By Declan Kerr
Starting on Monday 29 April, students at UQ will begin an indefinite solidarity encampment for Palestine. They will be joining a global student movement, that has rocked university campuses in New York, California, Texas and Sydney over the past couple of weeks. We cannot stay silent and passive while our universities and governments are aiding and abetting an ongoing genocide.
Since October, the situation for Palestinians has gotten worse and worse. Israel has all but flattened Gaza, forcing the two million residents of one of the most dense enclaves in the world into the small border town of Rafah. Here, they are forced to hide in bombed out craters and collapsed buildings from the 24-hour onslaught of bombing. Israel has enforced a situation of mass starvation on Gazans, and there is nothing in Rafah resembling a medical system, let alone one capable of handling a population of two million starving people, among which disease has become rife. Low estimates of death tolls say at least 30,000 civilians have been killed. This is genocide.
The response of western governments has been despicable. The US and Australian governments have offered some weak criticism of Israel’s conduct of what they continue to claim is a war against terror, but we must say that Israel’s terror would not be possible without their continuing support. In Israel we see the conduct of a country hell-bent on destroying the Palestinian people. A country for which the US has declared “there are no red lines”, and which the Australian government calls a friend. For the people who run Australia, it does not matter if millions starve and are killed if it is done by a partner who is crucial to ensuring US and Australian interests are secure in the Middle East.
The light in this dark situation has been the global Palestine solidarity movement. Millions have joined protests around the world for Palestine, and in Australia, student-led activism has been particularly key in keeping regular rallies for Palestine going. These regular rallies have kept the heat on our governments and the media. They have kept the spotlight on Israel’s disgusting crimes. As long as these protests continue, no Palestinian will die in the dark and no crime Israel commits will be forgotten.
The solidarity encampments in the US have taken it up a notch. They have sent a strong message to our universities which are complicit in supporting weapons companies that help Israel carry out its genocide, and our governments which back Israel. That message is that not a single person or institution aiding genocide will be allowed peace until the Palestinian people are allowed justice and peace.
It is right that students at UQ will be joining them on Monday, both to show solidarity with the Palestinians and this international movement, but also to expose how universities in QLD are helping to facilitate genocide in Gaza. UQ rolls out the red carpet for despicable companies which help produce weapons of war, from Boeing to Dow chemical. These companies exploit the talents of students and researchers, which should be used to make the world a better place, to produce weapons they can sell to Israel. This cannot be tolerated.
While this encampment will not be happening at our campus, QUT students who are horrified by what’s happening in Gaza should also join the encampment at UQ and help make it as large and as broad as possible. Email your lecturers and your classmates, tell them you’ll be protesting for Gaza all week, and argue they should do the same. Help share the event on social media. If you have time to hand out leaflets or put up posters, please contact Students For Palestine QUT. Otherwise join the all-in student strike which will be happening on Thursday this week.
Hope to see you at a rally this week.
From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.
UQ Encampment opening rally: Monday 29th, 12PM in the Great Court, UQ
QUT contingent to the Student Strike for Palestine: Thursday 2nd, 12:30PM at Parliament House entrance to Gardens Point campus.
Contact S4P QUT on social media here.
