Tuesday, February 17, 2009

NYU News: Students protest alleged NYU-Israel economic ties

From Washington Square News Online

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About 40 people congregated outside the Silver Center earlier today to advocate for Palestinian rights in Israel. The Gaza Solidarity Rally was organized by the NYU Democratic Solidarity Committee, Students Creating Radical Change and Students for Justice in Palestine.Police officers looked on while NYU students — as well as several CUNY students, Columbia students and alumni and members of the community — held signs and shouted through megaphones, begging NYU to discontinue economic support of the country the groups call “the last colonial settler regime in the world.”

Although NYU has not disclosed their budget, which includes information about the university’s investments, students said they assumed NYU has investments in Israel. “There’s a campus opening in Tel Aviv, for example,” CAS sophomore Farah Khimji said. Khimji works with Students Creating Radical Change. While the group shouted slogans like “End the occupation now!” and “Free, free Palestine!” Chris Shortsleeve, a CAS graduate student who is involved with the Democratic Solidarity Committee, told WSN, “There is a myth that Israel is the only democracy in the east, but it’s not a democracy: it’s an ethnocracy,” According to the Democratic Solidarity Committee, countries that support Israel economically should boycott Israeli goods and services to protect Palestinian rights.

Flyers Shortsleeve gave to passers-by compare the situation in Israel to South African apartheid, which collapsed 15 years ago after countries and organizations around the world boycotted South African products and business initiatives. “This [movement] is definitely about ending apartheid and standing in support of people who have been under occupation since 1948,” Clara Green, a Gallatin senior, said. Green helped organize the rally, along with Khimji. Khimji said the groups have plans to publicize the Palestinian struggle in Gaza in the future. “The rally was the first event of many to come,” she said.