SOAS suppressing its Palestine solidarity movement is a symptom of UK state silencing amidst Gaza genocide

Just two days after a rally in support of Palestinian rights at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London on 9 October, the SOAS Palestine Society and fellow students were suspended, warned of disciplinary action, and banned from campus.

The Palestine Society’s rally joined hundreds of protests worldwide, including in London, as Israel’s actions escalated into genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Following the event, SOAS sent letters to an Alumni, irreversibly banning them from campus, suspended four students from their studies, and issued the rest of the student society’s committee members with formal warnings for rallying on the steps of SOAS – the historic centre of activism on campus, where we held a similar action without consequence as recently as the end of September.

''In a country where waiving a Palestinian flag or singing the chant “Free Palestine” could be considered a criminal offence, the suspensions, ban, and warnings are in complete accordance with an environment structurally linked to bias in favour of Zionism."

The university still needs to contact our members to follow up on the disciplinary procedures and investigations we were to be subject to. They informed all those concerned that the process would begin within ten working days, but as of writing no contact has been made for this to happen. SOAS is in violation of their own deadline, effectively making these preliminary suspensions indefinite.

Meanwhile, SOAS seems to be spending its efforts engaging in media and social media commentary about the suspensions and continued subtly propagating the falsehood that the Palestine Society were responsible for an irregular fire alarm sounding when our members and fellow student body were rallying.

A history of complicity

Still, the university’s response to our rally does not come as a complete surprise.

In a country where waiving a Palestinian flag or singing the chant “Free Palestine” could be considered a criminal offence, the suspensions, ban, and warnings are in complete accordance with an environment structurally linked to bias in favour of Zionism.

However, this repression will have severe impacts on us, the committee, and our fellow students who got suspended, as well as our campus' mobilisation in support of Gaza at this crucial time.

It will also have a chilling effect on academic freedoms, on and off campus, echoing the new wave of anti-Palestinian McCarthyism being seen across Western campuses.

To this end, it is not coincidental that institutional guidelines are created the way they are and then applied to criminalise students and increase surveillance as we have seen; for example, with the expansion and mobilisation of so-called 'health and safety' measures to facilitate protest repression.

The repressive wave at SOAS took a turn to the worse under the tenure of controversial Director Adam Habib, after his arrival in 2021. Since then, the political and institutional shift in our democratic structures – namely our students’ union – has coincided with the increased financing of security and surveillance

The presence of security on campus now feels even stronger.

The reality is that as much as SOAS wants to promote itself as a "de-colonial" "world" university, it appears to still operate as an institution advancing colonial interests in the imperial core that is the United Kingdom.

The university only confirmed what we knew would stand with the narrative, power, and interests of the UK and Israeli states.

SOAS’ actions also confirm another reality: if a university like SOAS punishes Palestine solidarity, then anyone can be targeted by other universities for supporting Palestine. This means that not only is their education at risk, but their very physical safety and mental wellbeing are worsened. 

Yet to be true to the spirit of our movement is to say that despite this fear, most of us are still willing to speak out. We have also been supported through a petition endorsed by a wide range of student societies including those representing sports, cultural and political groups and activities, as well as much of the staff at SOAS.

The hope we bear therefore lies in the support that the people, students, staff, workers, and passers-byes hold for a free Palestine.

The SOAS Palestine Society is one of the oldest university Palestine Societies in the UK that has been working to popularise Palestinian Liberation at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) for decades. It is made up of a mixture of undergraduate and postgraduate students, studying different degrees and who come from different backgrounds.

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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.

Editor's note: Following the publication of this article a SOAS spokesperson contacted The New Arab stating the following: "Students at SOAS have not been suspended for taking part in a Palestine solidarity action. SOAS worked with the SOAS Students’ Union to make a suitable location available on campus for the solidarity event. However, when the event took place, it was held on the steps of SOAS' Main Building, violating our health and safety protocol. Fire alarms were set off and part of the estate was vandalised, halting lectures for the day. The small number of suspensions relate to these incidents."