No complicity with apartheid

STUDENT ACTIVISTS at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Loyola University in Chicago are pressing ahead with efforts to get their student governments to pass resolutions calling for the universities to divest from companies profiting off Israeli apartheid.

In Ann Arbor, students are holding daily sit-ins after the student government indefinitely postponed a vote on divestment, despite overwhelming student support. At Loyola, students are keeping up the pressure after a landslide vote to divest by the student government.

The Ann Arbor sit-in grew out of a March 18 session of the Central Student Government (CSG). Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) had mobilized to speak in favor of a divestment resolution it had submitted. The resolution, supported by 36 student organizations, calls for the university to divest from four companies complicit in Israeli apartheid and occupation.

But with more than 300 people present to support the resolution and only a handful of opponents, Michigan's student government nevertheless took the extraordinary step of indefinitely postponing its vote. Supporters of the resolution responded by chanting, "Divest! Divest!" for 10 minutes, forcing student government to cancel the rest of the meeting.

The following night, SAFE and its allies began the #UMDivestSitIn, occupying the student government's chambers and issuing several demands to uphold student democracy.

"The silencing of the Palestinian voices that happened at the March 18 meeting just affirmed how I feel as though I do not have a place on this campus," said Palestinian SAFE member Mekarem Eljamal. "This sit-in will do more than just repeal the shameful decision made by CSG. It will also show them that we will not stand for being systematically silenced on this campus."

Michigan's student government will be meeting again on March 25. With student elections coming up, the issue of divestment and solidarity with Palestine has taken center stage.

ON THE same day, but 250 miles to the west, the Student Senate at Loyola University Chicago passed a resolution to divest from eight corporations profiting from human rights abuses in occupied Palestine. This resolution was put forward by the Loyola Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter and passed the Senate by a vote of 26-0 with two abstentions.

The vote came after many months of organizing by the Loyola chapter to build support for divestment among students, faculty and the surrounding community in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. The resolution asks the university to "screen out" and divest from "companies like Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, Group 4 Securicor (G4S), SodaStream, Elbit Systems, Veolia and many others that help facilitate the abuse of human rights here and abroad."

Loyola University Chicago becomes the first Catholic university in the U.S. where a divestment resolution has been passed by the student government, but the fight is far from over. Pedro Guerrero, president of the Unified Student Government Association (USGA), must sign off on the Senate's legislation, which must also pass a review of the USGA Judicial Board.

Already, the Jewish United Fund (JUF) and Metro Chicago Hillel have initiated a petition among pro-Zionist students to pressure President Pedro to veto the divestment resolution.

The JUF claims, "Pro-Israel students were neither afforded the opportunity to debate the resolution, nor even informed of the vote." In fact, Israel supporters had every opportunity to participate in the democratic process--and simply chose not to be involved. In the words of one community activist:

Here we have democracy in action. We're talking about a group of students who are holding their university accountable to its own mission "to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice and faith." Are we going to continue to ignore the injustice and racism in Israel? Or are we going to stand with these courageous students in keeping Loyola from investing in companies who profit off that injustice and racism?

In an effort to continue to build support for divestment and hear from students across campus, Loyola SJP is hosting a March 24 open forum "for all students and community members...to discuss the implications of the divestment measure for the Loyola student body." The USGA has also invited students and allies to the March 25 Senate meeting "to show the overwhelming support from the student body and from the community."

At both University of Michigan and Loyola, it will take continued discussions, activity and organizing on campus and beyond to win our demands. By forging bonds of solidarity with other struggles and groups, the pro-Palestine movement can both defend itself from Zionist attempts to silence it as well as continue to press forward on its demands for divestment from Israeli apartheid.