On February 21 two Barnard students were expelled for disrupting a class on the history of modern Israel. Mondoweiss spoke with a student activist and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) member about the suspensions and the current climate on campus. Shortly before we spoke, Barnard expelled a third student over their alleged participation in the occupation of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall last April.
Barnard Interview: ‘Continuing to fight for Palestine‘
Can you talk about the action that led to the suspensions? Why was this class targeted?
The class that was disrupted is called History of Modern Israel. It is taught by Avi Shilon, an ex-IDF soldier.
The alleged disruptors read a speech that outlined why the class was disrupted. It legitimizes and normalizes the genocide that’s going on in Palestine, the occupation, and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. The class itself attempts to take a “both sides” framework of the situation and that is reflected in the syllabus.
Those who disrupted the class wanted to point out, of course, that the class itself is part of a long legacy of academia being used, particularly at Columbia, to rewrite history and normalize ethnic cleansing.
In the eyes of CUAD’s Collective Defense Working Group, disrupting this class is morally correct as is fighting back against the Zionist entities’ tactics, their propaganda, and the fact that Columbia and Barnard are complicit in funding the genocide and spreading that propaganda. (more...)
Related:
Third student expelled from Columbia's Barnard College for pro-Palestinian activism
No comments:
Post a Comment