HKU complicity in the ongoing genocide
Why are we so concerned with Palestine?
If you’ve ever wondered what you would have done during historical periods of great injustice, you’re doing it now. The ongoing mass murder of Palestinians at the hands of colonial settler state Israel is the greatest violation of human rights of the 21st century. All major human rights organizations, including the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch agree it is a genocide, with the explicit aim of killing or expelling every last Palestinian, in order to take their land and erase their culture. Every western government, including the Dutch one is supporting this project militarily, financially, diplomatically and rhetorically. This directly implicates all of us as Dutch taxpayers, who this government is supposedly representing.
The board of the HKU, like most Dutch universities, has decided to remain neutral. It has chosen not to speak out against our government’s complicity in the Palestinian genocide, nor fully cut ties with genocidal Israeli institutions. Apart from the great loss of Palestinian life (which, to be clear, should be enough reason for outrage), the way HKU is responding to the Palestinian genocide is a sign of things to come. The western world is becoming ever more fascist, and if institutions like HKU can’t even muster a simple statement condemning the most widely documented case of genocide in the history of the world, we can’t have the slightest bit of hope that it would protect its vulnerable students in any meaningful way if and when the growing fascist project greatly increases their unsafety.
HKU claims to be a safe space for everyone, but it has shown itself to stand for nothing, letting the oppressive forces of the world go unchallenged. This is an affront to life itself. Palestine deserves better, we deserve better, the world deserves better.
The HKU student union wishes to push our board to change this policy in any way we can. As a loose association, we support and invite any initiative with this aim. We are looking for people to help organise a strong and lasting workgroup focussed on keeping up the pressure through talks, protests, or anything else. The union can facilitate meetings, defend the rights of protesters and spread statements, articles and artwork related to the Palestinian cause.