Day 3 of the encampment run by Students for Palestine continued outside the Quadrangle as students remained firm in their protest during the ANZAC public holiday.
One of the activists told Honi Soit that approximately 50 people joined the campout last night and braved the “chilling winds” for the peaceful picket held during the dawn service this morning.
After the dawn service, the principal advisor to Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott, Stephen Garton, visited the encampment and showed his support for the protestors — an unexpected move from management figures who have previously avoided interaction with Palestine activism on campus.
Today’s encampment agenda included a 12:00pm banner drop outside the Wentworth building which read “USyd cut ties with Israel”. At 1pm, an ANZAC Day teach-in was held with Diane Fields, an Australian academic followed by a Students for Palestine rally against Thales, the weapons manufacturer. Finally, at 5pm a vigil for the victims of Western imperialism will be held in opposition to the mythologies of ANZAC day.
Yesterday the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA) President Weihong Liang released an official statement expressing “full solidarity with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the front lawns at USyd.”
SUPRA also extended their solidarity to students “around the world” who are “being treated harshly for voicing their opinions” in light of “opposing the illegal occupation and massacre of civilian lives.”
Honi Soit spoke to Ethan Floyd, one of the SRC’s 2024 First Nations officers and current candidate for the USU board election . Floyd is the only USU candidate to take part in the encampment and cited the past two days of efforts as “doing an excellent job at resisting infiltration by Zionists and people who are attending the picket to cause trouble.”
Floyd spoke about the ANZAC day dawn service that took place in the early hours of the morning where the students held up a banner that read “Lest we forget Gaza. Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem” and held a “peaceful picket in front of the service to show that while we commemorate the troops and perpetuate the ANZAC myth there is a war happening right now on the people of Gaza that we are ignoring.”
Later on in the day, pro-Israel community members walked around the lawns holding the flag of Israel in opposition to the encampment. In response, the activists yelled “Free, Free Gaza” and other anti-Zionist chants.
Members from the local community showed up in support of the students and encampment volunteers bearing baked goods and warmer clothing. Two such members included Stella Brookes and Bronte Clark who also supported demonstrators at the ongoing picket outside of Prime Minister Albanese’s Marrickville office.
When asked why Brookes came to the Quad today, she cited this activism as an “utter duty to fight the genocide” and asked local members “to come down and join the fight for justice.”
Throughout the day chants could be heard from the camp including “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest” referencing USyd’s institutional ties to the militarisation of Israel.
Later in the day, 2023’s SRC Education Officers Yasmine Johnson and Ishbel Dunsmore held a speak out condemning weapons manufacturer, Thales and their complicity in the genocide which included partnerships with tertiary institutions like USyd.
Johnson said the French weapons manufacturer is “complicit in a long line of brutal conflicts around the world by contribution to the weaponisation of Western powers” and that opposing corporations like Thales is “important for divestment efforts.”
Dunsmore and Johnson turned the speak out into a public forum and invited attendees to share their thoughts and questions on the matter. Deaglan Godwin, SRC Vice-President, demanded transparency from the university about the extent of their ongoing partnerships with corporations and the profit they gain, telling the audience that “universities aren’t going to become bastions of progressive social thought if they continue with this system.”
At 5pm, the activists lit candles on the front lawns in the shape of “GAZA” and held a vigil to commemorate the lost lives in the genocide. The vigil, according to Floyd, was held “to talk about the victims of Western imperialism, the ANZAC myth, and how it perpetuates this complicity in expansionism and imperialism around the world.”
Earlier in the day, it was announced that the ‘Uni Melb for Palestine’ started an occupation of the south lawns on the campus of University of Melbourne in solidarity with the US’s student protest and divestment efforts.
What you can expect to see tomorrow is a visit from Families for Palestine at 10am, a rally at 1pm, a teach-in by Teachers for Palestine at 3pm, and groups organising meetings throughout the day.
Follow updates on our Instagram as well as Students for Palestine Sydney Uni.
