Dear Hamilton Students, Faculty, and Staff,
Over the past year, we have borne witness to a ceaseless, livestreamed genocide---a genocide only made possible by our taxpayer dollars and American institutions' unconditional support for the military industrial complex (including, most importantly for us, Hamilton College). Undoubtedly, this information is not news to you. A recent report by Brown University shows that the U.S. has provided for 70% ($17.9 billion+) of Israel's war costs. Our college educates us on the devastation that imperialism and colonialism wreaks on nations and people, but then sends us to work for the very war machines that continue to perpetuate and benefit from these systems today. Whether that be internships for the U.S. military as engineers, investment in arms manufacturers, or connections with big oil, we are intricately connected with the bombs falling on Palestinians every minute.
However, we have not remained passive in the past year. In the face of the continued and systematic obliteration of the Palestinian people, the Hamilton community has shown collective solidarity by donating over $1000 to relief funds in Gaza. The student body has passed bills demanding divestment from all institutions that manufacture war, prisons, and the accelerating collapse of our climate. We have demanded transparency from the college to whom we give our intellectual work, our money, and our academic credibility. We have talked extensively with the trustees of the college, only to be met with patronizing dismissal. And yet the bombs still fall. There is little use in placing band-aids of relief over the wreckage of bombs that we materially endorse.
What our actions have made clear, in spite of everything, is the power we collectively hold as a community. None of the above actions would have been possible without your continued support. The change in protest policy is evidence of this power: even though no encampments were held at Hamilton College, the institution evidently feared our movement enough to tack on a preemptive encampment ban.
To Students: We ask you to show up again with us by striking on November 21. We ask that you withhold your attendance from class to again demonstrate the power students collectively hold. Email professors, advisors, etc. informing them that you will be participating in the day's strike. We ask that you disrupt the daily goings-on of life---as there cannot and should not be business as usual while Hamilton's investments sponsor a genocide. If you cannot commit to this, we ask that you ask your professors to spend some time discussing Palestine in class. We ask you for this small sacrifice; for if you cannot stand here against genocide, cannot make even this small sacrifice, what will you stand against?
To Faculty: We ask you for an even greater show of support. We ask that you cancel class, office hours, meetings, and set up an automatic reply email explaining all of the above. If you do not feel comfortable committing to that, we ask that you dedicate some portion of class time talking about Palestine and ensure no academic penalties are dealt to students participating in the strike.
To Staff: We understand that staff are in the riskiest of positions. Even so, if you are able to and would be willing, we ask that you strike with us. You are always more than welcome at our alternative programming for the day.
We are not sure what else to say---what else can be said that hasn't been said already. There is almost no war crime Israel hasn't committed with America's unconditional support. What we are asking is for your solidarity---at this point, our solidarity is the strongest tool we have to use against systems of oppression, fascism, war, and genocide. Let all illusions of power fall away. The college will only run with our labor, our intellectual work, our consent, and our willingness to continue to be apparatus to the destruction of Palestine.
Strike with us on November 21 for a Free Palestine.
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