After a year of what is globally recognized as a genocide unfolding in Gaza, and with lethal assaults on the people of Lebanon increasing by the day, this panel aims to take stock of what scholars and human rights organisations have termed “scholasticide”: the systemic obliteration of Palestinian education through the arrest, detention or killing of teachers, students and staff, and the destruction of educational infrastructure. Over 80 percent of higher educational facilities in Gaza have been destroyed, and at least 625,000 school age children have no access to education. University presidents, faculty, academic staff and thousands of students have been killed, detained and tortured by the Israeli military. The Israeli state has raided universities in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and intensified its harassment of university students and faculty, and its repression of Palestinian students and scholars in Israeli universities.
Join us to listen to expert panelists André Elias Mazawi, Urooj Nizami, Maya Wind, Rana Abughannam, and Rana Daher discuss the current state of scholasticide in Palestine, its meanings and impact – foremostly for Palestinians – and also scholars and students world-wide.
Organized by UBC Faculty for Palestine, supported by DPC (Decolonise Palestine Collective), SFU Faculty for Palestine, UBC Middle East Studies, UBC Centre for Climate Justice.
Statement of Solidarity from the CCJ:
Israel’s military escalation within and beyond Palestine can only bring further devastation, trauma, and violence, on an ever-widening scale, with no end in sight. While we face this devastating reality, we are also heartened by the international solidarity movement that has stood steadfast against genocide and militarism in the face of repression. This international solidarity is our only hope for winning climate justice and a world beyond war. Climate justice is about building everyday infrastructures that can sustain a more just world: this task is incompatible with genocide, mass violence, the systematic destruction of education and research infrastructure, and the wholesale destruction of human life and ecosystems. We continue to stand against militarism, colonialism, and genocide, and for collective liberation for all peoples.
