Over 70 protesters marched to the house of University President Sunil Kumar during a pro-Palestine rally on Sept. 12, the first to take place on Tufts’ campus this semester. Nearly one year after Oct. 7, protesters continued their demands for Tufts to divest from Israeli companies and denounce Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed an estimated 40,000 Palestinians and caused a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
“As 2000-pound israeli bombs make craters the size of houses in refugee camps, the need for escalation and agitation has never been clearer,” Tufts Students for Justice of Palestine, who organized the rally, wrote in a statement to the Daily. “tufts will not divest from genocide unless forced to do so.”
The protest took place just weeks after Tufts announced stricter rules for on-campus protests, part of a nationwide trend among universities to tighten protest guidelines in response to disruptions caused by pro-Palestine demonstrations last spring. In a statement to the Daily, Patrick Collins, Tufts’ director of media relations, wrote that the university will “hold accountable any university community member who is found to have engaged in conduct that violates university policy.”
Protesters first began arriving at the lower patio of the Mayer Campus Center at approximately 5 p.m. As demonstrators gathered around the steps, organizers handed out booklets containing protest safety guidelines and led chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Hey Sunil, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide.”
At around 5:10 p.m., an organizer from SJP opened the rally by instructing protesters not to speak with police officers, administrators or the press and reminding protesters of their shared goal of university divestment.
“As long as there is occupation, there will be resistance,” the organizer said. “We have an absolute imperative to show the university that we will not stop fighting for full divestment.”
Protesters then heard from two students representing the Tufts Asian Student Coalition.
“Asian American is a political identity rooted in anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism,” one speaker said. “As people who benefit from this colonial institution every day, we have a responsibility to speak out, to organize and educate. We must build community with each other and build the student power needed to … hold Tufts University accountable.”
A student from the Tufts Pan Afrikan Alliance gave a speech drawing parallels between the movement for Palestinian liberation and the fight against racism and police brutality in the United States.
“As a Black student at Tufts, I refuse to stay silent as settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing of our brothers and sisters in Palestine is acted on,” the student said.
Protesters began marching toward the Science and Engineering Complex at approximately 5:30 p.m. The group entered the building, chanting and walking together up the stairs as students watched from tables around Kindlevan Café.
Protesters then exited the SEC and continued down Professors Row, marching by Tisch Library and up to Kumar’s house. As students raised a banner in front of the house that read “Stop the Genocide,” protesters led chants including, “Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest” and “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes.”
A representative from the Palestinian Youth Movement, a transnational activist group of Palestinian youth, gave a speech about the PYM’s “Mask Off Maersk” campaign, which calls for the shipping giant Maersk to cut off its supply of weapons to Israel.
“Maersk is the common denominator that ships the weapons and weapons components to every merchant of death around the globe,” the PYM representative said. “Our power to defeat Zionism in our community relies on the strength of you as students. … We must continue to act now.”
At around 6:05 p.m., protesters headed toward the Cabot Intercultural Center for SJP’s general interest meeting.
