It is in this way that I can relate to Newcastle University’s feelings of inconvenience towards the presence of ‘Apartheid off Campus’, who have for the past year dealt with noise, vigils and the occupation of buildings. Most importantly, their grass has been ruined.
Very occasionally though, I find out that my train has been delayed because someone has died. My mentality switches and I compare the feeling of arriving home late to the feeling of a family finding out that someone’s never coming home.
It is in this way I struggle to empathise with a university that seemingly lacks this perspective: at the time of writing this piece almost 42,000 Palestinian people have been murdered in Gaza since the 7th of October 2023, in addition to the ongoing occupation and killing of Palestinians since the 1948 Nakba. Israel is now also targeting Lebanon, with civilian lives there being treated with the same indifference.
The students have several aims, but their key goal is for the University to divest from companies that are funding the genocide (details available at @newcastleaoc on Instagram). I do not make any claims at all that I am an expert on the Middle East, but a small amount of research has quickly led to a deep discomfort with my university fees being invested in a way that supports Israel’s murder of civilians.
The University recently updated its charter with a ban on forms of protesting that are disruptive, whilst claiming to “protect the rights of [its] students to free speech and peaceful protest”. This clause is oxymoronic and deliberately vague, and I challenge readers to think of successful protests from the past that have not been disruptive. There is no requirement to agree with all the tactics of a group protesting; despite my support even I don’t agree with all the work of Apartheid off Campus. But perspective is vital and, like many protests over time, they are the ones on the right side of history.
The University is a business, and it has choices in what its money supports. Their response to being told that there is blood on their hands should not be ‘stop shouting’.