Jill Stein--Scenes from the Gaza Solidarity encampment at Columbia--First, they wouldn’t even let us in.

Scenes from the Gaza Solidarity encampment at Columbia

• Jill Stein 

  From:info@jillstein2024.com

  To:Mark M Giese

  Fri, Apr 26 2024  at 12:26 PM

  Dear Mark M, Yesterday we visited the Gaza Solidarity encampment at Columbia University in New York City, where over the last week the nation has borne witness to a continuous, blatant assault on our democracy and our fundamental rights. First, they wouldn’t even let us in. The main gate was barred and guarded, and only students or faculty with access cards were granted entry. Later we gained access through a different gate with the aid of an ally. I met with student activists, spoke with student journalists – and most importantly, I listened. College students all across the country right now are courageously protesting against the Israeli genocide in Gaza – and facing expulsion, police violence, and suppression of their constitutionally protected freedom of speech as a result. I am outraged that in our supposed bastions of free thought and debate, students are being silenced, intimidated, and outright assaulted for speaking out against Israel’s genocide. Our democracy is built on the principles of free speech, the right to protest, and the freedom to assemble. Yet, these principles are being trampled upon as students are denied their right to engage in meaningful dialogue and dissent. But if university authorities thought they could stamp this out with a violent crackdown, the students have proved them wrong. Instead they have inspired a wave of uprisings at college campuses across the nation. Two days ago, officials from the University of Texas Austin set a heavily armed mob of police on a planned, approved gathering of non-violent protesters. They immediately began assaulting students, and 57 people including a journalist were arrested without cause. In the midst of Wednesday’s crackdown, students in Texas chanted “You don’t scare us!” at officers. The next day, they assembled again – with five times as many people –  as their classmates were still in jail. We just left Atlanta, where we met with Stop Cop City activists. Yesterday a Gaza solidarity protest at Emory University in Atlanta was met with teargas and rubber bullets from police who arrested faculty members and students alike. Cops were caught on film tasing one protester who was already handcuffed and lying on the ground with multiple officers kneeling on him. These students and now many of their professors are putting their bodies on the line for what they believe in, and they deserve a president who will hear them and stand with them. Ours is the only pro-worker, anti-war, climate action campaign that will be on the ballot across the country in November. Your support is urgently needed to ensure that we can secure our access to the ballot this November – and I need everyone to dig deep and give what they can. DONATE NOW Like their peers in Texas, the students at Columbia are refusing to back down. And we stand with them as they continue to call out the atrocities being committed in our name, and demand an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. Their courage stands in stark contrast to the cowardice of politicians who refuse to stop sending weapons to Israel or even rebuke their horrifying genocide. With more than 34,000 Palestinians slaughtered in Gaza, as our leaders continue to reflexively defend Israel and send material support to sustain their genocide, one clear truth has emerged. Nothing will fundamentally change as long as our government remains in the grip of the twin parties of war and Wall Street. Join me now and help me get our movement for justice on the ballot this November. In solidarity and gratitude, Jill