Culture is always the target of colonial powers and occupiers. In Gaza, even before October 2023, the Israeli Occupation Forces targeted cultural institutions, museums and public spaces in part of a wider attemtp to erase Palestinian culture and memory.
The genocide has seen this go a step further with the destruction of education infrastructure and targeting of educators. Universities and schools are the seedbeds of liberation, enable propagation of ideas and the harvesting of desire of national freedom.
This was published by Visualize Palestine in August 2024 and we all will recall the terrible destruction to Universities in the opening months of the genocide. Terribly, it is a not a surprise to hear this is not the end of the statistical story. Sundos Hammad, coordinator of the Right to Education Campaign at Birzeit University in Occupied Palestine, who will be appearing by zoom in the Palestine voices tent, gave an update in October 2024. More recently, the Journal of Holy Land Studies have published a catalog of the destruction
But we must remember that Palestinians resist. Education infratsurcture is destroyed but education continues. Dalya, a student supported by Sheffield Palestine Women’s Scholarship Fund, will be coming to join us in the Palestine Voices Tent at small park BIG RUN and describe her determination to ensure she completed her education in the West Bank, under enormous pressure from Israeli occupation
And in Gaza, tent education for children continues under the bombs and amidst the destruction – yet another testament to sumud. University students find an internet spot and download their lectures.
Incredibly, where voices should be raised by officialdom against this destruction, in the U.K and elsewhere in Europe and the US of A, debate about Palestine is silenced under the excuse (and misuse) of anti-semitism and he discomfort of some Jewish students. Please look out for our educators workshop in the Palestine Voices Tent on Saturday afternoon, June 21st, where teachers and students from Sheffield will discuss how to overcome the silence, accusations of anti-semitism and encourage debate.