Statewide coalition joins students in Farmington January 27 to demand no more $$ for Israel
Statewide peace groups, political parties, and concerned citizens will protest in Farmington on Saturday January 27 to demand that the U.S. stop supporting Israel’s genocidal policies in Gaza. Students all over Maine, organizing as Maine Students for Palestine, are joining in the call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Protesters will gather in Farmington at the intersection of Main Street and Broadway from 1:30pm - 2:30pm. Parking is available throughout downtown Farmington.
UMF student organizers put out the following statement: “We intend to demonstrate our solidarity with the people of Palestine, and to engage our community in supporting the Palestinian cause through both education and material action. We demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to the U.S. backing of Israel’s apartheid state. We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle against oppression and imperialist violence.
We also want to draw attention to the $20 million that the University of Maine System has invested in Israeli oppression. We demand that the University of Maine System withdraw all funds invested in corporations that support the genocide in Gaza.”
As Israel's apartheid practices, genocide in Gaza, and attacks on civilians in the West Bank continued, 10,000+ children in Palestine have died, and nearly 2 million residents of Gaza have been displaced, with famine and epidemics looming. Meanwhile the U.S. began bombing Yemen for supporting Gaza and continues funding and arming Israel, with the Biden administration going around Congress twice recently to do so. This as many people in Maine are struggling just to get by.
Student N. Harris said, “I'm always thinking of Palestine. As a student, I'm horrified by the systematic eradication of Palestinian knowledge---the destruction of schools and universities and public infrastructure; the targeted murder of journalists and their families; the unfathomable amount of history and culture and connection lost with every person killed. It's my responsibility to learn, to witness, and to do everything in my power to aid those around me to do the same.
I think of the first protest I attended for a free Palestine, almost four years ago in my hometown. I think of the people I met, thoughtful, kind, who welcomed me and took the time to teach me about the history of Palestine. They spoke of the violence and oppression, but also of the beauty and dignity and love persevering amid the violence. I want to pay it forward, to share those stories with others, and to invite my community and my peers to learn and stand with me in solidarity.”
Student Wilson Krause said, “I believe in God. And I believe that to stay silent while my siblings in faith are slaughtered in Palestine would be to condemn myself to Hell. The unimaginably fervent power of faith that Palestinians have shown in the past months have struck me to my core. To pray while bombs rain down on you, to believe that God is with you when the worst of humanity is against you… this is not naivete or ignorance or superstition. It should rouse us and shake us from our seats of Western comfort, our only-on-Sundays faith which is but a flimsily-held half-faith. They pray to God and God is with them. And God will not be with us until we can spare our prayers and thoughts and actions for those other than ourselves.”
Our demands:
Peace in Ukraine - No weapons, no money for the Ukraine War
Abolish NATO – End U.S. militarism & sanctions!
Fund people’s needs, not the war machine!
No war with China!
Protect Earth's environment from the deadly insult of war!
End U.S. aid to racist apartheid Israel!
Fight racism & bigotry not war!
U.S. hands off Haiti!
End AFRICOM
Co-sponsors: Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Maine Natural Guard, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, Communist Party of Maine, Maine Green Independent Party, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), Party for Socialism & Liberation Maine, Libertarian Party of Maine, People’s Party of Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Veterans for Peace - National, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), and Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights (MVPR).
Lead organizer Lisa Savage and student organizers N. Harris and Wilson Krause are available for interviews.
Link to Facebook event: facebook.com/events/7103903253001839
Poster for the event features original art by UMF student Crow Then.
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