War ‘studies’ department, or war practice?
Anna Davidson-Walsh, KCL student
I recently read in The Communist about the King’s College London (KCL) “infamous” war studies department.
Back in 2022, a set of documents from 2013 were uncovered outlining the relationship between KCL and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
They agreed that KCL would “mentor” foreign spies attending courses on “professional matters”, as instructed by the MoD.
KCL was not to “advertise or publicly announce” that it was designing and delivering the course at Chicksands army intelligence base.
This shows where the institution’s interests and loyalties lie: with the MoD, which has previously paid £40,000 to design and deliver a course.
This money, meanwhile, will be contributing to KCL’s direct investments in companies, such as Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Technologies, and Boeing, known to be leading military suppliers for Israel’s military, involved in the manufacturing of cluster bombs, land mines, depleted uranium weapons, and other armaments.
The declared aim of the department of war studies is to “explore the complex realm of conflict, and uncover the challenges at the heart of navigating world affairs and diplomatic relations”.
In reality, it continues to justify imperialist war, the butchery of the international working class and the oppressed of the world, and the spread of so-called ‘liberal democracies’ and ‘western values’.
Universities that rely on bloodstained money will never teach in the interests of the working-class, or research in the interests of social progress.
The struggle for a fair education is therefore inextricably intertwined with the struggle for socialism – and for the funding of free education through the expropriation of the wealthiest, of the warmongers, and of those profiting from war and deprivation.
Lies, damned lies, and universities
Fern O’Hare, Leeds
Everybody expects politicians and the media to lie. But few might expect this from so-called ‘neutral’ institutions like schools and universities.
I spoke to a Leeds Arts student, who in a module on ‘protest art’ told us how they were censored from speaking about the genocide by university policy.
“I brought up Palestine and the local protests,” they said, “then I was told the university didn’t have the authority to let me speak about Palestine; that I had to be ‘mindful of the comfort of other students’ in the class.”
Just days after 7 October last year, a letter was sent out to education institutions across the country, urging them to remain ‘neutral’ – while at the same time affirming that the UK government “stands in solidarity with Israel in its ‘hour of need’”.
Politicians are allowed to pick a side, yet students and education staff aren’t.
University of Leeds students had their room booking request denied when hosting RCP speaker Fiona Lali. And Leeds Beckett Communist Society had their society banned for showing solidarity with Palestine!
Schools are not much better. A supply teacher in Essex was fired earlier this year for wearing a ‘free Palestine’ badge.
And the government pushed schools to enforce their Prevent policy – a national programme aimed at ‘combating extremism’.
In Bradford, secondary school students were reported to Prevent for attending a Palestine demonstration, after which police turned up on the doorstep to intimidate their family!
Educational institutions are being forced to justify their government’s imperialist crimes and stifle protest. We can only end this when education is run not in the interests of the rich and powerful, but democratically by and for working-class communities.
On this basis, we can unleash the unlimited potential of young people and harness it for need, rather than for profit and destruction.
Manchester University clamps down on pro-Palestine Marxist society
Manchester RCP
Scandalously, in October, University of Manchester authorities deregistered the University of Manchester Marxist Society. This occurred just before our ‘Books not Bombs’ demonstration, which aimed to expose the university’s links to Israeli imperialism.
This came with absolutely no warning, no explanation, and no justification. This is a clear political attack.
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The University of Manchester has a stained record on this question, calling the police on its own students earlier this year, in a thwarted attempt to shut down the local pro-Palestine encampment.
Manchester university is tied by a thousand threads to the war criminals in Westminster and Tel Aviv. The university’s Graphene Institute, for example, designs parts for kamikaze drones, explicitly for use by the IDF.
The university claims to be “deeply committed to free speech”. And it certainly exercises this commitment whenever pro-Israel groups wish to “pay tribute to the brave soldiers of the IDF”, or when it comes to allowing Labour MPs to speak about their “pride in being a Zionist”.
Those defending Israel’s genocide are granted as much as freedom to speak as they wish, while those protesting on the side of the oppressed find themselves persecuted.
Despite the efforts of the university, we held our demonstration with even more determination in order to expose their hypocrisy, their crimes, and their complicity.
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Upon hearing the revolutionary speeches given by our comrades, large numbers of students joined the protest, showing the clear disgust and anger amongst students – and showing that the university does not speak for its students, but for the war profiteers.
We demand that the university cuts its ties with Israel, by disclosing their bloodstained profits to students and staff, and by divesting from the war machine. We demand books not bombs!
Manchester University is a ‘safe space’ for Zionists
Ben Cownley, Manchester
The University of Manchester recently deregistered the Marxist society in the name of creating a ‘safe space’ for students and allowing discourse.
What discourse is being freely protected you may ask? Well, the university happily hosted a debate: ‘Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semitic?’
When several Jewish groups and communists exercised their right to join the discourse and protest against the debate, the Zionists swore, yelled, spat, and tried to start fights with the students. All the while, the university looked on and did nothing.
Here on display was the clear bias of the university, the last place anyone would call a safe space for discussion. This university is clear about its links to the war machine and imperialism no matter what rhetoric it uses.
That is why the university deregistered the society, but it will never stop the communists on campus. “Nothing else in the world…not all the armies…is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.”
