WHY WE ARE HERE 

We're here for one reason: Gaza. 

Complicity is not an option and we as Waterloo students refuse to allow our university to remain complicit in this genocide!

Gaza cannot wait!

We are over 7 months into the most well-documented and publicized genocide in history. More people have been martyred in Gaza in the past 200+ days than the entire UW student body. We are witnessing the most horrific massacres of our lifetime and we refuse to remain silent and complicit. 

We are taking up the call from Gaza and demanding immediate action from our administration. The University will meet our demands and we will not concede till we have achieved our goals.

UW chose complicity!

UW must immediately disclose and divest its economic ties to all institutions complicit in this genocide. On May 6th, the UW senate was presented with a disclosure and divestment motion which they failed to pass. UW has explicitly chosen to remain complicit. The students are aware that this university is knee deep in the blood of the people in Gaza. We refuse for our tuition to continue to support this massacre, we are not leaving until every last penny has been disclosed and divested.

Demands

1. Disclose

We know that UW has ties and relations with weapons manufacturers, complicit technology companies and all Israeli institutions. 

We demand that UW:

• Publish a comprehensive list of the university’s investments. Everything. All investments. All financial and academic ties.
• Make these records available to all UW students, staff, and faculty, and update it annually, no later than February 1st of each year. Announce all new investments and ties as soon as they are put in place.

2. Divest

• We demand that UW immediately divest from all defence contractors and weapons manufacturers.
• Immediately divest from all companies on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) list in the “Consumer Boycott Targets” and “Divestment and Exclusion Targets” sections
• We demand that strict policies and procedures for investments, agreements, and partnerships are enacted and to ensure that they abide by the University of Waterloo Values Statement.

The student body has spoken loud and clear: We will not allow UW to continue its complicity in genocide with the use of our tuition.

3. Boycott

An academic and cultural boycott of all institutional ties to Israeli companies, goods and universities at UWaterloo and on its premises.

UW has a “Strategic Research Partnership Agreement” with Technion, an Israeli institute complicit in the genocide in Gaza:

• Technion has formal and sustained relationships with the Israeli military. Currently, 3,000 Technion students and staff are deployed in the Israeli military.
• Research conducted at Technion has developed new equipment for the Israeli military.

The joint research between UW and Technion directly implicates us in the Genocide in Gaza. We demand that UW boycott institutions supporting genocide.

Thank you for your support

Since the day we began occupying the Graduate House and transformed it into the Gaza House Liberated Zone, the level of community support we have received has been simply outstanding. Your help has made this protest action possible; without you this space wouldn't have blossomed and grown into the wonderful community space it has already become. The student campers have been so glad to be visited and supported by so many of you, including faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and staff from UW and the colleges; colleagues from nearby schools like WLU and UofG; alumni from all of the above; local indigenous and religious leaders' and so many more - truly a myriad of people from across Waterloo Region.

In particular, we would like to thank

• Professors bringing your classes for a visit and shared discussion, offering to host teach-ins, donating illuminating books, and volunteering to serve as legal observers
• Fellow students joining in at events as active participants, stopping by for a snack and to study (or nap!) in the sun, co-hosting teach-ins, and volunteering to help clean up and take out garbage
• Alumni sharing your valuable experiences as a student at UW in years past, dropping by to express your support and solidarity, and signing the open letter (LINK) pledging to withhold donations until UW meets our demands in full
• Indigenous leaders for opening our camp with a beautiful drum ceremony, releasing a statement of support, and much more
• Religious leaders hosting services on-site, making this place somewhere where everyone can practice their religion in a supportive community
• Student clubs and coalition members endorsing/supporting…
• and the community who have been generously donating food, water, drinks, snacks, camping gear, and other supplies that we need, without hesitation, visiting the Gaza House community area to help it thrive and become the lively shared space we already have come to know and love, and writing and sharing open letters in support of our demands.

Programs you've helped sustain this far! 

• Nakba Day Presentation
• Daily Prayers
• Reading Circle
• Film Screenings & Discussions
• Marshal Training
• Banner Making
• Teach-ins and Workshops
• Kids Programming, i.e. Poppy Planting and Kite Making
• Community BBQ

What we will use the donations for

• Sustaining our camping space (food, water, power, cover, etc)
• Safety equipment: purchasing and installing safety equipment necessary for keeping us safe and unidentified
• Shelter: As our camp space grows, our needs we will need to expand our sheltering supplies in order to accommodate new campers
• Legal support: Legal support is what ensures our safety under the Canadian law
• Expansion: Your donations allow us to expand our events, initiatives and collective power

We are not leaving!

We Will Remain Steadfast Until Disclosure and Divestment

The students are committed to the full divestment of their tuition money from complicit companies. We will not back down or leave until we have achieved disclosure, divestment and boycott.