which included 30 people voting in favor of the legislation, and 15 voting against. Five people were absent, the Hill reported. It passed the House last week, and now goes to the desk of the Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who could veto it. However, should he issue the veto, Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers that could override it.

[breawycker]

I'm part of the UNCC Palestine encampment. This was shared with us and we were told to spread it.

[Video ID: video at Wake Forest University about the above incident. The protesters talking are not visible. There is one person visible in front kneeling and one laying down in front of them. The main focus is on Jim Settle and some other people. Behind them are some counterprotesters who are also filming with their phone.

Jim Settle: if they wanna get sprayed, that's their [something]. They have the right to do that.

Someone: Alrighr, there's no need to...

Protester 1: can you say that one more time?

Protester 2: for real? Are you for real?

Jim Settle: there's no easy way to say that.

Counterprotester: you guys are on private property. So... I don't know what the problem is

Protester 3: say you're killing students on camera.

Multiple protesters: so you just authorized the use of chemicals against students?

Protester 3: you said spray them if you have to.

Multiple protesters: spray them if you have to.

Protester 1 (referring to the counterprotesters who are laughing): and y'all think it's funny

End ID]

The emails for reference are:

cliffomw @ wfu.edu

niangz @ wfu.edu

deanofstudents@ wfu.edu

settlej @ wfu.edu

Free Palestine! 🇵🇸

[adamshallperish]

so apparently they're opening an investigation into the university of north carolina chapel hill for antisemitism on the grounds that an assistant professor criticized israel in a class x