Loading ...LSE students occupy lecture theatre for Gaza
A group of about forty LSE students are occupying the university’s Old Lecture Theatre, demanding action from the school over the conflict in Gaza.
They are demanding that LSE should release a statement condemning the Israeli attack on Gaza and demanding a ceasefire, and that the college get rid of its investments in BAE Systems, which anti-arms trade campaigners say provides weapons to the Israeli military.
They also want five fully paid scholarships to be created for Palestinian students, and a fundraising day in aid of charity Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Their final demands are that any computers or books due to be got rid of at the end of Lent and Summer terms should be donated to the University and to schools that have been bombed in Gaza, and that the student activists themselves should not suffer any reprisals for taking part.
The action follows a motion passed 219-154 at a Union General Meeting this afternoon condemning Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
An LSE spokesperson said: “A small group of students are currently staging a limited occupation of the Old Theatre at the London School of Economics and Political Science today (Thursday 15th January). The students have presented six demands to the School, all of which relate to the conflict in Gaza. The School is considering the demands. Lectures are continuing as normal.”
LSE students are idiots! They couldn’t get into Oxbridge so they are protesting in the minute Old Theatre.
A childish, selfish minority of LSE students seem to feel that bypassing proper procedures for condemning Israel is the right thing to do.
Their actions only alienate students who are moderate and do not have preconceived opinions on a very complex, long-running conflict.
It also gives LSE students a reputation as extremist nutcases, something which I detest as an average student.
It’s great they’re doing this, we’ve got to put pressure so people realize that the massacre in gaza is unjustifiable.
They’re not being violent or stopping lectures, just making sure they do something to raise awareness, instead of doing nothing in the face of war crimes.
Go LSE students!!!
Childish and selfish would be to not standup against humanitarian crisis, such as that which has erupted in the Gaza. It would be easy to not say anything, to quietly shake your head and hope that someone does something. No one will do anything unless they realise that the majority of people do condemn the Israeli Government’s actions.
Silence is the greatest evil!
Go LSE Students!
For frequent updates check out the occupation’s website at:
http://lseoccupation.blogspot.com
All power to the students who are actually doing something about Israel’s horrific actions rather than those who do nothing or at best complain amongst themselves.
I agree – Go LSE students!
atleast some group of students are working for peace, in a country which has been ignored since the creation of Israel!
Students should do more!
“All power to the students who are actually doing something about Israel’s horrific actions” – what exactly are they doing about Israel? The Israeli government are unlikely to be swayed by a bunch of jumped-up rich kids at an elite university far away who are enjoying themselves camping out at a lecture theatre. People who are ready to kill can ignore the type of action that brings ordinary humans shame.
Preconcieved issues? This has nothing to do with whether people accept Israel as a state or any other historical questions surrounding the conflict. The group at LSE is diverse, I for one believe that the State of Israel is legal and right. However this has got to do with the fact that war crimes are being committed, the war is now illegal as the UNSC has demanded a ceasefire and that basic human rights are being shat on!
Furthermore you pass judgement on these people – claiming that they are rashfully jumping to conclusions on the complexcity of the issues – when the vast majority of them have studied greatly into the subject.
You sir are the childish and selfish one! By all means sit by and do nothing – turning a blind eye is the greatest evil.
All it takes for Evil to prevail is for wise men to do nothing!!!!!!! GO LSE students – this just shows that LSE students are not merely capitalist pigs like most of them there – such as the Investment W**** I mean Bankers I mean W****!!!
With reference to the legality of the creation of Israel, Im afraid you have to do your research. From its inception it has been an illegal terrorist state, lets not forget the Irgun or the Havanh shall we. Israel is a contruct that was premised upon wiping the Palestinian Arabs and injecting Zionism filtering through Jewish communities – a colonial-settler state according to Maxine Rodinson. Israel has broke the record when it comes to breaking the most UN conventions and legal boundaries. Lets not even converse about the villages, towns and innocent neighbourhoods that have been deconstructed in an unprecedented manner – Jenin, Dair Yasseen??? You ever heard of these places!!!!
Please do research and in-depth subjective and not objective analysis when it comes to evaluating the statistics/commentaries and last but not least entire historiography on this subject.
We are holding an occupation of our lecture theatre at the LSE in solidarity with the people of Gaza. We are well aware that our protest will mean little to the Israeli government. However, this is not to say we will sit back and watch our university support the actions of a government that the entire world should condemn! We urge all students, all members of universities and schools to tell your institutions that we are not going to stand and watch while the base hypocrisy of institutions which educate people on one side of the world and are complicit of the murder of those on the other side. Tell your universities to disinvest from Israeli companies. Tell them to send out statements in support of Gaza.
This movement has been compared with the beginning of the movement against the South African apartheid. This is much bigger that because this movement is happening at a time when student activism is dead! So forget NUS, forget the government, stand up yourselves and make this statement. Show solidarity with this occupation in the LSE. Show that you care about this issue. Show the government that the age of apathy is dead and that this is the age of human rights. This is the age when we stand up for the people who have no voice. We are giving voice to silent and we are starting now.
I’d like to respond to Freedom … take your comments elsewhere. This protest has nothing to do with the historical arguments surrounding Israel as I said in my previous comment. If you want to debate these, be my guest (I am studying a mixture of international law and history so I will gladly explain to you why the existence of Israel is legal) but not here – this Occupation of the LSE Old Theatre is a humanitarian issue.
This is a fact which needs to be reiterated! The protest is not politically based, it is morally grounded. We condemn the War-Crimes committed by Israel and would like to see people standup to these injustices!
Stay focused!
[...] a statement closely modelled on that of the LSE Occupation, the student activists also asked for KCL to issue a statement condemning Israel’s actions in [...]
[...] offensive in the Gaza strip following a heated debate at a union general meeting, and 21 students occupied a lecture hall for six days to demand action from the [...]
You claim to be a student of international law and history yet you are ignorant of the very existence of Palestinian villages, cities, market centres and vibrant community that “WERE” inhabitants for centuries. A further point, is murdering, torturing and terroising an entire race and “STEALING” lands and usurping state apparatus and economic resources a legal construct. There was a very tiny Jewish community in Palestine, up until the start of the 20th century, statistical data illustrates that only a few families existed. It was only due to the Zionist agenda purported by the secular leaders Herzl and his supporters. The entire plan was to create horrific events so Palestinians would leave to neighborughing Arab countries. Its all in BLACK and WHITE you ignorant, undermining, useless individual whom obviously is unaware of the bigger issue.
The dismantling, deconstruction both physically and mentally is the way forward to produce a basis for any compromise and negotiations. Once again, I stress the importance of historical antecedents of this discourse. It takes years to comprehend the corruption and ignorance of many
Yes, Freedom: If you read only the parts of history you want to read and tear the other pages out the book you can justify whatever moral opinion you want. As an example, have you heard of the Farhud? It was unprovoked massacre of at least 200 Jews in Bagdhad in 1941. You can chant “Deir Yassin” until you lose your voice but the moral picture is not as simple as you would like. 1/2 of the Jewish population of Israel is from MENA, and most of their antecedents didn’t leave all of their property behind (which was collectively worth more than than all of Palestine) voluntarily. The “Palestinian” historical blackmail maybe appeal to you, but that version of history is comically one-sided.