In recent weeks, the student encampments in solidarity with Palestine have come under heavy attack by university management and the police.
On 23 May in Oxford, students occupied the vice chancellors’ office in response to the management’s refusal to open negotiations with the encampment. Forty police officers showed up to allow staff to evacuate, refusing to allow the students to leave.
By the time a counter-protest could be organised, 16 students had already been arrested and were held in armoured vans.
Oxford police are continuing their violent assaults and arrests of peaceful protesters, here seen taking away a student on a stretcher. pic.twitter.com/T04edYPfu9
— Oxford Action for Palestine (@OxAct4Pal) May 23, 2024
Over 300 students surrounded the building, blocking all exits, and refused to allow any more arrests to take place.
In response, the police used bicycles to beat back protestors, physically removed them from the road, and even removed one student protester in a stretcher!
This disgusting behaviour by the Oxford university administration speaks volumes. They would rather arrest their own students than even acknowledge the depths of their complicity with the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Four days later in Manchester, twenty police vehicles full of officers in riot gear were unleashed on the encampment. Their aim was to forcefully evict activists staging an occupation of a building where exams were due to take place.
This time around, however, the response to the attack was much larger. One thousand protestors surrounded the police, with local workers and residents joining in the course of the stand-off.
As a consequence, the police were forced to retreat without making any arrests. This victory – which demonstrates that our strength lies in numbers and militancy – has spurred on the encampment, which over one hundred people are now participating in.
And on 3 June, in Cardiff, one protestor got arrested while staging a sit-in. In an impressive display of solidarity, activists occupied the local police station!
Police reinforcements soon arrived, forced the activists out, and arrested over a dozen leading activists.
What’s more, the bosses have issued threats to evict students using the police and private security at Sheffield, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), and elsewhere. We can therefore expect more repression to follow in the coming weeks.
Crossroads
The encampment movement stands at a crossroads.
In some cases, like Manchester, a bold response to the repression has spurred the movement forward.
However, it is also possible that heavy repression could push the struggle back in other places, especially if there is no plan to broaden the encampments as widely as possible.
This is precisely what happened with the encampments in the United States: despite its numerical strength, the movement was swiftly beaten back by heavy state repression.
And unfortunately, certain leaders, lacking a militant outlook and programme, were prepared to wrap up the protests in exchange for flimsy, symbolic concessions. The massive power that was mobilised was squandered, and the movement collapsed as a consequence.
Another obstacle the encampments must contend with is the approaching summer break. Many students will be graduating or moving back home for the holidays. This risks taking the wind out of the sails of the encampments, making them even more vulnerable to repression.
The movement therefore needs a clear strategy to keep the momentum going over summer, so we can hit the ground running during freshers, when tens of thousands of new, radicalised students will enter the fray.
One thing is clear: the burning anger over the genocide in Gaza isn’t going anywhere.
The horrific bombing of Rafah has sparked huge outrage. And the arrival of a Starmer government – which will carry out the exact same capitalist policies as the Tories at home and abroad – will only exacerbate the sense of disgust at the entire rotten establishment.
Millions of people are prepared to wage a determined struggle against the warmongers in Westminster. What is lacking is a concrete programme to channel this anger, and a plan of action to carry it out.
Broaden and escalate
As we have repeated since the encampments began, the main priority of the movement must be to broaden the struggle as widely as possible among workers (both on and off-campus) and local communities.
The report from the Cambridge RCP below shows how this can be achieved.
Not only will this strengthen the movement numerically, but it will also bring the decisive social weight of the working class into the fold.
For example, university workers – cleaners, administrators, porters, security, lecturers, etc. – have the ability to completely shut down universities. If this power was mobilised to coincide with freshers in autumn, the university bosses would be forced to listen!
And more generally, the working class – through mass action like strikes and workers’ boycotts – has the power to bring the whole of society to standstill.
A coordinated mass movement of students and workers could disrupt the production and transport of arms and other resources destined for Israel. What’s more, it could force a Starmer government to withdraw the British state’s support for the Israeli regime.
Next steps
In the next four weeks, the run-up to the general election provides an excellent opportunity to direct this struggle towards the political front, and lay the groundwork for a broader national campaign against the warmongering establishment.
In a number of places, independent candidates are running on a pro-Palestine, anti-establishment platform. Encampments should consider mobilising for these candidates. This will help to form links with a broader network of workers and activists.
We would urge the encampments in London and the surrounding area to rally behind Fiona Lali, the revolutionary communist candidate in Stratford and Bow.
Fiona is standing firmly in support of Palestine, with a programme that links the question of fighting imperialism to the need to bring down the war criminals here in Britain, and putting the working class in charge of society.
The horrors taking place all over the world are overwhelming. The best way to overcome that feeling is through organisation. Our canvassing this weekend was a part of building that. When we are organised, we can tear their whole system down! Join us! pic.twitter.com/PRQ9x5tMK3
— Fiona Lali (@fiona_lali) June 3, 2024
The campaign has already picked up a lot of momentum and support, with hundreds of people already signed up to volunteer, and an overwhelmingly positive response in local communities. We invite all of our readers to support the campaign.
Whether it’s the Tories or Labour who are in power, they are all complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. They need to be brought down. Our main enemy is at home.
The RCP is building a force that can achieve exactly that. We urge you to join us.
Reports from the front lines
Cardiff
During a peaceful Palestine solidarity demonstration on Monday 3 June, a demonstrator was unjustly arrested and held in custody. This provoked dozens of appalled workers and students to crowd into Cardiff Bay police station and demand his freedom.
The police amassed a squad of thugs to flush everybody out, arresting around 15 demonstrators who refused the orders to leave, and brutalising many more. Women, students, and disabled people were subject to indiscriminate violence by our so-called ‘democratic’ state.
Our comrades delivered fiery speeches outside of the station, explaining the importance of the movement developing a mass character, which would stop any attempts at repression in their tracks.
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The real nature of the police was clear for all to see: a special body of armed men who use violence and brutality to protect the interests of the capitalist establishment, for whom the biggest threat right now is the Palestine movement.
A crowd of workers and students took it upon themselves to occupy a police station in the face of injustice. This shows the real, militant mood bubbling under the surface. It’s this mood that we need to connect with and direct towards revolutionary struggle.
Manchester
On Monday 27 May, the University of Manchester (UoM) encampment faced vicious police repression.
Campers raised the alarm after spotting roughly twenty police vehicles headed towards the Brunswick Park campus.
Over the weekend, students had expanded the occupation across the street to Whitworth Hall, disrupting the exams that were due to begin this week.
Hordes of officers in riot gear were unleashed on the crowds that had gathered to fend off the attempted eviction.
The police offensive coincided with an emergency Palestine demo. So instead of being able to isolate the campers – as in Oxford – they were met with an army of one thousand angry protestors.
This number grew when members of the local community and passing drivers began to gather.
Despite being charged at, kicked, elbowed, pushed to the ground, and beaten with batons, the protesters and students put up an extraordinary fight.
While barricades were erected at the entrance of Whitworth Hall – ultimately foiling the eviction attempt – those on the street eventually forced the police to retreat with their tails between their legs.
Despite having issued the eviction notice, UoM categorically denies calling the police to enforce it. Readers can make their own mind’s up about the truth of this claim.
Since the attack, the camp has grown significantly, showing that students and workers are not ready to end the fight.
Cambridge
Two weeks ago, the RCP in Cambridge organised a walkout of retail workers from the Grand Arcade mall, in solidarity with the nearby university encampment. 20 workers walked out from across five different shops.
We went from shop to shop, talking to workers about how they feel about the ongoing war and how they can get involved with us and the encampment movement.
There was a real passion from workers all across the mall. Many were shocked and appalled hearing the violent suppression used against students in Oxford, and agreed worker-student solidarity was needed to protect and expand the movement.
This has been reflected in conversations in the encampment itself as the university is simply trying to drown the movement in silence. But they cannot ignore the workers. If they walkout the whole institution shuts down.
QMUL
Three weeks have passed since the start of the QMUL encampment, and the support from the wider community in East London has continued to grow.
The RCP has been able to play a leading role – politically and organisationally – by carrying out the majority of outreach, holding several teach-outs, and intervening in rallies full of energy.
Slogans of ‘intifada’ and ‘revolution’ have become a regular part of every rally, showing that there is a deep understanding that we need revolutionary change to fight imperialism.
The university management have now threatened to evict us from the campus. But we will not back down.
RCP comrades are making it clear that this encampment is only a first step in the struggle, and this movement will not end when the encampment wraps up.
We need to bring the encampment movement into the wider community of Tower Hamlets. In the borough there is already a burning mood of anger. Local workers and residents have supported the camp in various ways. This is fertile ground for escalation over the summer.
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With the campaign for Fiona Lali’s election happening on our doorstep, the momentum we have built at the encampment will allow us to link this struggle to wider fightback against the war criminals. We will be encouraging members of the encampment to join the campaign.
Reading
For the past two weeks, the Reading RCP has been heavily involved in the Palestine encampment at Reading University.
We were a part of the movement from day one, joining the planning group and then taking a major role in the initial set up.
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This placed the RCP in an excellent position, and comrades could immediately and freely put forward a communist perspective, attracting the attention of the most radical members of the camp.
Despite an initial hesitancy around disruptive action, conflict with the university was inevitable.
Security’s removal of signs featuring the slogan ‘from the river to the sea’, and the vice chancellor’s dismissal of the camp’s demands towards the end of the first week, provided the catalyst to transform the movement.
Through the method of patiently explaining our perspectives, Reading comrades have inspired the most militant students to take leading roles in organisation and outreach.
As the university’s open day approaches, conflict with the administration will intensify, sharpening the need to strengthen the camp.
Structured daily meetings have begun, and the recently elected camp committee can now provide the present, proactive leadership required to succeed.
The most radical students understand their task and are keen to step up and expand the encampment as part of a broader movement.
We have successfully established the RCP as a committed, organised, and militant party in the eyes of not only the students, but also activists in the wider community.
Many of the students have become openly sympathetic to communism and the RCP, and several are likely to join.
This places us in a fantastic position to build a branch in the university, and to expand our presence in Reading as a whole.
Imperial College
The Imperial College encampment started two weeks ago. Comrades of the RCP have played an instrumental role in ensuring its success.
We have been present in good numbers since the start, playing a leading role. We have focused primarily on outreach and on political education, organising teach-outs at the camp.
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Our ideas have been very well received. Most people there agree with our position on Palestine and the demands that we are putting forward to the university.
There is a mood of disillusionment in reformist solutions. The students are tired of simply asking for a ceasefire and for divestment.
The genocide in Gaza has exposed the horrors and the barbarism of capitalist society to millions around the world. Young people have taken matters into their own hands and are seeking radical solutions.
The next step to continue growing the encampment is to get the campus workers involved. Students and workers, if united, have the power to shut down campus and force management to concede to their demands.
The comrades of the RCP have therefore reached out to the trade unions on campus and have been raising the need for a mass meeting of students and staff, which should be turned into a mass democratic assembly for deciding on plans for joint action.
