rally

From the organizer:

Explosions are being reported across the West Bank as the IOF continues to escalate in its genocidal death spiral. The Jenin hospital is surrounded by tanks, occupation forces have begun destroying roads and civil infrastructure, and the risk of forced displacement is imminent.

All of this occurs while the UVM Board of Trustees continues to profit off of the Zionist entity’s war crimes and genocide through their endowment investments in weapons manufacturers and surveillance companies that equip the IOF. We are mobilizing today at 2 PM in the Davis Green to continue our demand that UVM divest from any and all holdings that enable this ongoing 76-year nightmare.

Community members ride their bikes in community from Battery Park to the University of Vermont (UVM) Campus where the Palestine Solidarity Encampment is. 

University of Vermont (UVM) students host an encampment for divestment on the Andrew Harris Commons. The University announced that it will cancel Linda Thomas Greenfield’s commencement speech.

University of Vermont (UVM) students host an encampment for divestment on the Andrew Harris Commons. UVM student organizers demand from the UVM administration the following: disclosure of UVM investments, divestment from all companies involved in the occupation of Palestine, an academic boycott of Israeli institutions, cancel Linda Thomas Greenfield’s commencement speech, and amnesty for all students engaged in the protest.

From the organizers:

The hospitals in Gaza have no electricity and already hundreds of people every day are dying – and it does not stop without a ceasefire. Becca Balint has not co-sponsored the "Immediate Ceasefire" House Resolution, unlike 18 of her fellow representatives.

We held a demonstration outside of Becca Balint's office in Burlington calling for her to back the Resolution introduced by Rep. Cori Bush.

Only 45-60 trucks, for a population of 2 million, have been allowed to enter Gaza in the last two weeks, 5% of the bare minimum necessary for survival according to the UN.

Even as the Israeli Army has held two expeditionary excursions into Gaza in the last 3 days, in preparation for a devastating ground invasion that will look like the urban warfare of Mosul and Grozny, and even as Bernie Sanders has called from the Senate Floor yesterday for an immediate humanitarian pause, Becca Balint has chosen to spend her time introducing a resolution censuring Marjorie Taylor Green for antisemitism.

We have no problem with that idea, but already 7000 people have died, and the Biden Administration has made clear its inclination to sweep that number under the rug as it questions the accuracy of the Palestinian Health Authority figures–while all the most trusted humanitarian organizations in the world say that the Authority has always provided accurate figures. And humanitarian organizations all over the world including the UNHRC call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire as aid workers, dozens of UN personnel, and dozens of journalists have been killed in just the last two weeks.

Organized by Vermont Peace/Antiwar Coalition (VPAC), Green Mountain Veterans for Peace (VFP), Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).