Produced by a general assembly of people involved with a solidarity camp at Nottingham University, the following article considers how their aims evolved, and uni bosses reacted, over the course of the occupation.

The Nottingham Camp for the Liberation of Palestine set up an encampment on Jubilee Campus after the University of Nottingham consistently ignored students’ voices.

It was a response to the educational revolution on US campuses, as well as a direct call from Palestinians in Gaza for UK universities to protest their own institutions’ complicity in genocide. As the University of Nottingham partners with arms companies that deal with Israel and the ongoing genocide such as BAE Systems and Rolls Royce, we wanted to make a stand and compel our university to divest from these companies.

Following the scholasticide in Gaza, our motivation also expands further than just divestment. Our demands for the university are to disclose their ties with all complicit companies, divest from these companies, support for ALL students, through comprehensive support and scholarships as well as investment in rebuilding the educational institutions. We have also urged the university to honour their alumni and update obituaries to accurately reflect how their Palestinian alumni have died.

The University of Nottingham has alumni, Dr Said Al-Zebda and Ikraam Ghanem, who were murdered along with their children Sumayyah, Intisar and Izzeddin, and who should be honoured by the university. However, their partner companies have developed and funded weapons and parts that caused their deaths. Therefore, the camp was integral in showing the university that we don’t want to be part of an institution that is complicit in the illegal occupation and murder of innocent people.

Our encampment was on Jubilee Campus, where BAE Systems and Rolls Royce have offices and fund research. Our aim was never to ostracise any members of the student community, but to educate on why the liberation of Palestine should be a collective goal of our cohort. We have highlighted how the university is complicit, how their partnerships and investments are not in line with their ethical policies and values and showed how they have a duty of care to ALL their students. Despite this, the university management decided to ignore this and pursued legal action against the encampment.

The University of Nottingham was the first UK university to take legal action against their students. Despite declaring our encampment as a “peaceful protest” they have treated us as dangerous agitators. After dragging us through two months of legal proceedings, the university then attempted to impose its legal costs on a single named defendant without adequate prior notification. This effort was in blatant disregard of Civil Procedure Rules, and a clear abuse of power aimed at intimidating and financially burdening us. In order to protect our fellow student from financial ruin, we have been forced to dismantle the camp in return for the university agreeing to not seek costs. Throughout the time the encampment was ongoing we have attempted to have constructive conversations with university management to discuss our demands and how we could work together to ensure the university is in line with its values, ethics and the law. This has been ignored and not adequately considered despite the multiple meetings we have taken part in. We will keep urging the university to communicate with us and engage in a constructive manner to reach our demands.

Our main achievement has been the success of the camp in creating a community where staff, students and wider Nottingham community can learn and practice liberation techniques, learn the history of Palestine and the occupation and how to protest against institutional complicity. We have also been able to achieve an updated obituary for alumni Dr Said Al Zebda and Ikram Ghanem. We will continue our protest until our university honours our demands, all their students and their own values.

-Signed by a General Assembly of the Nottingham Camp for the Liberation of Palestine

Pic: A recent protest by Nottingham for Palestine