By MATEUS FERREIRA/Head Writer
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is a movement founded in 1993 that aims to promote student involvement in pro-Palestinian activism. With over 350 chapters in North America, SJP’s website says its purpose is “to develop a connected, disciplined movement equipped with the tools necessary to contribute to the fight for Palestinian liberation.”
The group has been the center of controversy, especially in Texas, as multiple Senate bills restrict the activities of college activist groups. Executive order GA-44 singled out SJP and required Universities to discipline students for anti-Semitic rhetoric.
UT’s chapter held one of it’s first events this semester.
The group’s social media advertised “Palestine 101” as a “beginner-friendly session designed to provide clarity and historical context. No prior knowledge is needed!”
SJP officers took turns presenting slides and explaining the history, ideologies and geopolitics shaping the current conflict.
“This is hard work to do in the Bible Belt, where every day we are inundated with Zionist, evangelist propaganda, and to see students stand up with such bravery against systems of oppression is so amazing,” said Kristen Hardin-Sigler, president of Smith County Young Democrats.
Demands
Representatives, who asked to stay anonymous, outlined two key demands for the University.
First, the members called for UT Tyler to “end financial ties with manufacturers and companies implicit in occupation and genocide.”
The University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Company (UTIMCO) is one of the largest public endowments in the U.S. It has invested millions into weapons manufacturing, according to a report by Women for Weapons Trade Transparency.
Amnesty International found UT System’s endowment failed in “human rights due diligence.” The education endowment gives funds to companies supplying weapons to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and other countries such as China, Yemen, and Angola.
Second, they demanded UT “defend students and faculty’s free speech by rejecting executive orders that infringe upon our constitutional rights.”
The organization had conflicts with UT’s free speech Policies last year. The university barred SJP from hosting a screening of the Palestinian movie “Farha.” Administrators claimed the movie, which is about Palestinian displacement in 1948, went against their free speech policy. The activist group called this “an act of censorship” and screened the movie off campus.
“Our vision is a university system that champions and safeguards the rights of students and faculty, that divests from death, and channels its resources towards a just, sustainable and peaceful future,” said Jones, a SJP representative who chose not to use their real name.
A controversial week
A representative explained the week of the Oct. 7 attack was chosen to mark “two years of genocide.” The same week as the event, Palestinian advocacy groups across the U.S held protests for the same reason. The Anti-Defamation League, a controversial “anti-hate” organization, criticized the protests. They claimed the protest “glorified” Hamas’s attack on Israel.
They pointed to the prominence of slogans like: “Power grows from the barrel of a gun, long live Al-Aqsa flood.” “Al-Aqsa flood” is the name Hamas gave to the Oct. 7 attack. SJP said they would not comment on whether they support the slogan.
“I would say that after 100 years of colonial occupation and ethnic displacement, nothing can justify the genocide that came after it,” said Jones, a representative for SJP, when asked if he believed the attack was justified.
He added that linking everything back to the attack is a red herring when Israel’s recent actions are the more pressing matter. Representatives acknowledge atrocities occurred in the attack, yet they restated frequently that “nothing justifies a genocide.”
“I am not going to say Hamas is justified. I’m not going to say any actions taken place on October 7th are justified,” said Jones. “We do say that under international law, colonially occupied people do have the right to resist.”
Representatives said they don’t support “specific tactics” used “under the context of resistance,” but they support “resistance in principle.”
“Any attempt to deflect from Israel’s moral and legal culpability is propagandistic and potentially Genocide enabling,” Jones added later.
Approach to future protests
Although SJP plans to continue doing demonstrations, representatives explained they will keep an eye out for new state policies on protests.
For example, the controversial Senate Bill 2972 limits the times and places students can demonstrate.
According to Inside Higher Ed, the bill bans all “expressive activities” between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. The legislation defines expressive activities as anything allowed under the First Amendment and the Texas Bill of Rights. Experts warn this ban could include any expression, from clothing with political messaging to heated debates in the dining hall.
Before the bill, all outdoor areas on campuses were automatically considered spaces where anyone could engage in expressive activities. Now, individual universities will decide what these spaces are.
Additionally, demonstrations are no longer instantly open to the public. The bill allows institutions to decide if non-students are allowed to join campus protests.
The bill also bans protesting during the last two weeks of school, wearing masks or “disguises,” and lowering the U.S or Texas flag to raise foreign ones.
Tyler Coward, lead counsel of government affairs for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, called the ban “flatly unconstitutional.” He added that the 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. ban would require universities “prohibit any speech at all between those hours.”
Future plans: Expanding off-campus
A SJP representative explained the group will “build our body on campus” this year while at the same time becoming more “visible in the community.”
SJP played a key role in organizing the NO Kings Protest on Oct. 18. The student organization hosted the demonstration with the Smith County Democratic Party, Indivisible of Smith County, and Smith County Young Democrats.
SJP plans on making a coalition with student organizations. The group already has board members who are a part of Este Poder, a non-profit which encourages rural East Texans of color to feel empowered through civic engagement.
Move TEXAS is an organization “dedicated to building the political power of young people in underrepresented communities through civic engagement, leadership development, and issue advocacy.” SJP officials said they plan to collaborate with a Move TEXAS chapter, which opened on campus.
Additionally, SJP plans to pass a potential resolution “condemning the genocide in Gaza” to the Tyler City Council.
Recent Accomplishments
The group has kept busy this summer.
SJP partnered with the Smith County Democrats to pass a resolution “condemning the genocide in Gaza.” Another resolution is set to be submitted to the SGA calling for UT to divest from Israel.
The organization also attended “Voices for Justice: East Texans Women’s March and Expo, Northeast Texas National Organization for Women, an organization which fights “for women’s rights on the local and national level,” hosted the event.
“It’s going back to our strategy on being more visible in the community, right?” said Jones.
Not just like a student organization, but filling in a gap in the community for Palestine advocacy, but also bringing awareness to the sexual violence perpetuated against Palestinian women and the disparities of violence against Palestinian women and children.”
This September, SJP’s “Keffiyeh Café” bake sale donated 10% of proceeds to humanitarian aid in Palestine.
The group also called for a boycott of the engineering college career fair. They claimed the presence of Lockheed Martin and L3Harris, key weapons manufacturers, made the fair a “marketplace of death.”
“Our University, by hosting them, is complicit in what the UN Human Rights Office deems a genocide,” read a post on SJP’s Instagram.
Ceasefire
Although the current ceasefire is tentative, many hope it will lead to the end of the violence in Palestine. SJP has a more nuanced take and argues that Palestinian activism is needed even if the agreement doesn’t break.
“Basically, the ceasefire has no path towards resolving the root of the crisis, which is occupation of the West Bank, the blockade on the Gaza Strip, the occupation of East Jerusalem, the apartheid system in Israel and well has nothing about punishing Israel for committing the crime of genocide,” said Jones.
SJP representatives claimed the ceasefire upholds Western influence and creates an imbalanced power dynamic. Jones called it a “protection of business interest” for Trump and the Gulf Arab states.
”We are hesitant to fully see this as a victory and a celebration, but we are glad that it is happening,” said Smith, another SJP representative who chose not to use their real name. “More than ever now is not the time to stop supporting Palestine.”
The representatives explained that SJP is essential even if the ceasefire continues. UT’s divestment, and the representation of the Palestinian diaspora in Tyler, remains pressing issues for SJP.
They pointed out that ceasefires in the past have failed and that the current one has not completely stopped the violence.
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