Undergraduate party supports the use of violence to support the cause of Palestine
As the 2024-25 school year begins, the Women’s Solidarity Coalition at New York University signaled that pro-Palestinian protests may remain on college campuses, yet in cases of “armed fight”.
The Women’s Solidarity Coalition, formerly known as the Palestine Solidarity Committee, announced in a Statement of Intention that they would continue to support school efforts to support Palestine during the week of July 22.
” The movements for women’s liberation is never a monolith, we recognize and welcome the variety of strategies that lead to triumph. Weight takes many forms, including military struggle, non-violent immediate action, social production, and earth building”, the statement read.
However, their attitude has faced condemnation from school officials. NYU director John Beckman denounced the group’s willingness to apply violence in support of Palestine, calling it “deplorable” in a news release.
The College Fix contacted Beckman, NYU internet interests, and the PSC, none of whom responded in the last week to discuss issues such as defining “armed struggle” on school schools.
This school has zero tolerance for the use of violence, and Beckman expressed surprise that any users of our school community had support using “armed struggle” as a “taktic,” according to Beckman in the media release.
” We call upon the Women’s Solidarity Coalition to quickly retract their speech and reject it, as well as related do, such as theft, destruction of property, and challenges and intimidation”, he stated.
He added that NYU intends to use university punitive measures in response to any form of violence, including using city and school rules protection.
Beckman’s remarks caused the alliance to quickly remove their declaration before republishing it as a hyperlink in their Instagram profile for easy access.
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An unidentified PSC member from NYU’s independent student paper, Washington Square News, described “armed struggle” as an “essential component of political knowledge” that “represents the long history of oppressed people taking up arms against their oppressors as a way to secure their rights.”
The agent also claimed that the school misunderstood the PSC’s “armed struggle” assertion, that Beckman’s speech about shutting down crime is “hypocritical”, and “if Beckman condemns our statement, we condemn his”, according to WSN.
The PSC’s Statement of Intention notes that as a” People’s Front”, they aim to “attack” NYU in hopes of destroying the university’s participation in current imperial conflicts, genocide, and settler-colonial occupation.
The coalition claims that” NYU is complicit in the Zionist genocide in Palestine and in continuing to be a part of the world’s oppressed people and the occupation of the Palestinian people.”
” When we take up the struggle against the Zionist entity, we take on the global fight against U. S. imperialism and its violences”, the group’s Statement of Intention reads.
The PSC describes itself as a” coalition of undergraduate, graduate, faculty, and alumni groups, clubs, organizations and individuals who share a common vision of liberation for all”.
It consists of 44 organizations, “ranging from the Faculty &, Staff for Justice in Palestine and Jews Against Zionism to cultural and academic groups like the NYU Consortium Medievalists, the Climate Care Collective, and the Stonewall Policy Alliance”, according to The Free Press.
The catalyst for the formation of the PSC was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas ‘ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, prompted universities all over the country to form unions and stage protests as both sides attacked one another and held hostages. Although the conflict between Hamas and Israel has been ongoing since 1948, Hamas has been at war with Israel.
Two pro-Palestine encampments at NYU were cleared by NYPD last semester, resulting in numerous arrests. The university made it clear that they will continue to discipline participating students, alumni, and faculty.
MORE: Institutional neutrality key to stymying aggressive anti-Israel campus protests
IMAGE: Al Jazeera English/Youtube
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