It's such a shame that for over seven months, Israel has been bombing Gaza, murdering over 35,000 Palestinians and yet our world leaders have not been able to stop the genocide.
As students at the University of Amsterdam, sitting here in The Netherlands, we have collectively felt powerless with what's been happening in Palestine and Gaza.
Since October 2023, we have carried out several silent protests, day protests, and teach-in sessions to raise awareness of the atrocities and have tried to engage our university on the issue. Still, it seems this isn't a priority for our university.
'Our University Has Failed Us!'
Since the University of Amsterdam was not willing to talk to us, we decided to start encampments on the university grounds on 6 May as a sign of protest.
The encampment's purpose was to provide safe spaces to those fighting for the liberation of Palestine and a permanent ceasefire.
But we were not allowed with the encampment. On 7 May, at 3 am, our university administration called the riot police to evict us. We were beaten and bruised and were arrested by the police. Many of our friends are still in police custody, and we are trying to get them released with the help of the lawyers.
A university is supposed to teach us to stand against wrongdoings, and when we are taking a stand against atrocity, our university calls the police to dislodge us. Ironical and disgraceful!
We again tried to get started with another encampment the very next day at a university building. We were again evicted. Our fourth attempt to start an encampment on Friday, 17 May, was also met with hostility. It is shocking, to say the least, that our university decided to do this to us.
'We Will Continue To Protest Till Our Demands Are Met'
We have three primary demands from the University of Amsterdam - Disclose, Divest and Boycott.
We want our University to disclose its ties with Israeli institutions and be transparent about their ties so that we know which of these institutions have been complicit in the genocide of the Palestinians.
Divest your investment and financial ties with institutions that are facilitating the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
An academic boycott of Zionists with the promise that they will not establish any new ties with Israeli academic institutions.
This is our university! We fund it by paying fees, and it can't be complicit. We are aware that our university has ties with the University of Tel Aviv, and we want ties like these to end because we don't want to fund a genocide.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, there was a quick response from our university in terms of cutting ties with the universities of Russia, and we were happy about it. But in the case of Palestine, no step has been taken. This exposes their hypocrisy and racism, and we will continue to fight against it.
We will not stop! We will continue to protest. They want us to get tired, but we won't be exhausted.
'Message To The World Leaders'
We would have loved to engage with the leaders of our country and the world. Unfortunately, people in power don't want to talk or listen to us.
History proves that students have been on the right side of movements most of the time. We have examples from student movements like those against South African apartheid and the Vietnam War that show their importance in bringing about revolutions.
Our world leaders need to wake up. Take a second to think about what's happening to the Palestinians. Since October 2023, over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed, of which over 15,000 were children. 70% of the houses have been razed. All the universities in Gaza have been bombed.
There has been an outcry across the world to stand for our brothers and sisters of Palestine. It's disgraceful that our world leaders are not able to stop the genocide. It's shameful! Please use the moral compass if you have one! Enough is enough!
(The author is a student at The University of Amsterdam.)
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