Call to Action - Drop the Charges on the Wheeler 32, Divest from Israel - Wed Oct 16, 12n

Wednesday, October 16, 12 Noon
Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley

We Will Not Be Silent.
- Rally - March - Direct Action -

CALL TO ACTION

On Wednesday, October 16th at 12 noon, people will converge on UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza to say: We will not be silent. We will not be complicit in the UC's funding of the Apartheid State of Israel, and we will not be complicit in the UC's persecution of students and community members who exercise their rights of free speech and free assembly to criticize the policies of the Israeli government. Specifically, we demand: Drop the Charges on the Wheeler 32 and Divest from Israel.

We recognize the continued persecution of the 32 students now facing Student Conduct Hearings as one example of the recent attempts to silence those people of conscience across the continent - from Montreal to New York to Cambridge to Berkeley - who criticize the current State of Israel.

We also recognize the horrible precedent it would set for free speech and protest on campus if these students are punished.

On April 9, over 1200 people rallied on UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza for Divestment from Israel. After marching through campus, several hundred people entered Wheeler Hall in non-violent civil disobedience to make their demand. 79 people sat in and took arrest. By all reasonable accounts, it was one of the most peaceful protests on Berkeley's campus in its history, and all were found Factually Innocent by the Alameda County Court.

Still the University of California at Berkeley waged a campaign against the 41 student protestors, charging them with violations of the Student Code of Conduct.

Nine students opted out of going to hearings and took informal resolutions of a stayed suspension to avoid this harrowing process. Now 32 students have hearings, facing possible punishments of suspension. This response to non-violent protest on campus is unprecedented, and is obviously politically motivated. The University has also made the process as difficult and inconvenient as possible along the way, in some instances even violating its own student code of conduct.

We stand in solidarity with the Wheeler 32 and their rights to free speech and free assembly. While advocates of human rights in Palestine face persecution across the continent from authorities, we say, "We will not be silent."

We are seeking endorsements. If your group can endorse this call to action, please email us at wheelersolidarity@yahoogroups.com.