GEOC Statement in Support of the Palestinian People
Over the last few weeks the Graduate Employees’ Organizing Committee has watched as violence has, yet again, reached a tipping point between the Israel government and Palestinian people. Although a ceasefire has been put in place, it does not change the longstanding conflict and apartheid regime that has removed Palestinian people from their homes, subjected them to ethnic cleansing campaigns, and continued to deny the Palestinian people the right to their own self determination. At this time more than 200 families in East Jerusalem are being evicted from their generational family homes, which follows a longstanding political practice by the Israeli government that denies Palestinian families the right to their homes and resources without the fear of government sanctioned violence. As a labor union in the City of Detroit where systematic and institutional racism has deeply defined the lives of generations of Detroiters through the removal of residents from their homes, GEOC is committed to pushing for all people to have access to peace and the self determination we believe is vital to living in a just world. We stand in solidarity with our sibling union, Graduate Employees’ Organization, our Representative for Michigan’s 13th District Rashida Talib, WSU Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Wayne State Student Senate’s resolution passed on May 27th, 2021, as they all have so eloquently stated why it has become necessary to speak out against the violence towards the Palestinian people by an occupying government. We push for Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson and the Wayne State Board of Governors to condemn the violence against the Palestinian people by the Israeli government and create a plan to foster a community dialogue on campus that acknowledges how this international conflict has a direct impact on the daily lives of our fellow campus community members. We also push for WSU administrators to dedicate more funding to mental health services and programming that works to end Islamophobia and anti-semitism in our campus community.
Get involved by working with WSU Students for Justice in Palestine as they promote community events.
In Solidarity,
GEOC Steering Committee