Editor’s note: the authors of this statement are facing criminal charges and have requested anonymity in the face of further persecution by authorities.
On the morning of April 25, 2024, Emory University sent Atlanta police and Georgia State Patrol to brutalize us — students, faculty, alumni, and community members gathering at the protest which opposes the ongoing genocide in Palestine that Emory heavily invests in, as well as Emory’s involvement in Cop City. We were tased, shot at with rubber bullets, exposed to chemical weapons, choked, tackled, and dragged in one of the most violent crackdowns on campus encampments.
Gregory Fenves, Emory University president, used a fear-mongering narrative around “outside agitators” to swiftly call in outside police — circumventing the University’s open expression policy — and justify police brutality and the subsequent unjust detainment we were forced to endure. Now, we are all navigating the physical, mental, and emotional trauma of this attack in addition to dealing with the unfounded legal charges that threaten our professional and academic futures.
It has become abundantly clear that for Emory, “decolonization” is merely an abstract academic theory, and that tents on university lawns pose a greater threat to humanity than the bombs raining down on innocent men, women, and children.
Right now, Israel is carpet bombing Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians were pushed with nowhere to go. There are no operating universities in Gaza, the healthcare infrastructure has collapsed, and approximately 40,000 Palestinians have been mercilessly killed over the past seven months. The recent arrests across university campuses and the increase in violence against all protesters are working to tire the movement for liberation and scare us into complacency. The United States and our academic institutions lash out with militaristic force because they are afraid of the power we hold as a collective.
As a group of 13 of the Emory protest arrestees, and more importantly, as people with conscience, we assert the following:
- We support the liberation of Palestine and the self-determination of the Palestinian people as they are entitled to by international law.
- We demand the disclosure, divestment, and dissolution of all ties Emory University and the city of Atlanta has with the apartheid state of Israel and Cop City.
- We condemn the brutalization and criminalization of pro-Palestine protesters across the country.
- We reaffirm our right to protest and, more importantly, our moral responsibility to stand against genocide.
- We demand that ALL charges be dropped for ALL arrested persons protesting at Emory University and that amnesty be provided for all those protesting on university grounds.
We will continue living with hope and fighting for the liberation of all oppressed peoples around the world.
International Solidarity Forever!
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Liberation for Palestine and self-determination for Palestinian. Self-determination via two states or liberation in one? Or whichever Palestinians eventually prioritize?
How many checkpoints did EmoryInc. grads pass-thru to gain entry into their own graduation? Did Pres. Fenves frisk his students and confiscate their Palestinian flags along with their 1st Amendment? For the first time in 40 yrs, EmoryInc’s graduation required professors to wear XXL genocidal-depends underneath all those hoods…to help with zionist break-thrus. To witness Economics professor,Caroline Fohlin and students, brutally assaulted by riot-gear cops is horrific. Fenves should be fired or in jail.