Script

VO: OVER A YEAR AND A MONTH AGO THE GLOBE SAW OCTOBER 7, 2023. HAMAS, A PALESTINIAN MILITANT GROUP, LED AN ATTACK FROM THE GAZA STRIP INTO ISRAEL. GAZA’S HEALTH MINISTRY REPORTED ON NOVEMBER 19 THAT ALMOST 44,000 PALESTINIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED IN MORE THAN 13 MONTHS OF WAR.

VO: MAHMOUD EL-RIFAI IS A RESEARCH SCIENTIST AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY. HE IS ALSO A PALESTINIAN REFUGEE.

VO: WITH HOW THE ENTIRE WORLD HAS REACTED OVER THE PAST YEAR, HOW  DO YOU FEEL? 

SOT [EL-RIFAI]: YOU KNOW THAT WE DON'T MATTER TO THE INSTITUTIONS, WE DON'T MATTER TO THE COUNTRIES, WE DON'T MATTER TO THAT TO THE TO THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS THEY DON'T REALLY APPLY TO US, RIGHT?

VO: EMERSON STUDENTS HELD A PRO-PALESTINIAN ENCAMPMENT FROM APRIL 20 TO APRIL 25, 2024 IN THE 2 BOYLSTON ALLEY. 118 STUDENT PROTESTORS WERE ARRESTED AFTER BOSTON POLICE CLEARED THE ENCAMPMENT. 

VO: YASSER MUNIF IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN MIDDLE EASTERN POLITICS AND SOCIETY AT EMERSON COLLEGE. HE IS SYRIAN, WITH HIS PARENTS COMING FROM ACROSS THE ARAB WORLD. 

SOT [MUNIF]: AND WHAT STUDENTS DISCOVERED IN THE ALLEY AND THE ENCAMPMENT VERY QUICKLY IS THAT THERE IS AN ENTIRE LIFE 

VO: MUNIF BELIEVES INSTITUTIONS ARE NOT TEACHING STUDENTS THE UNDERSTANDING NEEDED FOR SOCIAL IMPACT. 

SOT [MUNIF]: UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES ARE SITES OF RESISTANCE. COULD BE SITES. THEY'RE NOT ALWAYS. THEY COULD BE SITES OF RESISTANCE, BUT THEY CANNOT BE SITES OF LIBERATION.

VO: EMERSON COLLEGE'S MOTTO IS EXPRESSION NECESSARY TO EVOLUTION WHICH QUESTIONS HOW THE COLLEGE CAN FOSTER HEALTHY RESISTANCE. JAY BERNHARDT, PRESIDENT OF EMERSON COLLEGE, DECLINED TO COMMENT. 

VO: AND WITH OVER 13 MONTHS OF WAR, HOW DO YOU PERSEVERE THROUGH ALL OF THIS? 

SOT [MUNIF]: DESPAIR IS BETRAYAL. I MEAN, THIS IS A MOMENT WHERE EVERYONE'S ENERGY AND MOMENTUM AND CREATIVITY IS NEEDED. 

VO: FOR JR 216, I’M BIRDI DIEHL.