麻省理工学院的亲巴勒斯坦抗议活动再次呼吁加沙和平，撤资以色列
【中美创新时报2024 年 9 月 14 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）让人想起去年春天亲巴勒斯坦校园抗议的季节，大约 100 名学生示威者周五（13日）晚上走上麻省理工学院的台阶，高呼口号并挥舞标语，要求学校“与以色列断绝关系”，并呼吁加沙停火。《波士顿环球报》记者Rachel Umansky-Castro、Kiera McDonald 和 Tonya Alanez对此作了下述报道。
“麻省理工学院，麻省理工学院，我们知道你站在哪一边，”数十人的人群齐声重复道。一些人裹着传统的格子头巾，其他人则高举着手中的黑、白、绿、红四色巴勒斯坦国旗。
其中一个标语特别表达了他们的主要目标：“麻省理工学院，切断与以色列的联系。你们的无人机研究助长了种族灭绝。”
大约 20 名校园警察包围了马萨诸塞大道 77 号的台阶，学生们轮流站在讲台上，敦促麻省理工学院撤资向以色列提供武器和其他支持的企业。之后，他们沿着马萨诸塞大道游行到校长 Sally Kornbluth 的办公室。
28 岁的政治学博士生理查德·所罗门 (Richard Solomon) 表示，他抗议的愿望和热情是在“个人层面”上培养起来的。
所罗门说，他的寄宿兄弟在以色列的袭击中丧生。
“我爱圣地，我住在耶路撒冷，”所罗门告诉聚集在台阶上的人们。“看到人们失去投票、从一个城市搬到另一个城市和结婚的基本人权，我的心很痛。”
所罗门对大学决定切断与麻省理工学院-洛克希德马丁种子基金的联系表示祝贺，该基金部分由国防承包商资助，旨在促进麻省理工学院与以色列大学之间的研究。
“这是自加沙战争开始以来，美国大学首次终止美国-以色列武器制造商合作关系，”所罗门说。
周五深夜，麻省理工学院的一位发言人对所罗门关于大学切断与该基金关系的说法提出异议。
“洛克希德马丁公司支持并作为麻省理工学院全球种子基金项目的一部分建立的几个种子基金要么已经结束，要么即将结束，”金伯利·艾伦在给《环球报》的电子邮件中说。“这些种子基金项目支持了德国、以色列、荷兰、波兰和瑞士等不同国家的教师合作和学生的国际经验。”
“这些项目从 2019 年开始，已经运行了一年和两年的周期。以色列、荷兰和瑞士的项目已经完成了资助周期，资助工作正在逐渐结束。德国和波兰的项目正处于最后一年，”艾伦说。“洛克希德公司决定不再为所有这些国家的项目提供种子基金。”
周五的集会被称为“麻省理工学院，别插手西岸！”，由反种族隔离联盟组织。这是新学年开始以来麻省理工学院的第一次抗议活动。此前，哈佛大学上周举行了亲巴勒斯坦示威活动。
组织者在一份新闻稿中提到，麻省理工学院过去曾采取行动，与与其他冲突和政治暴行有关的协会和公司保持距离，包括俄罗斯创立的 Skoltech 和沙特石油公司 ARAMACO，这些公司在入侵乌克兰和暗杀记者贾马尔·卡舒吉之后也参与其中。
声明称，麻省理工学院此前决定与其他外国公司分道扬镳，以解决道德问题，这影响了多个失去资助的研究小组。
这场持续近两小时的抗议是麻省理工学院学生开学以来的首次抗议。
周五，剑桥警察站在通往麻省理工学院入口的台阶上，而学生和教职员工则聚集在校园外。
周五，剑桥警察站在通往麻省理工学院入口的台阶上，而学生和教职员工则聚集在校园外。Erin Clark/Globe Staff
春天，全国各地的大学生通过在校园扎营来抗议以色列-哈马斯战争。在当地，学生们在爱默生学院、东北大学和哈佛大学以及麻省理工学院的克雷斯基草坪扎营。
麻省理工学院的扎营持续了 20 天，后来被学校官员驱散，称其扰乱秩序并违反了学校的规定。至少有二十几名学生被停学，无法毕业。其他人失去了奖学金，有些人的研究项目被暂停。
一些新毕业生也支持这项事业。
“我来这里是为了支持我的朋友们，他们继续挑战麻省理工学院与以色列军方合作进行研究的同谋行为，因为他们正在犯下种族灭绝罪，”在麻省理工学院学习化学并于去年获得博士学位的戴维·伯金斯基说。
“他们直接与以色列军方进行研究，”住在牙买加平原的伯金斯基说。“他们没有与其他外国军队进行研究。我认为这是真正需要强调的一点。”
22 岁的萨米·穆斯塔法 (Sammy Mustafa) 在一个伊拉克移民家庭长大，现在是哈佛大学生物医学信息学研究生。他的大部分课程都在麻省理工学院上，因此穆斯塔法说，他对麻省理工学院是否“采取行动关爱巴勒斯坦人民”投入了大量精力。
“我是一名学生，但归根结底，我也是人，我不能忍受一个支持家庭被杀害的机构，”穆斯塔法说。
39 岁的莉莲·迪亚兹 (Lillian Diaz) 住在多切斯特，她说她支持亲巴勒斯坦的事业，自 10 月以来一直参加抗议活动。
“我今天来这里是因为这很重要，”迪亚兹说。“我们都在 4k 上观看，尽管我们想否认这一点……他们更害怕帐篷里的人，而不是拥有实际武器的当权者。”
大约两个小时后，抗议者来到了总统办公室。
在科恩布鲁斯的办公室外，抗议者敲着水桶，挥舞着旗帜，高呼“麻省理工学院下台”，直到天色渐暗。
题图：麻省理工学院的学生和教职员工周五聚集在一起，抗议该大学参与以色列事务并表示对巴勒斯坦人的支持。Erin Clark/Globe Staff
附原英文报道：
Pro-Palestinian protest at MIT renews call for peace in Gaza, divestment from Israel
By Rachel Umansky-Castro, Kiera McDonald and Tonya Alanez Globe Correspondent and Globe Staff,Updated September 13, 2024
MIT students and faculty gathered Friday to protest the university’s involvement in Israel and to show support for Palestinians.Erin Clark/Globe Staff
CAMBRIDGE — Reminiscent of last spring’s season of pro-Palestinian campus protests, about 100 chanting and sign-waving student demonstrators took to the steps of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Friday evening to demand that the school “cut ties with Israel” and to call for a cease-fire in Gaza.
“MIT, MIT, we know what side you’re on,” the crowd of dozens repeated in unison. Some wrapped themselves in traditional checkered keffiyeh scarves, others raised handheld black, white, green, and red Palestinian flags high above their heads.
One sign in particular captured their key objective, “MIT, cut ties with Israel. Your drone research contributes to genocide.”
About 20 campus police officers surrounded the barricaded steps at 77 Massachusetts Ave. as students took turns at the podium to press MIT to divest from businesses supplying arms and other support to Israel. Afterward, they marched down Massachusetts Avenue to President Sally Kornbluth’s office.
Richard Solomon, a 28-year-old doctoral student studying political science, said his desire and passion to protest was cultivated on “a personal level.”
Solomon said his host brother died during an Israeli attack.
“I loved the Holy Land, I lived in Jerusalem,” Solomon told those gathered at the steps. “It hurts my heart to see people lose basic human rights to vote, move from city to city, and get married.”
Solomon celebrated the university’s decision to cut ties with the MIT-Lockheed Martin Seed Fund, an effort partly funded by the defense contractor to facilitate research between MIT and universities in Israel.
“This is the first known American-Israeli weapons manufacturer partnership to end at an American university since the war on Gaza began,” Solomon said.
Late Friday night, an MIT spokesperson disputed Solomon’s assertion that the university cut ties with the fund.
“Several seed funds supported by Lockheed Martin and established as part of the larger MIT Global Seed Fund program have either wound down or soon will,” Kimberly Allen said in an email to the Globe. “ These seed fund programs have supported faculty collaborations and international experiences for students in various countries, including Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland.”
“These programs have run for various one and two-year cycles beginning in 2019. Programs in Israel, the Netherlands, and Switzerland have completed their funding cycles and the funded work is now winding down. Those in Germany and Poland are in their final year,” Allen said. “It was a Lockheed decision not to continue the seed funds for all of these country programs.”
Friday’s rally, dubbed “MIT, hands off the West Bank!” was organized by the Coalition Against Apartheid. It is the first protest at MIT since the beginning of the new school year. It came on the heels of a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Harvard University last week.
Organizers, in a press release, referenced MIT’s past actions to distance itself from associations and companies with ties to other conflicts and political atrocities, including Russian-founded Skoltech and Saudi oil company ARAMACO after the invasion of Ukraine and the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
MIT’s previous decision to break with other foreign companies in order to address ethical issues affected multiple research groups that lost grant funding, the statement said.
The nearly two-hour protest was the first at MIT since students returned for a new academic year.
Cambridge police officers stood on the steps leading MIT’s entrance while students and faculty gathered outside of the campus on Friday.
Cambridge police officers stood on the steps leading MIT’s entrance while students and faculty gathered outside of the campus on Friday.Erin Clark/Globe Staff
In the spring, college students nationwide protested the Israel-Hamas war by pitching campus encampments. Locally, students camped out at Emerson College, Northeastern, and Harvard universities, and MIT’s Kresge Lawn.
MIT’s encampment lasted 20 days when it was broken up after university officials said it was disruptive and violated school guidelines. At least two dozen students were suspended and couldn’t graduate. Others lost their fellowships, and some had their research projects halted.
Some new graduates lent their support to the cause.
“I’m here to support my friends who are continuing to challenge MIT’s complicity in doing research for the Israeli military, as they’re committing a genocide,” said David Berkinsky, who studied chemistry at MIT and graduated with a doctoral degree last year.
”They do direct research with the Israeli military,” said Berkinsky who lives in Jamaica Plain. “There’s not another foreign military that they do research with. I think that’s the point that really needs to be emphasized.“
Sammy Mustafa, a 22-year-old who grew up with a family of immigrants from Iraq, is a graduate student at Harvard University studying biomedical informatics. A majority of his classes are held at MIT, so Mustafa said he has a lot invested in whether MIT “acts on caring for the Palestinian people.”
“I am student, but at the end of the day I am human being, and I can’t stand by an institution that supports families getting killed,” Mustafa said.
Lillian Diaz, a 39-year-old who lives in Dorchester, said she supports the pro-Palestinian cause and has been attending protests since October.
“I’m here today because it matters,” Diaz said. “We’re all watching in 4k as much as we want to deny it … They’re more scared of people in tents than the powers that be that have the actual weapons.”
After about two hours, protesters made their way to the president’s office.
Outside Kornbluth’s office, the protesters drummed on buckets, waved their flags, and chanted down MIT until daylight waned.
