UPDATE: April 26, 5:56 p.m.
DI: Why are you here? What are you guys doing? What kind of message are you trying to send?
Dua Aldasouqi: So I’m here with the C-U Muslim Action Committee. We’re a new organization in town. We are a group dedicated to supporting Palestinian rights and self-determination as well as other issues relevant to the Muslim community, and right now this is all of that. We’re out here to support our students. We’re out here to support what they’re doing as they are representing and bringing attention to Gaza and to the genocide that’s occurring right now by literally putting their bodies on the line. So we’re just out here in support.
DI: And how are you guys feeling? I know this has been an intense day. The cops have been very intense.
Aldasouqi: I was here this morning too when the cops were here. They came in, they took down those tents. These kids are not leaving. I apologize, these young adults are not leaving. They are here to stay as we’ve heard them chant so many times, and they are, you know, they’re just here for a conversation. They’ve been trying to get a hold of administration here since October, and administration has been basically dodging at every opportunity. They are not sitting down for a real conversation about this, and so the students feel like they have no other choice at this point than to put their bodies on the line like they are doing.
In terms of how I’m feeling — this is new to me, new to our generation. This is not new to America. People protest on campuses. This is what we saw in the Vietnam War and before that. But for us, I think for a lot of us now, it’s our first time witnessing this. It is incredibly eye-opening to see what universities are willing to do to their students. The police right now have either pepper spray or tear gas in their hands. They are gearing up in riot gear, and you know, I understand that the University is saying the problem here is the tent, the structures, but the extent that they’re going to silence these students who feel they have no other choice is something that’s really difficult to witness.
DI: Do you know how much longer you guys are gonna stay out here? Are you going to stay here into the night? Do you know at all when you’re planning on ending or anything like that?
Aldasouqi: Me specifically or the whole group?
DI: Just if you know.
Aldasouqi: I think the students are gonna be here until divestment. That’s the demand they’re making. That’s what they’re telling everybody, and that’s how long we’re going to stand with them.
