Students at Melbourne’s Deakin University held a special general meeting on 28 August to express solidarity with Palestine, despite their student association trying to stop them. More than 250 students gathered to consider four motions, including one calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and another demanding the university cut ties with weapons companies and divest from Israel. 
Alec Ferguson and Lara Jarrar, both members of Deakin Students for Palestine, moved and seconded the motion against Israel’s genocide. Ferguson described the horror in Palestine: “Nothing has been spared. Every piece of vital infrastructure, water facilities, schools, hospitals, medical facilities—nothing has escaped Israel’s bombing campaign”. 
Five students attended the meeting carrying an Israeli flag and photos of hostages. One spoke against the motion, arguing that Israel is not guilty of apartheid because “In all the big industries you will see a whole lot of people of Arab descent” and that genocide is not happening because “Israel does not have genocidal intent”. 
In response, another member of Deakin Students for Palestine quoted various Israeli ministers and an army reservist and veteran, Ezra Yachin, about the goal of the Gaza offensive: “Yachin, in an effort to boost soldier morale in October last year, was recorded saying, ‘Be triumphant and finish them off. Erase the memory of them. Erase them, their families, mothers and children. These animals can no longer live’”. Jackson also noted that in the view of the International Court of Justice (“World Court), Israel’s actions likely constitute genocide. 
When the motion was put to a vote, hundreds voted in favour and only a handful against. 
The divestment motion, along with two others about supporting refugees and the right to protest, also passed by a very large majority. 
The special general meeting was called by Deakin Students for Palestine, after the Deakin University Student Association refused to, in defiance of its own constitution. The association is controlled by students aligned with the Australian Labor Party and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. 
According to the student association’s constitution, if 250 members sign a petition to request a special general meeting, then the meeting must take place and any motions passed become official association policy. Pro-Palestine students at Deakin collected more than 700 signatures, yet the association refused to organise the meeting, claiming that “It would not be appropriate ... to adopt a position in relation to the conflict”. 
University management also tried to sabotage the meeting by cancelling the room booking, threatening to discipline sympathetic staff and getting security to tear down posters promoting the meeting. Jasmine Duff, who chaired the meeting, told Red Flag, “To have 250 students show up and vote to adopt the demands of the Gaza solidarity encampment was a significant vindication of the encampment. Even better, it happened just one day after the university was forced to overturn the suspension of Renee Nayef, one of the leaders of the camp. The university has been trying to discredit pro-Palestine activism, but hasn’t succeeded.”
The students who attended made a moral stand, not just against Israel’s atrocities, but also against the university administration and student representatives who support or are silent in the face of genocide.

Heather Maltby

Deakin students support Palestine despite official sabotage

The Deakin Gaza Solidarity encampment lasted seventeen days despite university management ordering us to clear out after six. It was set up by activists from Students for Palestine Deakin University, inspired by students across the world who set up encampments to demand their universities divest from Israel. 
The encampment opened with a rally of more than 100 students and staff, the biggest pro-Palestine rally ever at Deakin. It was set up on the main walkway of campus, with 22 tents surrounding a big banner reading: “You are now entering Free Gaza encampment”. 
There were signs put up around the camp highlighting Deakin’s ties with weapons companies, in particular BAE systems. BAE and Deakin University conduct joint research as part of the Advanced Fibre Cluster Group, which is centred at the Geelong Deakin campus and was founded and is funded by Deakin. BAE systems supplies weapons to Israel and manufactures part of the F-35 fighter jets used to murder Palestinians. One of the main demands of the encampment was for Deakin to cut ties with the company. 
On a stage opposite the camp, a massive Palestinian flag hung from the roof, with chairs and picnic blankets on the stage itself. This was where almost daily teach-ins were held, which attracted a large number of students and staff. One lecturer even moved the location of their class from their usual room to the encampment and gave a teach-in about the lessons from the occupy movement. The camp was a place of constant political discussion and attracted students who had never previously been involved in pro-Palestine activism. 
The encampment opened the space for students and staff to more easily talk about Palestine on campus, and enjoyed broad support. On the first day of the encampment, a staff member who works in the library told the organisers that the opening rally “opened a small gap to push my bosses to push their bosses to acknowledge and start engaging with your demands”. Families and supportive individuals donated homemade meals almost daily, and students stopped to chat late into the nights. 
Deakin university management became the first university management in the country to order one of the encampments to clear out. They sent one of the organisers of the encampment an email claiming that the camp posed “hygiene and safety risks” and therefore had to be immediately dismantled. By this time, the executives of the university had already instructed security to set up a red tape barrier all around the main walkway of campus so that students could not walk past the encampment without being questioned by security about where they were going and being asked to show their student ID. 
In response to this intimidation, we organised a rally to defend the encampment, which more than 100 people attended. “It’s outrageous that Deakin university has attacked our right to hold this protest and tried to stop us from showing solidarity with Palestine”, Alec Waleed, who chaired the rally, said. “We’ve called this protest to show them we won’t be intimidated and that we will stay here until the end of semester, as planned.”
Management sent a second email demanding that the camp be dismantled a day after the rally, this time threatening academic discipline if the camp continued. We ignored the directive. The camp remained until the end of the trimester and a rally was held on the last day to show management that Palestine solidarity actions would become part of campus life. 
The Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Deakin was a wonderful contribution to the global student movement for Palestine and to solidifying pro-Palestine activism on the Deakin campus. Activists from Students for Palestine Deakin University are planning to continue the campaign against Deakin’s ties with weapons companies next semester.

Deakin students support Palestine despite official sabotage

The Deakin Gaza Solidarity encampment in hindsight

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