Students for a Democratic Society host panel on Palestine conflict

Students and Rochester community members gathered in a Dewey lecture hall for a panel hosted by Students for a Democratic Society.

On Friday, Feb. 27, the UR branch of SDS organized a discussion panel called “Student Activism: Peace and Justice for Palestine.” Members of UR SDS, sophomore Mara Chinelli and graduate student Ryan Acuff, teamed up with socialist activist and writer Sherry Wolf to talk about the ongoing military occupation of Gaza and the University’s reaction to the conflict. SDS member and graduate student Maynor Gonzalez moderated the talk.

Wolf was the first to talk. She presented her strong views on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the situation in Gaza as it stands today, as well as her experiences as a student activist at Northwestern University in the 1980s. “The ethnic cleansing of Palestine is a logical ramification of a colonial settler state,” Wolf said.

She proceeded to make parallels between the Israeli actions in Gaza and the apartheid policy practiced by the South African government in her days as a student. Some of the actions called for by SDS have included a divestment by the University from companies that profit from the military occupation of Gaza as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, Wolf stressed that the actions of the Israeli government are not reflective of the views of the larger Jewish population in the world or in the United States. Wolf argued that, coming from a Jewish-American background, this separation between Israeli government and Jewish people in general is crucial to her.

“The project of Zionism was always a minoritarian project inside of the world’s Jewries,” she said.

“Movements inspire other people to do things,” Acuff added. He went on to explain the goals of SDS as well as several collaborating organizations on campus and in the city of Rochester for developing a socially responsible investment policy at the University.

Chinelli then went on to talk about the meetings the group had with Dean of Students Matthew Burns and Douglas Phillips, senior vice president for institutional resources at the University Investment Office. According to Chinelli, the administration has thus far been hesitant in meeting the demands of the group put forth at last month’s Goergen atrium Gaza sit-in.

SDS expressed their envisions of the creation of an investment oversight committee made up of students and community members with veto power over the investment decisions made by the board of trustees. The group has also requested for the University to contribute to humanitarian aid in Gaza, as well as provide scholarships for students from the affected Islamic University in Gaza.

The remainder of the discussion was carried out as a question-and-answer session between the panelists and audience. Several questions were asked in regard to Wolf’s view of Israeli action as apartheid and ethnic cleansing to which she diligently and energetically responded. Wolf stood strong by her views and argued that Israel’s actions are unjustified.

Her overall advice for those in the student body unsatisfied with the action (or inaction) of the U.S. government or of the University was to engage in active educational campaigns in order to promote solidarity.

“Facts are stubborn things,” Wolf said. “You cannot deny history.”