Liebe Alle, Die ÖH wurde gebeten, diese Petition im Namen der Studierenden, die sie verfasst haben, mit Ihnen zu teilen. Da es von Studierenden der Akademie verfasst wurde, finden wir es wichtig, es zu teilen. Die darin enthaltenen Aussagen spiegeln nicht unbedingt die Überzeugungen aller Mitglieder der ÖH und der ÖH selbst wider. Herzliche Grüße, Maurício Ianês.
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Dear all, The ÖH was asked to share this petition with you, on behalf of the students that wrote it. As it was written by students of the Akademie, we find it important to share it. The statements therein don't necessarily reflect the beliefs of all the members of the ÖH and the ÖH itself. Warm regards, Maurício Ianês.
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"Dear students, dear teaching staff, dear employees at the academy, dear senate, dear rectorate
As students of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, we are shocked and devastated by the escalating violence that is currently occurring in the Middle East. In the light of the Academy’s past and present practice of censoring and cancelling Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices, its unacceptable [statement](https://www.akbild.ac.at/en/news/2023/stop-the-violence) on the current situation which refuses to acknowledge Palestinian victims, and its self-proclaimed commitment to ‘decolonization’, we feel compelled to act.
This is why we launched the petition Decolonization is not a Metaphor: Against Dehumanizing Palestinians at the Academy Vienna
Please read the full text and consider to sign the petition:
These are our demands:
By participating in the tacit silence instead of facilitating serious discussions and analysis, the Academy participates in the legitimization of ethnic cleansing and genocide in a settler colonial context. In order to address this discriminatory policy and dehumanization of Palestinians, we have formulated the following demands:
* We demand of the Rectorate and Senate to repair the damage that has been done by the statement [Stop the Violence](https://www.akbild.ac.at/en/news/2023/stop-the-violence) and make a public statement that confers humanity to Palestinians and mourns their lives. Any new statement should be consistent in condemning the killing of civilians as well as acknowledge the complicity of Western governments in the colonial oppression and dehumanization of Palestinians.
* We demand of the Academy and of the teaching staff to stop their censorship of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices and to create discursive spaces for engagement with the topic of settler colonialism around the globe and resistance against it.
* We demand an explicit commitment against anti-Palestinian racism by adding it to the list ‘anti-Muslim racism, anti-Roma racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Semitic racism’ in [§16 of the Academy´s Gleichstellungsplan](https://www.akbild.ac.at/de/universitaet/Satzung/gleichstellungsplan#diskrim...).
* However, if the Academy decides to continue its policy of complicity, we demand all references to ‘decolonization’ in the Academy’s branding in present and future documents to be immediately removed. We think that it is hypocritical for this institution to claim to be conducting ‘decolonial’ scholarship or even receive money for 'decolonial' projects, if they are not holding Israel accountable for the extremist political discourse and the war crimes committed in Gaza.
Most of all, we ask all members of the Academy for compassion and support for the people of Palestine and our Palestinian colleges, by seeking out media coverage and political analysis that centers Palestinian people, and seriously engaging with Palestinian voices and perspectives. Only in this way can we truly ‘strive for understanding and raise their voices for an end to violence’.
Ceasefire now! Release all captives and prisoners now! End the occupation now!”
– – – Maurício Ianês, MA - pronouns: they/ she/ ela/ none Leandro Barros - pronoun: he/ him Saro Gottstein - pronoun: they/ them
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