Friday, May 31, 2024

Support UNB students’ right to protest apartheid and genocide: open letter

 

Canada University of New Brunswick student activism Palestine solidarity apartheid genocide Gaza faculty librarians support open letter administration repression encampment disclose divest boycott sanction arms embargo Israel trespass

Dear Mr. Gribbons and Dr. Mazerolle,

Universities serve a pivotal role as centers of critical thinking, knowledge creation and education to the end of fostering a more just world order. The University of New Brunswick is no exception. 

Israel’s ongoing genocidal war against the Palestinian people is being meticulously documented by the UN and numerous human rights organizations around the world. At least 36,000 people have been killed in Gaza thus far. The document Anatomy of a Genocide produced by the UN Special Rapporteur (on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967) provides just one account of the atrocities being committed; the actions taken by the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court provide further evidence.

We are writing as concerned employees of UNB about the ways in which we have seen the institution demonstrate complicity in this unconscionable violence and the measures we ask that the university take in response. 

Most urgently, we must express our grave concern about the decision to issue a trespass notice to faculty and students at UNBSJ for having a tent on campus during the day. This notice threatens members of our community with police intervention for peacefully expressing their opposition to genocide. The prospect of inviting police into the university campus under these circumstances is a violation of our most fundamental responsibility to provide a safe learning environment to our students and working environment for employees. It is an understatement to call it unacceptable.  (more...)

Support UNB students’ right to protest apartheid and genocide: open letter


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