After 11 hours of discussion between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the Associated Students Senate voted against the divestment resolution on the table. The 72nd Senate elected to use a secret ballot and saw 13 noes, 12 yeses and zero abstentions. Â
Over 100 community members, faculty and students signed up to speak at public forum last night, but only 83 actually spoke with generally equal amounts of support for and against divestment.
The resolution called on the University of California Board of Regents to divest from companies that profit off of alleged human rights violations by the Israeli government against Palestinians. This is the seventh time since 2013 that a divestment resolution failed to pass, making UC Santa Barbara the only undergraduate UC campus to not pass a resolution on divestment. The Senate will not meet again until Fall Quarter 2021.
We Must Commit Ourselves to Long-Term Solidarity With Palestinian Liberation
People protest in solidarity with Palestinian liberation on May 16, 2021, in Chicago.
Sarah-Ji
“The ‘ceasefire’ won’t end the siege of Gaza, reverse ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem, prevent lynchings in ‘48 Palestine, or bring down the WB [West Bank] apartheid wall. It won’t enable refugees to return nor will it terminate colonialism. The struggle for freedom continues #FreePalestine.”
Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Facebook post, May 20, 2021.
As many sectors of our society are celebrating the “ceasefire” between Palestine and Israel, a chorus of Palestinian voices are blasting across social media echoing a shared consciousness that this ceasefire could never be enough. It is not only recent events but what Palestinian historian Sherene Seikaly explains as the century-long struggle to remain on one’s land in the face of persistent ethnic cleansing that inspires this sentiment.
May 8, 2021 at 6:35 pm by Sindhu Ananthavel
UC Santa Barbara students and faculty participated in a National Day of Refusal on May 3 to demand the removal of police from campus, with participants cancelling or refusing to work â whether that be missing virtual classes or not holding classes at all â to show their support for the abolitionist initiative.
A âvirtual walkoutâ video projection was held outside of I.V. Theater by UCSB FTP.
Courtesy of Charmaine Chua
Organized by the North American abolitionist coalition Cops off Campus, the Day of Refusal took place across the United States and some locations in Canada, including on several UC campuses and other universities. The Day of Refusal marks the first event in a full month of pro-abolition actions that Cops Off Campus has dubbed âAbolition May.â
January 26, 2021 at 11:01 am by Harrison Kerdman
Editor’s note: Trigger Warning
On Nov. 29, The Guardian published a letter titled âPalestinian rights and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.â It was signed by 122 Palestinian and Arab academics, journalists and intellectuals who expressed their concerns about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Among the signatories is Sherene Seikaly, an associate professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This letter is extremely problematic.
The signatories present seven points to attack the IHRA definition â points which they believe are instrumental in stopping âthe fight against antisemitismâ from â[turning] into a stratagem to delegitimize the fight against the oppression of the Palestinians, the denial of their rights and the continued occupation of their land.âÂ
Civil Society and the Question of Palestine - NGO Action News – 21 January 2021
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