On Monday 16th March there was a meeting entitled “Practical Action For Palestine: What Can We Do?”, which then (as it always seems to these days) turned into an occupation. Solidarity texts to 0 7 9 6 1 0 4 0 6 1 8. At 4pm on Tuesday, however, the occupation got a letter from the head of security in the Hicks building announcing that, following their Student Union’s condemnation of our action, management would not be conducting any negotiations or discussions with them (this is after a pretty unrepresentative 5-3 vote by their SU Executive Committee). In their words:

“The basis of the SU’s condemnation was that our action was disruptive to students’ education, despite the fact that we have consistently said that we are happy for lectures to take place in our occupied space. Indeed, despite management’s attempt to unilaterally relocate all lectures (at significant inconvenience to students), dialogue between the occupation and lecturers succeeded in allowing lectures to take place in their original scheduled locations. Given university management’s intransigence, we are asking all Sheffield students, workers and other supporters of the occupation to send the following model email to Vice Chancellor Keith Burnett at vc@sheffield.ac.uk. CC to email to Rowann Sharples, his personal secretary, at r.sharples@sheffield.ac.uk, and CC us in at sheffieldoccupation@googlemail.com.”

Also, there is a meeting during the day of the 18th of April entitled, “Where Next For The Student Movement“, which is going to have delegates from Education Not For Sale, the recent sit-in movement, and many others. There is a blog for it at http://studentcoordination.wordpress.com/ as well ^_^

Newcastle went  under on Tuesday, and Manchester has (after over 30 days!) now finished its occupation. Just keeping you all on the ball

• Tuesday: UEL has agreed to the occupiers demands, including 6 scholarships worldwide (they only asked for 5!), and 3 specifically for Palestinian students
• Wednesday: a day of mail-jamming for the Manchester occupation (they have now been in occupation for one month, with their vice-chancellor so far failing to enter into negotiations)
• Thursday: the hearing of Matt Vicary, the suspended Equal Opps officer, was meant to go ahead (though I have heard on the grapevine that it was postponed…)
  

I managed to get my hands on an interview with a participant of the NYU occupation, talking about why it has been seen by some as a “failed” attempt.

Some interesting points:

• They mention the UK occupations and how they wanted to show solidarity (their occupation was not mainly about Gaza, unlike others)
• Gave reasons of why it didn’t achieve its goals: because it was depoliticised, so was not taken seriously; because they weren’t inclusive enough (and failed to mention the political aspect of the occupation when engaging with outsiders); they didn’t know how to negotiate; they failed to explain how the process of consensus works in meetings, and so meetings ended up being quite undemocratic; and how their lack of strategy discussion really hurt their actions in the long run

Check it out! It’s in M4A format, sorry…

University of the Arts (London) ended their occupation on Wednesday afternoon after receiving the following letter from their rector Nigel Carrington:

“1. ‘Condemnation of bombings of educational institutions in GAZA’.
The Rector will release the following statement through communication channels of the University:
“The University of Arts London deplores violence wherever it occurs and considers access to education, freedom of expression and the role of international law for the people of GAZA and Israel to be of fundamental importance”.

2. ‘Links to educational institutions in GAZA’
The University will consider a request from an educational institution in GAZA. This will be subject to the normal processes of scrutiny undertaken by the University with regards to all partnerships and collaboration.

3. ‘Scholarships’
The University will explore establishing an ‘international humanitarian’ scholarship.

4. ‘Events and Exhibition’
The University will support activities, including the use of appropriate space and promotion, for fundraising and exhibitions to aid humanitarian relief efforts in GAZA.”

Result!

Strathclyde have secured a number of victories, for example cancelling a contract with Eden Springs and getting scholarships for Palestinian students. Check out more of their story over at Indymedia.

Also, Cardiff is now being occupied after a Books Not Bombs protest segued into a larger action of solidarity.

Check out UAL’s Facebook group. Their demands are:

1. UAL must issue a full public statement condemning the bombings of educational institutions in Gaza. This statement must be official and formal in its entirety.
2. UAL must agree to break all corporate links with Israel to add pressure on its denial of Palestinians human rights.
3. UAL must survey its resources with the aim of donating any unused or out of date books, computers, furniture or other teaching resources with an educational institute within Gaza. A link should be established between the two academic institutions and sustained support should be maintained for a minimum of 5 years.
4. UAL must provide 10 fully-funded scholarships to Palestinian students affected by the recent conflict.
5. UAL with the support of the UALPSC, must organise a one-day intercollegiate charity event to raise funds for humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
6. UAL must agree to hold an exhibition curated in-part by the UALPSC. Artworks exhibited to focus on the conflict and humanitarian crisis. shown in one of the University’s spaces of the UAL PSC’s choice.

Also, we’ve got Plymouth to add to the roster…

1. That the University of Plymouth issue a statement condemning the recent and continuing atrocities perpetrated by Israel in the Gaza strip.
2. The University should officially denounce the attacks on civilians, the systematic obstruction of humanitarian aid and the targeting of academic institutions, hospitals, places of worship and international peace keeping facilities.
3. That the University of Plymouth cease to invest directly or indirectly in companies complicit in human rights abuses in the Gaza strip and internationally.
4. That no Israeli goods or goods produced by companies that have directly funded the State of Israel be sold on campus.
5. That the University of Plymouth provide complete financial scholarships for six students from Gaza University which has been bombed by the Israeli military.
   That any surplus educational resources available to the University of Plymouth are provided to Gaza University and that the shipping of these resources be fully paid for by the University of Plymouth.
6. That there be no legal, financial, or academic measures taken against anyone involved in or supporting the occupation. All those involved will be guaranteed free movement in and out of the occupied space, with open access to electricity and internet.

In the report Fuelling conflict: foreign arms supplies to Israel/Gaza on the misuse of foreign-supplied weaponry during the recent Gaza conflict that Amnesty International has just published, they call for a UN arms embargo against Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. The fact that both sides committed war crimes by targetting civilians was central to this conclusion. The call extends to both the UN Security Council and Obama’s administration.

Mentioned in the report was the fact that a company in Lichfield (UAV Engines) may have supplied specially-designed engines for Israeli drones as mentioned in our post MPs concerned about arms exports to Israel – leading Amnesty to “question the lack of a robust system of end-use monitoring of British-made equipment sent to Israel and elsewhere”. Lockheed Martin and Boeing were also named explicity.

Here are some links to read about this for yourself:

• Amnesty UK
• BBC News
• The Guardian
• Haaretz
• Al Jazeera

International NGOs are coming out in agreement with the logic behind what we did at Warwick – as we always claimed, we are not alone.

Students at NYU have been tricked into leaving by being offered negotiations, only to be detained and penalised. This sort of disgraceful conduct should not be permitted by any university, here or abroad. As international observers to this, we have the chance for our voices to be all the more powerful! We should be calling on NYU to (1) rescind suspensions, dorm evictions and all other disciplinary action (2) drop all criminal charges (3) meet the students’ demands. Please send e-mails to the addresses contained in the following:

Today New York University has shown its true face more than ever. Claiming to be a “private university in the public service,” it is clearly not even in the service of those students whose tuitions allow it to exist.

Earlier today, NYU cut power to all outlets in the occupied space and turned off the wireless internet.  Obviously this was an attempt to silence and intimidate the occupiers who have broad-based support.

Then, NYU said it would negotiate and instead detained and suspended the student negotiators when they showed up.  Security has now broken through the barricade and people are being detained and suspended.

Instead of dialog and negotiation, the NYU administration has shown they prefer the authoritarian, dissent-quashing, dictator route. It is a true reflection of how they run their university. Nothing but thugs with suits on, interested in getting rich under the guise of “education.”

Be prepared to defend any individual or group that is targeted academically or legally for their role in the occupation. Widespread support for the occupation and its demands will not be extinguished by NYU’s hypocritical, tyrannical behavior.

Email NYU Administrators. Demand amnesty and no suspensions:

NYU President John Sexton: john.sexton@nyu.edu
John Beckman, NYU Spokesperson: jhb5@nyu.edu
Office of the Provost: provost@nyu.edu
Office of the Vice President: evp@nyu.edu

A girl who has been suspended is updating via her Twitter account – check it out by clicking here.

Brum IMC film: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/02/422700.html

Despite the circumstances in which the occupation ended the occupiers still secured a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor and on Thursday 22nd January met with him to discuss their demands from the occupation. The meeting was quite unproductive and resulted in effectively no commitments at all from the university, leaving the occupiers to consider a next move.

The occupation was followed by a large and successful protest (see: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/419829.html), also on the 22nd January, organised by a coalition of student societies, but the event went un/misreported by university media, most notably the widely read ‘Redbrick’ studet newspaper. In an article entitled ‘Iron Curtain’ in the paper two weeks later, a Redbrick journalist spilled the beans on University and Guild of Students (the student union at Birmingham – who have a veto on content) censorship of reporting of the Gaza-related events. An exchange of letters published in the paper has also slowly enabled news of the week of action to get out to Birmingham students.

At a meeting of Guild council on Thursday 19th February the Palestinian society finally managed to submit the motions relating to the Gaza crisis which they were prevented from tabling at the January meeting by Guild officers. However, during the meeting a coalition of zionists and Guild officers conspired to amend the motion so that it was converted into one preventing all further debate and discussion of Palestine in the council in the future (until it expires or is overturned in a future meeting). They then carried the vote by a small majority, once again shutting down all debate on the Palestinian issue in the union.

Despite these perceived setbacks, the occupation and protests have inspired people and united many groups on campus behind a common cause and are provoking a long -awaited response to suppression of political activity by the university and student union on this and other matters. Supporters of human rights and the self-determination of the Palestinian people at the University of Birmingham will continue to organise despite the complete contempt shown towards them by their union and university authorities and the criminalisation of their activities by the police. The struggle continues!

It’s always good to keep everyone up-to-date! This post is quite info and link heavy…

• In December, New School in America actually occupied with similar sentiments to our own. Check it out at their web site archive, or their blog. People from this occupation are helping at NYU too!
• 16th Feb: Edinburgh secure various victories, details at their blog.
• 18th Feb: St Andrew’s, UWE  and UEL go under.  After presenting a petition (already signed by over 30 academics and 700 students) to the Principal of the University, around 50 people occupied Lower College Hall at St Andrew’s in protest at the University’s complicity in the Israeli occupation. Details here, Indymedia article here. Also UWE’s blog and UEL’s.
• 19th Feb: NYU in New York goes under. Details here! This is spreading… I’ll also link you into a message board post from my friend who was at NYU for a bit.
• At the moment: a conference is going on called After Gaza: Continuing the Struggle on Campus (Where next for the Student movement for Palestine) at SOAS. We couldn’t send any delegates down (union elections this week stole our time) but we hope it goes successfully!

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2009/01/419829.html

Post Occupation Statement

After successfully occupying room LR4 in the Arts Building for 12 hours yesterday those occupying were forced to leave the room at about 9pm last night due to the exceptionally heavy handed approach taken by the University of Birmingham. The University of Birmingham threatened to remove the occupants with force forewarning them that they would be in “breach of the peace” if they did not leave the building. During negotiations of our demands the entrance to the room was then compromised by security guards and police making it impossible to maintain a secure hold on the room. After accepting a meeting with the Vice Chancellor to discuss the demands the occupants finally left chanting “FREE FREE Palestine”. Outside the building there were 2 police vans and numerous police cars, proving that The University of Birmingham was prepared to use such an extreme level of force against its students conducting a peaceful protest.

The University clearly do not want any form of activist student movement on campus, but the support from students and other members of the University yesterday shows that this is not the end of the campaign. It is crucial to remain in solidarity with the cause and keep fighting until the demands are met.

The meeting with the Vice Chancellor will be held on Thursday 22nd January at 9.45 am until 10.15 am, please listen out for further developments on the demands and future actions [to be reported above].

STUDENTS FOR A FREE PALESTINE!

This is a repost from https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2009/01/419775.html .

22 January 2009: ISM London issues declaration supporting student occupations

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

ISM London offers support and solidarity to the numerous student occupations and sit-ins around the UK in recent weeks. This response to the most recent Israeli onslaught on Gaza has been one of the most important initiatives in the movement. Generating pressure on our higher education establishments to take a stand against Israel and the war crimes it commits is vital. We stand in solidarity with the many Palestinians, students, activists, academics and members of the public who are now being more and more vocal about the boycott of Israel as a means of both exerting international pressure on the Israeli apartheid system, and standing in solidarity with the resistant Palestinian people.

ISM activists all around the UK are available to speak about their experiences on the ground in Palestine and are contactable via ISM London ( i…@ism-london.org.uk). An ISM speaker will be at the Warwick sit-in tonight. For those interested in visiting Palestine, we can also organise training events around the UK if you can organise a group large enough (usually 10 or 15). Email training@ism-london.org.uk for more details.

Current or recent UK student occupations we know of:

* SOAS: http://soassolidarity4gaza.blogspot.com
* LSE: http://lseoccupation.blogspot.com
* Kings: http://kcloccupation.blogspot.com
* Warwick: http://warwicksolidaritysitin.wordpress.com
* Essex: http://www.visitpalestine.asia/page.cfm/id/98207
* Birmingham: http://birminghamoccupation.wordpress.com
* Sussex: http://sussexoccupation.blogspot.com
* NEW TODAY: Bodleian building, Oxford: http://occupiedoxford.wordpress.com/

ISM London wesbsite: http://www.ism-london.org.uk
Main ISM website, with the latest from Gaza: http://www.palsolidarity.org

More info on the boycott campaign:

http://bdsmovement.net/

http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=882_0_1_0_C

We would like to express our solidarity to all students occupying in solidarity with Gaza. As of now, 11 universities in the UK have seen or are currently under occupation (including, of course, our own). We have provided as many links as we can on the right to the other occupations and are sending messages of support. Who says student activism is dead?!

The occupation ended at around 9pm on Tuesday night after 12 hours in. At 7pm on Tuesday the university and West Midlands police colluded together, as negotiations with the university continued, to lay siege to the occupation. They closed the building down at 7pm (it usually shuts 9-10pm) and started kicking people out. No exceptions were made for staff or visitors and their actions prevented several teaching and other activities taking place in the building that evening. From this point on they (tried to) prevent us from getting water and did not allow people to bring in food from outside. We were visited by the Registrar and the Head of the College of Arts and Law in this time who offered us a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor to discuss our demands in exchange for leaving the building. Whilst these discussions took place the police and security staff increasingly made their presence felt outside the room and after our spokesperson returned from the lobby from a third round of negotiations a security guard pulled the door open and prevented us from closing it. At this point a stand off began as we blockaded the open door to the room with around 15 security and police hanging around outside. A long discussion ensued about what to do next which concluded in a vote to accept the offer in light of the situation and the apparent determination of the university and police to remove us by force. This was highlighted on our way off campus by the presence of two paddy wagons with around 30 police in tactical gear who continued to harass us for another half hour. This event raises obvious questions about the stance of the university towards peaceful protest and the lawfulness of the police’s involvement, who were always on hand during the day to offer their unwanted (and inappropriate?) political opinions and ‘mediation’, an issue which will be addressed in an article in the coming weeks.

So we left, to chants of ‘free free palestine’, to return to fight another day. It was certainly an amazing 12 hours and we had an enormous amount of support (thanks especially to all the Zionists who turned up – you were a non-stop source of entertainment). I think it has really started something at Birmingham (which certainly carried on today with the ‘official’ protest on campus) . The fight for justice continues.

In solidarity,

The students who occupied Arts LR4

So…. The University come back…. Wand this time they say the following

-They are not prepared to condemn the actions of Isreal as outlined in demand number 1.
-They are prepared to discuss the Birmingham-Ramallah Twinning Initiative. However, this could not be guarenteed in writing (Demand number 2)
-They are prepared to discuss the support for Palestinian students as outlined in deman Number 6.

BREAKING NEWS
…. AND WE HAVE A STAND OFF…..

We’ve had the Uni come back to us, and have offered us the following.

2 Meetings, one discussing the political demands and another to discuss the material support for Palestine.

However these responses were only issued verbally, and with a deadline of 7PM for a response.

Obviously the time is now past 7PM, and we feel that this is not acceptable. First of all, a faint promise, and nothing in concrete is pathetic. We are adults, and deserve at least the respect of a responce in writing. Furthermore, setting us a 60 minute deadline, after keeping us waiting for 9 hours is a blaitant show of abuse. We are not desperate, but defiant. We will not take the first thing offered, but everything that we demanded from the start…

So… We stay. until we get what we came here for…..

I’d like to take this oppertunity to say thank you to everyone who has taken part in this occupation in some way shape or form… From those who have been there from the start, through to those who have been here for the last hour taking part in the discussion.

Thry say numbers tell the facts. At time of writing, there are 42 people listening to this discussion, and a further 6 out flyering. The occupation has remained peaceful throughout, and no one connected with the occupation has caused any problems for any other students, Security Staff or Police. We believe that there was a situation with one individual earlier today, however he was not connected in any way with the occupation.

If you are in the Uni, please come down to talk to us. We are at Arts room LR4, and will remain here through to tonight. A human Rights worker will be here at 5PM, and we hope to have some photos or videos online at some point soon. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by, ans shown their solidarity to our Brothers and Sisters in Palestine.

Remember also the petition is online (We love 21st Century Technology) its available at http://www.handsheldhigh.net/petition.html

Wil

I’ve just made a petition….

http://www.handsheldhigh.net/petition.html

Please feel free to sign it.