Free Gaza! Free Speech!
By Nóra McIntyre
Money for jobs and education, not for bombs and occupation!
On Wednesday, April 9, University of Alaska Fairbanks and wider Fairbanks community members came together for a teach-in and rally in support of Palestinian liberation and the constitutional right to free speech and assembly. The chant “Money for jobs and education, not for bombs and occupation” was one of many chants that could be heard across UAF’s lower Troth Yeddha’ campus.
In recent weeks, countless student organizers worldwide have been targeted and detained for their involvement in pro-Palestine activism, including Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeyza Ozturk in the U.S. These students have been made to disappear silently. For many of them, their visa status has come under threat. At Wednesday’s teach-in and rally, members of the UAF and Fairbanks community reaffirmed their solidarity with the Palestinian people, as well as the brave student activists who have spoken out against Israeli occupation and the genocide in Gaza.
The demonstration was attended by over fifty people, who, despite the chilly temperatures, bundled up and showed up to voice their support. They toted signs crafted on cardboard, artfully rendered banners, and Palestinian flags. Since the event was a teach-in, speakers sought to share information and raise awareness. One speaker began by going over our rights to free speech and assembly, as well as the recent unconstitutional detainments and disappearances of student organizers and activists.
Other speeches outlined the history of Israeli apartheid in Palestine, sharing haunting statistics of death tolls, including the deaths of children, journalists, and U.S. citizens. Another speaker shared personal experiences that spoke to the brutality and violence of the Israeli regime and outlined the U.S.’s involvement in this genocide. Another debunked the idea that opposing Israel’s genocide is antisemitic, explaining how the settler state is incongruent with the true tenets of the Jewish faith and pointing to the numerous Jewish activists who have spoken out against genocide. The speakers also pointed to the deep roots of Islamophobia and racism against Arab people that underlie both Israel’s genocide and the U.S.’s reactionary response to activism in support of Palestine.
Speakers also addressed the University of Alaska’s recent removal of efforts to support diversity, equity, and inclusion and cuts to funding for research, education, and services for Alaska Native students. These actions demonstrate a lack of support for faculty and students, a move towards censorship, and cowardice in the face of an increasingly authoritarian government.
Signs seen around campus and UA’s advertisements state, “you belong here.” Many UA community members do not feel this declaration is valid. Rather than cower to unjust authority, students and community members demand that the university uphold institutional responsibility for student rights and put direct action behind the values they claim to support.
The teach-in and rally were not the first actions to take place in Fairbanks, nor will they be the last. Several of the organizers were members of the group “Fairbanks4Palestine”, which is planning additional events, including a screening of the Oscar-winning film “No Other Land”, which documents the forced displacement of Palestinians from Masafer Yatta in the West Bank. In the words of one student organizer, “We are just getting started.”