Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return Statement Release: A Response to Ana Mari Cauce’s Endangering Statement

Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return at the University of Washington rejects and condemns the dangerous statement released on October 9th by Ana Mari Cauce. This statement sends the message to all racially oppressed and exploited students and workers in the UW community: that The University of Washington supports Zionist war crimes and is opposed to the Palestinian people’s just demand for an end to over 75 years of ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and genocide. 

The same day, University Admin ironically published a statement commemorating “Indigenous peoples' resilience and rich cultural heritage in the face of centuries of oppression, assimilation and genocide” the foundation upon which this country and University was built. While feigning support for Indigenous people, the University made its relationship to the struggle for land back clear by propagating Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian rhetoric, the same ahistorical rhetoric  rampant in corporate media, and misrepresenting the root causes of the Palestinian people’s fight for national liberation.

The University’s disregard for the murder of civilian Palestinians in Gaza and across Palestine is unfortunately expected; time and time again the University has ignored the war waged by Israel on all Palestinians, promoted academic programs which dehumanize Palestinian people, and funnels students into careers that produce the weapons and tools that enable the massacres we are seeing today.  We have seen the political leadership of this occupying entity cut off food, medicine and water to millions of Palestinians whom it describes as “human animals.” Palestinians in Gaza have no shelters for refuge and nowhere to escape. While lamenting the taking of “hostages” in war, Ana Mari Cauce has never condemned the over 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners, including children, illegally held captive by Israel for decades. The occupying colonial regime and those countries and corporations that support it are the only ones to blame for violence, death and armed struggle. Unsurprisingly, there are no courses or positions dedicated to informing students about the truth of historical and contemporary revolutionary Palestinian struggle while the University has many pro-zionist and pro-US wars on West Asia courses and programs.

For Ana Mari Cauce, “recognizing shared humanity” and  “peaceful coexistence” really means that Palestinians should stop defending themselves,  give up on returning to their homeland in dignity, and continue dying in refugee camps under Israeli colonial occupation in perpetuity. 

The coming days will require a firm stand against US American and Zionist colonial retaliation and steadfast solidarity with the Palestinian people. We call on students, workers and faculty to mobilize in solidarity with the Palestinian people today and on Saturday.

To the University of Washington we demand:

• To cut ties with “Israel study abroad” programs

• To stop promoting the false and racist “IHRA definition of antisemitism” and instead adopt a proactive statement defending Palestinian students and community from the current rampage of anti-Palestinian racism. 

• To cut all ties with the Boeing company which produces the helicopters, missile guidance systems, and fighter jets that are murdering Palestinian civilians and destroying homes.
  
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  Published 10-19-23