{"id":12552,"date":"2024-02-24T00:04:07","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T05:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=12552"},"modified":"2024-03-08T00:27:21","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T05:27:21","slug":"academicxs-con-palestina-is-rising-from-mexico-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2024\/02\/academicxs-con-palestina-is-rising-from-mexico-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Acad\u00e9micxs con Palestina<\/em> is rising from Mexico City"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>s you approach the Facultad de Filosof\u00eda y Letras<\/em> (School of Philosophy and Letters) on the campus of the Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico<\/em> (UNAM), its political fervor grips you in its fist even before you reach the doors. Radical books cover a dozen tables on the sidewalk. Graffiti and murals protesting femicide, state violence, and transphobia blanket the building. International solidarity flares out from the walls, too, like the large portrait of Philadelphia political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal<\/a>, with the caption: \u201c38 A\u00d1OS encarcelado por hablar en favor de la libertad y contra la injusticia social. \u00a1MUMIA LIBRE!<\/em>\u201d (\u201c38 YEARS imprisoned for speaking out in favor of freedom and against social injustice. FREE MUMIA!\u201d)<\/p>\n

Entering the building, the radical spirit carries on, as you see the Videoludoteca V\u00edctor Jara<\/em>, a video library named after the Chilean folk singer arrested, tortured, and murdered during the first days of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1973. Fliers for demonstrations cover the walls.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Mural from the Facultad de Filosof\u00eda y Letras de la UNAM<\/em>. Photo<\/a> by Eh\u00e9catl Cabrera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

La Facultad de Filosof\u00eda y Letras<\/em> is a collective space where truth, justice, and activism are pursued unapologetically. For a hundred years organizers here have built movements related to struggle, memory, human rights, and democracy. Its murals and graffiti are themselves demands to not lose sight of past gains that people fought for and that should not be forgotten.<\/p>\n

On the evening of January 23, 2024, la Facultad de Filosof\u00eda y Letras<\/em> saw the emergence of a new collective, one which follows in this tradition and now rises in response to one of the worst atrocities in the lifetimes of many of the building\u2019s community: Acad\u00e9micxs con Palestina contra el Genocidio<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The fliers and social media produced ahead of the event advertised a specific room in la Facultad de Filosof\u00eda y Letras<\/em> in which the gathering would be held. But fifteen minutes before it was set to begin, every seat was filled, every corner crowded, and the throng was already spilling out into the hall. The organizers had to move everyone to a larger room, and still a couple dozen in the crowd of at least 150 people had to stand along the walls. Many more joined on Zoom.<\/p>\n

Acad\u00e9micxs con Palestina<\/em> was originally conceived in the days following the events of October 7 as an initiative between some members of a group called Jud\u00edos con Palestina<\/em> (Jews with Palestine) and people from the university communities in Mexico. Its founding members refused to be silent not only about the genocide of the Palestinian people, but also the destruction of Gazan cultural heritage and the physical disappearance of a large number of musicians, poets, painters, and other artists, as well as many Palestinian academics who those in the collective consider their colleagues.<\/p>\n

The large event on January 23 was in part a public announcement of two open letters. One letter<\/a> is addressed to the presidents in Latin America who are considered progressive, demanding that they assume a more vehement condemnation of the genocide perpetrated against Gazans, while the other<\/a> is addressed to various university authorities, requesting they also speak out.<\/p>\n