SYDNEY STUDENTS FOLLOW FOOTSTEPS OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES DEMAND END TO ISRAEL TIES
24/04/2024
University of Sydney student and staff activists commenced their first day of a campout in support of encampments at Columbia University and Barnard College, who are protesting institutional complicity in the genocide in Gaza. The Gaza Solidarity Encampment tents taking place in the US have been put up for almost one week, following police removal and the arrest of over 100 Columbia students.
Many universities around the US have followed suit in organising their protests, including Yale University, the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California Berkeley, Washington University, Vanderbilt University, The New School, Emerson College, Tufts University, UNC Chapel Hill, and New York University.
USyd student activists commenced a speak-out at 5:30 pm to begin their encampment efforts. They pitched tents emblazoned with graffiti reading “Free Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea”. Students from Macquarie University, UTS, and UNSW also attended in support.
Federal Greens Senator David Shoebridge said that he was proud to attend and see so many students “putting their connection to the university on the line”. Shoebridge condemned the university’s connection to weapons manufacturers such as Thales, stating that “you cannot take money from weapons manufacturers in an ethical system.”
Sydney University’s acting vice-chancellor, Annamarie Jagose, said the institution remained committed to allowing peaceful protests but warned anyone breaching the university’s rules would face disciplinary action.
LET US SHOW THESE INSTITUTIONS THAT THEY CAN NO LONGER MAINTAIN TIES WITH THE GENOCIDAL STATE!!
STUDENTS AND STAFF – YOU HAVE THE POWER! THE UNIVERSITY CANNOT FUNCTION WITHOUT YOU!
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE RESISTANCE AND PRESSURE THE UNIVERSITY TO DIVEST!
@usydacar @studentsforpalestineunsw @palestineactiongroup jennyleong.newtown @DavidShoebridge
English Script:
Protesters: Free, free, free Palestine. Sydney Uni you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide. Columbia first, USYD next. All universities must divest.
Female protester: Hi all, it’s me along Josh. And I am part of Palestine Action Group, we’re matching right now to the USYD encampment. If you’re around definitely come by and join. This is a really, really important action in solidarity with Columbia University and universities around the world who are disrupting the status quo to demand no more ties with Israel.
Jenny Leong: It is absolutely essential that we highlight the absolute disgrace that is the University of Sydney. The fact that they have not cut ties with those military agencies and with the Israeli authorities when it comes to arming a genocide that is causing attacks, destruction, devastation and horror on Palestinian people.
Protesters: Free, free, free Palestine.
