The Decolonizing Alliance stands in solidarity with Palestinians in and outside of Palestine and condemns the brutal killing of Shireen Abu Akleh on Wednesday, 11th of May 2022, in Jenin, in the northern West Bank. Today, we extend our condolences and solidarity to Shireen’s family and all those who loved her, and admired and respected her outstanding journalism that supported the Palestinian struggle. The scenes of her funeral procession, which should have been a peaceful celebration of her life, were marred by shocking beatings of Palestinian crowds, an act of brutality that denied them the peace to grieve and mourn their loss.
We share the grief and anger at these heinous acts and we are deeply disturbed by the lack of outrage and condemnation from Western journalists. The normalization of this brutality means that the systematic violence against Palestinians’ right to self-determination continues to go unchallenged by the vast majority of governments and institutions in the Western hemisphere and beyond, while the international resistance tactics of the pro-Palestine movement, such as BDS, continue to be undermined.
This killing, along with so many others, is yet another example of the violent silencing of those who use their platform to support Palestinian voices. It must stop. We call on academics, especially those who are committed to social justice, to not forget about Palestine, and to come together to demand better from our institutions in taking concrete actions and stop contributing to the normalization of the ongoing violence against the Palestinian people.
Decolonizing Alliance 