“We must take these ideas and hold them close, remembering the downfall of South African apartheid due to the international network of comrades fighting injustice. We can do the same thing in Palestine.”
At the recent ‘Socialism or Barbarism’ Arise Festival Dayschool, student activist Mads Wainman spoke about the action that university students have taken against Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, and the comparisons between today’s movement and the movement against apartheid in South Africa. You can read an edited version of her speech published below.
The British branch of the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions from Israel focuses on the economic complicity of the UK within Israeli war crimes. This is an overwhelming task, even when just focusing on British complicity, so one of the key questions of the movement is: how do we keep faith and hold onto hope that our efforts will work?
As historian Harold Zinn once said, ‘to be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.’ In this room, and at this event, we see people who continue the radical socialist tradition of caring. Truly caring about all oppressed and marginalised people, and working in order to facilitate their liberation. This care has existed for centuries, and it will continue to exist, no matter how hard governments and the economic elite attempt to weaken our solidarity.
Many groups have boldly opposed the status quo and stood up for what is right, and following in their footsteps allows us to replicate their successes, learn from their failures, but most importantly, remember our own responsibility to stand up against injustice everywhere.
The parallels between Israel and the South African apartheid states are certainly important, and offer the opportunity to analyse extremely successful grassroots movements. As Chomsky has outlined, there are strengths and weaknesses to analysing the connection between Palestine and South Africa, but when focusing on BDS tactics and student movements in particular, comparisons can be extremely useful.
The radical student tradition of collective action has had an incredible influence on international injustices. Today, we’ve seen encampments, protests and occupations across the whole of the UK calling for universities to divest from unethical partnerships with companies like Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems amongst many others. Similarly, the Anti-Apartheid Movement was set up in 1960, and spent well over twenty years relentlessly campaigning against Britain’s economic support for the Apartheid state of South Africa.
In September 1971, the AAM worked with the National Union of Students to form an outline for student groups and student unions across the country about how they could create effective campaigns. The NUS had ran a very successful Freshers Week scheme in 1970 around ethical student banking. They helped many students set up Boycott Barclays stalls and student recruitment to Barclays dropped from 46% to 33% in that year. This booklet marked the launch of the NUS work with the AAM, and although the NUS had limited resources, they were still able to take a very principled and political stance against injustices and aid in the formation of activist networks. The advice they gave at the end of the booklet focuses on economic divestment of universities from firms with South African subsidiaries, including investment, advertising and partnerships.
This advice remains helpful today, and many student groups utilise similar demands when advocating for divestment from Israel. Politically, we are in a very different time, obviously in the Labour Party, but also in student unions and in the NUS. Instead of standing up for international justice, giving material guidance and creating activist networks, the NUS today refuses to take a stance on the ongoing occupation of Palestine. Whilst there has been some BDS motions passed through the NUS, very little action has been taken as a result of it.
Student Unions as individual and impactful methods of change have been hindered by recent legislation, with the Charities Act and the Education Act severely limiting their ability to engage in political activities. Such things are deemed outside the remit of an SU, and this legislation is deeply harming the networks of activism across the UK. The University of Sussex was recently fined £585,000 for a policy that advocated for the ‘positive representation of trans people’. Bridget Phillipsons response was to double down, and promise that the Office for Students will be given more powers. This will impact students unions even more in the fight for divestment.
I wish to use my own University as a case study here, not just because I obviously know more about the University of Warwick than other Universities, but also because of the tradition of ‘Red Warwick’. From its creation in 1965, the University of Warwick saw radical action by students, often in conjunction with staff members, in order to gain rights for students and staff at Warwick, stand up against the war in Vietnam and to call for divestment from the Apartheid state of South Africa.
Students called for the University to change its bankers from Barclays, and this was met with reluctance. A policy was passed through the student assembly very quickly, and was accompanied by direct action. It took many council meetings for the university to agree to a vote, and it was eventually decided that the University should change its bank with 14 votes to 6 and this policy was enacted.
Comparatively, Warwick SU has refused to assist in the campaign to lobby the university. In Autumn 2023, the student body at the University of Warwick were given an All Student Vote ballot. This is a monthly occurrence, where students are able to write and submit motions to the Students Union for the larger student body to vote on. Turnout for these votes are usually poor, hitting around 800 voters. However, the motion ‘Warwick against genocide in Gaza’ gained 1,059 votes for, with only 200 against. This momentous win was celebrated by activists, especially as the motion called for the SU to publicly call for a ceasefire, lobby for the full divestment of the university from the arms trade and assist in the effort to take a weekly cohort of students to national demonstrations.
Following the passing of this motion, there was a considerable silence from Warwick SU. Activists walked out of Student Council, making it inquorate, and continued pressure resulted in a statement calling for a ceasefire. However, student voice has been severely hindered in the aftermath of this, with no ASV’s being held at all during this academic year and the decisions made in student council being reversed by university council. In response, the student body launched the Fix the SU campaign, or F the SU as it prefers to be called. Two individuals from this campaign have been elected as full time officers, and the majority of part time officers have engaged in Palestine activism. This next academic year promises to see real change occur in the SU, and I’m sure this scares the management intensely.
So, whilst it’s clear that the mechanisms of support for student activism is dwindling, students have persisted and gained huge victories without the support of student unions and the NUS. In 2024, Goldsmith’s University has accepted demands to divest, agreeing to release a statement alongside student activists and the SU, call on MP’s for a ceasefire and introduce full scholarships to Palestinian students. This is just one example of victories that are starting to break through across the UK, and students have only just begun.
Israel’s presence in Palestine is marked by illegal settlements, genocide and ethnic cleansing, which makes the lessons learnt from the South African movement even more important. We must take these ideas and hold them close, remembering the downfall of South African apartheid due to the international network of comrades fighting injustice. We can do the same thing in Palestine.
So we need to hold out hope, and keep going. Not just in regards to the occupation of Palestine, but fighting all injustices, from inhumane disability policies in Britain to the genocides in Palestine, Congo and Sudan. And, if you need some tough love as motivation, Tony Benn can offer us just that. ‘There is no final victory, as there is no final defeat. There is just the same battle. To be fought, over and over again. So toughen up.”
- Mads Wainman is a history student at the University of Warwick and the Disabled Students’ Officer on the National Labour Students committee. You can follow her on Twitter/X.
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