Today 18th of February 2008, in the third Student Union council meeting, Sussex University Student’s Union officers have voted numerously in favour of a motion that resolves to boycott Carmel Agrexco agricultural products in union outlets and its sponsored market.
The motion was proposed by the Friends of Palestine society, which has been campaigning tirelessly for years to demonstrate moral and practical solidarity with the Palestinian people and Palestinian students in particular. Last year, after the cross campus referendum saw a majority of votes in favour, the union endorsed a twinning initiative between University of Sussex Student Union (USSU) and Al-Quds Open University Student Union in Tubas, Palestine.
The motion noted that Agrexco is responsible for 60-70% of all settlement produce sold abroad, primarily selling produce from illegal settlements in the Jordan Valley, and is 50% owned by the Israeli state; and that the Palestinian villages of Al-Hadidiya and Humza in the Jordan Valley were bulldozed in August 2007 leaving families homeless, to expand settlement agricultural activities for Carmel Agrexco.
Sussex University has recently been granted fair trade status and today’s resolution will enhance the ethical practices which Sussex student demand. The passing of the motion also represents integrity as up until yesterday the union shops which sold goods exported by Carmel Agrexco made the students complicit in the dispossession of the very students they had twinned with. Many of the students in Tubas work on land from which their parents were expulsed and under conditions that violate European Human Rights Legislation, a clause integral to the EU-Israel Trade agreement that Carmel Agrexco violates by labelling produce from the illegally occupied West Bank as “Israelâ€.
A Sussex humanities student member of the Jewish Society commented: “It has been argued that this motion might put Jewish students on campus in an awkward position. I personally don’t understand why I would feel awkward being a Jewish student after such a decision that clearly states this university is progressive and stays attentive to what is happening in the world.â€
In today’s meeting 14 member of USSU council voted in favour of the motion, whilst three other members choose to abstain, no against votes have been registered, making it an overwhelming consensus among the highest decision making body within the Student Union.
*ENDS*
For more details on the motion, on our campaigns or direct quotes contact: palestinesociety@yahoo.co.uk
Friends of Palestine society, University of Sussex, 18/02/08
University of Manchester Students’ Union Executive has written an open letter to University of Nottingham Students’ Union Executive asking them why they haven’t defended political freedoms on their campus.
An Open Letter to Nottingham Students’ Union Executive
When activists at the University of Nottingham decided to inject some politics onto their campus and protest against the Israeli Apertheid Wall, campus security called the Police who arrested one activist. The response of the University and the Police was appaling. However, even worse, the Students’ Union did nothing to defend its membership. Below is a copy of the letter sent by UMSU to Nottingham in protest.
Dear Executive Members, Nottingham Students’ Union
We are writing to express our concerns regarding an incident involving Students at Nothingham University on the 04/12/07.
Given the sacrosanct nature of freedom of assembly in facilitating the right of students to be politically active on any campus across the country, and the implied responsibility student unions have in supporting students ability to engage freely and without hinderence in pursuit of their causes, it is vital that we, as representatives of student bodies, ensure that any infringements are condemned and these basic rights asserted.
It is in the spirit of defending the rights of Students to engage in political activity that we, the executive of Manchester Students Union write to you.
It is our belief that if students are attacked in one part of the country, as a student movement we have an obligation to stand in solidarity with those attacked. In this case it appears that Nothingham Students have had their basic democratic rights attacked, and any future student actions undermined.
Students from Nothingham University excerised their right to protest against the Apartheid Israeli Wall currently being constructed in the Occupied territories. Those students used their right to engage in political activity to legitimately raise awareness of this situation and illustrated how the wall is creating an obstacle to the development of a lasting peace.
The fact that University Security Guards were deployed by the authorities with the expressed objective to illegitimately shut down this student action stands as an affront to all basic principles of student autonomy.
If this was not bad enough, the involvement of the police on a student campus threatening the arrest of students in their own university raising awareness on an issue would be more akin to the response of Mugabe’s Zimbawe or the military in Burma.
We ask that you take this issue seriously, and affirm the freedom of students to engage in political activity on campus. In addition, we would hope that the Students’ Union take the issue up with the University authority and point out that across the country students have engaged in similar actions without the violent response of the authorities.
If we can be of any assistance in helping you to assert these basic student rights then please get in touch and we will offer all the solidarity and support necessary to challenge these unacceptable infringements.
In solidarity,
University of Manchester Students’ Union Executive.
The Student Union General Meeting on Thursday 27th Sept 2007 which lasted till almost 8pm passed a motion calling for the removal of the travel restrictions on Khaled Mudallal and all Palestinians. The motion was put forward by the union executive.
The passing of this motion obligates the Union to pressure several bodies including the NUS, UCU, British and Israeli governments to see to the return of Khaled and other students in a similar situation as a matter of urgency.
The motion acknowledged the detrimental effect of the Israeli occupation on the right to education of Palestinian students and noted that he security barrier surrounding Gaza has turned the city into the world’s largest open prison and alongside the destruction of the airport and the naval blockade of the port amounts to economic sanctions against one of the poorest regions on earth.
This is the second motion to of it’s kind in the last three days, student activist Assed Baig who was instrumental in getting the first motion passed in Staffordshire said: “this shows that students in this country are aware of the situation, care about it and believe that if this is a students’ issue in Palestine or anywhere in the world then it’s a students’ issue here”.
Khaled Mudallal who is urgently trying to get back to Bradford University to start his third year of study, has found him self unable to do so after Israel identified Gaza as “hostile territory” this week, effectively closing it off to the outside world and in the process creating the world’s largest open air prison. Khaled Mudallal, 22, a British-educated business and management student who risks losing his third year if he does not return to Bradford next week, has become its latest inmate.
Many student societies, activists and organizations across the UK have shown their support to the campaign and it is expected that other students’ unions will pass similar motions and hold activities to support the campaign.