The Louisville chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (LSJP) led a march throughout the University of Louisville campus commemorating the 76th anniversary of the Nakba on Wednesday, May 15, calling upon UofL to divest funding from Israel.
The demonstrators gathered near UofL’s Red Barn and snaked for more than ten minutes across campus, being led in assorted pro-Palestine chants ranging from, “from the river to the sea / Palestine will be free,” to, “from Louisville to Gaza / globalize the intifada,” the latter in reference to two eras of Palestinian uprising against Israeli civilians and government, the first between 1987-93 and the second between 2000-05.
Activist and UofL student who prefers to be called by his alias, Sid A., led the chants with his peers, commanding a crowd of over a hundred, some carrying signs made in an organized effort, others with homemade displays in support of Palestine.
The event was in memory of the Nakba, a period of time in 1948 when 78% of Palestinian villages were either destroyed or occupied by Israeli forces and countless thousands of Palestinians were killed or forced into refuge. While the rally established the Nakba as a date to be commemorated, one theme persisted. As a speaker asked, “when we look at Palestine right now, we have to ask ourselves, did the Nakba ever really end?” “No,” said the crowd. “It did not,” the speaker agreed.
The crowd was led to Grawemeyer Hall, where six speakers gave remarks on UofL’s alleged investment in weapons manufacturers giving bomb’s to Israel and President Joe Biden’s supposed refusal to stop the conflict.
Sid A., his voice hoarse from cheering, delivered the last speech at the rally, indicting the West and their supposed colonialist ideas. In prepared remarks, he said in part, “on October 7th, in an act of decolonization, the survivors of this brutal siege and these brutal attacks rose up, resisted against their oppressor, and broke the siege. In doing so, they exposed the weakness of the Zionist entity.” The crowd cheered.
The United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, who has called for a ceasefire and condemned Israel’s bombing of civilians, considers October 7th an act of terrorism.
“The loss of life on October 7 is tragic, however could’ve been avoided had Israel given Palestinians any options other than armed resistance,” said LSJP when commenting later on the remarks.
Sid also commented on campuses across the country setting up encampments, saying “…while we ourselves have not begun an encampment, we promise we’re not lagging behind. We’re moving strategically. We’re moving powerfully. We’re set on building power to seize our demands against the present administration.”
All of Gaza’s 12 universities have been decimated, a fact that one speaker, Metro Council District Six candidate JP Lyninger, emphasized.
“We are also living under the oppression of capitalism. That oppression doesn’t look the same, it doesn’t feel the same. You can look around and see that bombs aren’t falling from the sky. This university still stands, unlike every university in Gaza,” Lyninger said, “but make no mistake, we are tied together in struggle.”
The fifth speaker, Nour A., who prefers not to be called by her last name, took aim at UofL’s president, Kim Schatzel, beginning her speech with a chant she had written, which the crowd repeated emphatically: “Schatzel, Schatzel, you can’t hide / you support genocide,” in reference to UofL’s alleged refusal to release financial records indicating how endowment money is spent.
LSJP activists suspect this is due to contracts with weapons manufacturers, and subsequently call upon UofL to release investment records to be easily accessible to the public.
“Whether UofL directly funds these weapon manufacturers through its endowment is yet to be seen, which is why it’s so important they disclose what funds make up their endowment,” said LSJP when asked about the assertion.
UofL has financially divested from countries in the past. In 1985, student groups campaigned for full divestment from South Africa, protesting the country’s apartheid segregation. These groups protested around UofL, organized speaking events and eventually peacefully occupied the university’s information center.
On October 7th, 2023, after a 16 year-long siege on the Gaza Strip, Hamas, the militant party elected to lead Gaza in 2006, launched an attack on Israel. At Israel’s Supernova Music Festival, Hamas killed 1,200 civilians, and took 240 hostage, 112 of whom have been released. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF), Israel’s military, has launched an indiscriminate bombing campaign on Gaza, which has killed over 34,000 people, injured almost 80,000, and displaced over a million. Prosecutors from the International Criminal Court (ICC) are currently seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Hamas leaders.
UofL is one of many universities around the country where students have called upon their schools to divest from Israel in the events following October 7.
The country bordering Rafah, Egypt, is blocking migration for the vast majority of asylum seekers. For displaced persons in Gaza, there is nowhere to go. One speaker at the UofL rally, Leen Abozaid, a member of the coalition Louisville for Palestine, recalled the pain associated with her visit to Palestine, where her family is from.
“I entered Palestine so that I could live to tell my grandfather that I had returned to his hometown and saw the house in which he was raised. I left Palestine grieving for a homeland where it was illegal for my heart to find a home,” said Abozaid.
