Leaders of MSU Occupation Movement make ‘victory statement’
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The leaders of the April 2024 MSU Occupation Movement have issued a “Victory Statement” this Sunday.
They say their occupation has “amplified our demands for divestment from” Israel, and has made the Board’s “complicity in genocide an issue they can no longer ignore.”
The student activist group, which had set up an encampment in the People’s Park on the Michigan State University campus, is standing in solidarity with the people of Israeli-occupied Palestine while demanding that the university divest from Israel.
The April 2024 MSU Occupation Movement describes itself as “a nonviolent coalition of campus and community organizations in solidarity with the people of Palestine.”
Student groups to MSU: Divest from Israel
The group’s leaders said in the ‘victory statement’ that the members of the movement are in Ann Arbor this Sunday, standing with the student occupation there–but that they will be back on campus soon.
The leaders of the movement released the following statement on Sunday:
“We, the member organizations of the MSU Hurriya Coalition, are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from campus and community individuals, organizations, and businesses. We were heartened by the hundreds of messages from people who were with us in spirit but unable to join the encampment.
“Hurriya members have collectively decided to close the encampment down late last night, Saturday, April 27. This is only a short pause, however, not an end of our Movement.
“Tomorrow afternoon a delegation of students and community members from the April 2024 MSU Occupation Movement will travel to Ann Arbor at 1 PM to stand in solidarity with the encampment at the University of Michigan. And in the coming weeks the Hurriya Coalition and allies will be deciding its next actions in support of its demands.
Why we left campus
“We planned this action to send a message as a short-term, strategic strike and set of key goals, which we have accomplished.
“Our occupation of MSU has amplified our demands for divestment from the right-wing ethnostate of Israel and the US/Israel war machine. We have demonstrated that students, faculty, staff, and community are willing to stand in solidarity with Palestine and push this university to change. We have made the Board’s complicity in genocide an issue they can no longer ignore.
“Our message of solidarity with the people of Palestine suffering under the brutal Israeli-led and US-supported ethnic cleansing and genocidal war crimes has been heard internationally, and we were strengthened by messages of support from the Palestinians, who have braved annihilation for telling the truth about the assaults and their consequences.
“We reminded the University community of the many Palestinian students of all ages who were not able to graduate this year, who in fact — from infants to youth — continue to die daily from the genocide being committed by Israel.
“We are not proud of MSU. For years it has failed students, faculty, and the Michigan community. Now it is failing the entire world by investing in the death and destruction at the bloody hands of the US/Israel war machine. They may have “allowed” our occupation to continue, but at every point have failed to come to the table to negotiate with us on our demands.
“Finally, we demonstrated to students and the community by this targeted action that we are here, we will not be moved, and we promise them and the University that we will be back, in force, as we continue to build our movement.
“Our solidarity is a brick in the growing wall of resistance against oppression here and abroad. We will return and we ask you to continue supporting the call for divestment and solidarity with the Palestinian people. We will be taking the fight forward in the coming weeks and months — please watch for updates on social media.”
Jesse Estrada-White and Saba Saed, MSU Hurriya Coalition, undergraduate student leaders
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