Students for a Free Palestine (SFP) is a student organization at Oberlin College whose main goal is a free Palestine. We will work for the decolonization of Palestinian land, the Right of Return for all Palestinians, and adherence to international law. We oppose occupation and settler colonialism, and call for internationalism in order to create freedom for Palestinians. Our primary short-term tac
tic is to follow the call of Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS). We are following the call of Palestinian civil society, who ten years ago asked people worldwide to work for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. We are not looking for another peace talk or border proposal that further dwarfs historic Palestine into a disjointed piece of land. We believe justice in Palestine must occur in congruence with movements against police brutality and mass incarceration, gentrification, or militarization. We know that it isn’t a solidarity of just rhetoric: law enforcement deployed in Ferguson–the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Dept–received training from the Israeli security forces in recent years. SFP has been active for non-consecutive years since the 1980s, and is aligned with National Students for Justice in Palestine. On campus, SFP hosts speakers, leads teach-ins, and organizes for BDS. Our main goal is for Oberlin College to divest from six corporations who profit and perpetuate the occupation of Palestine: Elbit Systems, Group 4 Securicor, Caterpillar, Soda Stream, Veolia, and Hewlett-Packard. These multi-national corporations were chosen because they also militarize the US-Mexico border wall, create drones and surveillance technologies in prisons.
