ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – For four days last week, the TAHRIR Coalition and Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) turned part of the University of Michigan (U-M) into their own protest “school,” complete with lectures, chants, art, dancing, and the usual “divest from Israel” demands.
They called it the “Popular University for Palestine Freedom School” and described it as “a week of programming featuring teach-ins, community art builds, and other educational events” planned to “discuss a variety of anti-imperial, anti-colonial ideas and practices.”
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The events took place from September 2 through 5 and the organizers of the “school” once again demanded that the University of Michigan cut ties with any company linked to Israel’s military campaign, according to Michigan Advance.
Lesson plan of outrage.
The program didn’t stop at divestment though. Participants were taught about the history of freedom schools and told that U-M is complicit in funding Israel. Organizers also tied their message to broader issues, describing the U.S. prison industrial complex as oppressive and claiming it fuels both homophobia and transphobia.
They leveled sharp criticism at engineering companies and military contractors for supplying arms and technology to the Israeli military. Academic institutions, including U-M, were also called out for promoting those same contractors with career fairs and recruitment efforts.
At this so-called “school” last week, the focus appeared to be casting themselves as self-appointed professors of moral clarity – while neatly ignoring the chaos pro-Palestinian students have stirred up at U-M and other campuses nationwide for nearly two years.
What they left out.
Missing was a reminder of the uncomfortable reality of the hateful rhetoric, anti-Semitic incidents and damage to both property and community trust that their pro-Palestinian activism has caused at U-M and in Ann Arbor since Hamas killed approximately 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023.
From staging disruptive sit-ins that shut down classes and campus operations, to defacing school property and the property of regents with anti-Israel graffiti, to shouting down speakers and intimidating Jewish students – their activism has gone well beyond peaceful protest. Billed as pro- Palestinian “justice” protests, what actually unfolded has looked to many like mob rule – with administrators left scrambling to restore order.
Professors of chaos?
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Public Health senior Erek Mirque, who helped organize the events, told Michigan Advance that they were building something really “beautiful.”
Campus police didn’t feel the same way and told them they posed a threat to the public. The University’s Division of Public Safety and Security, on the last day of their events, kicked them off university grounds. Mirque said the police threatened them because they were pro-Palestinian. After they were told to leave, they reorganized the event from U-M property to an adjacent sidewalk.
In the end, the “Freedom School” wasn’t just about lectures and art projects – it also carried the feel of a running list of grievances. What organizers described as a beautiful effort included events that could spark new tensions, with the potential for disruptions to spill over into the school year once again.
