IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Waar: Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus of the People's Free University, Achter Oosteinde 14, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wanneer: 25/05/2024 - 18:08

Rond kwart voor 3 marcheerden pro-Palestijnse demonstranten van het Spui naar Achter Oosteinde 14 en openden daar de Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus of the people's Free university in een gekraakt pand.

Vandaag, op 25 mei, begonnen pro-Palestijnse demonstranten met hun protest op het Spui om 14:00. Deze demonstratie bewoog zich door de straten van Amsterdam naar Achter Oosteinde 16, waar de demonstranten onthulden dat een gekraakt pand wordt opengesteld voor het publiek als de eerste campus van the People's Free University. De Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus zal een ruimte van verzet zijn waar men van elkaar kan leren en elkaar kan onderwijzen. De campus is vernoemd naar een van de eerste Palestijnse vrouwen die deelnam aan gewapend verzet in 1967: "Zij kende het belang van kennis en educatie in de strijd voor bevrijding. [...] Wij zullen deze ruimte in haar nalatenschap creëren," zeggen de demonstranten.

Volledige speech:
On this day, day 231 of the genocide happening in gaza right now
On this day, in Amsterdam, we open this building as the Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus of the Peoples Free University.

here we want to learn from each other
we want to learn from other encampments around the world,
here we want to learn from people fighting against oppression through time and space
but specifically from those in gaza right now

Our encampments did not last a day, and so we decided to explore other ways. Experiment with different ways of building Resistance.
We are opening this building as a space for us to be with each other. We understand that our barricades will only ever be as strong as our solidarity, as large as our community, and as fierce as our militancy. 
And this is what we will be building here.

By opening the first campus of the people's university we attempt to answer a call coming straight from Gaza:
escalate!
escalate!
escalate!
stop this by any means necessary!
stop the genocide! Stop the occupation!

We understand that in order to free palestine, we must liberate every zone from our hearts and souls to the borders of empire! On this Campus we shall practice the work of liberation.

Shadia Abu Ghazaleh was one of the first women participating in armed military resistance in 1967. She knew the importance of knowledge and education in the fight for liberation. She knew it takes all of us fighting on all fronts. And she embodied that knowledge. We will create this space in her lineage.

But this campus is not the first educational space named after her. 
Remember Shadia Abu Ghazaleh school in Jabalia, where last december bodies were piled up instead of books in the classroom. We must never forget them.
We open this campus in honor of those matyred and those still fighting. In everything we do, be that reading a book or fighting a cop, we must carry them in our hearts. 
Not only are we fighting for, no we are fighting with them for nothing less than Liberation.

All Universities in Gaza have been bombed, but from their rubble, universities of Palestinian liberation rise everywhere! In the last weeks we have learned more about decolonial practice on the streets than any course could have ever taught us. 
Embodying resistance is infinetely more valuable than any study at the Uva. From now on Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus is where we learn and where we teach each other. Where we get together. 
Where we become even more dangerous together!

Welcome to Shadia Abu Ghazaleh campus!

Free Palestine!