Update, June 24-30
Academic boycott in South Africa, port blockaded in Italy, police violence in Belgium, decampments and court orders in the UK
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South Africa
On Friday, June 28th, the University of the Western Cape announced it would be boycotting all Israeli institutions and is on the way to paving strong relationships with Palestinian students in the form of bursaries, outreach programmes, etc. The university executive is also taking the task of advocating at the national level for all South African universities to do the same. (link)
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Italy
On Tuesday the 25th, students from encampments all over Italy, including the Polytechnic University of Milan, University of Milan, University of Bologna, and the University of Genova, collaborated with dockworkers and activists to block traffic to the port of Genova. The port is a strategic node in international trade routes, making it a crucial point for arms shipments to Israel used in Gaza.
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Australia
On Monday, June 24th, The University of Sydney stated in an email to staff and students that they “will not restrict student exchanges, academic partnerships, or institutional relationships with any country or industry.” Students have rejected offers to set up working groups or give “feedback” to the university, demanding it cut its ties with genocide. (link)
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The University of Melbourne has issued notices of alleged misconduct against at least 19 anti-genocide pro-Palestine student protesters on campus, including a Palestinian student and an anti-Zionist Jewish student, for peacefully protesting against the university’s ongoing complicity in the genocide. UniMelb For Palestine issued a statement on Friday the 28th which condemned the notices:
The students will not be deterred or silenced from standing up against the genocide. (link)
Austria
On Wednesday, the 26th, Students at the University of Applied Arts Vienna held a protest at the opening of the Angewandte Festival to remind attendees of the university’s complicity in the genocide. The festival is the annual event showcasing the creative projects of students, faculty, and alumni across various artistic disciplines. (link)
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On Thursday the 27th, the students at the University of Innsbruck held an event “No Pride in Genocide” on the 10th day of the encampment at the Sowi Campus. The students are demanding that the university immediately cut its ties with the European Defence Fund and Horizon Europe, among others. (link)
On Friday the 28th, the student union of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna cancelled ‘DECOLONIAL ENCOUNTERS’, a mini-lecture series on Solidarity with Palestine as a Cornerstone of Social Justice. Students went ahead with the lecture series on the stairs of the university, under heavy police surveillance and attacks by zionist university staff. On the cancellation, students stated:
All your superficial invocations of decolonization and decolonial feminist theory are nothing but a hypocritical smokescreen. You are showing your cowardly and genocidal face by cancelling an event that calls for an anti-colonial world! (link)
Belgium
On Monday the 24th, more than 1,000 people joined KU Leuven students in the largest protest for Palestine in the city’s history.
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On Tuesday the 25th, the Free University of Brussels (ULB) called in the police to clear their student occupation. Police broke down doors and assaulted seated students who were not resisting. Students were not notified in advance or given the chance to leave. The ULB administration has since threatened to file a complaint for the ‘degradation’ of the buildings. (link)
On Wednesday the 26th, students decamped from the University of Antwerp. (link)
Canada
In an unprecedented move last week, the University of Waterloo has commenced legal action against their encamped students for CA$1.5 million. Part of the case alleges “reputational damage”, which impacted the university’s ability to “attract and retain students and faculty, secure funding, and maintain its academic and community standing”. Students stated:
This extreme measure highlights the university’s disregard for student safety and wellbeing. They are willing to place their students in danger in order to protect their interests. (link, link)
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France
On Friday the 28th and Saturday the 29th, the graduation ceremony of the Class of 2024 of Sciences Po was disrupted by several members of the graduating cohort as a reminder of theuniversity’ss complicity in genocide. Over the course of the year, the university has systematically refused to investigate partnerships with institutions and companies implicated in the genocide and brutally repressed all student movements. (link)
Germany
On Thursday the 27th, Students for Palestine at the University of Heidelberg led a mass disruption of a garden party organised by the university, dropping a large banner with the words““UNI-ted Against Genocid””. This comes just weeks after theinstitution’s cancellation of Palestinian-American journalist Hebh Jamal’s talk, who was scheduled to speak on German censorship of Palestinian activism. (link)
On Thursday 27th, Students at the University of Göttingen erected the Shireen Abu Akleh Camp on their university’s campus. On the post announcing the encampment, the group stated:
As students, we find it urgent to invite critical attention to the military onslaught on the Palestinian people in Gaza. (link)
India
On Monday, June 24th, a group of 362 students, 70 alumni, and 21 faculty members from the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, wrote to the university administration demanding it sever its ties with Tel Aviv University and the Radzyner School of Law (Reichmann University) in Israel. (link, link, link)
On June 30th, numerous students from the graduating cohort of the Young India Fellowship at Ashoka University displayed Pro-Palestine placards during the graduation ceremony while wearing keffiyehs. The university administration warned that any pro-Palestine action during the ceremony would lead to disciplinary action after having refused the student body’s demands to cut ties with Tel Aviv University. (link)
Ireland
Students at University College Cork decamped this week, more than six weeks after their encampment was first established. UCC BDS reached a deal with the university and commented:
Our work is far from over, but we are proud of our progress and the community we’ve built. UCC BDS will continue to fight for the exclusion of Israel from Horizon Europe, demanding advocacy through the IUA and Irish government, and for the end to all partnerships with entities complicit in occupation and genocide. (link)
South Korea
On Wednesday the 26th, students at Seoul National University organised a day of protests in honour of the Korean National Day of Action for Palestine. They announced an end to their six-week encampment due to the end of the spring semester, committing to re-organising at the start of the fall semester.“ Until the day Palestine is free, we will not stop standing in solidarity” announced a member of Soobak, the Palestine Action Committee at SNU. (link)
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Portugal
On Monday the 24th, students at the University of Coimbra mobilised a silent protest during the meeting of the university’s General Board (GB), calling for their demands in solidarity with Palestine to be put on the agenda. After almost 6 hours of protest, the students’ demands were added to the agenda for the GB’s next meeting. (link)
Students at the University of Porto mobilised on June 27th for a protest in front of the rectory, demanding a cut of relations with the Horizon Europe Programme, which finances research projects in European Universities and some Universities in partner states, such as Israel. (link)
Romania
Students at the University of Bucharest held their final community dinner at their encampment on Thursday, June 27th. They voluntarily decamped on Friday after 39 days. (link)
We are certain that our protest will remain in the history of the University of Bucharest, no matter how hard they will try to forget it. We hope we managed to make the Palestinian cause more known among students. The students remain united against the genocide!
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UK
On Tuesday, June 25th, the University of Oxford administration bulldozed the Palestinian Solidarity Memorial Garden, including flowers, a 150-year-old olive tree, and cucumbers grown from seeds from Palestine. On Thursday, the 27th, the university issued an unofficial eviction notice for the remaining encampment, demanding students vacate by July 7th. (link)
A student at the University of Liverpool was arrested for drawing a peace sign in chalk on Saturday the 22nd, and another for resisting the arrest of their comrade. One has been released, and one has been charged. The university has ended negotiations with the Students of Alareer Square. (link)
On Wednesday the 26th, the University of Sheffield issued an unofficial eviction notice to the SCCP Student Encampment for Gaza, demanding they clear the encampment by 8pm the same day. This followed a cease and desist letter received by the encampment on the 25th. The university also cut the camp off from electricity and said any further use of the power supply““may constitute a criminal act”” As of writing, the encampment remains in place. (link)
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Queen Mary’s University London has taken QMUL Action For Palestine to court, but the students remain encamped and are raising money to fight the university in court. On Wednesday the 26th, the encampment announced that they had entered talks with the administration after they had stonewalled students for nine months. (link)
The students of the University of the Arts London have decamped but stated their intention is to continue direct action throughout the summer and to persist in their protest until their demands are met. (link)
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Queen Mary’s University London has taken QMUL Action For Palestine to court, but the students remain encamped and are raising money to fight the university in court. On Wednesday the 26th, the encampment announced that they had entered talks with the administration after they had stonewalled students for nine months. (link)
The University of Birmingham went to court again yesterday, aiming to end the student encampment and the protests against theuniversity’ss complicity in genocide. The case was adjourned a second time when the judge recused himself, and the students remained encamped. (link)
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The longest-running encampment in the UK at the University of Warwick closed on Monday the 24th after 60 days. Warwick Stands With Palestine stated:
While our encampment has been integral to the strengthening of our movement and has acted as the focal point for our organising over the last two months, we have decided it is in the strategic interest of coalition to redirect our energy. (link)
Other decampents include Goldsmiths, Imperial College London, University of Leicester, Durham University, and University of Portsmouth.