Dear Dr. Refaat, You Are Not Dead: The Student Intifada, Nov 28-Dec 4
Arrests in Turkey, exhibition in the US, walkouts in Belgium and the UK, and much more from The Student Intifada.
Welcome and welcome back.
Dear Dr. Refaat, you are not dead.
You are still alive in the heart of every student you taught.
I promise that I will continue learning, writing, and defending Palestine until I see you again in heaven. Inshallah.
These are the words of Khaled Al-Qershali, a writer and student of Dr. Refaat Alareer.
Refaat was martyred by an airstrike a year ago today, alongside two of his siblings and four nephews. Born in 1979, he was a poet, writer, activist, and a professor of English and creative writing for over fifteen years at the Islamic University of Gaza. In his lectures he teaches us the meaning of resistance through literature and writing, its ability to create new realities, of making the seemingly impossible appear possible so that we never lose sight of the world we are fighting for. During his lifetime, he called upon Palestinians to share their stories, opening up spaces in the literary world that would expose the reality of occupation and apartheid, and countering Zionist narratives.
Refaat refused to pursue a career in academic institutions in the imperial core, instead returning home to become a teacher at the Islamic University of Gaza, which has now been reduced to rubble alongside all other universities in Gaza. It is unsurprising that someone as principled and committed to anti-colonial resistance as Refaat chose not to live in the ivory towers of western academia, because what have those institutions given us anyway?
Apart from empty rhetoric about academic freedom. Apart from false equivalences between anti-Zionism and anti-semitism. Apart from performative intersectionality and decolonialism, which remain restricted to abstract concepts to be taught in classrooms but never applied to praxis. Apart from violently repressing students in solidarity with a people undergoing genocide and living through apartheid. Apart from platforming Zionists, some of whom have signed the bombs meant for murdering Palestinians. Apart from providing material and financial support to a genocide.
Refaat lives on through the work of his students in Gaza, and to students everywhere who espouse his lessons in resistance and defy silencing. His teachings on what academic education can be like- guided by the fight for liberation and engaged in the resistance against the colonisation of Palestinian land and thought- are crucial for the student movement.
He cautions us against downplaying the power of words. When talking about Palestinian poet Fadwa Tuqa, who was arrested for writing poetry, he says:
We contradict ourselves. We believe in the power of literature as a means of resistance, as a means of fighting back, and then at the end we say ‘she just wrote a poem’. We shouldn’t be saying that.
As writers, we might experience moments of skepticism, wondering whether our words will ever be as “productive” as armed resistance. Refaat teaches us that writing has to be guided by armed resistance and vice versa. Writing cannot be separated from material struggle, and we have to give everything to the struggle, our words and our bodies.
And if our words didn’t terrify the empire, Dr. Refaat would not be dead. Universities in Gaza would not be bombed. Journalists would not be martyred. The student movement would not be suppressed.
And so we must honor Refaat’s legacy, because the Intifada shall wield both guns and pens.
Rest in power, comrade.
Updates from the intifada, Nov 28 - Dec 4
Australia
On Thursday 28th, students from the University of Melbourne and Monash University held a vigil for scholasticide in Palestine. They honoured the educators and students who have been martyred and the “destruction of Palestinian schools, universities, libraries, museums, archives, and hospitals - all places of research, teaching and learning.”
On Friday 29th, students from RMIT University published an open letter addressed to their vice chancellor, Alec Cameron. The letter was in response to the university’s restrictive policy changes on free speech, including bans on encampments and erecting structures which according to the administration hold a "reputational risk." These policy changes are a clear response to the rise of student activism for Palestine. The letter has garnered over 250 signatures so far.
Belgium
From Wednesday 27th to Friday 29th, students at the Free University of Brussels took action as part of the week of Solidarity with Palestine. At the sit-ins, meetings, and protests, the students demanded an academic boycott of complicit institutions.
On Thursday 28th, in honour of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, Belgian students joined forces to organize a National Walkout. Among them, students and staff from the University of Ghent, the University of Hasselt, the University of Leuven, the University of Liège, the University of Antwerp and the Free University of Brussels will be leaving classes and joining together to demonstrate against their universities' complicity.
On the same day, On Thursday 28th, students from the University of Liège, together with the group Veillées Palestine Liège, planned to gather in front of La Cité Miroir to protest against the visit of Elie Barnavi, former israeli ambassador, who denies the oppression and colonisation to which the Palestinians are subjected. La Cité Miroir, which promotes values of solidarity and resistance, is home to the association Territoires de la Mémoire, a centre for education in resistance and citizenship. The students’ efforts bore fruit and Barnavi's visit was cancelled.
Also on Thursday 28th, the University of Antwerp (UA) held a conference on aviation and its future with a guest speaker from the Hebrew University. The latter has been recognised by the UA Human Rights Committee as an accomplice to the Palestinian genocide. To show their disagreement, students from the University of Antwerp and other citizens organized a silent protest.
On Tuesday 3rd, students from UGhent gathered for their weekly sit-in in Refaat Alareer building. For their sixth gathering, they discussed the complicity of israeli institutions and planned upcoming actions.
Germany
On Thursday 28th , students at Freie Universität Berlin shut down the Otto-Suhr-Institut for political science under the motto “block, strike, resist”, stating “the time for dialogue is over - shut the FU”. They held a General Assembly under heavy police presence, discussing a BDS campaign targeting the university and cross movement building. Towards the end of the day that included productive discussions and strategising, the university called the police on its students, exposing them to severe police violence which led to several arbitrary arrests and the hospitalization of one student.
On Friday 29th, students disrupted a lecture at University of Hildesheim titled “Woher kommt der Judenhass‘ - philosophische Antworten auf den Anschlag der Hamas” (“Where does the 'hatred of Jews' come from - philosophical answers to the Hamas attack”). When students challenged the Zionist narrative of the lecture, they were screamed at and asked to leave by the speakers. In response, students disrupted the lecture, calling out the racism of the event, and refusing to be silenced by their university.
On Wednesday 4th, the University of Hannover cancelled a room booking for an open plenary session organised by Students for Palestine at the last minute. In a statement, the students condemn the university’s undemocratic behaviour and demand a reversal of the cancellation, asserting their right to use university rooms for events and meetings. They organized a spontaneous protest the same day.
On the same day, a coalition of student groups in Berlin organised a protest march starting at the Hertie school Berlin and ending at the federal Ministry of Education and Research. The students demanded an end to German academic complicity in genocide. They criticized the increasing interference of the federal government in university affairs.
Turkey
On Tuesday 3rd, nine pro-Palestine student activists were arrested for protesting against Turkey’s complicity in genocide. Since the beginning of the genocide, students and Turkish citizens have been demanding President Erdogan to impose an energy embargo and end its involvement in the Azerbaijani oil trade, which involves oil flowing to israel via Turkey. Students and Turkish citizens have also exposed the hypocrisy of Erdogan who has previously claimed to have enforced a trade ban against the Zionist entity.
UK
On Thursday 28th , as part of the UK’s ‘day of action’, students from multiple London universities, such as UCL, King’s College and City University, walked out of classes in protest against their universities’ complicity in genocide.
On the same day, the Oxford Union debate resulted in the house upholding that “israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide” by an overwhelming majority of 278 to 59.
On Friday 29th, students at the University of Cambridge expanded their occupation of Kanafani House [formerly Greenwich House], taking control of the whole building. The students have stated that ‘this escalation follows a complete failure from the university to respond to the line of communication set up after the liberation of Kanafani House.’ A day later, Cambridge students decamped from the university’s senate lawn after occupying it for four days. On Monday 2nd, students occupying Kanafani House received a letter from the university, threatening them with legal and disciplinary action. Students have stated that these ‘tactics of repression will only further strengthen the urgent fight for divestment during genocide.’
On Tuesday 3rd , Cardiff University suspended two students as a result of a protest they attended on campus on the 14th October which was organized as a response to the participation of companies that have ties with israel at the university’s careers fair. The Palestine Society has called on students, staff, alumni, and societies to help pressure the university to drop all disciplinary action.
On the same day, students from University of the Arts and Goldsmiths University, along with other artists and culture workers, protested outside of the Tate Britain Art Gallery, during its hosting of the prestigious Turner Prize award ceremony. The protestors called on Tate Britain to cut links with companies complicit with the genocide in Gaza.
Also on Tuesday 3rd, Syrian societies of University of London, including those of UCL, KCL and SOAS, released a joint statement on recent developments in Syria, stating that ‘despite efforts of the international community to normalize relations with Assad, the events of the last few days have inspired hope for many Syrians.” While expressing feelings of fear and apprehension that many Syrians are feeling, the societies explained that they remain hopeful for what lies ahead.
Canada
On Thursday 28th, Carleton University students disrupted Honeywell's networking event. Honeywell is a multinational conglomerate whose military products have been directly linked to the genocide.
On Monday 2nd, students from the University of Alberta organized an Art Market, fundraising for Palestine. Leen Asfour, an eighteen year old Palestinian artist, was featured during the event. Prints of her drawings were available to purchase, profits going to supporting her family. Local artists were featured as well.
Also on Tuesday 3rd, students from Memorial University of Newfoundland held a grief circle for Palestine and Lebanon.
On Wednesday 4th, students from the University of Waterloo disrupted a senate meeting by carrying in a model of a rocket made by companies in which the university invests. The students called out their university’s facade of neutrality behind which they hide their complicity.
France
On Friday 29th, while their government continues to support israel, students at the University of Paris 8 blockaded their university for the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Students encountered police intimidation during the protest.
On Monday 2nd, students from Science Po Paris blockaded the building on Saint Guillaume street to protest against the school's complicity and israel's failure to respect the ceasefire with Lebanon.
US
On the 1,2 and 4th of December, students from the Hind’s Hall Collective hosted a multi-media exhibition in honour of 6 year old Hind Rajab who was murdered while in her family car by the IOF in January 2024. Mosab Abu Toha, Nerdeen Kiswani and Zahra Hankir spoke at the event. The exhibition featured artwork from artists as well as collective members. Vendors also sold a multitude of products, many performances took place and many speakers were hosted at the exhibition to help ‘catalyze action for the sake of liberation.’
On Tuesday 3rd, NYU Law School students conducted another study-in in solidarity with Palestine and to pressure the university to divest. As a result, students faced disciplinary actions from the Director of Student Affairs, which NYU Law School's SJP referred to in a statement released on December 4th as a “farce [...] silencing pro-Palestinian speech and continuing to fund [i]srael's genocide.”
In response to George Mason University's suspension of its SJP chapter as well as raids conducted on the off-campus residences of two student organizers, the D.C.- Maryland - Virginia SJP chapter released a statement calling for an immediate revoking of trespassing orders placed against the students in question, the reinstatement of the GMU SJP chapter, the return of the personal devices confiscated by local police, and a full investigation on the series of events leading to the raid.
A week ago, students at Harvard University protested outside the house of Harvard president Alan Garber during a dinner organized to thank donors who donated over $25,000 to the university. Students held signs calling for Harvard to divest from, with one reading ‘Each Plate is 10,714 Palestinians Starving Due To [i]srael's Siege’.
Parting thoughts
On December 2nd, NYU's SJP held a walkout in solidarity with Sudan, condemning NYU's association with the UAE and its financial ties to it amid its support for the RSF's war crimes and genocide in Sudan, which has thus far killed around 150,000 people.
A walkout for Sudan organised by an SJP reflects the fact that this walkout was organized by an SJP. In showing solidarity with Palestine, we must continue to recognize that the imperialism and war crimes we see in Palestine are not a recent or localized issue — not only have similar atrocities been committed historically but these same atrocities are being committed by the same forces elsewhere.
Sudan's genocide has been facilitated and furthered by the same forces committing the genocide in Gaza: the leader of the RSF, or Rapid Support Forces, the main entity targeting civilian areas in Sudan and an offshoot of the Janjaweed, has held several meetings with israeli intelligence and received surveillance technology from the state in 2022.
When we choose to make connections between the genocide in Palestine and atrocities elsewhere, not only are we better able to discuss the genocide in Gaza, we are also able to gain added perspectives on the struggle to achieve liberation.
“We cannot be indifferent to what happens anywhere in the world, because a victory by any country over imperialism is our victory, just as any country’s defeat is a defeat for all of us. The practice of proletarian internationalism is not only a duty for the peoples struggling for a better future, it is also an inescapable necessity.” - Che Guevara
In solidarity and resistance, The Student Intifada.
Written this week by comrades from Belgium, Germany, India, Slovakia, the US, and the UK.
Glory to the martyrs ❤️🩹