To the cry of “Be free, Palestine” Barcelona deployed tents yesterday, while Netanyahu asked the Palestinians of Rafah to collect theirs.
The student committee of the University of Barcelona (UB), together with the groups Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the University Network with Palestine, have organized a camp that “intends to be a speaker to stop the complicity that universities and governments they stand with the State of Israel in the midst of a genocide like what is happening in Palestine”, as stated by Marc, a member of the University with Palestine.
The occupations on campuses in the USA, Mexico or Paris serve as inspiration for some students who yesterday started a series of events that will last, at least, until the celebration of the extraordinary cloister on Wednesday, May 8.
Through social networks, some students loaded with sleeping bags and bottles of water found themselves in front of the rectory building in Plaça Universitat accompanied by people from many different groups, such as Laurent Cohen, president of Catalan Association of Jews and Palestinians (JUNTS), which declared to La Vanguardia the importance of raising its voice at a time when Israel is on the verge of entering Rafah.
“Israel is about to enter Rafah and it will be a slaughter. Without the support of the US and the West in general there is little to do, but we must take advantage of the fact that we can raise our voices while countries like France, Germany or the United Kingdom repress any alternative narrative,” declared Cohen, visibly upset .
The university mobilization is spreading across Spain. In addition to the camping in Filosofia, at the University of Valencia, students from universities and institutes in the Basque Country, Navarre, Madrid, Seville, Zaragoza, Granada or Galicia are coordinating for the coming days. In Madrid, the Interuniversity Bloc for Palestine, which brings together three centers, will hold an assembly today.
More than 50 Spanish and non-Spanish organizations that fight against anti-Semitism have signed an open letter addressed to the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities regarding the “permissiveness” of Spanish centers with “hostility to Israel” due to the conflict in Gaza
