As students were leaving their classes Thursday, they heard chants and saw signs supporting Palestinian liberation and the students arrested at Columbia University on April 18.
Some of these chants included: “Free, free, free Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
While the group started with a dozen people, that soon doubled as the protest went on through the afternoon. One of the protestors, who asked to remain anonymous due to the controversial nature of the subject, even remarked on how this was one of the largest groups they had seen thus far.
When asked about why the demonstration was happening today, Nick Koenig, a graduate student and instructor for UI, elaborated.
“I think it’s really linked to the growing visualization of the genocide of Palestine going back 75 years,” Koenig said. “We are seeing the growing call of college campuses, especially in the U.S., to start divesting trusts to get away from fossil fuel extractions.”
The group called for a divestment in funds made to certain companies that UI has invested in. This would mean that UI would sell these investments to no longer be associated with these companies.
“I went into the archives and dug in more at the University about what divestment looked like,” Koenig said. “We are calling for a divestment from the University’s consolidated investment trust which is currently invested in a myriad of international companies that support and enable or are currently doing fossil fuel extraction. I hope that’s what the investment campaign can really speak to. That’s why I’m here.”
The group was also protesting Idaho taxes being used to support Israel through the war as well as speaking out against religious groups on campus who have been advocating for the support of Israel. It should be noted that this is an opinionated stance based on their research.
Zeph, a student and one of the demonstrators with tally marks on their body and face took to the microphone.
“For every single tally mark on my body, every single one, twenty children are dead in Gaza,” Zeph said. “This is not a war. This is a genocide. We will not be silenced, and we will not give up. We will continue to speak out and continue to fight as long as this genocide continues. We stand with Palestine.”
Representatives from clubs sponsoring the protest also spoke up.
“An entire culture and nation are being wiped away,” Segi Arogundade, a journalism and political science student and a representative from the Black Student Union, said.
The audience was urged throughout the protest to sign multiple petitions concerning Palestine and divestments.
When students who joined the protest were asked how they heard about it, they responded that they found the events through social media.
“I wanted to stay informed and know if there was anything that I could do from this terrible genocide and I learned that we are investing in,” Kaitlin Peterson, a sophomore at UI said. “I emailed our school to see our investment profile. We invested in companies that are actively helping the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
The protest went on for a couple of hours.
“We may be only few, but we can still make change and we can still have an impact,” a demonstrator who asked to stay anonymous said.
This protest marked the end of a week-long string of events called “Free Palestine Week of Action,” led by student groups such as Amnesty International and the Black Student Union.
Andrea Roberts can be reached at [email protected].
john moore
It is sad to see U of I students used as pawns by masked bandits fronting for Hamas. This group denies the existence of Israel and willingly hides behind the bodies of it's own people. I'll shed no tears for them.