UvA staff hold reading marathon as pro-Palestine protest at REC
Exactly one year after the fierce pro-Palestine protests at the UvA, staff will read continuously from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, on the REC about the conflict between Israel and Palestine. With the reading marathon, they are calling for the severing of ties between the UvA and complicit Israeli institutions.
UvA Staff 4 Palestine is organizing a reading marathon today, May 6, on the large lawn of the REC. The relay started at nine o’clock this morning and will continue until six o’clock this evening. So far, it has not been very busy: around noon, there were about fifteen listeners. During the marathon, UvA staff members will continuously read (excerpts from) books about the conflict between Palestine and Israel. A tent has been set up on the lawn to shelter listeners from the rain, with rows of chairs for the audience.
The Instagram account of UvA staff 4 Palestine announced the reading marathon, calling on UvA students and staff to sever ties with Israeli institutions that are allegedly complicit in genocide. ‘Join our Palestine reading relay as a day of movement, building and learning,’ reads the invitation to the event.
Today marks exactly one year since the pro-Palestine protests at the UvA flared up. Students and staff occupied the ABC building. Later that week, the protests spread to the Binnengasthuisterrein and the Oudemanhuispoort, where demonstrators built barricades and occupied the buildings.
