[Sundaycommunity] Fw: U of T alumni letter in support of divestment and the student encampment

[Roberto J.]

Important to know the meaning of “schoolardticide”, definition a
I enclosed.

“Scholasticide Definition Scholasticide is a term that was first coined by
Professor Karma Nabulsi, an Oxford don and Palestinian expert on the laws
of war. She conceptualized it in the context of the Israeli assault on
Gaza, Palestine in 2009, but also with reference to a pattern of Israeli
colonial attacks on Palestinian scholars, students, and educational
institutions going back to the Nakba of 1948, and expanding after the 1967
war on Palestine and the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. The term combines the
Latin prefix schola, meaning school, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning
killing. Nabulsi used it to describe the “systematic destruction of
Palestinian education by Israel” to counter a tradition of Palestinian
learning. That tradition, Nabulsi observed, reflected the enormous “role
and power of education in an occupied society” in which freedom of thought
“posits possibilities, open horizons”, contrasting sharply with “the
apartheid wall, the shackling checkpoints, [and] the choking prisons”.
Recognizing “how important education is to the Palestinian tradition and
the Palestinian revolution”, Nabulsi noted that Israeli colonial
policymakers “cannot abide it and have to destroy it." During the latest
Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, Palestine in 2023/2024, scholasticide has
intensified on an unprecedented scale. Israeli colonial policy in Gaza has
now shifted from a focus on systematic destruction to total annihilation of
education. There is, indeed, an intimate relationship between genocide and
scholasticide. Raphael Lamkin, the pioneering Polish Jewish legal scholar
who first defined genocide and played a key role in inserting the concept
into international law, saw genocide as an effort to “undermine the
fundamental basis of the social order.” Key to this effort, in Lamkin’s
conception, was the assault on the cultures of national, ethnic, racial, or
religious collectivities. Scholasticide is comprised of any of the
following acts that entail systemic destruction, in whole or in part, of
the educational life of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group: 1)
Killings and assassinations of university and school teachers, students,
staff, and administrators. 2) Causing bodily or mental harm to university
and school teachers, students, staff, and administrators. 3) Arresting,
detaining, and incarcerating university and school teachers, students,
staff, and administrators. 4) Systematic harassment, bullying, intimidation
of university and school teachers, students, staff, and administrators. 5)
Bombarding and demolishing educational institutions. 6) Destroying and/or
looting of teaching and research resources including libraries, archives,
and laboratories, as well as facilities supporting the educational process,
including playgrounds, sports fields, performance venues, cafeterias, and
residence halls. 7) Impeding the import of essential materials for
rebuilding damaged schools and universities. 8) Obstructing the creation of
new educational structures. 9) Besieging schools and universities and using
them as barracks, logistics bases, operational headquarters, weapons and
ammunition caches, detention and interrogation centers. 10) Closing
educational institutions and/or disrupting their daily operations . 11)
Invading educational institutions. 12) Restricting faculty, student, and
staff access to educational institutions. 13) Denying education to
political prisoners including child detainees. 14) Hindering access to the
internet, disrupting the provision of electricity, and preventing free
entry of educational supplies including books and laboratory equipment. 15)
Blocking the hiring of academic staff and denying them entry to their
institutions through visa denial and other restrictions. 16) Revoking
residency rights of students or academics who may pursue educational
opportunities abroad. 17) Preventing scholarly exchange in all its forms.
18) Disrupting international and domestic funding of educational
institutions. All of these acts are currently being carried out to
devastating effect in Gaza, Palestine. They are part and parcel of the
genocidal effort to impede the reproduction of the social order in that
occupied territory, as part of a broader effort to render it uninhabitable,
hence paving the way for its comprehensive ethnic cleansing. Many of these
acts have long been practiced against educational institutions and
communities in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and some are
experienced by Palestinian citizens of the Israeli State”



On Sun, May 12, 2024 at 20:46 Rose Anderson via Sundaycommunity <
sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

> Friends,
>
> I am forwarding FYI, a letter from John Huot (whom some of you may know
> from social justice circles) to the President and Governing Council of
> the University of Toronto as well as the President of the University of St.
> Michael’s College. I am sending this on with John’s permission.
>
> It is a strong letter which demonstrates the power of words well chosen.
>
> Roswita
> *Sent:* Friday, May 10, 2024 at 2:37 PM
> *From:* "John Huot"
> *Subject:* U of T alumni letter in support of divestment and the student
> encampment
>
> To President Meric Gertler and the University of Toronto Governing Council,
> cc. Dr. David Sylvester, President, University of St. Michael's College
>
> Sixty-two years ago, I processed across the lawn in front of Convocation
> Hall along with the graduating class of 1962.
> I have never since  been as proud to be a U of T grad as I am now to
> support the current generation of U of T students in challenging the
> governing authorities at U of T to take a stand against the “plausible
> genocide” (ICC)  of Palestinians by the Israeli government and its military
> forces. The “plausible genocide” involves the killing of thousands of
> civilians  and the destruction of housing, infrastructure, and educational,
> cultural and religious institutions.
>
> I am writing this letter to express my firm support of the demands made by
> the student encampment at the People’s Circle for Palestine:
>
> 1. Divest from companies and institutions active and complicit in the
> Israeli occupation and genocide in Palestine, and publicly address the
> student demands.
>
> 2. Protect the freedom of speech of students, faculty, and organizations
> advocating for Palestinian human rights, as well as their right to peaceful
> protest. This means shielding these community members from harassment,
> retaliation, censorship, and police violence at all U of T sites.
>
> 3. Condemn and issue a university-wide public statement addressing the
> scholasticide against Palestinian educators, students, and the learning
> infrastructure of Gaza and the West Bank. Equally, we call on the
> university to condemn the establishment sustaining this catastrophic human
> condition -- the continued Israeli apartheid system and military occupation
> of Palestine, and the ongoing genocide it is committing in Gaza:
>
>  I urge you to engage in good faith dialogue with the encampment students
> to address how the university will respond positively to their demands.
>
>  I will hold the university authorities to account for upholding the
> students’ freedom of expression and resisting the pressure to resort to
> calling armed city police on to campus to bring a peaceful demonstration to
> a violent end.
>
> As an alumnus and a member of U of T's community, I yearn for a future
> wherein everyone’s  humanity is honoured and all life is sacred. May we see
> it within our lifetime.
>
> In justice,
> John Huot, St. Michael’s College, Class of 1962
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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