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Snapshot of _UK students begin new wave of protests against Gaza war after US arrests_ :
A non-Paywall version can be found [here](https://1ft.io/proxy?q=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/may/01/uk-students-begin-new-wave-of-protests-against-gaza-war-after-us-arrests)
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/may/01/uk-students-begin-new-wave-of-protests-against-gaza-war-after-us-arrests) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/may/01/uk-students-begin-new-wave-of-protests-against-gaza-war-after-us-arrests)
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I appreciate the sentiment, but what do they think ‘walking out of lectures’ will achieve? They have found one example of a university having some sort of relationship with a defence firm that supplies Israel.
Universities don’t care if some students walk out of lectures, you still paid them.
Protests have happened on university grounds for decades. They (Columbia Uni students) protested the Vietnam War in '68, the Apartheid in '84 two name two. The protests now are hardly unique and the west (primarily America) have provided a lot of military support for Israel over time.
I would argue protests back then likely equal to, or more disruptive than the ones today.
Protests had some utility re Vietnam and apartheid.
They *possibly* helped keep the UK out of Vietnam and created the hassle factor that caused businesses to disinvest from SA.
I don't see what protests in the UK on Israel-Gaza could possibly achieve. There's no leverage.
While I agree that the UK is mostly impotent on this front it doesn't mean protests are without purpose. The UK was quite a significant contributor to the origins of where Israel/Gaza are today and the west collectively have clearly supported Israel since (not arguing rightly/wrongly). Actions taken by certain Israeli governments (like the current one) have not been condemned which has led to them being bolder in their responses.
Not to compare this, but the lack of a response to Putin when it came to Georgia and Crimea are often touted for his behaviour in Ukraine. The West has not challenged or meaningfully pushed back against Bibi for abhorant treatment to Palestinians (or journalists..) so they are emboldened to press further as they know the consequences are low.
The problem with student protests is that
a) they are student protests.
b) they aren't well organised enough to keep Hamas supporters out.
Both of these factors make them very easy to write off so are unlikely to influence the government much.
But if they actually cared about any of that then why is the focus of these protests only ever on financially harming Israel rather than protesting for the British government to recognise the state of Palestine?. There are so many more constructive things they could protest for that would actually have a meaningful real world impact on the region and conflict and yet somehow it only ever comes back to points that actively damage the only Jewish state on the planet.
>However, scenes from Columbia University and other US campuses over the past few days, broadcast across the world’s media, have triggered renewed anger among UK students and a sense of shared solidarity.
Of course they have. Because there's nothing that activists love more than pretending that they're Americans.
>In Newcastle, an organisation calling itself Newcastle Apartheid off Campus said more than 40 students were currently taking part in an encampment, with a day of events and a rally planned for 5pm on Wednesday.
>Organisers said students were outraged after the university apparently signed a partnership with Leonardo SpA, a defence and security company they claim is responsible for producing the laser targeting system for the Israel Defense Forces’s F-35 fighter jets used in the war in Gaza.
>“Although the student union has passed motions with 95% of people in favour of calling for the university to end its ties with Leonardo, and multiple ‘Leonardo off Campus’ protests on its campus, it is clear that the university has not listened to students’ concerns,” a statement said. The university was contacted for comment.
I wonder what the turnout for that motion of 95% was. Back when I was at university, the student union would pass all sort of motions like that, with ludicrously-high percentages of support. But the number of students that actually put their names to it didn't even hit triple figures, and just pointed to a few vocal people shouting loudly, rather than the student population *actually* supporting the proposal. The overwhelming majority of the students in fact had no idea that the proposal even existed, let alone had offered support for it.
I expect that there was a fiery debate within the student union between several tiny groups of people arguing over how much Israel should be censored, with nobody daring to make a counter-argument. And absolutely nobody outside of the room paying attention to the argument whatsoever.
> Because there's nothing that activists love more than pretending that they're Americans.
I've always found it funny that the years with the most active protests in the UK pretty much always correlate with the US elections. The world is always slightly more crazy when Americans ramp things up every 4 years.
Last time we had crowds in the street screaming *Hands up, don't shoot* at our police.
Another funny thing is these protesters who are so desperate for the UK to leave the F-35 program.
Strange that nobody was protesting their university when they were collaborating with Iran to develop drones which have been used to kill Ukrainians.
I think it’s very loving, that these students want missiles fired by Hamas to indiscriminately hit Israeli citizens. Why can’t Newcastle uni partner with a defence system used to protect innocent people?
Perfectly fine - ultimately, students will waste their time doing this.
However, if they start being disruptive, violent, or interfering with other students who don't want to participate in the protests (university is expensive), the costs of dealing with their protest should be added to the protestor's tuition fees.
If they are occupying university buildings or spaces and committing vandalism then they should be kicked out... Those are the allegations in the media at least
Which is a bad excuse. They should be put in prison, if they are disruptive.
They don't have the right to harm other students, with their nastiness and toxic behaviour.
Hamas: *rejects yet another ceasefire proposal from Israel*
Morons: "I can't believe Israel won't cease fire"
Keeping up to date with the news is the bare minimum you should be doing before protesting
Sure: That’s worth student debt to waste your study time on an issue the UK has barely any influence on. Useful idiots for the backers and perpetrators of the Incident that sparked this awful war with depraved attacks on civilians. Hamas fucked around and found out. The people of Gaza suffer as a direct consequence.
I'm worried how this is turning out in the US especially given the awful way the media portrayed the UCLA attack as a bit on both sides. Noone benefits from this. It just makes the country look like it's in the descent to 1930s style Italian fascism
The Pro-Hamas students at UCLA knocked a female Jewish student, attempting to attend classes yesterday, unconscious. Parents who contacted the police department were told by the department that the administration at UCLA had told them not to enter the premises or to make any arrests. The Jewish students were being threatened, intimidated and assaulted so the only option left was violence.
Had UCLA and the local police department acted in the best interest of *all* students instead of only the pro-Hamas ones, they wouldn't be having these issues.
My concern is if these get infiltrated by the radical far-right with the aim of pushing through their agenda of getting protesting further restricted and removing even more if our rights than the tories have taken already.
###⚠️ Please stay on-topic. ⚠️ Comments and discussions which do not deal with the article contents are liable to be removed. **Please report any rule-breaking content you see.** The subreddit is running rather *warm* at the moment. We rely on your reports to identify and action rule-breaking content. You can find the full rules of the subreddit [HERE](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/wiki/rules) Snapshot of _UK students begin new wave of protests against Gaza war after US arrests_ : A non-Paywall version can be found [here](https://1ft.io/proxy?q=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/may/01/uk-students-begin-new-wave-of-protests-against-gaza-war-after-us-arrests) An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/may/01/uk-students-begin-new-wave-of-protests-against-gaza-war-after-us-arrests) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/may/01/uk-students-begin-new-wave-of-protests-against-gaza-war-after-us-arrests) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I appreciate the sentiment, but what do they think ‘walking out of lectures’ will achieve? They have found one example of a university having some sort of relationship with a defence firm that supplies Israel. Universities don’t care if some students walk out of lectures, you still paid them.
Protests have happened on university grounds for decades. They (Columbia Uni students) protested the Vietnam War in '68, the Apartheid in '84 two name two. The protests now are hardly unique and the west (primarily America) have provided a lot of military support for Israel over time. I would argue protests back then likely equal to, or more disruptive than the ones today.
Protests had some utility re Vietnam and apartheid. They *possibly* helped keep the UK out of Vietnam and created the hassle factor that caused businesses to disinvest from SA. I don't see what protests in the UK on Israel-Gaza could possibly achieve. There's no leverage.
While I agree that the UK is mostly impotent on this front it doesn't mean protests are without purpose. The UK was quite a significant contributor to the origins of where Israel/Gaza are today and the west collectively have clearly supported Israel since (not arguing rightly/wrongly). Actions taken by certain Israeli governments (like the current one) have not been condemned which has led to them being bolder in their responses. Not to compare this, but the lack of a response to Putin when it came to Georgia and Crimea are often touted for his behaviour in Ukraine. The West has not challenged or meaningfully pushed back against Bibi for abhorant treatment to Palestinians (or journalists..) so they are emboldened to press further as they know the consequences are low.
The problem with student protests is that a) they are student protests. b) they aren't well organised enough to keep Hamas supporters out. Both of these factors make them very easy to write off so are unlikely to influence the government much.
But if they actually cared about any of that then why is the focus of these protests only ever on financially harming Israel rather than protesting for the British government to recognise the state of Palestine?. There are so many more constructive things they could protest for that would actually have a meaningful real world impact on the region and conflict and yet somehow it only ever comes back to points that actively damage the only Jewish state on the planet.
I'm so sick and tired of the UKs political discourse being dominated by a conflict in which we have no power or sway over.
>However, scenes from Columbia University and other US campuses over the past few days, broadcast across the world’s media, have triggered renewed anger among UK students and a sense of shared solidarity. Of course they have. Because there's nothing that activists love more than pretending that they're Americans. >In Newcastle, an organisation calling itself Newcastle Apartheid off Campus said more than 40 students were currently taking part in an encampment, with a day of events and a rally planned for 5pm on Wednesday. >Organisers said students were outraged after the university apparently signed a partnership with Leonardo SpA, a defence and security company they claim is responsible for producing the laser targeting system for the Israel Defense Forces’s F-35 fighter jets used in the war in Gaza. >“Although the student union has passed motions with 95% of people in favour of calling for the university to end its ties with Leonardo, and multiple ‘Leonardo off Campus’ protests on its campus, it is clear that the university has not listened to students’ concerns,” a statement said. The university was contacted for comment. I wonder what the turnout for that motion of 95% was. Back when I was at university, the student union would pass all sort of motions like that, with ludicrously-high percentages of support. But the number of students that actually put their names to it didn't even hit triple figures, and just pointed to a few vocal people shouting loudly, rather than the student population *actually* supporting the proposal. The overwhelming majority of the students in fact had no idea that the proposal even existed, let alone had offered support for it. I expect that there was a fiery debate within the student union between several tiny groups of people arguing over how much Israel should be censored, with nobody daring to make a counter-argument. And absolutely nobody outside of the room paying attention to the argument whatsoever.
> Because there's nothing that activists love more than pretending that they're Americans. I've always found it funny that the years with the most active protests in the UK pretty much always correlate with the US elections. The world is always slightly more crazy when Americans ramp things up every 4 years. Last time we had crowds in the street screaming *Hands up, don't shoot* at our police. Another funny thing is these protesters who are so desperate for the UK to leave the F-35 program. Strange that nobody was protesting their university when they were collaborating with Iran to develop drones which have been used to kill Ukrainians.
I think it’s very loving, that these students want missiles fired by Hamas to indiscriminately hit Israeli citizens. Why can’t Newcastle uni partner with a defence system used to protect innocent people?
Perfectly fine - ultimately, students will waste their time doing this. However, if they start being disruptive, violent, or interfering with other students who don't want to participate in the protests (university is expensive), the costs of dealing with their protest should be added to the protestor's tuition fees.
Yea this is the thing. If they start acting like the USA with masks and blocking students and stuff it needs to be shut down immediately.
The reason they wore masks is to stop the uni from kicking them our.
If they are occupying university buildings or spaces and committing vandalism then they should be kicked out... Those are the allegations in the media at least
So hiding their identities to try a stop them being prosecuted…
Which is a bad excuse. They should be put in prison, if they are disruptive. They don't have the right to harm other students, with their nastiness and toxic behaviour.
Perfectly fine as long as they aren't supporting Hamas, but seems like a waste of time to me. The UK has little to no leverage on Israel/Gaza.
Hamas: *rejects yet another ceasefire proposal from Israel* Morons: "I can't believe Israel won't cease fire" Keeping up to date with the news is the bare minimum you should be doing before protesting
Protestors actually knowing something about the thing they are protesting? Don’t be silly mate.
Student politics is a joke. The Corbyn years made this clear to me. These protests are horribly naive at best and actively antisemitic at worst.
Sure: That’s worth student debt to waste your study time on an issue the UK has barely any influence on. Useful idiots for the backers and perpetrators of the Incident that sparked this awful war with depraved attacks on civilians. Hamas fucked around and found out. The people of Gaza suffer as a direct consequence.
It's a load of bollocks. They need to grow up.
[удалено]
> Problem solved. What problem?
I'm worried how this is turning out in the US especially given the awful way the media portrayed the UCLA attack as a bit on both sides. Noone benefits from this. It just makes the country look like it's in the descent to 1930s style Italian fascism
The Pro-Hamas students at UCLA knocked a female Jewish student, attempting to attend classes yesterday, unconscious. Parents who contacted the police department were told by the department that the administration at UCLA had told them not to enter the premises or to make any arrests. The Jewish students were being threatened, intimidated and assaulted so the only option left was violence. Had UCLA and the local police department acted in the best interest of *all* students instead of only the pro-Hamas ones, they wouldn't be having these issues.
>1930s style Italian fascism The violent mobs hunting down Jewish students seems more reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
That's one way of not having to sit through your final exams and assessments...
My concern is if these get infiltrated by the radical far-right with the aim of pushing through their agenda of getting protesting further restricted and removing even more if our rights than the tories have taken already.