Largest protests for Palestine and Lebanon in St Andrews

On Wednesday 9 October, a protest calling for the University’s solidarity towards Palestine gathered up to 350 people. As claimed by the Palestine Solidarity Society, they were the largest protests for Palestine that have taken place in St Andrews. The protest on 9 October called for the University to “divest from any companies which support the oppression of Palestinians; call for a ceasefire; support students and staff affected by the events in Palestine; and an academic boycott of Israeli institutions.”
The protest was organised collaboratively by the Socialist Workers Student Society (SWSS), the Palestine Solidarity Society, University and College Union (UCU), Amnesty International, St Andrews Muslim Student’s Association (STAMSA), and the Middle East North Africa Society (MENA). Following the protest, a march occurred through the streets of St Andrews, organised by SWSS.
The protest came following latest reports from the Gaza Military of Health that at least 41,000 Palestinians have been killed, with at least 700 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Palestinian health officials. At least 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, following the attacks on 7 October, 2023 which killed up to 1,200 Israelis, according to the Israeli government. They also follow the University Court’s decision to dismiss Rector Stella Maris in August after she publicly accused Israel of ‘genocidal attacks’ in November 2023.
Dugald Macfarlane, a member of the Socialist Workers Student Society, described the protest as an expression of “solidarity with the people of Palestine and all other Middle East countries that are feeling the full force of violence and suffering inflicted by the Israeli settler colonial system and state.”
He added how the protests also sought to “highlight and call for the accountability of the University's complicity and role [...] Their silence primarily and their failure to condemn what's going on in Palestine as a genocide. But also, the financial endowments that the University has within portfolios that have money going towards companies like Barclays Bank, which is then itself investing potentially [sic] some of that money in arms companies.”
As reported in its 2023 investment list, the University invests in Barclays, Carrefour Supermarche, Siemens, HSBC, and Sony which are companies that Amnesty, MENA, STAMSA and BAME Student Network claim either provide weapons to Israeli military or uphold systems of Israeli apartheid, according to the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) Movement. The UCU, however, announced that the University has divested from Booking.com, which was listed on the UN OCHR’s list as a company which operates under the illegal settlements in the West Bank.
The University has also increased the number of scholarships for Palestinian students (STEPS) by two places and now includes the funding of living costs. However, as informed by Patrick O’Hare, the Chair of St Andrews Education for Palestinian Students, only one place out of four has been filled this year due to two students unable to leave Gaza due to restrictions by the Israeli Defence Force and another turning down the offer for personal reasons. The University has promised to keep the places for them, when it is possible for them to make their way to St Andrews.
Macfarlane ended his interview by referring to the broader student movement:
“This is very much not just a St Andrews issue. One of the reasons that we are continuing to protest is in solidarity and taking our cues from a national and international student movement. It's been said before that students are the barometer of societal change.
For [the protests] still to be happening a year on from the initial breakout of the events in the Middle East is really quite significant. So, it's very much something that isn't going to go away.”
Photo from the Socialist Worker website
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