Coalition demands RI leaders heed call for ceasefire

Almost as soon as Israel began its most recent genocidal assault in Gaza, the people of Providence and the state sprang into action to push for a ceasefire. None of the Democrats elected to represent Rhode Island in Congress have signed on to legislation for a permanent ceasefire despite that an overwhelming number of voters, including 80% of Democrats, support one.

On Oct. 21, hundreds gathered at the State House in pouring rain. On Oct. 25, Brown University's Palestine Solidarity Caucus and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), along with Rhode Island School of Design's SJP, organized a walkout of 500 students, followed by walkouts on Nov. 8 and Nov. 17. The Party for Socialism and Liberation has been holding nearly weekly pickets of Textron, a local weapons manufacturer benefiting from Israel's genocide. Activists with Jewish Voices for Peace − Rhode Island and Rhode Islanders for Palestine have gone to congressional offices to deliver letters and staged a die-in. Activists with FANG Collective along with health care professionals interrupted Sen. Jack Reed at a health summit.

Widespread support for Palestine is no different on university campuses. A campus-wide letter calling for Brown to support a ceasefire, divest from weapons businesses, and to protect students has over 2,000 signatures; and RISD students have done the same. Fifty student groups at Brown have signed on to a statement of solidarity with Palestine and many have organized their own teach-ins. An open letter organized by Brown University Alumni For Palestine has over 1,500 signatures. Twenty students who organized as Brown University Jews For Ceasefire Now and peacefully occupied a university building were arrested on Nov. 9.

We have not seen this many different groups organizing for a single goal in Rhode Island since the murder of George Floyd. You have to wonder why our government officials and institutional leaders are ignoring our protests, walkouts and actions.

Rhode Island institutions continue to benefit and grow richer as people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank suffer. In refusing to divest from Textron — a company that sold over $3.5 billion worth of weapons in 2020 — Brown University is not only ignoring the overwhelming call of its students, but also profiting from genocide with its endowment of $7.7 billion and simultaneously raising the cost of tuition year over year.

U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo, Rhode Island's newest congressman, received $3,250 in campaign contributions from Raytheon employees, including $1,000 from Paul Ferraro, president of Air Power for Raytheon. Rhode Island's taxpayer dollars alone sent $11,516,808 to Israel for weapons in 2020, according to the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, yet at the same time, politicians tell us that there is no money for housing or health care. Our leaders apparently assume that their constituencies will continue to support them while they enable genocide, but that is simply not the case.

As of Dec. 6, more than 600 people and nine organizations have signed on to a joint petition started by Jewish Rhode Islanders and allies to call for a permanent ceasefire. The cross-organizational support for the petition demonstrates unity and urgent public desire for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to military aid to Israel. Petitions also serve as a tool to hold our elected representatives accountable to use their power in keeping with the public will — in this case, to end the bloodshed.

We will use every lever of power we have — whether that is stopping donations to Brown University, shutting down infrastructure, or running oppositional candidates — until there is a permanent ceasefire and an end to military aid to Israel, until all Palestinians have the full right to safety, freedom of movement and self-determination.

The more that these local institutions and our federal elected officials ignore our rage, the harder we will fight.

Jackie Goldman is an organizer with Jewish Voices for Peace − RI and wrote this with members of Brown University’s Palestine Solidarity Caucus.