500 underskrifter nådda
Till: Anders Söderholm (rektorn)
VI KRÄVER ATT KTH SKA FÖLJA SINA VÄRDEGRUNDER OCH TA STÄLLNING
WE DEMAND THAT KTH SHALL:
1. Break all collaborations with Israeli universities and companies that have ties to the Israeli military industry. Such cooperation contributes directly to the illegal occupation of Palestine and the oppression of the Palestinian civilian population.
2. Condemn Israel's massacre of Palestinians and express solidarity with the Palestinian people, as you did with the Ukrainian people, and call on political representatives to act for a ceasefire, humanitarian aid and protection of civilians.
Varför är det viktigt?
Israel's siege and assault on Gaza are escalating. Over 11,000 people, including more than 4,500 children, have been killed. Water, electricity, and access to food and fuel have been cut off for Gaza's residents. Schools, hospitals, refugee camps, residential buildings, churches, mosques, and bakeries all over Gaza are being bombed. Over 100 UN workers have been killed, and journalists are also being targeted by Israel. Additionally, more than 1.6 million people are displaced internally in Gaza. We are witnessing war crimes being committed before our eyes.
The UN chief says Gaza is becoming a 'graveyard for children', and the UN warns of mass ethnic cleansing of Plestinians. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch state that Israel practises apartheid. And according to Human Rights Watch, we are witnessing a rising wave of settler violence sanctioned by the Israeli state.
As global citizens we have a responsibility to other global citizens. As academics, we have a duty to honour the Academy's tradition of defending the equal value and rights of all people. And as part of Sweden’s largest technical institution of higher learning, we have the ability and responsibility to actively center human rights, freedom and equality in our work. It is time we do that.
"KTH has a set of values based on democracy, human equality, human rights and freedoms, and free and open discussion". At the same time, employees receive emails stating that they are not allowed to participate in walkouts because they should not participate in political actions at KTH.
The rights of Palestinians to live a dignified life, free from occupation and Israeli terror, is not a question of political positions. It is a question of human rights, equality and humanity. These values are covered in your own core values. How can you have a set of values that talks about the equal value of human beings, and a curriculum in which the UN's Global Goals for Sustainable Development are central, if you as an institution are then going to abandon them in practice? There is nothing sustainable about apartheid!
KTH has previously shown that they as an institution have acted in accordance with their values in the event of clear and serious violations of human rights, e.g. regarding both Russia and Iran.
Nevertheless, KTH has chosen, during these 75 years of occupation, to start and participate in various collaborations with Israeli universities and companies that are associated with the Israeli military. Most recently, in March 2023, they chose to start a new collaboration with Hebrew University, a university that has a military base on campus under its Havatzalot program.
It is time for us, as academics at KTH, to demand that the institution acts according to its own values!
FUTHER ACTIONS for all academics at KTH to take:
- Participate in the walkouts, every Tuesday at 11.30, in the park called "Triangelparken"!
- Walk with us in the demonstrations (ig: kthforpalestine)
- Join our meetings to help develope and actualize ideas.
- Spread the information about these actions!