President of the Princeton Committee on Palestine (PCP), Eric Periman, talks about the high points of PCP’s successful campaign to pass a USG referendum calling on Princeton to stop using Caterpillar machinery. Eric, also the statute’s sponsor, wrote this initiative because of “the violent role that Caterpillar machinery has played in the mass demolition of Palestinian homes, the murder of Palestinians and other innocent people, and the promotion of the prison-industrial complex.” Not only has the student body showed the University that we care about the moral implications of its investments, but we have also brought the Palestinians’ struggle to the forefront of campus conversation.
Can you talk about the event with Rachel Corrie’s family and Prof. David Letwin last Wednesday?
Part of the reason we submitted the Caterpillar referendum was because one of the high profile murders that was done using Caterpillar machinery was of a 23 year old American girl named Rachel Corrie. She was from Olympia, Washington, and she traveled during her senior year of college to Palestine in the Gaza Strip to protest the demolition of Palestinian homes.
While she was staying with the Nasrallah family, a Caterpillar bulldozer came and was about to demolish the Nasrallah family home. She stood in front of it and refused to move, but the bulldozer continued onwards and ran over her. Unfortunately, she didn’t survive, so her parents, Craig and Cindy, started the Rachel Corrie Foundation, which memorializes Rachel’s legacy, her spirit, and her ability to stand steadfast in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Craig and Cindy were able to join us virtually from their home in Washington, and it was incredibly, incredibly powerful to hear their story.
We had well over one hundred students in attendance, and we live-streamed the entire event on our Instagram. Rachel Corrie’s parents discussed not only the horrific, tragic story of losing Rachel but also the work that they’ve done since. With three other Palestinian families who also were injured or killed by Caterpillar machinery, her parents sued Caterpillar. They sought restitution for their loss, to which Caterpillar never responded and never issued an apology. Caterpillar actually moved to dismiss their lawsuit and would never claim any culpability.
Then, we heard from Professor David Letwin, who is a Rutgers professor, as well as the cofounder of Jews for Palestinian Right of Return. He discussed how we can, as students, advocate for Palestine while not being deterred by bad faith accusations of bigotry or antisemitism. He also discussed how we can stand steadfast in solidarity with Palestinians and be undeterred moving into this campaign for the referendum.
Can you talk about the event you co-hosted with AJP, Pride Alliance, and SPEAR that happened last weekend with Ali Awad and Maya Rosen?
Last Sunday morning, we had another event co-hosted by some of the progressive organizations on campus, including the Alliance of Jewish Progressives (AJP), the Pride Alliance, and SPEAR. The two guests at the event were incredible.
We had a Palestinian activist named Ali Awad, who currently lives in the West Bank in Palestine, and he does incredible activism work on the ground. We also had Princeton Alum and AJP co-founder Maya Rosen, who was also incredibly, incredibly powerful in her speech. She was part of the campaign in 2015 to pressure the University to divest from Israel and to divest from companies that were profiting from the occupation.
They discussed a campaign that they’re running called Save Masafer Yatta. Masafer Yatta is a Palestinian community that’s at risk for eviction and demolition. It’s located south of Jerusalem in the South Hebron Hills. Both of them are currently in Palestine, and they’re raising awareness about that situation.
Through PCP, you’ve been able to unite a lot of progressive groups on campus in a way that we haven’t really seen since the pandemic, what’s that been like? What do you think attracts everyone to PCP?
It’s been electric! Honestly, it has been so invigorating and exciting to see so many like-minded progressive students on this campus, creating alliances, working with each other, supporting each other to uplift the causes that we all believe in, and to create a really strong activist community on Princeton’s campus. Princeton historically has not been known to be the most conducive environment for activists. Historically, it’s been very toxic and very frankly, activist students have been targeted. To create this community and uplift each other in such a positive way has been invigorating, and to have it be around the issue of Palestinian human rights makes it just all the more exciting for me.
Can you talk about your approach to how PCP has dealt with negative reactions to the referendum on campus? How should students who care about Palestine engage or not engage with students of the opposing opinion?
We made a decision early on that we were not going to let ourselves be goaded into these sort of very petty attacks. We know that we’re on the right side of history. We know that we’re fighting for justice, and we’re fighting for basic human rights for Palestinians. Therefore, we don’t really feel a need to engage with those who fundamentally disagree and reject our solidarity and our support of Palestinian human rights. That’s been the approach that we followed with this campaign. We haven’t allowed ourselves to be goaded into those petty fights, and instead, have stayed steadfast and held true to our solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In regard to other students who are interested in learning more about the issue, I think conversations can be a very productive means to do that because conversations do lead to learning, even if there are disagreements. I believe that conversations are a strong tool to learn more, to expose yourself to other people’s point of view, and to grow and learn on the path towards standing in solidarity with Palestinians. But as an organization, PCP has been targeted too often by conservative voices on this campus, so we have learned to keep our eye on our goals and reject and not even acknowledge all of the bad faith accusations that are lodged our way.
What’s something that you learned from organizing the referendum?
My core message would be that you have a lot more power than you think you do, especially when you work together. The most beautiful part of this campaign is how despite the fact that we are facing such a strong headwind with a smear campaign from national pro-Israel organizations like the Israel War Room, for example, we are creating such momentum and excitement on campus that they’re scared. Honestly, that’s why they’re doing everything they can to tear us down because we’re speaking the truth. I never dreamed that we would have as much positive momentum for this referendum as we do. It’s just invigorating to me and showed me just how powerful even students can be when they’re working together and organizing for something they believe in.
What are the next steps after this campaign? What is in store for PCP?
We have a lot in store. I think we entered this campaign clearly knowing that this was the start and not the end. There’s a long, long way to go before we can bring justice for Palestinians in the Princeton community. There are a lot more forms of oppression that Princeton as a university is complicit in. We will continue to push forward and bring awareness to those issues as well as just be in solidarity with the Palestinian people on this campus.
At the end of the day, just knowing what’s going on and being able to share that openly and speak honestly about it is the most powerful thing. Once you do that, once you see the truth of what’s happening and how awful things are in terms of the violations of Palestinians’ human rights, you can’t really go back. Stay tuned for what’s next!
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