Nadia Shaarawi
Template:TOCnestleft Nadia Shaarawi is a Minnesota activist.
Education
- Studied at University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
Justice for Daunte Wright
Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota and the Black Student Union held a protest on the University of Minnesota campus, April 17 2021, to demand justice for Daunte Wright, to call for community control of the campus police (UMPD), and to speak out against the recent deployment of the UMPD to brutalize protesters in Brooklyn Center. About 1000 students were in attendance, marking the largest on-campus demonstration in recent history. Speakers included students and community members who have experienced brutality at the hands of the National Guard this week while out in the streets demanding justice for Daunte Wright.
Camille Winston of the Black Student Union condemned the university’s response to the murder of Daunte Wright, saying “University President Joan Gabel and Chief Clark [UMPD police chief] decided to support the police who shot and killed him.” SDS member Nadia Shaarawi said, “Joan Gabel has more of a commitment to a police contract than she ever has had to her students.”
Since the murder of George Floyd last May, SDS has been calling for more police accountability on campus and has faced continued resistance from administration. The recent deployment of UMPD in riot gear to Brooklyn Center shows the need for students, workers and community members to be able to control their campus police force. SDS is campaigning for a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) to win this power for the university community.
Jae Yates, a recent U of MN graduate and a member of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, addressed the crowd, saying, “Daunte Wright could have come here. Daunte Wright was 20 years old. He was the same age as so many people who go to this university.”[1]
SDS webinar
On October 9 2020, student and youth activists held a webinar to launch a national campaign to fight for police accountability, on and off campus, under the headline, “Students and Youth Demand Police Accountability.” The main organizations represented were New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), AnakBayan USA, and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
Speakers promoted the demand for community control of the police and for convictions of killer cops. Then they called for campus police departments to be defunded, disbanded and in some places even held accountable by campus civilian police accountability councils.
Michael Sampson from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression said, “People have a democratic right to control the institutions that affect their lives. Community control is about oppressed people taking power.”
Adrian Bonifacio from AnakBayan USA compared the tactics of the police here in the U.S. to the military and police tactics used by the U.S.-backed Philippine government of Duterte, which has responded to the pandemic with door-to-door military brutality in place of health care and testing: "As a youth organization fighting fascism and state terror, we know that the police are one of the most dangerous tools for maintaining political repression and violence. Not just Trump, but every president before him has deployed the police to terrorize poor and working class people here in the United States, most particularly Black folks.”
Student activists from SDS and AnakBayan said university police are used to harass student activists and have profiled and even killed community members. Victor Garcia from the University of Students for a Democratic Society - Parkside pointed out that Rusten Sheskey, who killed Jacob Blake in Kenosha, was actually a university police officer up until 2013.
Nadia Shaarawi from the University of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota chapter said, “Our university president has tried to co-opt the language of 'accountability.’” Shaarawi added, “but where the concessions stop is at community control because they'll do anything to maintain the status quo.”
Enya Silva from the Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society chapter asked, "If they aren't here to serve the people, why do they need this money?" Katelyn Scott from the UNF Students for a Democratic Society chapter compared this to other wasteful expenditures taken on by the university, pointing out, “UNF says they don't have the money for things on campus and for community resources, but they have $8 million for a pool.”
Kyle Burroughs from Denver Students for a Democratic Society made this point crystal clear. “"The governor didn't care about the Elijah McClain case for over a year, and he didn't reopen it out of the kindness of his heart. He opened it out of public pressure. As you fight for justice in this way, the people will come to your side. You just need to be loud enough.”[2]