“Disorientation” Speech by UNC SJP

“As a new school year begins, we at UNC Monsoon re-affirm our unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation, in keeping with the Thawabet, and with all peoples fighting against colonialism and oppression. We maintain our statement of solidarity from last year and stand steadfast with UNC Students for Justice in Palestine and our fellow coalition organizations to echo our demands for the disclosure of UNC’s endowment and its divestment from the zionist entity and companies that profit from war, occupation, apartheid and genocide.”

~ Monsoon 2024-25 Editorial Board

On August 22, UNC SJP held its first protest of the school year, titled “Disorientation.” Here, we present a script of a speech from the event regarding UNC SJP’s demands for the University, the necessity for divestment, and the Palestinian struggle:

“Our vision for the future is simple: a world where people have autonomy over their own lives and the political power to exert agency over it. We believe in self-determination.

For decades, Palestinian rights to self-determination have been violated both in Palestine and abroad — obvious both in the ongoing Nakba, and in this horrifying and enraging year of genocide from Gaza to the West Bank, from the torture camps to the towns — Palestinian life has been, and is still being brutally and unconscionably stolen.

Currently, as the global ruling class continues its long project to annihilate the Palestinian people, the United States has not just been complicit but a deep-seated and obstinate leader. Not just giving verbal support to the zionist leaders and standing ovations to war criminals in the halls of our Congress, but sending tons of weapons and billions of dollars — from our taxpayer money — to support the zionist genocidal campaign. Through military force, political coercion, economic domination, and diplomatic power, from Kissinger to Blinken, the zionist entity continues its rampaging settler colonial project. It is only through the support of American empire that this genocide is funded.

And in a microcosm of that, here lies UNC. Our tuition money that we give to this University, and our tax dollars and alumni donations that fund this University’s operations and endowment — that endowment which continues to hold investments in arms companies that profit from the slaughter of Palestine. Our University through our tuition money and tax dollars is enabling this genocide. TO THIS WE SAY NO MORE!

We find ourselves in a curious position today — as individuals within the metropole, as cogs within this odious machine of which we have no power to change alone. Yet, it may be through our collective, organized strength that we can take aim.

Here at UNC Chapel Hill, we all as UNC SJP are taking aim at the military-industrial complex — the vast web of financial interests which profit off of and hoard wealth from death-making projects.

Our demands are reasonable — DISCLOSE where our taxes and tuition money in their endowment is going and then DIVEST from death-making projects and investments that profit from the slaughter of our people. End our unwilling participation in the genocide against Palestinians; end this University’s position as an formidable obstacle to Palestinian self-determination. AND WE WANT THIS DONE NOW!

Divestment is not just a matter of morality, but humanitarian obligation. On April 5, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling on the international community to ‘cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.’ The world calls for an arms embargo as the zionist entity continues violating international law and committing massacre after massacre. We stand here with the moral clarity to know right from wrong — we are doing UNC a favor — reminding them that divestment now will save them the embarrassment of ethical failure. We need an arms embargo now and divestment is key to that.

Our demands have precedent — in 1987, this university finally divested from white supremacist apartheid South Africa after relentless protests from the student body. Across the world, institutions are embarking upon the process of divestment — from universities to churches to governments.

To those standing here with us today, I applaud you. Time and time again, the people united have locked arms, coming together and making our voice heard, reminding these institutions that we will not be silent in the face of injustice. History will look back on this time and cast shame on this University for its complacency in the most livestreamed genocide in history.

The Chancellor and Board of Trustees tell us it can’t be done but that is a lie. It has been done before, and it will be done again. The question of divestment is that of political will. If they want it to happen, they can make it happen. Their obstinance proves the university’s steadfast investment in the status quo — that of weapons manufacturers like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing — all companies with a proven track record of human rights violations and war crimes.

We reject the status quo of slaughter; we reject the falsehood that there is nothing to be done; we reject the narrative that what we are asking for is impossible.

In this time of genocide, in this devastating and maddening year of genocide — we demand solidarity with the Palestinian people against annihilation, against projects of mass death, against settler colonial projects everywhere.

Our vision for the future is simple: a world where people have autonomy over their own lives and the political power to exert agency over it. We believe in self-determination.

UNC Chapel Hill, Lee Roberts, trustees and governors, Art Fucking Pope, Chris Clemens, endowment managers — we see you, THE PEOPLE see you, and the way you have capitulated to the bloodlust of zionists, forfeited your humanity to stand alongside those who support mass death, block aid trucks, cheer on bombs, and attempt to justify mass starvation. You are a stain on humanity, and we forsake you.

Until divestment, until a permanent ceasefire, and until we see a free Palestine from the river to the sea, we will be out here. We will not stop, we will not rest. Free Palestine.”

(Speech written and delivered by UNC Students for Justice in Palestine, 2024)

Read UNC SJP’s complete list of goals and demands from the University, with comprehensive background and supporting evidence, here:

Compiled and edited by Anshu Shah.