AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Young Filipinos on various university campuses have joined the global pro-Palestinian student movement, calling for the boycott of the Israel regime.
A media report on Monday showed a video of a student-gathering on campus calling for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel and its supporters, as well as an end to the genocide in Gaza and illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
Pro-Palestinian student leaders and activists have doubled down on their efforts to raise awareness about the months-long Israeli regime forces genocide of Palestinian people, mostly helpless women and children, trapped in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Student organizers have been calling for rallies in solidarity with the Palestinians, drawing their peers attention to the ongoing resistance movements in Palestine struggling for liberation.
By comparing the Palestinian cause with the Philippines’ history and experience of occupation and colonialism, they hope to engage more people and inspire further collective action in their community.
Student organizer Raphael Jourvy Gavino from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) told media that he believes the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict is rooted in US imperialism. “Filipino youths and students are aware that (the Palestinians’) struggle against settler colonialism is similar to that of colonial history in the Philippines, and that we perceive a common struggle with the Palestinians today, which is US imperialism.”
Gavino said, “Thousands of PUP students participated virtually and voiced their support for Palestinians in their struggle against Israel’s genocide and Apartheid, and called for justice.” he said.
“Showing solidarity and support for Palestinians is important as students and especially as Filipinos simply because we cannot just stand still while thousands of fellow students, children and women are slaughtered right before our eyes.”
It’s almost 10 months that the global community has been witnessing students from all across the world protesting against the brutal massacre of defenseless Palestinians trapped in Gaza under Israeli fire, cut from the rest of globe, without clean water, food and medicine.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 39,300 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the besieged territory.
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