EXCLUSIVE: Glasgow students ‘will not rest’ until university divests from Israel’s genocide

Following an encampment and hunger strike, Glasgow University students “will continue to exhaust every form of protest until divestment is achieved”, according to one student who spoke to the Canary. This is despite University of Glasgow (UoG) management preferring to call the police and threaten students with suspension rather than end the institution’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

For months, students have been protesting against the university’s £6.8m worth of shareholdings in arms companies complicit in Israeli war crimes, a situation that flies in the face of overwhelming opposition from students and staff. And one UoG student told us how resistance to the institution’s position will only continue to grow.

Massive support for divestment at Glasgow University

The student, whose name we will not reveal due to UoG attempts to punish students actively opposing genocide, said:

Divestment has overwhelming support from Glasgow staff and students, including from the student-elected Palestinian Rector Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, the staff unions (the University and College Union, and Unison), the QMU student union and the student representative council.

UoG students overwhelmingly voted outspoken medical expert Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah rector of the university in 2024. He had made it clear that a vote for him would represent “opposition to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza”, “pressure on the university to officially and unequivocally condemn” it, and a call for the institution to ‘cease its complicity’ in the genocide by divesting from the arms trade.

Two decades earlier, UoG students had voted whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu as rector. Vanunu had spent 18 years in prison, and 11 of those in solitary confinement, “for revealing Israel’s nuclear weapons programme”.

Another significant show of support for divestment also happened last week. As the student explained:

A high point of the encampment came when the result of the SRC referendum, which took place during the week of camp, was announced. The referendum asked whether the university should cease investments in companies that derive more than 10% of their revenue from arms. The referendum received a record high turnout – a massive 8,668 students voted ‘Yes’ which amounted to 89.3% of students who voted.

Senior management’s continued refusal to end its complicity is in clear opposition to its students and staff. Yet, management continues to ignore the voices of their students and staff who have time and time again spoken up for the past 15 months in favour of divestment. Divestment is inevitable. And when Glasgow university does divest it will be over 500 days too late.

UoG’s stubborn support for genocide is making student escalation necessary

The student added that the week-long encampment was “a part of our continued escalation on campus, in the face of increased repression from management”, saying:

UoG management have called police to campus 4 times in the past 2 weeks. Police have repeatedly threatened to arrest peaceful student protesters

The hunger strike, meanwhile, “lasted for 10 days” and “was an extreme and vital escalation which was taken to highlight the urgency of divestment”. With 15 students taking part, it:

was necessary in order to show management the commitment of their students to divestment and the fight for Palestinian liberation- the students literally put their lives on the line.

The university didn’t blink. But as the student told us:

the students will never be deterred, we will continue to exhaust every form of protest until divestment is achieved.

And with the encampment, they said, anti-genocide protesters were able to “engage with the wider student and staff body and grow our movement”. They added:

Through political education and community events we are walking out stronger, ready to continue escalation until victory is written.

They also stressed that:

The solidarity and support shown to the camp has been overwhelming – HUNDREDS of people came to donate food, camping gear and supplies, came to play instruments and give talks, and offer their help and support. We are so grateful to the community.

The struggle continues at Glasgow University

The student explained that, following on from last week’s camp:

We’ve started this week by making sure those attending the university’s offer holders open day are fully informed about this university’s complicity in genocide, by disrupting welcome talks and marching through campus. Once again police were called.

They also told us that management banned another student from campus on 2 April “on a precautionary basis with immediate effect, pending further investigation of the matter” following disruption of the 1 April open day. This student faces accusations of “chanting and speaking at open day engineering and physics talks”.

The recent escalation in police involvement, meanwhile, follows on from previous threats from the powers that be:

The university has threatened student protesters with disciplinary action, but we will not stop. We will not rest. On the 23rd of October 2024 students received an email threatening disciplinary action after holding banners and chanting at a STEM careers fair, where BAE systems and other complicit companies had been invited to recruit graduates.

A month later, on the 27th of November, students held a hard picket of the Rankine engineering building to draw attention to the research partnerships between our engineering department and arms companies. Shortly after, deputy vice chancellor, David Duncan, targeted 2 students, privately sending them threatening emails alleging they were present at the picket – with zero evidence – and stating that participation in further student action will lead to “sanction, up to and including suspension of studies.”

UoG threats and fines will not deter students

The student also pointed out that:

Less than a week ago, a student was fined £2800 for spraying red paint over a university building using fire extinguishers to demand the university divests from arms companies and UK government impose a complete trade embargo on Israel, including arms sales.

Hannah Taylor, the person facing a fine for spraying paint, had taken action because the institution had “blatantly ignored the will of the majority of its students and staff”. She told the Canary previously that UoG management’s harsh treatment of her was an attempt “to deter further protest”. As she later explained in a crowdfunder, however, “Student Conduct team have since agreed to allow me back on campus to complete my degree if I pay half the damages of the cleaning”. And thanks to a large number of small donations, she very quickly reached her target.

The UoG student involved in the encampment also insisted that the power of solidarity will not fade, telling us:

We will not be deterred by management’s repression. We do not get to choose whether to act when every single university in Gaza has been bombed and over 12,000 students have been killed and will never graduate. We do not get to choose whether to act when Gaza is home to the largest number of amputee children in modern history, when more than 10 children a day have lost one or both of their legs, many without anaesthetic and some as young a one-year-old babies. It is an obligation to act during Genocide.

They added:

If people want to support us, they can send emails to UoG management in support of divestment and in opposition to police on campus and threats to students and follow us on insta at GU_JPS to keep up to date with latest actions.

Featured image supplied