Irish Republican Socialist Forum - Leeds University Occupied

« Leeds University Occupied »

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.
Sept 3, 2010, 6:12am

Irish Republican Socialist Forum :: Other :: GAZA - News and Action :: Leeds University Occupied

Author

Topic: Leeds University Occupied (Read 429 times)

cogsy
Junior Member

member is offline

Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 71
Karma: 3

Leeds University Occupied
« Thread Started on Jan 24, 2009, 12:55am »

Hey people,

At 4.30pm yesterday around 30 students from Workers Power/Revolution and other activist groups occupied the Botany House building (near the Student Union) at Leeds University in protest against the attacks on Gaza. Their occupation continues and they have set up a blog - http://leedsunioccupation.blogspot.com/ - where they list the following demands:

University

- Open the books to show which companies that back the Israeli state the Uni is investing in and/or receiving funding from.
- Disinvestment from said companies
- To Release a statement condemning the Israeli state's attacks - and blockade on Gaza
- Surplus resources (computers, books etc) to be sent to students in Gaza
- Scholarships for at least five Gazan students to study in Leeds
- No repercussion, legal or otherwise for activists

Political

- We call on the government to condemn the Israeli state's attacks and blockade on Gaza
- To expel the Israeli ambassador from the UK
- For Israeli diplomats to lose their diplomatic status and be tried for their part in the attaks
- Demand the government does not send any military support to assist in the blockade or attacks on Gaza

The occupations in Leeds and worldwide against the Israeli invasion of Gaza are unpreceented. These new waves of occupations suggest that this heralds an entirely new shift politically and demonstrates that Gaza may have caused the Zionist movement lasting damage.

You can leave messages of solidarity and support at their blogspot or email them at leedsunioccupation@gmail.com . Please check http://www.workerspower.com/ and http://www.worldrevolution.org.uk/ over the next few days for reports and on the occupation.

Solidarity,
Cogsy

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." Stephen Jay Gould, 1980

League for the Fifth International - http://fifthinternational.org
REVOLUTION - http://worldrevolution.org.uk

Derry IRP
Administrator

member is offline

[avatar]

For National Liberation and Socialism

Joined: Oct 2003
Gender: Male

Posts: 1,767
Location: Derry, Occupied Ireland
Karma: 37

Re: Leeds University Occupied
« Reply #1 on Jan 24, 2009, 6:19pm »

Keep us all updated on what happens Cogsy.

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

COMMUNITIES AGAINST THE CUTS
www.no2cuts.com

"Let the fight go on!"
- INLA Volunteer and 1981 hungerstriker Patsy O'Hara

cogsy
Junior Member

member is offline

Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 71
Karma: 3

Re: Leeds University Occupied
« Reply #2 on Jan 26, 2009, 2:30pm »

The occupation is still going strong. On Saturday morning the occupiers were graced by the JSoc auditor Jak Codd, who heckled his Zionist balls off after emerging sh*t-faced from a nearby pub. Very dignified.

On Saturday a number of the occupiers joined a city centre protest on Gaza and spoke from the platform. Afterwards 20 people came up to the building with them and they had a meeting of about 50 people on the war, the ceasefire and why they are occupying.

The occupiers issued the following letter to pro-Palestinian activists in Leeds yesterday:

Dear friends,

As you will be aware a number of pro-Palestine activists are currently occupying the Botany House building at Leeds University. Our occupation is in support of the people of Gaza who have recently undergone a brutal massacre at the hands of the Israeli Defence Forces which has cost over a thousand Palestinian lives. They are still suffering Israeli aggression and a lacking of food, water and energy supplies as the result of a siege which seeks to break their will and hope.

Students up and down the country have held occupations in solidarity with Gaza, condemning the atrocities by the Israeli state. At the time of writing, 16 occupations at different universities have taken place.

This is an unprecedented national movement in Britain. Occupying students at Oxford reached contact with people in Gaza as they expressed their support. They spoke of the demands that they had won from their occupation including a condemnation from Oxford University of the bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza and the violence that has taken place in the Gaza strip.

The international movement against the genocide in Gaza has won more than just individual demands. It has challenged the legitimacy of Zionism and the right of one people to displace and oppress another with overwhelming force.

But some of the occupations across the UK have been weakened due to the unwillingness of some activists to involve themselves in the occupation movement.

The Zionists are feeling under threat as the legitimacy of Israeli expansionism is being challenged with millions across the world showing their solidarity with Palestine. They are putting pressure on the government, the media, academic institutions and our own student bodies to defeat this movement through scaremongering, threats and false accusations of anti-Semitism.

The Palestinians have gone through a long and bloody battle to struggle for their emancipation. It is only right that now at this moment in which the Palestinians are in their greatest need that we support them to the utmost of our ability.

For this reason we request all the friends of Palestine support and join with the occupation at Leeds University. If we are united we are strong, but if we are divided we are weaker.

We ask all those who wish an end to the Palestinian injustices to join us immediately. We believe this is a historic moment in the international struggle for justice,

The occupying students at Leeds University

[image]

« Last Edit: Jan 26, 2009, 2:32pm by cogsy »

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

cogsy
Junior Member

member is offline

Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 71
Karma: 3

Re: Leeds University Occupied
« Reply #3 on Jan 30, 2009, 9:23pm »

Here's a few words I wrote earlier on the student occupations in Britain and the lessons they teach us.

http://frankryansoc.wordpress.com/2009/0....n-show-the-way/

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

Click Here To Make This Board Ad-Free

This Board Hosted For FREE By ProBoards
Get Your Own Free Message Boards & Free Forums!
Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Report Abuse | Mobile