This week King’s students have set up a Palestine solidarity encampment at King’s Strand campus. They are part of a global student uprising against Israel’s war on Gaza and demand that our universities end their complicity with genocide, occupation and apartheid. In line with our union’s position, our Branch stands in solidarity with the King’s encampment and with the global student movement organising against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The students at the King’s encampment have resolved to continue their action until five key demands are met by King’s management:
1. KCL must condemn Israeli war crimes in Palestine
2. KCL must boycott all Israeli academic institutions implicated in apartheid, occupation and genocide
3. KCL must divest from all corporations and arms manufacturers complicit in Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide
4. KCL must pledge to assist the rebuilding of Gaza’s destroyed education sector, establish ties with Palestinian universities and expand scholarships for Palestinian students
5. KCL must safeguard the freedom of speech of students, staff and other allies acting in solidarity with Palestine
We share the students’ position and have raised similar demands with management, including in the last negotiating meeting last Wednesday.
As Israel’s attack on Gaza intensifies, King’s staff and students got together on Nakba Day (15 May) to raise our common demands and support the encampment at a lunchtime rally at the Strand. Staff and students came out in large numbers to support the student encampment and the Palestinian people.
We called this rally in solidarity with the encampment and in response to the call to action made by the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (Gaza), the Stop the War Coalition and an international staff-student assembly with students involved in encampments all over the world.
In the meantime, please offer your support to the students by going to the encampment and coordinate as needed with the students, offering support that may include (but is not limited to):
- Support with teach-ins and other events planned within the encampment
- Donate to the students’ encampment here
- Support by providing de-escalation support
We call on King’s management to take immediate action in response to the demands of staff and students to end its documented investments in, and collaborative research and procurement contracts with, companies and academic institutions funding and supplying weapons to the Israeli military or enabling Israel’s violations of international law through the crimes of apartheid and genocide.
We also urgently call on King’s management to meet with members of the encampment to discuss their demands.
In solidarity
KCL UCU