Universities are cracking down on Palestine activism in a blatant attack on free speech and the right to protest.
This is a desperate attempt to cover for their complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.
In October, Western Sydney University (WSU) called the police onto campus when students held a sit-in for Palestine. Three WSU students were arrested and charged.
UTS has sought to ban meetings on Palestine. In October management banned a UTS academic from speaking on campus on “Gaza: a health system in crisis”. Instead, he spoke over Zoom while students and some staff occupied the room where it was meant to take place, with over 70 others joining online.
Students were also told to stop leafleting for a Palestine rally, and warned that all leaflets handed out on campus required approval. Security later backed down following a letter from the NTEU and the Student Association.
Similarly, at RMIT, university management has announced plans to ban room bookings for “protests or related activities” that they think may damage RMIT’s reputation.
At ANU, management has introduced an extensive policy restricting where students can put up posters.
Students found to have broken the policy could face disciplinary proceedings, or the defunding or disaffiliation of the university club responsible.
Ridiculously, ANU is demanding two weeks’ notice if students want to display the Palestinian flag or a protest banner for Palestine on campus, with approval from the Director of Facilities and Services Division required.
At UNSW, Students for Palestine have had their club suspended on the bogus grounds that a banner drop didn’t prioritise the “psycho-social safety” of students.
Slander
University managements have tried to justify these attacks by slandering the Palestine movement as antisemitic, and claiming they are making campuses “safe spaces” free from discrimination and harassment.
But there is nothing antisemitic about the university protests for Palestine. Israel’s disregard for Palestinian lives and international law has become more and more blatant.
The university bosses are echoing dishonest claims from supporters of Israel that are an attempt to silence opposition to its crimes.
The latest crackdown on protest comes following the Senate inquiry into “antisemitism” on campuses which saw Vice-Chancellors grilled by Israel’s most ardent supporters in parliament.
At the inquiry, Sydney University (USyd) Vice Chancellor Mark Scott apologised to Jewish staff and students for failing to handle the Palestine encampment and protests in a way that satisfied hardline Zionists.
Incoming Chancellor David Thodey has promised to “do more” to silence Palestine protests on campus.
USyd management have since threatened students with suspensions for their role in organising protests for Palestine.
Sydney University was one of the first to enact a raft of anti-protest rules in the wake of the Gaza solidarity encampments around the country.
Its now notorious Campus Access Policy (CAP) demands that students notify management 72 hours in advance of any planned protest, and seek permission to use any amplification, including megaphones or sound systems.
In October, USyd removed a bake sale from campus that was raising funds for a Palestinian family surviving the genocide in Gaza, because it contravened the CAP.
At Melbourne University, students who occupied the office of an academic who runs a PhD exchange program with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) have also been smeared as antisemitic and threatened with suspension and disciplinary action.
Students have been accused of targeting academic Steven Prawer because he is Jewish. But the reason for targeting the PhD exchange is because the HUJ—like all Israeli universities—is deeply complicit in the genocide of Palestinians and maintaining Israel’s apartheid system.
The HUJ helps train IDF officers who are committing war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. It is partially built on illegally acquired Palestinian land in East Jerusalem occupied by Israel since 1967.
The students protesting Prawer rightly targeted the exchange program because it helps to whitewash Israel’s war crimes and normalise Israel as an apartheid state. The university’s refusal to cut the program makes it complicit in genocide.
University bosses and politicians like Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are intentionally conflating criticisms of Israel with antisemitism in a desperate attempt to justify their continued support for apartheid Israel.
We need to continue organising for Palestine and demand our universities and governments cut ties, and end their attack on the right to protest.
By Luke Ottavi
