Above photo: Instagram: @princetondivestnow.
It Pays To Fight Repression.
Thirteen Princeton University activists spent over a year fighting charges for holding a sit-in during the wave of Gaza solidarity encampments. On June 17, they successfully got the charges dropped. Aditi Rao described the experience of fighting the charges and how they’re continuing resistance to genocide in Palestine.
As the genocide in Gaza continues, imperialist governments that have made Israel’s crimes possible are escalating their attacks on the movement for Palestine. From the targeting of international students to the recent firing of four CUNY faculty over Palestine activism, universities remain an important site of struggle against the genocide.
Despite the repression, there have been victories which show that it pays to take up the fight against these attacks on the movement for Palestine. One example is at Princeton University, where 13 activists from the Princeton community recently got charges dropped after more than a year.
The Clio 13 were facing “defiant trespass” charges for holding a sit-in in a building on their campus as part of the Gaza solidarity encampment at Princeton. After waging a campaign which worked to draw in support from the larger Princeton community, the Clio 13 got all their charges dropped on June 17.
Left Voice editor Samuel Karlin interviewed one of the Clio 13, PhD student Aditi Rao. Rao reflected on the experience of fighting repressive charges and how the repression impacts the fight against the genocide of Palestine. They also discussed other issues like the relationship of universities to the military industrial complex and how international and Black and Brown students have come under greater attacks from Zionists.
