Saturday, January 24, 2009

Follow Up : Supporting Gaza

The world is still showing its support to Gaza by various way. These are couple of old news that I could not post because of my problems with my ISP.

First of all this is a bit recent news in UK students of 8 universities occupied their universities  in solidarity with Gaza. Here are the names of 7 universities and the students blogs.

The demands to end the occupation were similar from one university to another according the circumstance of the university itself. “From Farah of LebanonHere is the Oxford students demands :

  • Statement : Oxford University should release a statement in support of the right of Palestinians to education and its support to the Palestinian Academic community. The University should condemn in particular the attack on the Islamic University in Gaza.
  • Divestment: Oxford University currently holds investments in BAE Systems, a firm that the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (caat.org.uk) states provides weapons and ammunition for the Israeli military. This means that our university is being directly funded by the Israeli war on Gaza. Oxford University must divest from BAE and other companies which supply arms to Israel.
  • Fully paid scholarships for Palestinian students :Particularly after the attack on Gaza and the ongoing hardships suffered by Palestinians, Oxford University should offer 5 fully-funded scholarships to Palestinian students as a way to contribute to greater access to education for those affected by the conflict.
  • Cancellation lecture series inaugurated by Shimon Peres: The group demands that the Master of Balliol College cancel the lecture series that was inaugurated by the Israeli President Shimon Peres. It is not appropriate to have such a lecture series in light of the attack on Gaza and the ongoing siege.
  • Resources for Education:The Oxford University should donate resources to, and support, the University and educational infrastructure that have been bombed in Gaza.
  • Right to Peaceful Protest:Oxford University has a proud history of student activism. Students united to campaign against apartheid, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All students have a democratic right to peaceful protest and students should not be prevented from expressing their opinions by fear of reprisals.

More about the universities movement in UK , please read this post from Arabawy. It is interesting to see all those protests in UK where as in Egypt the security always cracks the protests of the students !!

On the 17th of January there was a huge protest in the Trafalgar Square. About 150,000 attended the protest in solidarity with Gaza including several Jewish organization.Thanks to Dear Paul Grenville for the photos below. By the way Paul wrote this wonderful poem which I would like to share with you.

We are still in UK and there is a convoy being prepared by George Galloway to Gaza leaving on the 14th of February 2009. Here is the event page on the face book too.

                  Now in Cairo today and tomorrow there will Art Festival to support Gaza, click on the scan of the brochure to know the details

                2 comments:

                1. The total number of universities now involved in occupations is now 17.

                  http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/23/student-protests-gaza
                  (This article was written before Cambridge began their occupation. Find them at http://cambridgegazasolidarity.blogspot.com/)

                  ReplyDelete
                2. This is excellent article by the former Saudi ambassador to US... Thought I'd share.

                  ReplyDelete

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