🚨 UW JOINS THE CALL!
The Student Intifada Lives On!
UW heeds the call of the people of Gaza and launches an encampment at Gaza (formerly known as Graduate) House.
VICTORY: COMMUNITY PRESSURE FORCES UW TO DROP THE $1.5 MILLION UNJUST LAWSUIT AGAINST STUDENTS🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Our community has shown us time and time again that united, we are able to win and we will continue to fight together, until total and complete liberation!
We stand in unwavering solidarity with students at the University of Toronto!
The right to protest is protected under both national and international law and it is shameful that it was side-stepped to prioritize property ownership rights.
The land we were served a trespass notice for is the subject of an active dispute and court case since 1995. For more information visit the litigation site by Six Nations of the Grand River, who have not served us a trespass notice at all!
Incredibly shameful that
@UWaterloo
is choosing to sue their own student body protesting their universities complicity in a genocide that’s 9 months in and has claimed the lives of over 40,000.
History will absolve us students but you
@UWaterlooPres
, how will you be remembered?
With an overwhelming majority (85%) CUPE 5524, the grad TA/RA/Sessional union at UW voted in favor of Gaza House, which aims to end 76+ years of Zionist settler-colonialism in Palestine, including 8 months of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and UW's complicity.
UW Valedictorian Emma Schuster Condemns the University's Complicity in Genocide
Students and graduates are centering the cause of Palestine and Gaza in every part of their lives. We will not sit idly by while our admin actively supports Zionist settler colonialism and genocide.
🚨 Program Schedule for the Week
Community hours are 2-8PM!
📍Gaza House Liberated Zone next to Muhammad al Durrah People's (DP) Library
Until liberation and return. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
UW Admin Stoops to Threats of State Violence Against Free Expression on Campus
On June 21, UW posted a Trespass Notice against Gaza House, set up to protest 76+ years of Zionist settler-colonialism in Palestine, including 8+ months of the genocide in Gaza.
Gaza House has been a liberated zone for ONE MONTH
We got DISCLOSURE fully met on June 10th but that is not enough. We will remain steadfast until DIVESTMENT and BOYCOTT are met too!
UWs Injunction Sets the Most Dangerous Precedent of All
It would limit everyone's right to free expression on campus. Actions that disturb, block or even disrupt any space on campus would be deemed illegal. The university’s attempt to silence dissent is unconscionable.
LAURIER JOINS THE UW ENCAMPMENT! LAURIER STUDENTS FOR GAZA HOUSE!
We support the students at the University of Waterloo and endorse OccupyUW campaign and all their demands!
We will not leave until UW discloses, boycotts and divests from genocide.
We are students who have risked everything we have to protest our universities complicity in this genocide and we refuse to allow those who fund death and destruction to break our resolve.
History will absolve us, but how will history remember you
@UWaterlooPres
@UWaterloo
?
The members of OccupyUWaterloo informed the University
that they will be voluntarily decamping by Sunday, July 7, 2024, 8 pm and will not return to form an encampment. The University has agreed to withdraw its claim and
injunction proceeding once the encampment is vacated.
VICTORY: COMMUNITY PRESSURE FORCES UW TO DROP THE $1.5 MILLION UNJUST LAWSUIT AGAINST STUDENTS🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Our community has shown us time and time again that united, we are able to win and we will continue to fight together, until total and complete liberation!
Our message to admin in response to the ‘formal notice to end the encampment’:
Your intimidation tactics don’t work. We are not interested in talking about anything but our demands.
The students remain more steadfast and resolved than ever- we will not lose sight of Gaza.
Calling WRPS on it's students only a few months after it had murdered a racialized community member is heinous.
1 senior admin also got physical with protestors calling them out on funding an extermination campaign in Gaza.
Admin is acting in a dangerous way to protect profits.
On June 18 UW called the Waterloo Regional Police Service on its students in response to a peaceful sit-in.
Students took over space in front of the Board of Governors room to protest UW complicity in genocide. Admin chose intimidation and suppression instead of hearing them out
Much love to our community! We are now super stocked up on food and do not need any more items.
If things change we will put another call out.
Until liberation and return!
The University of Waterloo sent a mass email to the campus community in response to our encampment and our declarations. Here is what we have to say.
We will not concede. We will not lose sight of Gaza. We will win.
No matter the attacks and shameless repression we face, we remain steadfast for our people and land.
Long live the Student Intifada! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
The University is aware of an unsanctioned gathering in front of the Grad House. Please consider avoiding this area as we communicate with those on site and take steps to ensure the safety of the campus.
#UWaterloo
Community Dinner & Gathering
Tomorrow (Sun, Jul 6) 4 PM
We'll celebrate UW being forced to drop its lawsuit/injunction due to PEOPLE POWER and discuss next steps with our community. The fight goes on!
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
UW and Laurier Students showed up in their hundreds for You
@Waterloo
Day.
Our demands are DISCLOSURE, DIVESTMENT AND BOYCOTT! Long Live the Student Intifada! ALL EYES ON RAFAH!
We will not concede. We will not lose sight of Gaza. We will win!
Until liberation and return! 🇵🇸🇵🇸
Our Statement on UWs Lawsuit & Injunction
We will not be silenced by these intimidation tactics. The University's attack on Free Expression is disgusting and unacceptable. We will stand strong for the people of Gaza!
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Statement from
@OccupyUW
on the $1.5 million lawsuit filed by the University of Waterloo against its own students for their pro-Palestine encampment
(1/3)
UW threatened students with state-backed violence if they do not obey. We will not give way to admin complicity, hypocrisy and outright lies.
We will not concede. We will not lose sight of Gaza. We will win!
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
🚨 Day 4 (May 16) Program:
11:30 AM Protest Through Collage w/ Bojana Videkanic
1:30 PM Dhuhr Prayer
2:30-3:30 PM Marshal Training
4:00-5:00 PM Reading Circle: Wretched of the Earth Chapter 1 - On Violence & Art Build: Solidarity Bracelet
5:20 PM Asr Prayer
We might have disbanded but our work lives on. Stopping this genocide and protecting Palestinian people from it was always our goal. Please donate if you can!
And the money raised can be given to students at our encampment bereaved by the genocide in Gaza, as reparations for UWs complicity in the murder of their families.
I visited the
@OccupyUW
encampment to drop off supplies and I left with the trespass notice issued by
@UWaterloo
.
Now when human rights museums create exhibits on the repression of people trying to end this genocide, this artifact can be loaned to them.
#FreePalestine
UPCOMING COMMUNITY AND STUDENT EVENT
Join us for a film screening of 'Where Olive Trees Weep' on Wednesday June 26th at the University of Waterloo, RCH (J.R. Coutts Engineering Lecture Hall) Room 301
2 more cameras go up at al Aqsa Lecture Hall (AL) overlooking the way to Gaza House Liberated Zone.
We will not concede. We will not lose sight of Gaza. We will win. 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
2 days after release of a report on Free Expression, as it touts the most comprehensive free speech environment in Canada, UW shows its true face by ordering students to leave Gaza House, invoking the Trespass Act on land it legally disputes with Six Nations of the Grand River.
We had some visitors today. A Colombian youth group who wanted to learn and show support for Palestinian liberation!
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Admin must hear the student body, faculty, staff, librarians and labour, and wash its hands of the blood of our martyrs, 40,000+ in just the last 8 months.
We will not concede. We will not lose sight of Gaza. We will win.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸
How can UW administration talk about neutrality when our president has been invested in apartheid for years?
For a decade Vivek Goel has been building up the relationship between whatever institution he is currently at and with apartheid Israel.🧵
WHY WE ARE HERE
We are over 7 months into the most widely publicised and documented genocide in real time. We are aware that UW is knee deep in the blood of the people of Gaza and has refused several times to stop being complicit, most recently at a Senate meeting on May 6th.
On June 18 UW called the Waterloo Regional Police Service on its students in response to a peaceful sit-in.
Students took over space in front of the Board of Governors room to protest UW complicity in genocide. Admin chose intimidation and suppression instead of hearing them out
PRESS CONFERENCE
UW withdraws lawsuit and injunction, the fight to end complicity continues and our next steps.
🕚 Saturday, July 7th at 11:00 AM
📍Gaza House Liberated Zone
Until liberation and return. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
wow
@UWaterloo
got more cameras on us than TMZ at a red carpet
1&2 Tulkarem (formerly Tatham) Centre
3 Muhammad al-Durrah People's (formerly Dana Porter) Library
The meeting with UW admin at 1:30 PM is now cancelled!
Cowardly UW admin is covering up their complicity in genocide and war crimes. They refuse to meet for negotiations in Gaza House Liberated Zone.
UW IS COMPLICIT IN THE GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS!
UW's relationship with Technion links it directly to the settler-colonial Zionist military. The professor who works with UW also works on making new weapons for the IOF.
ALERT: FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Calling all organizations and community leaders. Sign the form calling on The University of Waterloo to drop the $1.5 million lawsuit and maintain the students' right to freedom of expression.
Around 1:30 PM today, Special Constables were seen going INSIDE Gaza (Graduate) House, right next to our sleeping tents. Please note the building is in fact CLOSED for a public holiday.
We will not be deterred or scared by these cowardly provocations.
PRESS CONFERENCE: Thursday, May 23rd at 1:00 PM
Gaza House is having a press conference at 1:00 PM tomorrow, May 23rd inside the liberated zone.
Tune in on local news or via our Instagram Live for updates regarding the UW administration.
We will not be silenced.
Our indigenous siblings in Turtle Island stand with us in shared struggle against settler-colonialism and genocide!
Here is a statement of solidarity from Willow River Centre aka Land Back Camp who support all our demands. DISCLOSE. DIVEST. BOYCOTT.
Until liberation and return.
ALL OUT FOR GAZA!
Saturday, May 25th at 12:00 PM
Join us in solidarity with the students of UW and WLU to oppose our institutions' complicity in genocide! After 230 days of Israel's vicious massacres of Palestinians, the genocide is reaching a new peak with the bombing of Rafah.
Highlights of student support for Palestine at UW convocations.
Our student body has a strong conscience and refuses to remain complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It's time that our bloodthirsty admin take a few lessons from their students and end their complicity too.
Students have always been on the right side of history and will continue to be. Our actions are in response to an ongoing genocide and not done in isolation.
We will continue to stand up for Palestinian human rights and against our institutions' complicity in ongoing genocide.
Universities are a space for free expression and thought, any attempts to limit that are appalling.
An attack on one is an attack on all. The people united, will never be defeated!
Until liberation and return. From the river, to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Our Work Continues!
Join us today (Monday, July 8 at 7 PM) for a teach-in.
The Living Nakba: A Photographic Journey Through Palestinian Refugee Camps
📍RCH (near Gaza House) Room 106
Until liberation and return. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Scenes from Gaza House: Sufyan Taya Hall (formerly Physics Building)
Our Martyrs are our compass and we honour them. Dr. Sufyan Taya was a pillar in the community and a respected guest lecturer at UW.
It’s only right that the building he taught in gets renamed in his legacy.
Dr. Yipeng Ge, who was in Gaza and witnessed the horrors of the genocide, will share what he experienced, and lead a letter writing workshop.
Empowerment Letters to Gaza ✉️🇵🇸
🕖 7:00 PM
📍Gaza House Liberated Zone (formerly Grad House)
200 University Ave W Waterloo
🚨 Day 23 (June 4) Program
🕑 1:45 PM Dhuhr Prayer 📿
🕖 6:45 PM Asr Prayer 📿
🕖 7:00 PM Empowerment Letters to Gaza w/ Yipeng Ge ✉️
🕘 9:02 PM Maghreb Prayer 📿
Community hours are 2-8 PM!
📍Gaza House Liberated Zone next to Muhammad al Durrah People's (DP) Library
Listen and remember well, genocidal admin. We are not going anywhere until DISCLOSURE, DIVESTMENT AND BOYCOTT.
While you have your eyes on us, we have ALL EYES ON GAZA!
Until liberation and return. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
🚨 Day 5 (May 17) Program:
2:00 PM Roots of Resistance: Palestinian Plants and History Part 1 🌿📖
8:45 PM Roots of Resistance: Palestinian Plants and History Part 2 - Screening and Discussion 🌿📽
Location: Gaza House Liberated Zone next to DP Library
UW admin says it will take months, if not years to meet our demands. The reality is different!
Inhumane Charmaine (formerly Charmaine Dean) could meet our demands in SECONDS if she wanted to. She did exactly that when it came to UW's partnership with Huawei not so long ago!
For months the students have tried to reason with complicit in genocide UW, resulting in nothing but empty words from senior admin.
We invite all University of Waterloo alumni to sign this open letter in support of Gaza House's demands of full disclosure, divestment and boycott!
If UW will not end its complicity in Zionist settler-colonialism and genocide in Palestine, we will choke off its access to funds!
Running on a deficit, the University knows alumni and students are its main stakeholders and backbone.
We know our people and our community stand with the students at Gaza House. Our community has been with us since the beginning and continues to show unwavering support. We are and always will be united for Palestine. Until liberation and return! 🇵🇸
KW COMMUNITY!
Bring your friends and family to Gaza House on Saturday @ 2 pm for some traditional Palestinian maqlubas, dabke and more. We encourage community members to bring maqlubas that can be shared and enjoyed together!
Join us for a teach-in tomorrow, Saturday 6th July, at 6 PM to learn about the shared struggles of the people of Pakistan and Palestine. Long live internationalism and global solidarity! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
📍Gaza House Liberated Zone near Muhammad al Durrah People's (DP) Library
🚨 Day 4 (May 16) Program:
11:30 AM Protest Through Collage w/ Bojana Videkanic
1:30 PM Dhuhr Prayer
2:30-3:30 PM Marshal Training
4:00-5:00 PM Reading Circle: Wretched of the Earth Chapter 1 - On Violence & Art Build: Solidarity Bracelet
5:20 PM Asr Prayer
WE WILL HONOUR ALL OUR MARTYRS
On Monday 10 June we held a Vigil & Convocation for all those in Gaza's Class of 2024 who were brutally murdered during the Zionist entity's genocidal onslaught.
We will not concede. We will not lose sight of Gaza. We will win!🧵
We are not interested in hollow gestures or disingenuous proposals to waste our time while the people of Gaza suffer.
Phrases like “committed to considering” and a vague promise of updates in June are nothing but empty promises made to distract us.
Come join us in Gaza House Liberated Zone next to Muhammad al Durrah People's (DP) Library at 7:00 PM for "Honouring a Revolutionary: Screening of Malcolm and Betty X Speeches"
Until liberation and return. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
We are done being complicit in the horrors of Zionist terrorism, settler-colonialism and genocide. Our solidarity is with the resilient people of Gaza, not with corporatized universities wading knee deep in their blood.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
🚨 Day 9 (May 21) Program
5:00 PM Reading Circle: Wretched of the Earth 📖
6:00 PM Teach-In: Academic Boycott
Location: Gaza House Liberated Zone next to Muhammad al Durrah People's (DP) Library
Until liberation and return. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
The BPP provided nutritious meals to Black children and others from impoverished urban neighbourhoods in hopes of making positive material change in their lives. This was a glorious example of direct action.
We Honour Our Martyrs
We have named the breakfast corner at Gaza House Liberated Zone in honour of anti-imperialist, anti-racist revolutionary Fred Hampton - who was assassinated by the FBI - and the Free Breakfast for Poor Children Program run by his Black Panther Party.
🚨 Day 45 (June 26) Program
🕛 12 PM Staff/Faculty Solidarity Picnic 🍔
🕜 1:30 Admin Letter-Writing Campaign ✍️
🕕 6 PM Film Screening: Where Olive Trees Weep 🫒 (📍RCH Room 301)
Community hours 2-8PM
📍Gaza House Liberated Zone near Muhammad al Durrah People's (DP) Library
REMINDER!
SUPPORT THE STUDENTS COMMUNITY BBQ!
There will be free food, dabke lessons, games, programming for children, face painting, henna, kite making and more!
Entrance is free! Bring your family, friends and neighbors!
And bring your chairs! 🪑
RALLY PUSHED TO 2 PM!
Rain or shine we will continue to show up for Gaza! 🇵🇸
Bring your raincoats, signs and spirit and make your voice heard!
📍Meet up @ Gaza House
🕧 2:00 PM
Join us for a teach-in tomorrow, Saturday 6th July, at 6 PM to learn about the shared struggles of the people of Pakistan and Palestine. Long live internationalism and global solidarity! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
📍Gaza House Liberated Zone near Muhammad al Durrah People's (DP) Library
UW administration have been engaging in very open dialogue with us. "We're not going to engage in further dialogue". "That's enough of that conversation for us right now". Thanks for keeping us and the "groundhog holes" safe with 7 cameras and 24/7 police.
WE WILL HAVE OUR DEMANDS MET
In an unprecedented move, faculty and student senators are forcing a vote on ALL our demands at a Special Senate Meeting. Join us for a rally tomorrow Monday, June 10th at 2:30 PM outside Gaza House to build pressure and ensure our demands pass!
We are laser-focused on our demands. We are steadfast in our commitment to Gaza. While the university is watching us, we are watching Gaza and the invasion of Rafah at the hands of the genocidal regime.
DISCLOSE. DIVEST. BOYCOTT.
ALL EYES ON GAZA.
ALL EYES ON RAFAH.
We will not negotiate with the University if they do not explicitly and immediately address disclosure, divestment, and boycott.
We the students committed to justice are powerful. We will remain steadfast and we will not budge unless the University acts on our demands.
UW LOVES PARTNERING WITH WAR CRIMINALS
"Israeli" university Technion is considered the research arm of the IOF. R&D at Technion is used to develop weapons used against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Students at Technion are paid to join the IOF and partake in genocide.
Our meeting with admin will happen on our terms at GH. There's nothing to hide and we want full transparency. Admin will be on full display with the student body, faculty, staff, alumni and community watching, like they’ve been invasively surveilling us with 7 new cameras 24/7.
KW: Hundreds of people took to the streets Wednesday, in response to the horrifying Zionist massacre in Rafah this weekend. The rally ended up at Gaza House encampment at UW in support of students and to call on UW admin to end its complicity in genocide.
WE WILL HONOUR ALL OUR MARTYRS
Students, faculty, staff and community!
Join us on BMH Green at 7 PM after the Senate rally tomorrow Monday, June 10th, to convocate Gaza's Class of 2024, who couldn't graduate because of genocide at the hands of the barbaric Zionist entity!
We will not concede. We will not lose sight of Gaza. We will win!
Until liberation and return. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Students are UW’s biggest stakeholders, we demand transparency, we demand disclosure, we demand an end to the complicity, and we will not stop till our demands are met!
🚨 Day 11 (May 23) Program
1:00 PM Press Conference Against Admin Surveillance and Complicity 📹
4:30 PM Food History: Starvation and the Foods that Sustain Us 🌾
6:00 PM Open Mic: Stay Woke 🎤
Where: Gaza House Liberated Zone next to Muhammad al Durrah People's (DP) Library
🚨 Last Day (July 7) Program
56 Days of Gaza House Liberated Zone!
🕚 11 AM Press Conference 🎤
🕓 4 PM Community Dinner ✊🏼
Community hours 11 AM-6 PM
We will vacate at 6 PM SHARP!
Until liberation and return. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Task forces are an expensive delay tactic used by the administration.
Time and again they have been deployed by admin to crush student movements and take their steam out. They allow UW to continue its destructive behavior while having the appearance of taking action.
We demand transparency! UW shouldn’t cover up things from its students, whether they be meetings or investments! What is UW hiding?
Meanwhile, they are invading our privacy and surveilling us with seven cameras and police cars 24/7. Intimidation tactics! UW is silencing dissent!
KW COMMUNITY!
Bring your friends and family to Gaza House on Saturday @ 2 pm for some traditional Palestinian maqlubas, dabke and more. We encourage community members to bring maqlubas that can be shared and enjoyed together!
Our clear message to UW admin: End your complicity in Zionist settler-colonialism and genocide. We will not be intimidated by the WRPS, defamatory emails, or a dozen surveillance cameras.
🚨 Day 8 (May 20) Program
12 PM Stories from Landback Camp: Film + Discussion 📽
1:19 PM Dhuhr Prayer
2 PM Community BBQ: Support the Students 🔥
5:21 PM Asr Prayer
6:30 PM Popular Education: 1936 Peasant Revolt w/ PYM Toronto 🌾
Location: Gaza House next to DP Library