On October 23, the National Week of Action Rally took place outside the Quadrangle, protesting against the ongoing genocide in Palestine and USyd’s ties with Israel and weapons companies.
On October 22 a bake sale by the Autonomous Collective Against Racism (ACAR) and BDS Youth was forcibly disbanded by University security because it allegedly contravened the Campus Access Policy. The bake sale intended to raise funds to evacuate a Palestinian family in Gaza.
USU board director Ethan Floyd stated that “Security came and shut us down, enforced the Campus Access Policy, telling us we had ten minutes to get off campus or there’d be consequences.”
Markela Panegyres, a member of the NTEU and academic in the SCA, chaired the meeting, beginning with an Acknowledgement of Country. She stated that at their latest national council the NTEU had “passed and endorsed the institutional academic boycott of Israel.”
She continued, “So we’re here today at the fight of the student-led Gaza solidarity encampment. And we are again, again, demanding our universities cut ties with genocide and implement the academic boycott. It’s now been over a year of the escalation of US-backed genocide against Palestine… It’s way past time for the boycott, now we need to implement it.”
Panegyres introduced the first speaker, Jeremy Heathcote. Heathcote, an Awabakal man and NTEU member, stated that “This didn’t happen a year ago, we’ve been fighting this for many, many years.”
I remember going to a rally when I was at university a long time ago,” he added before urging attendees to keep up the fight.”
Fahad Ali, a staff member from the School of Life & Environmental Sciences, and Palestinian from Arrabeh in the occupied West Bank, spoke to the links between stolen Aboriginal land and stolen Palestinian land. “My home, of course, is somewhere I can’t go. Somewhere my grandparents were forcibly expelled from.”
“Our desire to return home is a fire that cannot be overcome or quenched by any force in this world … We know, and history tells us, that we will be vindicated. I want you to know that; there is no force on earth that can stop the liberation of Palestine. It’s a matter of when, not if.”
He continued: “What do we need to do for people to understand that Palestinians are human? What do we need to do to move institutions like the University of Sydney to act in accordance with their moral obligations to this world, to say genocide is not okay and can never be allowed?”
The following speaker, academic Tatjana Seizova-Cajic, spoke to the “happy campus” that the university was trying to display, criticising “there is something behind the wall, you have to block off so much.” She highlighted a banner behind her which showed an eight-metre list of the Palestinian children who have died in the war, mentioning that it is in fact six months out of date.
Dana Kafina from the Autonomous Collective Against Racism (ACAR) spoke next, asking for a moment of silence for the Palestinians who have died since October 7. They then spoke to the specific atrocities that Israel has committed against Palestinian civilians.
“As we speak right now, the children of north Gaza are being beheaded. A few days ago, in Jabalia, the refugee camp where my family resides, people were being lined up to either get buried alive or shot.
Our elders are saying this is the worst it has ever been for Palestine, these are the same elders who lived through the initial Nakba events in 1948. Every day you think it can’t get any worse and it does.”
“To be Palestinian is to know you have to keep the fight inside of you. To be in constant pursuit of liberation as if it were breathing. To be Palestinian is having to deal with the world, the entire fucking world wanting you extinct,” Kafina concluded ”
Academic Aiden Margo then spoke about the role of the NTEU in continuing the struggle for Palestine, stating that “today, we are University management’s worst enemies.”
Angus Dermody was the last speaker, drawing attention to the tightening measures against protesters. “This week our new Chancellor has promised to do more to crack down on protests on campus… Despite their draconian Campus Access Policy they’ve been unable to stop protests like this.”
Panegyres ended the rally by encouraging everyone to continue attending strikes and to join the march to UTS. As the contingent moved towards UTS along City Road, they chanted, “Mark Scott you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide” and “Free, free Palestine; free, free Gaza.”
Police presence was high on Eastern Avenue and City Road, and many cars on Parramatta Road honked in support of the protesters, with one driver sticking his thumb up out the window.
The march concluded outside UTS Building 2, where protesters joined the UTS Rally.
The first speaker at the UTS rally, Omar El-Sobihy, decried the atrocities in Palestine and UTS’ institutional ties. “We stand here while babies are being shot, while mothers are screaming, while men are being tortured.” He also called out Michael Blumenstein, a professor who sits on the board of Technion, an Israeli university.
Dana Kafina spoke again, stating that “freedom is not a suggestion, freedom is a promise.”
They continued: “They are selling our land that they are annexing… you can never compromise with a Zionist, you can never settle, because they want us dead.”
Yasmine Johnson, a Jewish UTS student, was the next speaker, talking about the recent censorship of Palestinian protesters. “Apparently the word genocide constitutes hate speech,” she stated, before adding: “they try to use the legacy of one genocide to justify another.”
The next speaker, Emanie Darwich, declared, “I stand here in silence, I stand here in sadness.” Darwich continued, “The value of human life means nothing to the terrorist state of Israel.”
Zoe Bassett, who chaired the rally, concluded by stating that “We can’t let our universities continue business as usual … We won’t be silent while our universities shake the hands of war profiteers.”
The rally then moved to Building 11, where protesters chanted, “Blumenstein your hands are red, 50,000 people dead.”