On the 4th of September 2024, UOW students held the university’s first Student General Meeting for Palestine liberation.
In preparation for this historic event, students posted videos, handed out flyers and put up banners to spread the news of the SGM.
At 2:30pm, around 150 students, too many to fit in the small lecture room, gathered for the meeting and not one student spoke or voted against the motion for the University of Wollongong to disclose, divest and cut all ties with Israel.
The meeting started with a welcome to country by WUSA president, Jess Wallace, and was passed on to Ela Akyol, WUSA’s general secretary. Ela gave some context on the current situation in Palestine and spoke of the disgust from all students against UOW’s ties to Israel and their failure to respond to previous attempts from students to make the university divest.
The mover of the motion, started her speech with a chant: “Free, free Palestine” with different inflections, which went on for a couple minutes. She then acknowledged the news from the 3rd Septemeber of 8 people killed for queuing for loaves of bread outside a school (now a refuge). Meghan went on to speak of the 330 days since the first attack on Gaza and how our university has been following the money from its investments from day one.
Next to speak was the motion’s seconder, where he stated, “UOW has bloodied their hands with thousands of … people like you and me.” He went on to state that every single university in Australia, as well as small local businesses have some connection to Israel. Ryan spoke of the research at UOW that is assisting in the genocide in Palestine and stated that the university has become a corporation for profits. He stated that students have been organising Student General Meetings since the 60s and 70s and each time the universities have tried to put a stop to and silence student voices. Ryan quoted the UOW chancellor, Michael Still, when he stated that the Palestine situation is a “complex issue.” Many students shouted “Shame!” to his response.
Hanzel Pador, the Treasurer of WUSA, spoke next in favour of the motion, mentioning USYD’s new 72-hour notice policy for any protests on campus for “safety reasons” in relation to the university; the ties UOW has with Bisalloy steel and the exchange program with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (the divestment of the latter was added as an amendment to the motion).
After very powerful speeches from the motion’s speakers, Ela called for any speakers against the motion. No one did.
Ela then asked for any final speakers, where one Palestinian student said, “for you it has been a few months but for Palestine it has been 76 years” and stated, “I will never know all the names of the Palestinian brothers and sisters who have been murdered … but I will always know the perpetrator.”
After another series of chants and applause, the motion was put to a vote with an overwhelming majority of students voting ‘YES’ to carry the motion, showing the students’s persistence in cutting ties with Israel.
This will now be presented to the University of Wollongong thanks to all the students that attended, gathered and voted for Palestinian liberation. We see you.
Free Palestine.
_________
I got a statement from a WUSA member on the importance of the SGM and what will come next.
“WUSA conducted the Student General Meeting (SGM) to give the students of UOW a direct platform to express their views on Palestine, on our University’s actions and on the anti-activist actions of other universities.
It was critical to make the University keenly aware of the opinion of the greater student body and the best way to achieve that was through a SGM.
And just like we saw with the successes of other SGMs, the student body took the opportunity to convey their concerns and decisively stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people and pro-Palestine activists, as well as voting overwhelmingly in favour of UOW disclosing, divesting and cutting all ties with Israel.
As a result, the next step of this motion would be to send it to the University Council. This is to make it as clear and direct as possible to UOW that their student body is staunchly against their role in the ongoing genocide in Gaza and that they must take action.”
-Hanzel Pador, Treasurer of WUSA
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