Asian American Studies Department San Francisco State University
We, the faculty of San Francisco State University’s Asian American Studies Department, collectively declare that we stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and against war and genocide. We are appalled at the horrific violence taking place in Gaza and the West Bank, and the genocide of Palestinians, which continues to spread into the City of Rafah. The Israeli government’s campaign to rid Palestine of Hamas has led to countless deaths of Palestinians. And because of Israel’s policies and denial of aid, increasing numbers of innocent Palestinians are dying due to violence, starvation and dehydration. We stand alongside the global demand for an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israeli blockades, which are denying desperate Palestinians the necessary provision of humanitarian aid.
As a U.S.-based institution of higher learning, we have an ethical obligation to use our collective power to interrupt the flow of resources, change the political discourse attributing blame to innocent civilians, and criticize our government’s use of public tax money to support war crimes by Israel's government . We also recognize the long history of U.S. imperialism, which continues to disproportionately impact populations of color across the globe through its military-industrial complex. We do not support the U.S. government’s continuing support of Israel’s military through the selling of arms, making U.S. citizens complicit in Israel’s violence against the Palestinian people. Furthermore, since 1948, the U.S. government has utilized American tax dollars to support the Israeli military in killing Palestinians, destroying their homes, and stealing their land, while continually abandoning its obligation to meet the needs of underserved communities within the U.S.
We support the various movements seeking to boycott, divest from, and sanction (BDS) Israel in order to end their apartheid military regime and the genocide of Palestinians. We support the global movement to boycott Israeli products from illegal settlements. We support the international movement and pressure to divest from Israel, and the creation of accountability measures through sanctions to address the Israeli oppression of Palestinians.
We further join in our students’ demands for full disclosure of the California State University’s investments linked to the Israeli government and for the disinvestment from corporations, which directly or indirectly profit from the subjugation and genocide of the people of Palestine. Students for Gaza began their encampment on April 29th at SFSU and have started negotiations with the administration. Along with the SFSU chapter of the national Faculty for Justice in Palestine Network (FJP), we urge administrators “to respect any and all collective displays of support for the Palestinian liberation struggle that our students undertake.”
Following the national Association of Asian American Studies, we “condemn the multiple violent repressive actions by various university administrations across the nation who are using police brutality to crush the encampments. We call on our colleagues to support student protestors, particularly those who have been arrested and/or been put under school disciplinary processes. We condemn the institutional silencing of student protestors whose ongoing work at world-building inspires the revolutionary basis of our field and our association.” We, as faculty of AAS at SFSU, also condemn any defaming, doxxing, and/or disciplinary action imposed on faculty and staff who speak out against the genocide in Gaza.
Asian American Studies at SFSU was born out of student protests in 1968 and 1969 as a direct result of unjust wars waged by the U.S. government throughout Asia, and we will continue to speak out against all forces of oppression and discrimination, such as, racism, imperialism, war, settler colonialism, apartheid, Islamophobia, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia, among others. We stand together with our students, who have chosen not to turn a blind eye to what is happening in Palestine and to our university’s complicity in this violence. We express our gratitude and pride in their principled, courageous, and compassionate actions.
Signed,
The Faculty of the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University