Occupy German Universities! The Students Resist From Berlin to Gaza, we echo the global call; we are occupying the ‘Free University’ of Berlin.

“To the Press and the Public,
In solidarity with the Palestinian people, we, the students of Berlin, have set up our camp on the grounds of the ‘Free University’ of Berlin.
Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, the increasing enforcement of violence in the West Bank and the over 75-year occupation of Palestine, which contextualise these events, cast a shadow over our collective conscience. The indiscriminate violence and loss of life, rooted in decades of settler-colonial history, demand our immediate attention and action.
As students committed to transnational solidarity and a world free from colonialism and its different interlocking systems of oppression, it is our duty to stand with the Palestinian people in the face of their systematic erasure at the hands of Israel and its allies. We see the role that the German state and its institutions, academia and media, play in supporting the ongoing violent extermination of Palestinians and the expulsion from their land, and we refuse to be complicit any longer. The Liberated Zone stands in stark contrast to the dehumanising, racist and colonial research propagated by academic institutions in Berlin. Through workshops, teach-outs, and community building initiatives, we are harnessing the liberating power of knowledge production.
In conjunction with our display of solidarity, from our steadfast commitment to education as a tool for justice and liberation, we demand that the administration of universities of the Berlin University Alliance (HU, FU, Charité, TU), as well as all other universities in Berlin and Germany-wide, must immediately and unconditionally take action to:
1.
STOP THE GENOCIDE in Palestine by all possible means
–
Call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to halt the ongoing mass murder in Gaza, and an end to the siege, as well as the indiscriminate colonial violence in occupied Palestine, as a first step towards recognising the Palestinians right to self-determination, to their land, and the right to return.
–
Pressure the German government to impose an arms embargo on Israel, and end all German military, financial and diplomatic aid to it.
–
Recognise sanctions against Israel as a peaceful means of resistance to settler-colonialism. This includes the BDS movement.
2.
FULLY BOYCOTT ISRAEL ACADEMICALLY AND CULTURALLY
–
End all academic and institutional collaborations with Israeli Universities and other institutions that are deeply complicit in settler-colonialism.
–
Implement a civil clause that prohibits using university research for military purposes or in collaboration with any military institutions.
–
Defund any research projects for military purposes, and cut ties with the European Defence Fund.
3.
PROTECT ACADEMIC FREEDOM and STOP REPRESSION AGAINST STUDENTS, especially in the context of advocating for Justice for Palestine:
–
Stop the weaponisation of antisemitism. For this, we reject the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which conflates legitimate criticism of Israel’s colonial Zionist project with antisemitism. An alternative definition that deliberately addresses this issue should be adopted such as the Jerusalem definition.
–
Drop all criminal charges against students and non-students who have been politically active in solidarity with Palestine on campuses.
–
Start a scholarship scheme explicitly for Palestinian students and academics, as has been done for other persecuted groups.
–
Publicly oppose the administrative reform currently under discussion in the Berlin Senate that enables the expulsion of students based on political grounds.
–
Ban police from campus and stop all other forms of surveillance and policing that are designed to intimidate students who are politically active.
–
Restitute all academics and staff members who were expelled or defunded because of their political stance on Palestine by German universities and research institutes.
4.
RECOGNISE GERMANY’S COLONIAL LEGACY as the root of its present collaboration with the ongoing genocide
–
Initiate research projects and implement funding schemes for research on German imperial and colonial history, especially its ongoing impacts, including German support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
–
Implement a mandatory inclusion of German colonial history in school curricula.
–
Produce counter-narratives to historical revisionism that supports Israeli settler-colonialism, through systemic efforts to downplay the Nakba in 1948 and its continuation until today.
–
Recognise Palestinian Statehood, and ensure that all Palestinian students are recognised as ‘Palestinians’ in universities’ official registries.
We, therefore, call universities and research institutes, our fellow students, faculty, and academic partners in Germany and beyond to unite in this urgent call to action. We understand that universities aligned with the politics of this racist state will attempt to downplay the urgency of our demands, or deem them unrealistic, but we will not waver, and we will not accept negotiations for half-solutions and performative actions.
We especially plead with the large and growing number of critical, but so far silent, lecturers and professors: fulfil your obligation to protect your integrity as critical researchers. Break your silence and stand up for your students, as they are doing in other places. Join us. Together, let us stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and work towards a future free from colonial oppression.

Student Coalition Berlin Berlin, 07.05.2024″