Swinburne calls the cops on students for petitioning about Palestine
Where in the world do you expect police to be called on students for collecting signatures on a petition? If you’re thinking of Russia or China, on this occasion you’re wrong. In fact, it was at Melbourne’s inner-east campus of Swinburne University that police were called to stop students from exercising their basic democratic rights.
Early on 7 August, two security guards informed me and several other Students for Palestine (SFP) activists that their managers had instructed them to stop us from asking students to sign a petition and handing out leaflets. The petition was to request a general meeting of the Swinburne Student Union. When we refused, citing our democratic rights, security called the police.
The police officers who attended the scene told us the university had “revoked the right” to leaflet and wanted us to “leave campus” with the petition. If we refused, the police told us, Swinburne could declare us—enrolled students—trespassers and have us physically removed from the campus.
David Mejia-Canales from the Human Rights Law Centre said of this attack: “Students should not be punished or threatened with police action just for peacefully standing up for human rights”.
For months now, the student wing of the Palestine movement has been highlighting Australian universities’ links to Israel as it continues to destroy Gaza. Thousands of students in Australia and beyond have taken part in solidarity encampments and strikes in solidarity with Palestine.
SFP Swinburne has highlighted Swinburne University’s ties to weapons manufacturers Boeing and Thales, as well as Vice-Chancellor Pascale Quester’s sponsored trips to Israel to encourage trade between Australia and Israel.
Hundreds of students have already signed SFP’s petition demanding that Swinburne “cut all ties to weapons companies” and declaring “no confidence in our vice-chancellor”. The administration’s response has been unambiguous: shut up and sit down, or get arrested.
Swinburne’s actions are part of a broader clamp-down across Australian universities. Whether it’s dragging Melbourne University students through hearings for months over a building occupation, threatening to suspend or expel encampment leaders at Deakin and Monash, or the draconian new “campus access policy” at Sydney University, student activism in support of Palestine is under attack everywhere.
Encouragingly, more than 300 people, mainly Swinburne students and staff, have signed an open letter or come past our “illegal” stall to express support. We’re not going to stop fighting while Gaza is being bombed, and we won’t be intimidated by the administration. We plan to involve many more students in the fight for a free Palestine.
