Students at Smith College are hosting an ‘Amulets For Divestment’ event in support of ongoing pro-Palestine protests which have occupied the main administrative offices for around a week.
Smith Students for Justice in Palestine (SSJP) are inviting students to an event outside of the College Hall at the private Massachusetts all-girls college on April 2, according to a flier posted on their Instagram page. The unusual gesture of solidarity is in support of some 50 students currently occupying the college’s main administrative building in protest at the college’s refusal to divest from investments that pro-Palestinian protesters claim provide military machinery to Israel, according to Inside Higher Ed.
“Come gather in community in support of the students occupying the college,” the flier said. “Dori Midnight will guide us in learning about Jewish traditions of community care and plant magic as liberatory practices.”
Midnight’s website describes her work as, “rooted in and guided by Jewish ancestral traditions, feminist, decolonial and abolitionist scholarship, queer liberation, and disability and healing justice work.” She has also produced artwork in support of the Palestinian cause, according to Jewish Voice for Peace. (RELATED: House Committee Expands Antisemitism Investigation Into Elite Schools To Include Another Top University)
Thanks to Dori Midnight, JVP member, for this beautiful art. We’ll see you all in NY, the Bay Area, Western Mass, Boston, Chicago and more cities this week. Find an action, posters, and more at https://t.co/THDa6Kq5N2 #SpeakUpForGaza #nakba70 pic.twitter.com/XFoZaAAdSq
— Jewish Voice for Peace (@jvplive) May 15, 2018
The occupation began on March 27 in response to findings by the college’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility, who described any investments in such companies by the college as “negligible and indirect,” a decision one SSJP supporter described as “abhorrent,” Inside Higher Ed reported.
The ongoing pro-Palestine protest is one of dozens that have taken place on campuses across America against Israel’s military operations in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 massacre. Students conducted a sit-in on March 28 at Vanderbilt University which culminated in several arrests and multiple student suspensions.