Statement from Chapel Hill Palestinian Liberation Defendants on July 30th, 2024
Editor’s note:
Those of us living in the imperial core must stand together with our comrades in campaigning against and resisting imperialism, especially within our local institutions. Holding a space in our community that isn’t limited to electoral politics expands the possibilities for other forms of political participation. How can we further the actions of insurgents who have come before us? How can we directly resist imperialism in our own communities? How do we see this resistance play out in the Triangle, and how can we show up for one another during and after the fact?
How can we center the goals and actions of the Palestinian resistance?
We do not need to, and refuse to, compromise our principles for the chance of a crumb of political power. All colonized peoples have inherent sovereignty and autonomy & must have their self-determination over body, land, and resources recognized.
Although working with mainstream, profit-driven media outlets can sometimes be strategically valuable, we should never rely solely on these outlets to convey liberatory and revolutionary messages, which they tend to distort, minimize, or fully ignore. By publishing the full text of the defendants’ statement as originally delivered, The Outside Agitator aims to preserve their collective voice.
The following is a collective statement from defendants facing charges from UNC-Chapel Hill Police after the raid on the Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment. The statement was delivered as a speech at the July 30th press conference outside the Chapel Hill Courthouse, immediately prior to the defendants’ court appearance. One of the writers of the statement has made a correction from the text used to deliver the speech: using census data, the death toll estimate of 186,000 is more than 3 times the population of Chapel Hill in 2020, rather than 2022. Otherwise, no changes have been made.
Good morning. We stand here today at the Peace and Justice Plaza because there is no justice and there is no peace when the administration of UNC-Chapel Hill is materially supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza that, according to the most recent available data, has killed around 40,000 Palestinians, including 15,000 children, as of June 25th. This number does not even include all the Palestinians dying from starvation and disease as a result of Israel decimating Gaza’s infrastructure and preventing aid, food, and medicine from entering Gaza. An article published in The Lancet on July 5th estimated —conservatively—that the actual death toll of the Israeli Occupation Forces’ actions in Gaza would ultimately reach 186,000 people even if there was an immediate ceasefire. This is more than three times the entire population of Chapel Hill as of 2020.
Rather than agree to a ceasefire, the purportedly “most moral army in the world” has only intensified its campaign of slaughter, firing its guns and dropping its bombs indiscriminately, and even targeting people who are non-combatants. We are deeply concerned by the prospect that Israel may use the recent tragic incident in the occupied Golan Heights, for which Hezbollah has denied responsibility, as a cheap justification for invading Lebanon. We know, however, that if they do, they will face strong resistance, just like the last time they invaded Lebanon in the 1980s, and like they are currently facing in Gaza. Furthermore, we know that people around the globe are increasingly unified in opposition to the genocide in Gaza and its settler colonial roots. We, a group of people facing repressive criminal charges from the UNC-Chapel Hill administration as part of their effort to crush our movement, want to also express several unified positions that we take as defendants and as members of the local and global fight for Palestinian liberation.
The following points of unity are a basic summary of our approach to collective defense—defense against criminal charges, defense against the administration, defense against zionism, and defense against U.S. imperialism.
1. Points of unity for the Palestinian resistance are points of unity for us.
We support the Thawabit, which are fundamental principles reflecting a Palestinian national consensus on issues regarding Israeli oppression. The Thawabit include the uncompromising rejection of zionism and all other forms of settler colonialism; the right to resistance; the right to self-determination; Al Quds (i.e. Jerusalem) as the capital of a Palestinian state; and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and land. Our actions are rooted in the non-negotiability of these principles.
2. Resist by any means necessary.
It is violently oppressive to passively observe oppressive violence, whether in Palestine, here, or anywhere in the world. Therefore, we emphasize our support for the right to resistance, not only in Palestine, but also here in the imperial core. We condone all forms of principled action, including armed rebellion, necessary to stop Israel’s genocide and apartheid, and to dismantle imperialism and capitalism more broadly. The oppressors will never grant full liberty to the oppressed; the oppressed must seize liberty with their own hands.
3. Their oppressors are our oppressors.
Some argue that the genocide in Palestine has nothing to do with us, but the reality is the opposite. The goals of the U.S. and Israel are the same: to colonize, kill, and steal in service of capitalist greed. These goals are evident in their judicial systems, such as the one here in Orange County, which serve justice in name more than action. The UNC-Chapel Hill administration is no exception either, investing in genocide and harming the local community as a result of its oligarchic, imperialist structure. The reason we make demands of the government and the UNC-CH administration is that we the people are not yet strong enough to seize their power, dismantle their systems, and enact real justice—but we are not outnumbered, we are only out-organized, and only for the time being.
4. None of us are free until all of us are free.
This principle guides our relentless solidarity with the Palestinian people. Our encampment was only one stage of a committed campaign to force the UNC-Chapel Hill administration to meet the demands laid out by UNC SJP. The administration must divest from, and boycott, any companies complicit in Israel’s genocide and apartheid. They must also cut other ties to Israel, such as study abroad programs from which Palestinian students are excluded. Sustained insurgent pressure has forced UNC-CH to divest before—from companies complicit in South African apartheid—and we will make them divest again.
This principle is also at the root of our collective defense against criminal charges. The administration, the injustice system, media outlets, zionists, and other oppressive forces try to fracture us along several real and fictional axes. Student versus non-student, lesser charges versus greater charges, peaceful protestor versus outside agitator. We are all outside agitators, and we stand firm as a unified bloc. We demand nothing less (but rather much, much more) than for all our charges to be dropped unconditionally. In all things, we proceed out of love for one another. Love for all our comrades, whether they face charges or not; love for all the people of Palestine whose tenacity and strength inspire us; and love for all of humanity. Liberation may require revolutionary violence, but it must always stem from love.
In addition to these points of unity, we want to reiterate, in full, the demands made by UNC SJP to the administration. Our vocal support for these demands, which they refuse to meet, is why they have retaliated against us in the form of criminal charges, among other repressive tactics that some of us have also faced including suspensions and campus bans. Here are UNC SJP’s demands.
1. We demand that UNC commit to transparency regarding its activities through the UNC system’s investment vehicle (e.g., “The Fund”) and dedicate itself to more democratic and socially responsible investment prerogatives. We refuse to have our tax dollars and tuition go towards the military-industrial complex, dirty energy, or the carceral system.
2. We demand that UNC boycott products supporting Israeli genocide, apartheid, and settler colonialism. Specifically, we call for them to divest from Sabra hummus, HP technologies, and Caterpillar construction vehicles and/or construction contractors that use Caterpillar vehicles. This demand also includes an academic boycott of Israel, and divesting from UNC’s study abroad programs in Israel, as well as any other UNC-sponsored travel to Israel.
3. We demand that UNC set up a commission that works with both students and faculty in order to account for, plan for, and report on how UNC will take immediate and long-term steps to divest from Israeli apartheid.
Our criminal charges are intended to intimidate and stifle us and our comrades, and to divert our focus away from these demands, rerouting it toward the demand for charges to be dropped. We will not let that happen. As we fight for our charges to be dropped, we remain focused on the goal of Palestinian liberation; and we hope to leverage our current situation to galvanize further support for our movement, showing the administration that their repression will backfire. We push for all our charges to be dropped not only to avoid giving money to the state in the forms of fines and fees, to avoid doing unpaid labor at the behest of the state in the form of community service, and to avoid the worst-case scenario of incarceration, but also so that we can commit ourselves more fully to the mountain of work we have ahead of us.
That being said, we will not move on until ALL of us are free from the grip of the injustice system, and a collective defense is the best way to get there. This strategy entails leveraging our power as a group to support each member, especially those of us facing the most repressive charges. Two months ago, on May 30th, six of us had our first hearings in Hillsborough. Four of those defendants were offered plea deals, but the other two, facing higher charges, were offered nothing. The four stood strong with the other two, refusing to accept the deals.
To be clear, we do not want to shame anyone who takes a deal. As we care for each other, we must not forget to also take care of ourselves, and caring for ourselves may mean taking a deal. But by default, we are committed to solidarity among each other, and our care for each other helps each of us navigate the obstacles that come with that commitment.
Public support is another part of our collective defense strategy. Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman (unlike any administrators at UNC) is an elected official, and if he can be elected, then he can also be unelected. We highly encourage residents of Orange County to call or email his office and tell him to drop all charges.
Finally, our approach to collective defense also entails our unwavering solidarity with ALL those caught up in a so-called justice system that seeks to criminalize the marginalized and protect capital and white supremacy. Collective defense entails that we reject the State’s ideas of fairness and justice. Because we KNOW what is right. We KNOW what is just. And there is NO justice here. There is no justice in this courthouse. There is no justice in the heart of the empire, no justice in the belly of the beast.
If there were justice here, nearly 40 individuals would not be facing repressive criminal charges for speaking up against GENOCIDE. If there were justice here, UNC would not be discursively and financially supporting the zionist entity and contributing to the genocide of Palestinians. If there were justice here, the United States would not be funding Israel’s slaughter. If there were justice here, the United States, as it stands as a settler nation, would not exist. This country was built on the labor of enslaved people, genocide, and settler colonialism.
This brutal legacy extends into today. The settler colonial university, the dozens of cop cities being built nationwide, the prison-industrial complex, and the global regime of the U.S. empire are all dealers of death, and both the Republican and Democratic parties work, as a rule, for the ruling class and to uphold these oppressive structures. Fortunately, Genocide Joe is out of the race, but Kamala Harris is no better an alternative for us here or all the people trapped in Gaza without food, water, and healthcare. To achieve true liberation, we must build solidarity with all the oppressed people of the world and collectively defend ourselves against the capitalist, imperialist elite. All power to all the people and free, free Palestine!!!
^^ Phone Zap instructions distributed during the press conference to demand the DA drop ALL charges.
