Issue Nº 22 II Free Palestine

contributors

Executive Board:

Chief Executive Officer: Bridget Flannery

Editor in Chief: Charlene Huynh

Secretary: Kaelin Silas

Model Coordinator: Jayda Bessel

Fashion Directors: Olivia Mabbott & Emily Wright

Graphics Director: Kaelin Silas

Makeup Director: Rachel Neviaser

Photography Director: Lucy Gillard

Social Media Director: Morgan Sutter

Writing Directors: Leah Maitland & Jillian Turner

Graphics:

Lucy Kenevan

Madie Knilans

Payton Mattson

Mila Thelen

Mirabella Villanueva

Writing:

Jai Deans

Sydney Moyers

Zoe Zanussi

Photography:

Sourced from ALT members, most photos taken in Madison, WI.

table of contents Letter from the editor ............................................... 5 Yahya Ashour: A Voice for Palestine ...................... 6 Hear from SJP .............................................................. 9 I Wash my Body While They Wash the Blood ........... 16 Support Palestinian Business ............................... 18 Instagram Accounts to Follow ................................ 19 Iconography, Biopolitics, and War ......................... 20 Weaponized Queerness ............................................... 30 3

Dear readers,

This issue is unlike any of ALT’s previous publications. ALT’s mission has always been about uplifting marginalized communities and social justice––to not talk about Palestine would be a huge disgrace to the foundations of this organization. For over 200 days, the Israeli settler-colonial regime has carried out a genocide against the Palestinian people. 75,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on Gaza. Nearly 35,000 have been martyred. Yet, as it stands today, Washington has approved over 100 arms sales to Israel since October 7, amounting to tens of billions of dollars for the purposes of genocide.

Since the Israeli occupation of Palestine in 1948, nearly 7 million Palestinians have become refugees as a result of forced displacements, famine, disease, and indiscriminate bombings. Today, we are observing one of the worst humanitarian crises of the century, as 2 million Palestinian residents have been displaced with nowhere to seek safe refuge. When seeing photos and videos of entire cities being blown to dust, families being buried under rubble, and starved and martyred babies becomes a part of our daily routines, life as usual cannot continue.

While we go about our daily lives on campus, there are no universities left in Gaza. We, as students at UW-Madison, have a responsibility to help end the genocide against the our Palestinian peers––a genocide funded by Western universities. The University of Wisconsin System has invested about $500 million in BlackRock, which invests in genocidal arms manufacturers Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Unfortunately, we are all complicit; every year, the U.S. sends Israel $3.8 billion and in the city of Madison, taxpayers pay $4,292,454 in federal tax dollars, funding Israel’s violence against the Palestinian people.* We must show up for our brothers and sisters in Palestine and demand UW’s divestment from genocide. When our tuition dollars and taxes are funding this genocide, it is our duty to speak up and fight back.

We would like to extend our gratitude to the Students for Justice in Palestine at UW-Madison for contributing to this issue. We call on our readers to continue to support and stand in solidarity with SJP-UW and the Palestinian people.

In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians. Be inspired by our 22nd issue, “Free Palestine.”

Charlene Huynh Editor-in-Chief

*estimate provided by the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights

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@sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison

@sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison

@sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison

@sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison

@sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison

@sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison @sjpuwmadison

@sjpuwmadison

Hear from sjp:

ALT: What is SJP for readers who might be coming into contact with you for the first time?

SJP: Students for Justice in Palestine is the only Palestinian-led student group on campus. We are committed to advocating for the liberation and self-determination of Palestinians. We believe that Palestinians have the right to return to and live with self-determination in their ancestral homeland without the threat of ethnic cleansing, home demolitions, arrest, or military violence by “Israel”.

ALT: Can you describe how UW-Madison has responded (or failed to respond)to events on campus relating to Palestine? What is your reaction to these responses?

SJP: UW-Madison has responded aggressively to most events on campus showing solidarity with Palestine. There was the infamous police violence incident at the Engineering Career Fair protest where protestors were calling for the university to cut ties with companies profiting off of the genocide of Palestinians. The response from UWPD was to violently handle, and arrest the protestors. The university has also repeatedly attempted to accuse this organization of student conduct violations, but their investigations have never found any merit to these claims. One of our main demands of the university is to protect Palestinian students on campus. However, the university has instead allowed student groups to invite soldiers from the Israeli Occupation Forces, and fundraise to purchase weapons that are used to kill our people in Gaza. We have seen an extreme spike of Islamophobia on campus as well, with no tangible actions taken by the university to protect the students we are representing.

ALT: How has UW-Madison’s treatment of pro-Palestinian activists, as well as their complacency to general events in Palestine, affected your well-being as a full-time student?

SJP: It has taken a really big toll. Almost all of our board members are Palestinian, and some have family in Gaza who are living under these dire conditions, or who have been martyred in the ongoing genocide. Having to deal with the dehumanization by our campus administration and the

Facilitated by: Jillian Turner , Charlene Huynh, and Leah Maitland. Edited by: Sydney Moyers

it all that much more difficult to complete our schoolwork on time, and to keep our grades up. If we had a university administration that worked to help us feel protected and did not view all of our events as “threats”, our members would not have to work three times as hard to make our voices heard. We would have the time to be students.

ALT: What makes anonymity so crucial to the work of your organization and safety of your members?

SJP: People who vocalize their support for Palestine have been attacked, harassed, and doxxed for quite a while now. Supporting Palestine means risking your safety, particularly as we see a rise in anti-Palestinian violence in the United States. Just a few months ago, three Palestinian college students like ourselves were attacked for wearing keffiyehs in Vermont. Students like ourselves at Columbia being attacked with illegal weapons by former IOF soldiers. At Harvard, graduating students faced mass doxxing campaigns and had their job offers revoked. At universities across the country, students vocally supporting justice for Palestine have faced censorship, suspension, and arrests. These are not out of the blue incidents -- this is a pattern of targeted harassment meant to silence calls for liberation in Palestine.

ALT: With the siege in Gaza being widely publicized––albeit, mostly inaccurately––in Western media, what role does media literacy and critical consumption of media play in understanding and engaging in social activism?

SJP: Media literacy plays an enormous role in understanding and engaging in social activism! One of our largest events this semester, “Existence is Resistance” led by Palestinian journalist Deanna Othman. She explained how crucial media literacy is in order to understand the bias inherent in media, particularly when it comes to Western media’s coverage of Palestine. These media outlets often frame themselves as neutral news sources, but their editorial decisions about which stories to cover, who to interview, and which wording to use reveal a consistent bias in favor of U.S. policy, which in this context manifests as support for “Israel”. Therefore, it is very important to use a critical eye when reading news from these sources (or really from any source) to recognize what bias is being conveyed to the reader.

ALT: What do you wish to accomplish as an organization on campus? Is there a vision you have for the future of Palestinian students and justice on campus and abroad?

SJP: Anti-Zionist: It is also important to note that we are Anti-Zionist. Anti-Zionism is an anti-colonial political position that is the core basis of the Palestinian liberation struggle. As anti-Zionists we believe that Palestinians have the right to return, live, and self-determine their ancestral homeland without the threat of ethnic cleansing, home demolitions, arrest, or military violence by Israel. This can only be achieved by dismantling the Zionist state of Israel and the Western imperialist forces that maintain its existence.

Anti-Imperialist: As strugglers in the heart of the empire, we seek to build a path to liberation by taking away the power of political and corporate elites and dismantling imperialism and the weapons of war which safeguard it.

Collective Liberation: We fight for collective liberation, which is achieved through coalition building, joint struggle with other colonized peoples and their movements, and as one part of an interconnected fight for freedom taking place on campus, in our communities, on our streets, and in our homelands.

Campus Divestment: We, as people against genocide and apartheid, led by Palestinian students, will force the university to divest from war profiteering. This includes not inviting such companies to campus and ending investment in these companies that enable them to continue genocide in Palestine or elsewhere. We want the university to divest from all institutions that benefit from war crimes in Palestine, and end all relationships with Israeli academic, cultural, and military institutions.

Investment: Where will this money go? Instead of profiting from war crimes, this money should be invested in students. This includes more affordable housing, more spaces for marginalized communities, and higher financial aid for lower income students.

End Campus Harassment: Palestinains, Arabs, and Muslims regularly face violent dehumanization on our campus, fueled by Islamophobia and racism. This atmosphere validates the erasure of Palestinians amidst the decades-long ethnic cleansing in Palestine that continues today through the ongoing genocide in Gaza and land theft in the West Bank. The university enables this harassment and violence against Palestinians by refusing to adequately protect Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students.

Campus[accomplished]: One of our big accomplishments this semester was mobilizing students to demand a permanent ceasefire and an end to US military aid to Israel by voting “uninstructed” in the Democratic Presidential primary. This was part of a broader Palestinian-led statewide campaign following similar campaigns from other states to express outrage at the Biden administration’s policy in Gaza and demand immediate change. In coalition with organizations such as TAA and YDSA, our efforts got more than 30% of our campus residents to vote “uninstructed” in the Democratic Primaries, putting electoral pressure on Joe Biden and the Democratic Party to stop enabling genocide.

ALT: How does an ally become an accomplice and true activist who stands in solidarity(not including basic research, reposting, and performative activism)?

SJP: Being an ally to the Palestinian cause is fundamentally about fighting for the rights and the dignity of Palestinians. This requires listening to and centering the voices of Palestinians, especially those on the ground in Gaza, but also those in the West Bank, in the diaspora, and those in the community around you Listen to Palestinians by learning about the history of Palestine from their perspective and learn the history of their families. Amplify the voices and demands of Palestinians, especially those with family in Gaza by showing up to events led by them. Support Palestinian students through showing up to rallies, attending SJP general body meetings, and showing up in support with Palestinian students when they are being harassed by the university, or when they are demanding actions by the university. Posting on social media is important to keep the algorithm tailored to the genocide in Gaza, but we must take it further than that.

Express your solidarity by showing up to rallies, general body meetings.

It is also crucial to point out that to stand in true solidarity with Paletine means that you stand in true solidarity with the struggles of all oppressed peoples around the world. The violence inflicted on Palestinians is the direct result of settler colonialism, backed by the imperialism of the United States. As such, the oppression of Palestinians is inherently linked to the oppression of all indigenous peoples and all those who suffer from US imperialism, and none of us will be truly free until all of us are free.

ALT: Are there other organizations, artists, or shops you would like to shout out or mention that we should be supporting as well?

SJP: There are countless! Palestine Partners does a lot of work with helping women in the West Bank make a living by selling their handmade goods to allies in America, and even have members going to Gaza soon to help distribute aid on the ground! There is also the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice which houses a lot of Wisconsin based pro-Palestinian organizations. For shops, Taza is always a favorite. CocoaVaa has also used their store to support Palestine through their chocolate creations and public statements.

ALT: How can we get involved with your organization?

SJP: We can be found on Instagram @sjpuwmadison and on Facebook as Students for Justice in Palestine at UW-Madison. We also have a WhatsApp group that people can be added to if they DM us!

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SUPPORT PALESTINIAN BUSINESS

Sourced by Zoe Zanussi

Palestinian owned businesses are easy to access through the internet! The small selection listed here ranges from independent Palestinian artists and designers to non-profits directly giving back to Palestine. The best way to directly support Palestinian people is to buy goods from Palestinian people.