New term, same struggle: Pro-Palestine students won't be deterred by UK university crackdown

As we approach a year of genocide in Gaza, we watch as Britain’s ruling class — of which universities serve the interests — continue to unashamedly provide Israel with political and economic cover.

Students in Britain and across the globe have been mobilising and protesting through every means at their disposal, with their demands clear: divestment from the Zionist regime and an end to the capitalist war machine, all in pursuit of Palestine's liberation from the river to the sea. 

By April, the student movement escalated, with the University of Warwick students setting up the first encampment in Britain — a move that sparked a wave of similar actions, resulting in over 36 encampments involving more than 1,000 students spread across England, Wales, and Scotland.

The university-led efforts to deflate the momentum of the encampments have been multifaceted, combining legal action, lengthy and extremely bureaucratic negotiation processes, and strategic narrative control. 

At several sites, including Bristol, London, and Birmingham, students have been threatened with legal action designed to force them to dismantle their protests.

Universities, such as the University of Nottingham, have sought possession orders from the courts to clear encampments, citing health and safety concerns as their justification for legal action.

The tactics used by university administrators have ranged from legal manoeuvres to increased security measures, all designed to erode the resolve of the protesters.

University administrations have leaned heavily on a narrative of "student conduct breaches" and "safety risks" to justify their crackdowns on the encampments. 

The academy doubles up as a security state

By manipulating concerns over safety and conduct, universities have crafted a narrative that undermines the legitimacy of the encampments while shielding themselves from criticism.

At the London School of Economics, the administration ended negotiations with protesters, citing fire risks and safety concerns as reasons for obtaining a court order to evict the encampment, becoming the first UK university to do so. 

In some cases, the police were called on students. The Newcastle University student encampment faced police repression, where officers violently assaulted students after they occupied a university building in response to management's refusal to meet their demands.

Similarly, at Oxford University, the administration emphasised potential damage to lawns and irrigation systems, fencing off areas and even using a bulldozer to clear a memorial garden created by students.

Nottingham and Birmingham have been granted legal permission to dismantle encampments following a high court ruling. The legal challenges have prompted many encampments to close or pause for the summer, including those at the University of Warwick and Oxford. 

It is unsurprising, therefore, that the persistent institutional repression of student protestors has deflated some of the revolutionary energy garnered by the encampments of last spring.

This lull in spirit makes sense, as the summer holidays naturally interrupt the flow of student activity. More insidious, however, is how universities have scurried to take advantage of these quieter campuses to scheme new ways to stigmatise student organising,   with universities and institutions pushing narratives that demonise protest, falsely portraying it as the isolated outrage of a "few students."

This deliberate misrepresentation attempts to erase the long-standing history of student resistance in Britain. In reality, these protests reflect a widespread and popular demand for universities to end their complicity in funding and supporting Israel's genocidal war in Gaza. 

We need to understand that these tactics have been deployed because universities recognise the power of unified student movements in challenging institutional complicity.

The increased repression is a testament to the power of these actions, as the establishment grows more desperate to stifle a movement that is not only achieving tangible wins but also fostering a new wave of organisers committed to the fight for liberation.

Students begin a lifetime of learning about Palestine

Despite these repression tactics, students have not backed down, and in some cases have managed to pressure universities to sever ties with companies complicit in the genocide.

Furthermore, some universities are now forced to review their partnerships in response to students’ demands. Even as administrators drag this process out, we must identify the successes of the movement on a larger scale.

As a result of the encampments, the student movement for Palestine in Britain has never been more unified; it has built a foundation for itself to become a full-blown front in the far diaspora. We should be proud of this milestone, but more importantly, we must harness it and build on it. 

We know we cannot depend on institutional representation as both local and national student unions fail to champion the collective student voice, but we’ve learned in the past few months that we do not necessarily need it.

In preparation for a new academic year, we need to further activate solidarity networks to support students, reinvigorate unified student action and ensure long-standing continuity in student organising for Palestine. This is a time when all of us can make interventions that can carry us forward.

Through reiterating that we do not organise in a vacuum or isolation, we can continue building sustainable student-staff coalitions as our foundation and launchpad, while also fostering regional student networks for collaboration and co-learning.

This process cannot be confined to one campus at a time but unified across all universities as one movement that grows and learns collectively and collaboratively. 

We also need to capture one of the most essential lessons learned in the encampments: the importance of collective learning and engaging in political education within an emancipatory pedagogical framework.

From here, we can begin to critically reflect on the encampments and better locate them as one tactic amongst others within a long-term strategy. Such interventions are necessary so that these achievements are not misinterpreted as one-off impulsive reactions.

The encampments and the rush to repress them mark a historical turn in student organising for Palestine. Students have come to understand that they are not merely temporarily passing through an institution during a short degree stint, but rather influential actors playing a vital role in building a movement with mass character, in solidarity with our comrades in Palestine. 

The Palestinian Youth Movement is a transnational, independent grassroots movement of young Palestinians and Arabs dedicated to the liberation of our homeland and people. We currently comprise of 14 chapters across North America and Europe.

Follow them on Twitter: @palyouthmvmt

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.