Largest ever mobilisation for Palestine at UNSW

In one of the biggest ever events in solidarity with Palestine at the University of New South Wales, more than 600 students voted for a free Palestine and for our university to cut ties with the weapons industry at a student general meeting on Wednesday, 25 September.

UNSW has $2.97 million in investments in, and does research for, weapons companies including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman. One research partnership is developing control systems with Lockheed Martin for their catastrophic hypersonic missiles.

For weeks, pro-Israel students tried to convince people to vote against supporting Palestine. They ran stalls and put up posters asking students: “What are you voting for in the SGM? Against peace for all? More antisemitism on campus? Supporting terrorism?”. Despite this, only seventeen students voted against the motion.

Four of them also spoke against it. Their arguments included accusations of supporting terrorism, and that the pro-Palestine movement is making Jewish students unsafe on campus. The vice-president of the Australian Union of Jewish Students said the meeting was useless, a “flash in the pan” that would help no-one.

But this meeting, like all the other student general meetings that have taken place across the country in recent months, did mean something. They are drawing thousands of students into the Palestine solidarity movement and putting pressure on our universities not to remain complicit in genocide.

In 2020, when I first got involved with Palestine solidarity activism on campus, the situation was very different. Campus rallies were lucky to attract more than 50 people. Most students I spoke to were hesitant to express an opinion on Palestine, citing the complexity of the issue and their lack of knowledge.

Much has changed since last October. Many young people now support Palestine, and campus solidarity actions are bigger than ever. The student general meeting both reflects this reality and has helped to win over more people.

The campaign in the lead-up to the meeting drew in students who were new to activism. While building the event, they have become steeled in their support for Palestine and gained confidence to convince others that if they care about the issue, they must do something about it. On the day of the general meeting, one student who had never been to a protest and had never handed out a leaflet admitted how nervous and unsure they were about talking to other students. By the end of the night, they were on a megaphone urging people to join the meeting and vote for Palestine.

From the Vietnam War to South African apartheid, history has shown that we can win when we protest in our thousands and force those with power to accede to our demands. It’s going to take a mass movement on the streets, in our workplaces and on our campuses to make our governments and universities cut ties with Israel. UNSW Students for Palestine are proud to have contributed another step towards that goal.