Queen Mary's Occupied!

News from Queen Mary University in London that they have gone into occupation. Congratulations guys, we are with you all the way.

Letter to David Lepper, MP

Arts a0002,

University of Sussex,

Falmer,

Brighton BN1 4ND

Dear Mr Lepper,

You are of course aware of the current wave of national university occupations taking place in protest at the recent actions of the Israeli Government. Here at Sussex University, out of the sixteen universities that are being occupied (including LSE, Oxford and Cambridge) we are one of the largest, and as such we wish to communicate to you our reasons for our discontent.

We are currently engaging in peaceful dialogue with our university administration regarding our demands and have made it clear that we mean them to do all that they can to help the Palestinian people. Our demands, like those of other occupying universities nationwide, include a boycott of Israeli goods; a statement of condemnation of the Israeli government’s actions; as well as educational and financial aid to Palestinian organisations and universities. We are a group of people with a cause. We have gathered much support, concern and awareness around the siege in Gaza, and we are gaining more and more. We urge you to end the suffering in Gaza and the West Bank to the best of your abilities.

We are disgusted that the UK government is not honouring it’s obligation under international human rights law to lift the unnecessary and disproportionate restriction currently placed on the movement of Palestinians and of goods in and out of the Gaza Strip. We demand an immediate independent investigation using the UK’s diplomatic tools in respect to the war crimes committed by the Israeli government – examples of which, unfortunately, are too many to list in a short letter.

It is an undeniable truth that innocent people are dying and being treated unjustly. Please do all you can to stop this suffering instead of stalling the process of justice with political procrastination, mislabelled as ‘international diplomacy’.

Listen to our voices: the students protesting nationwide twenty four hours a day; your constituents that support us; the thousands of people who have been protesting in Britain’s streets; but most of all the voices of those Palestinian people who have had their lives shattered who we see in the media everyday.

The message we send to you is very clear: not just as our representative in Parliament, but as a human being; end in the siege in Gaza

Yours sincerely,

The Sussex Occupation

Letter to director general of the BBC

Monday 26^th of January 2009

Arts a0002,

University of Sussex,

Falmer,

Brighton BN1 4ND

Dear Mr Thompson,

Millions of people in this country, and worldwide, have relied on the BBC to convey unbiased, truthful and transparent news for decades. We, a group of around a hundred Sussex University students are writing to convey our deepest outrage with the frankly biased news coverage concerning the current actions of the Israeli government.

We have joined together, like many other universities over the country, and occupied a University building until our university administration meets our demands of boycotting Israeli goods and giving financial and academic aid to universities and civilians on Palestinian occupied land. We are here to call for aid and awareness of the reality of the events that are happening in the Middle East at the moment, and you should be ashamed that we no longer feel we can use BBC journalism as a reliable source.

On a number of occasions you have misinformed the public on the very facts that have made the massacre so despicable. You have lied about the deaths of innocent children and the disgraceful use of weapons by the Israeli government; you have not shown appeals of aid for fears of being ‘biased’. For almost a week now we have joined together despite different backgrounds, religions and political-lineages under one cause: to show solidarity with the suffering people of Palestine. This undeniable horror is in need of desperate attention.

The job of the BBC is to respond to the interests and opinions of the British public. We are in our millions, united by the knowledge that what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is unacceptable. Only when the grim reality of the Israeli occupation is reported truthfully will the BBC be working towards the public’s goal, not against it.

We urge you to broadcast the truth, as millions worldwide depend on you to do. No more lies. No more fictions.

Yours sincerely,

The Sussex Occupation

Letter sent to Gordon Brown

Arts a0002,

University of Sussex,

Falmer,

Brighton BN1 4ND

Dear Mr Brown,

You are of course aware of the current wave of national university occupations taking place in protest at the recent actions of the Israeli Government. Here at Sussex University, out of the sixteen universities that are being occupied (including LSE, Oxford and Cambridge) we are one of the largest, and as such we wish to communicate to you our reasons for our discontent.

We are currently engaging peaceful dialogue with out university administration regarding our demands have made it clear that we mean them to do all they can to help the Palestinian people. Our demands, like those of other occupying universities nationwide, include a boycott of Israeli Goods; a statement of condemnation of the Israeli government’s actions; as well as educational and financial aid to Palestinian organisations and universities. We are a group of people with a cause; and we have gathered much support, concern and awareness around the siege of Gaza and the West Bank, and we are gaining more and more.

Hence we speak for many more than ourselves when we say that we are disheartened, if not disgusted, by the dire stance the British government has taken on the persecution and slaughter carried out by the Israeli state. Time and time again we are on the streets of Britain, en masse, calling for those of you who are able to directly end the siege in Gaza and the West Bank– you have not listened.

It is your duty to uphold the implementation of human rights law and support the investigation of those who break them to be held accountable. The world has witnessed the Israeli military breaking these laws repeatedly, yet not enough has been done to hold the perpetrators accountable. You are not fulfilling your duty to the British people by ignoring these events, and further; you are not fulfilling your duty to human rights and to those who are suffer through their transgression.

We urge you to use your diplomatic tools to stop this suffering; do not prolong it with procrastination and silence masked as ‘international diplomacy’.

Listen to our voices: not just of the students occupying universities; not just of those who are showing their support; not just the hundreds of thousands of protestors and commentators of the recent weeks – but most of all listen to the voices of the Palestinians as they are mercilessly attacked and mistreated.

The task we demand of you is very clear: end the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. This is the demand of millions of people, and like our occupation, they will not back down until this demand is met.

Yours sincerely,

The Sussex Occupation

Letter sent to Palestinian universities

Dear Students of ….,

We from the University of Sussex occupation are writing to convey to you our support and solidarity with the appalling circumstances affecting your everyday lives.

We represent around a hundred students from numerous backgrounds, religions and political-lineages. We all feel compelled to join together under the common cause of showing solidarity with the victims in Palestine. We have been occupying our main lecture theatre for about a week now, demanding the University of Sussex administration give financial and academic aid; as well as a statement of support to Universities and civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Please be aware of this message of support, not only from members of the occupation, but also of those who have shown support for our actions; and most importantly, the hundreds of thousands of British civilians who have been campaigning for the end of the occupation of Palestinian land for years; and who will not stop until justice is achieved.

You are in our thoughts.

In solidarity,

The Sussex occupation

Speaker session Tuesday evening

130 people attended today's speaker session to hear the following speakers:

Geoffrey Whitfield, former chaplain of Sussex and executive director of 'The World Sports Peace Project', spoke of the importance of conflict prevention over conflict resolution and gave us ideas for actions that we can ourselves take towards this end.

Kees Van Der Pijl, of the Sussex International Relations department, educated us on the history of the conflict in relation to Western imperialism and the Napoleonic empire, explaining the historical origins of Israel as a European colonisation project for displaced Jews.

John Molyneux dismantled some of the common media myths that operate as smokescreens for the issues, including the conflation of a stance against the policies of Israel with anti-semitism; the notion of 'impartiality' as not taking sides in situations of the absolute dispossession and oppression of a people, and the idea that the Israel-Palestine conflict is simply a matter of two peoples that don't get on rather than occupation.

Update on negotiatons - Tuesday 27th, afternoon

Rumours of a victory circulated among the occupiers yesterday after management released a statement which at first sight seemed to respond positively to most of our demands. However, after a closer reading and some discussion, the general sentiment was that we were quite pleased with management’s draft and after discussion decided to add some minor additions to the text, in the interest of clarity. The draft document, with which management wanted to come to “mutual consent” and an end to the occupation, outlined the establishment of a scholarship scheme “that extended opportunities available for students from regions affected by conflict or catastrophe.” It also said they would attempt to increase the number of applicants from Palestine. We made some revisions to management’s text, which came to read:

“The University will undertake to work with USSU to establish an international scholarship scheme, the Mahmoud Darwish scheme, functional as of the academic year 2009-2010, that extends opportunities available for students from regions affected by conflict or catastrophe, seeking to promote the idea that the victims of the recent conflict in Palestine should be the beneficiaries of this scholarship scheme.”

The rest of the text on scholarships was left intact. A small amendment was made concerning the boycott demand, namely that the University would work with the USSU Ethical and Environmental Committee specifically, rather than just the USSU executive. A small compromise was made, in that the source of foods would now be labelled clearly so that people can make a conscious choice on whether they want to buy Israeli products or not, rather than outright boycott of these products.

This morning at 8am, an email from Phil Harvey, the University’s registrar, arrived outlining the VC’s “deep disappointment” at our response. It read: “The amendments add very little of substance to an agreement that Professor Wright and I explained to you very carefully yesterday needed to be settled and the occupation ended last night.” Further occupation of the lecture hall was deemed unacceptable. We were given an ultimatum until 9am this morning to agree to the statement and leave Arts A2, or management would withdraw the statement.

An emergency meeting was held today at 11am about this last email, and the general consensus was that the attitude from management seemed awkward. If our amendments added “very little of substance” to an agreement that “needed to be settled and the occupation ended last night”, why was there “deep disappointment” from the VC?

The occupation continues and we are looking forward to having further communications with management today.

Some more statements of support...

“You certainly aren't isolated - you're giving voice to the feelings of horror of the majority of people everywhere. Good on you.”- Ben Drake

“The occupation is not disruptive and even if it was having an impact on my cushti day to day student life- what a small price to pay. the organisers of this occupation have influenced people to stand up for what's right. I'm proud that I go to uni where such people exist.”- Huda Wallaya

“I was part of the LSE occupation and you are all amazing for sticking up for so many days and not giving in! Solidarity from the LSE!”- Anja Krausova

“I was a technician at bristol university for 15 years and a strong trade unionist and member of the joint unions committee. I cannot tell you how delighted I am to see students taking radical political action again. Don't let anyone tell you that you have no power.
Keep it up!”- Will Brown

“Glad to hear you're still going strong!All the best from King's!!!”- KLC occupation in solidarity with Gaza

“Complete solidarity from Scarborough. Keep it going until they get their heads out of their asses and do something about this shit!”- Ben Tyson

“Just wanted to send a message of solidarity from Campaign Against Arms Trade to those of you who have occupied your universities in solidarity with Gaza and to those of you who are continuing to do so. It is really exciting to see such a resurgence of direct action against the war and militarism on campus taking place, and to see the occupations spreading across the country. Your demands are important and it is impressive how many have been won!”- Anne-Marie, Campaign Against Arms Trade

keep it up!- Jesse Scharf

“I have just seen on the internet about your occupation in support of the people of Gaza and against the atrocities performed by the israeli govenment and military.
I would like to offer my support. Thanks- Supportive Brighton Resident, Sue

"This is to say how strongly I support your action, and how much I hope that our students here in Cardiff will follow your example. What the Israelis have done to the Palestinian people during these past months - with the active complicity of the American, British and many European governments - constitutes a war-crime of the first magnitude and a genocidal act by any reasonable definition of that term. If those who ordered this mass slaughter and who carried it out - politicians and military leaders alike - are not held accountable and made to answer for their actions under international law it will open to way to any number of future atrocities and crimes against humanity. Your courageous protest will at least make it more difficult for our government (along with the BBC and other agencies of mass disinformation) to continue in their present course of abject compliance with the dictates of US-Israeli axis propaganda. In solidarity and with the greatest admiration." - Christopher Norris, Professor of Philosophy, University of Cardiff, Wales

Update Monday evening

Despite rumours to the contrary today, our occupation is still very much ongoing and we are now preparing for day seven of our occupation tomorrow. We received some very positive communication from the university management today and having talked everything over at our general meeting tonight it seems that a positive resolution is in sight. Tomorrow daytime is wholly given over to lectures in Arts A2 and we need to maintain our strong silent presence: please do come and sign up to the rota if you have a spare hour in your day.

A member of the occupation was interviewed today for the awesome radical culture 'zine last hours and more media appearances are on the cards: watch this space!

Another speaker session is scheduled for tomorrow at 6pm with Geoffrey Whitfield, former chaplain of Sussex and executive director of 'The World Sports Peace Project', a conflict prevention NGO. We will also hear from Kees Van Der Pijl of the Sussex International Relations department, and will be very pleased to welcome the former national executive of Jews for Justice for Palestinians.