Today we disrupted
@uniofwarwick
’s Open Day to demand it cuts ties with arms companies and Israel’s genocide against Gaza 🇵🇸
Thank you to everyone who joined. We loved getting to know prospective students, many of whom shared our anger at university’s refusal to divest
on March 27 we wrote to the Decolonise Warwick Experience Conference team to ask if we could organise an interactive panel on Palestine, to discuss the University's complicity in the ongoing genocide. Our proposal was rejected. A 🧵 (1/n)
as part of our action today we are disrupting lectures to make sure that prospective students and their parents are aware of university’s ties to arms companies 🇵🇸
we reject the notion that discussing the university's complicity in genocide is controversial, instead, we feel that it is the complicity itself that is controversial, and that a crucial aspect of decolonial work is discussing and resisting this. (7/n)
we feel like this is yet another example of trying to silence solidarity with palestine in UK higher education settings, and we find it particularly troubling in light of the fact that the conference is meant to be on 'decolonial practice' (5/n)
the conference is meant to 'connect people across the University who are passionate about decolonial practice, anti-racist pedagogy, and student activism'; with sessions on 'decolonising the academy' and 'building an anti-racist university' amongst others. (2/n)
decolonial work is inherently divisive, because it (at its best) challenges the existing power structures. trying to do this work while avoiding difficult conversations and silencing dissent, depoliticises decolonisation of HE and robs it of its transformative potential. (8/n)
we felt that this made it an ideal space to discuss the University's ongoing partnerships with arms manufacturers, and to reflect on the broader landscape within which this is taking place. Our initial e-mail is below 👇👇 (3/n)
we hope that the organisers will reconsider. standing up for palestine and speaking out about injustice and structures which enable apartheid and genocide is a form of decolonial practice; and this should not be yet another space in which these conversations are silenced. (10/10)
🇵🇸 From the river to the sea Palestine will be free 🇵🇸
Spot the complicit companies conspicuously removed from the screen halfway through our disruption…
The University of Warwick is complicit in genocide! As we speak Israel is carrying out a genocide of Palestinian people with technological support and political cover from this University
Were disrupting today’s Open Day to let prospective students to know the truth 🇵🇸
finally, SSSN is one of the only student-staff activist groups on campus, and as such, excluding us is at odds with the conference's professed commitment to promote student activism. (9/n)
biggest thanks
@wwkstandspal
for agreeing to host our talk with the brilliant
@mayaywind
today and to the amazing student occupier who joined us in conversation and helped us connect Maya’s work with the organising the students are doing around divestment.
Good morning comrades! We are getting ready for our Offer Holder Day of Action today. As
@uniofwarwick
hosts hundreds of prospective students and their parents, we felt it was important to to disrupt business as usual and spread the word about the demilitarization campaign.
friends and comrades -
on 1 May we will be hosting
@mayaywind
to discuss her new book 'towers of ivory and steel: how israeli universities deny palestinian freedom'. you can register here:
Thanks everyone for sharing our anger and letting us know we're not alone in feeling decolonisation of unis should be more than tea and rhetoric. Still no reply to our e-mail, so if you could let
@uniofwarwick
know that you think this is unacceptable that would be awesome!
on March 27 we wrote to the Decolonise Warwick Experience Conference team to ask if we could organise an interactive panel on Palestine, to discuss the University's complicity in the ongoing genocide. Our proposal was rejected. A 🧵 (1/n)
we're so inspired by the courage and determination of students at columbia (& absolutely appalled by the university's decision to try and violently suppress their protest), so here's a little 🧵 with videos from campuses expressing solidarity with columbia students & palestine
Day recaps of what we’ve been up to so far ❤️🔥 We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the community, and we remain steadfast in having our demands met by the university ! From the 300-people rally to the alternative open day, we continue to resist for Gaza 🇵🇸
We’re here by the Koan until 2pm leafletting & talking to prospective students at the Open Day about demilitarising Warwick and breaking ties with Israeli genocide!
Please come join us 🇵🇸
Disappointed
@uniofwarwick
are dragging their feet despite growing calls for divestment. Waiting weeks to negotiate with
@wwkstandspal
, as if weapons manufactured by companies Warwick has partnerships with aren't being dropped on Gaza as we speak is despicable & we demand better!
‼️EVERY DAY OF DELAY MEANS COMPLICITY‼️ After a brief meeting yesterday, the management showed their true face: they’re willing to let thousands die before even considering cutting ties to imperialism and militarism!
A THREAD:
solidarity with students across the US whose universities would rather use police violence against their own students than divest from genocide
shame on every institution that harms its students in this way, and on every educator who stays silent
The thing is, as faculty, when you stand with (and spend time with) students who are organising and occupying and creating actions on campus, you enter into a version of the university that is infinitely more inspiring than the one that the uni bosses want us to inhabit
students have occupied the piazza as they demand the univeristy drops their partnerships with arms manufacturers
make sure you're follwing
@wwkstandspal
for updates
👇👇👇
PIAZZA OCCUPIED. As the
@uniofwarwick
continues to reject our demands to cut ties with genocide, we rise up in unison with fellow students all over the world, from Columbia, NYC, to Paris, to Sydney. We say no business as usual as long as Warwick sponsors colonial genocide!
If you are a student/staff/alumni/community member/supporter of our cause from elsewhere, please use this template to send an email to Warwick University management, adding any of your own words where they would be useful.
PIAZZA OCCUPIED. As the
@uniofwarwick
continues to reject our demands to cut ties with genocide, we rise up in unison with fellow students all over the world, from Columbia, NYC, to Paris, to Sydney. We say no business as usual as long as Warwick sponsors colonial genocide!
friends and comrades -
on 1 May we will be hosting
@mayaywind
to discuss her new book 'towers of ivory and steel: how israeli universities deny palestinian freedom'. you can register here:
Launching the official Warwick Stands With Palestine Twitter page! We are a cross-campus coalition of student and staff organisations which holds Palestinian liberation as a cause central to the struggle against exploitation and oppression. ❤️🔥🇵🇸
And as our inspiration we have organisers at Uni of York who are proof that it is possible to pressure our universities to meet our demands and end their complicity in genocide
🚨CALLING ALL MIDLANDERS🚨 EMERGENCY RALLY TONIGHT AT 6pm ON THE PIAZZA, WARWICK UNIVERSITY. Support the student occupation and demand the University divest from Israeli colonial genocide! ❤️🔥🇵🇸
Hi everyone 👋
We're the Student Staff Solidarity Network at Warwick Uni. We're a group of undergrads, postgrads, staff, and
@WarwickUCU
&
@UnisonWarwick
members! Read on to find out what we've been up to!
If you're going to be on campus today join SSSN by the ‘Demilitarize Warwick’ banner outside Senate House between 9pm and 2pm. We'll be handing out pretty pretty leaflets and chatting about all things divestment.
reminder, reminder comrades of twitter:
last week (before we send it off) to sign our open letter asking Uni of Warwick to cut ties with companies providing military support for Israeli war crimes and occupation. click below & share share share
So we need you to a) sign the letter if you are student or a staff member, b) share this post so that it can reach as many students and staff members as possible within the next week!
Link to the letter:
We have also made a handy visual with a QR code that you can share on your other socials!
If you're a student or staff & want to get involved, drop us a message!
Across our campuses, Palestine is liberating us. This historic moment demands accountability. Looking forward to meeting faculty and student organizers in England and Scotland for conversations about how to decolonize our universities and organize for Palestinian freedom. Join us
In October our Demilitarisation WG wrote an open letter that was signed by over 550 students and staff. We delivered it to Uni, who have been ignoring it since. We have now drafted a second letter & are sending this it in a week & after which we will be escalating our campaign.
The other group is campaigning for
@uniofwarwick
to end their partnerships with companies providing military support for Israeli war crimes and occupation, an objective that is even more pressing considering the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
So this year, we have two working groups. One is campaigning for healthy, affordable and sustainable food on campus. Our demands (& vision) are set out in our food manifesto (more on this soon!)
We recently launched a
@SSSN_WarwickUni
staff-student manifesto about food on
@uniofwarwick
campus. We’re clear that we want affordable, sustainable, quality food with democracy in how we eat on campus. Our current campus food system is failing us.
For comrades from other unis - we have a number of actions and events planned in the next couple of months so follow and keep checking in.
solidarity, & free free Palestine!
a little bit about the book: Drawing on extensive research and making Hebrew sources accessible to the international community, Maya Wind documents how Israeli universities are directly complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights.
Massive walkout at Harvard in solidarity with Columbia students today. no better way to bring students together than a demonstration of universities’ appetite for repression
While the Australian legal context is somewhat different than the legal framework in the uk, this is still a really excellent and relevant read about the potential complicity of universities in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
support students in your institutions
protect them at all costs
and don't stop talking about palestine, because israel hasn't stopped killing palestinians
BREAKING:
Happening now!
Yale University students stand with Columbia University students for Palestine, demanding Yale denounce and divest from genocide.