The Barricade

Issue 2. April 1, 2024

Apr 01, 2024

Introducing CUAD (About CUAD + Demands)
🚨UPCOMING ACTION ALERT : ALL OUT FOR AL-SHIFA 🚨
Students Support Divestment: Referendum Updates
How can you get involved?

ABOUT CUAD

Columbia University Apartheid Divest is a coalition of student organizations that see Palestine as the vanguard for our collective liberation. We are a continuation of the Vietnam anti-war movement and the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa. We support freedom and justice for the Palestinian people, and for all people. We know that true collective safety will arise when everyone has access to clean air, clean water, food, housing, education, healthcare, freedom of movement, and dignity.

CUAD DEMANDS

FINANCIAL DIVESTMENT. Divest all of Columbia’s finances, including the endowment, from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine. Ensure accountability by increasing transparency around financial investments.
ACADEMIC BOYCOTT. Sever academic ties with Israeli universities, including the Global Center in Tel Aviv, the Dual Degree Program with Tel Aviv University, and all study-abroad programs, fellowships, and research collaborations with Israeli academic institutions.
STOP THE DISPLACEMENT. No land grabs, whether in Harlem, Lenapehoking, or Palestine. Cease expansion, provide reparations, and support housing for low-income Harlem residents. No development by Columbia without real community control.
NO POLICING ON CAMPUS. End the targeted repression of Palestinian students and their allies on and off campus, including through university disciplinary processes. Defund Public Safety and disclose and sever all ties with the NYPD.
END THE SILENCE. Release a public statement calling for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza, denouncing the ongoing genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people, and call on government officials to do so too.

ALL OUT FOR AL-SHIFA | 4/4/2024 @ 4:30 PM | Sundial

At 4:30 PM on April 4th (this Thursday) at the Sundial, it’s all out for al-Shifa. The IOF has just withdrawn from a two-week rampage in Al-Shifa Hospital, where it committed atrocities against the over 7000 patients and civilians (displaced by the occupation) in the hospital every day. Read more about Israel’s war crimes and the targeting of al-Shifa Hospital here.

Columbia University’s investments in weapons manufacturers is only one of many avenues in which they directly enable these atrocities. Show the University that the student body will not be ignored and repressed as we continue to call for full divestment from Israel’s genocide of Palestine! We call upon the student body to mobilize for Palestine! Don’t come alone – bring friends, noisemakers, and signs – form a group and remember there is strength in numbers. Student organizations and clubs, bring banners representing your group! CUAD member organizations should reach out to cuapartheidivest@gmail.com for any questions about and/or to get more involved with this action.

SEE YOU AT THE SUNDIAL on APRIL 4TH (THURSDAY) at 4:30 PM!

STUDENTS SUPPORT DIVESTMENT: REFERENDUM UPDATES

Columbia Engineering Apartheid Divest is a new coalition of students working to mobilize Columbia Engineering to enter divestment conversations, inspired by recent divestment efforts by CCSC, GSSC, Barnard SGA, etc. Their recent petition, which more than 200 undergrad SEAS students signed, asks for SEAS divestment from Israel. After gaining the signatures of 10% of the student body, SEAS-AD presented a referendum to the Engineering Student Council last Monday, asking ESC to poll student perspectives on divestment in the upcoming election.

Immediately following the team’s presentation to ESC, the SEAS-AD team was excused from the room, and an opposition speaker was invited to the stage. Entirely uninformed that there would be an opposition speaker in attendance—who had just listened to their presentation—the team requested to stay and listen to the opposition presentation. The opposition presenter stated that a referendum would be harmful to Jewish and Israeli students, that ESC’s job is to be inherently apolitical, and that “the goal of BDS is the destruction of Israel, and thus, voting on this referendum is voting on the destruction of Israel.”

ESC’s management of the conversation was unacceptable, knowingly placing the SEAS-AD students in an unsafe situation, allowing for no time for Q&A for the opposition speaker, and more. The meeting ended in chaos, with the council unable to come to a vote.

ESC is voting on the referendum tonight! The student body must be heard.

More than 200 students have expressed interest in divestment, so it is ESC’s duty to let SEAS vote! To block a neutral question concerning student interest in divestment actively ignores the needs of 200+ students, and makes ESC unable to represent their constituents. As ESC enters a vote about whether to add divestment to the ballot, we ask our ESC representatives to hear us, and to let us vote!

In the last month, divestment referenda have been initiated in six schools: Columbia College, Barnard College, School of General Studies, School of Social Work, and Columbia Law School.

In mid-April, YOU will be asked to vote. It is our time to stand up and show up for Palestine: Vote Apartheid Divest!

REVITALIZING OUR COALITION: JOIN THE REVOLUTION

We are a coalition of over 100 organizations and we need you to continue the movement. We are currently seeking to strengthen and expand our network. If you are part of an existing signatory organization, and would like to get involved, or want to learn about how to join CUAD, please get in touch with us by messaging columbiaapartheiddivest@proton.me! We are stronger together.

What Can You Do To Help?

Currently, the best way to support CUAD is make sure that you and your community are up to date and keeping in touch with us. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @cuapartheiddivest, if you can, and share this newsletter with others. Please subscribe to this newsletter to stay informed.