Its Hard to Write This e mail

 

This email is hard to write. Last weekend, my husband and I joined the anti-war encampment at Washington University in St. Louis to support students protesting their university’s complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. When the University called in armed police officers to violently break up what had been a very calm, even festive, gathering on the University lawn; my husband and I were both arrested.  In addition to the arrest, my husband, Steve Tamari, a 65-year old history professor, was also brutally beaten by four police officers for filming the arrests of students. Horrifying footage shows him slammed to the ground, then dragged away while his body remains limp, before officers callously drop him on his injured ribs with his hands tied behind his back. My husband returned home from the hospital yesterday with nine fractured ribs and a broken hand. One doctor told him he was lucky to be alive, as his lungs could have easily been punctured during the abuse, which would have killed him on the spot. Somehow, through it all, he issued this statement and reminder from his hospital room: “My ordeal…is a small price to pay for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, aided and abetted by the U.S. government, the military, the political elite of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and, most outrageously, institutions of higher education like Washington University(…)The students are our collective best hope for an end to wanton violence, a more humane future, and a free Palestine.” Take action now to support student protesters around the country. Use this tool to email 37 university presidents to support the student’s demands and tell administrators to be on the right side of history. We are at a historical crossroads where students are meeting this critical moment by taking their demands directly to their administrations and forcing them to the table.  The demand is simple: Divest from companies that are actively contributing to Israel’s genocide.  At Washington University, students are demanding that the university cut all financial and recruitment ties with the weapons manufacturer Boeing. Boeing, based in St. Louis, is responsible for munitions that have destroyed homes and killed families in Gaza.  Like many other administrators across the country, Washington University leaders instead chose violent repression rather than address students’ concerns about the school’s complicity in genocide. In addition to Steve and me, more than 100 students, faculty, and community members were arrested for participating in the Gaza solidarity encampment at Wash U. During the violent arrests, at least 21 protestors sustained injuries. The repression didn’t stop there. The university administration banned twenty-three students and six faculty from campus. The faculty members were placed on administrative leave, locked out of their work emails, and instructed not to communicate with any faculty, staff, or students at Washington University, even in an off-campus setting.  Washington University is of course just one example. In the last two weeks, over 2000 students have been arrested on college campuses during anti-war protests. Often, arrests have been accompanied by extreme police brutality like we just saw at UCLA, University of Texas, and Columbia. This is clearly a coordinated attack on the campus movements for Palestinian freedom. We stand wholeheartedly with the students across the nation and the globe demanding transparency and urging divestment from the war machine.  Students need all of our support right now. Here are three ways to help today:   5 MIN: Use this tool to email University administrators from around the country and support students’ demands and their right to protest safely.   15 MIN: Check this list to find out if a school you attended has an active Gaza solidarity encampment. If so, call and email the school administration to express your support as an alumni for student protesters and their demands. Then ask fellow alumni to do the same.   5 HOURS: Support students at your local college campus. Check the list above to find out if a school near you has an active Gaza solidarity encampment. Then, look for an online account on Instagram, Twitter, or Tiktok set up by the specific encampment, or look for your local chapter of Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP). Check these accounts to find out what kind of support students are asking for in your area.   We must all use the power at our disposal to grind this war machine to a halt. Sandra Tamari Executive Director Adalah Justice Project   P.S. If you want to contact Washington University administrators specifically to tell them to divest from Boeing, end their complicity, and stop violently repressing students & faculty, tag them on X (formerly Twitter) @wustland @WashUChancellor, or contact Chancellor Andrew D. Martin directly at admartin@wustl.edu and 1-314-935-5100. You can find the contact information for the other WashU administrators here.

Our mailing address is: Adalah Justice Project P.O. Box 541 Glen Carbon, Illinois 62034