Duke Academics and Staff for Justice in Palestine (DASJP) is a group of academics and staff, broadly defined, that works for Palestinian liberation through organizing efforts both within and outside the university.
Our principles of unity:
- DASJP is a democratic and plural collective of Duke academics and staff who support Palestinian liberation as Palestinians determine its contours. We define academics and staff broadly, and our collective includes both tenured and non-tenure track faculty, staff, librarians, post-docs, residents, nurses, and graduate employees, among others. We come from across the Duke community, including workers at the university and medical center.
- DASJP understands the struggle for Palestinian freedom to be aligned with anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements and struggles in many parts of the world, many of which were successful. These include indigenous land rights, workers’ rights, disability justice, Black liberation, gender and sexual freedom, youth liberation, and environmental struggles.
- DASJP supports the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel’s call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions and for an end to Israel’s occupation and colonization of Palestine. More broadly, we reject US government, military, corporate, and institutional complicities in the continued colonization of Palestine. The prioritization of imperialism and war in Palestine and elsewhere comes at the cost of resolving issues in the US and Durham such as police violence, high rates of racialized imprisonment, poverty, unequal schooling, indebtedness, environmental devastation, and lack of clean water, healthcare, and housing. The costs of war and imperialism are paid for outside the US, but also in our communities, where the poor, working class, and racialized people suffer the most.
- DASJP rejects the conflation of support for Palestinian liberation with antisemitism; we stand against racism in all of its manifestations.
- DASJP supports our Palestinian students and amplifies the work of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other student groups at Duke and in the broader Triangle area. DASJP also collaborates with local groups in our community who are working for justice and are aligned with our priorities.
- As part of our commitment, DASJP members engage in education, advocacy, and action.
- The most securely employed among us protect more vulnerable members at all times, and all of us protect our students and each other.
- DASJP participates in regional cross-campus coalitions with allies at other universities and schools, and as part of a national network of faculty and staff for justice in Palestine.