To Divest or Not to Divest? That is (Not Really) The Question
An 'art' exhibit at UMass Boston's campus center asks us to renounce apartheid and genocide. Bonus: You also get to vote!
A couple of weeks ago, something bizarre caught our eye as we strolled through the campus center. Yes, we know. Too many of our posts start this way. But this time, it wasn’t just a flyer. It was a full-blown exhibition, smack in the middle of the first floor, impossible to miss.
DIVEST! screamed the writing on the wall.
Two oversized ballot boxes stood below the writing. One labeled “Yes” and overflowing with colored slips. The other, “No,” sagging under the weight of... five lonely papers.
We at The Flickering Beacon love a good vote. Excited, we leaned in closer to see what our democratic moment was all about.
The smaller writing on the wall clarified:
UMass divested from South Africa because of apartheid and from Sudan because of genocide, continued the writing. Should it also divest from Israeli apartheid and genocide?
Ah yes, them evil Zionists again. Apparently they are now doing both apartheid and genocide at the same time. Efficiency!
According to a flyer near the eyesore artful masterpiece, the whole thing was sponsored by “Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine” and blessed with a two-week university permit. Gotta give everyone time to perform their civic duty, right?
The exhibit was organized by none other than our new friend Andres Henao Castro. Yes, that necroresistance guy. Because it turns out giving a talk about “decolonial mourning in Palestine” and writing articles about Necropolitics that cause actual brain necrosis just isn’t enough. Sometimes you gotta walk the walk, not just talk the talk… see what I’m sayin’?
Funny what passes for art these days.
Funnier what passes for an “inclusive” and “civil” campus, where everyone feels welcome. Well, almost everyone.
