Anti-BDS ideas are latest in long trend of oppression – The Badger Herald

The Students for Justice in Palestine held a rally in July denouncing the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Courtesy of SJP

Anti-Semitic. Hateful. Divisive. Disgusting.

These were all words I heard as descriptions for the Associated Students of Madisonresolution targeting companies that profit off the oppression of black and brown bodies. Over and over again, Ive heard how this resolution would divide our campus, how it would bring about hatred and how it would particularly ruin job prospects for business students.

I could not help but notice the perpetual hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance exhibited by critiques of the resolution.

How each person whohad a qualm with the resolutionscritique of Israeli companieshad no words for the companies that profited off free labor from black menin our prisons. How no one who thought the bill was hateful addressed the hateful and brutal treatment of our Latinand indigenous brothers and sisters who face oppression at the hands of companies building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico borderto the Dakota Access Pipeline. How few people who described Israel as a beacon of light and a democracy addressed the very true and real dehumanization of Palestine people by the Israeli government. Time and time again, these narratives ignored the marginalized communities.

Students for Justice in Palestine speaker on postponed divestment proposal: Vote yesAfter a series of performances centered around social justice, Palestinian-American poet and writerRemi Kanazi discussed this weeks proposal to the Read

I, as an ally to my Palestinian brothers and sisters, should not be labeled as an anti-Semite for challenging the policies in place that demonize Palestinians each and every day. What about acknowledging and condemning police brutality, restrictions on mobility, building of illegal settlements and countless other human rights violations in Israel makes me an anti-Semite? Am I hateful for condemning the treatment of Palestinian children in the Israeli court system? It is alarming that any critique or voice opposition against cruel policies is faced with erasure and silencing.

As a blackwoman, empty messages of solidarity with the blackcommunity to justify arguments echoed across the room repeatedly. The hypocrisy of those who cheered and clapped when speakers hollowly chanted Black Lives Matter after ignoring the oppression of blackbodies in the resolution was blinding. Individuals lectured a black council member on how Israel invented the Black Lives Matter movement when the systematic oppression of Ethiopian black Jews through police brutality and forced sterilization of women is well-documented.

As a minority student on this campus, I have seen this divisiveness play a role in every situation that arises when marginalized students voice their concerns. When students marched on campus after the police-involved shootings ofMike Brown and Eric Garner, other students opposed it, saying Black Lives Matter was hateful and divisive to our campus and to white students.

ASM indefinitely postpones divestment resolution after hours of heated debateAfter six hours of heated debate, the University of Wisconsin Associated Students of Madison voted 13-12-1 to postpone aresolutiondemanding the Read

While I agree with the sentiment that hostility will not be the solution to these polarized problems, I am quite fed up with the hollow cries of dialogue and discussion. When our well-being and life is not valued on a basic level, no amount of dialogue or coffee discussions will fix the problem at hand.

When a speaker could not even utter the name Palestine and essentially erased the narrative and experiences of my Palestinian brothers and sisters, what form of dialogue will move that situation forward?

Black and browncommunities constantly have to play safe when addressing issues pertaining to their own well-being and survival. My Palestinian brothers and sisters cant critique the very government that treats them like second-class citizens without being labeled as an anti-Semite. My blackbrothers and sisters cant chant black lives matter without being labeled as radical or divisive. My indigenous brothers and sisters are often left out of the narrative entirely and met with the same labels of divisiveness.

Time and time again, our oppression is left on the back burner for being too divisive, too controversial and too much of a burden to handle at the current political time. We are constantly told now is not the time, this is not the appropriate place, this is not the appropriate strategy.

Naman Siad ([emailprotected]) is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin law school. She also sits on ASM.

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Anti-BDS ideas are latest in long trend of oppression - The Badger Herald