This morning, a new encampment in solidarity with Palestine has been set up outside the Radcliffe Camera. The Oxford Blue interviewed two representatives from Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) about this new escalation.
When asked about the organisation’s motivations for this new mobilisation, a representative explained that “after two weeks of our ever-growing encampment at Pitt Rivers Museum, the administration continues to not engage with our demands.” The representatives went on to confirm OA4P is “here to stay until the administration meets our terms and conditions.”
Yesterday, OA4P staged a die-in outside the Sheldonian Theatre and Bodelian Library. In the afternoon, an employee of the university was recorded kicking a student. When asked about this occurrence, the representative said that, as far as they are aware, Oxford University has not responded to this video and that this lack of response “speaks volumes about the University’s commitment to inaction”. Another representative for OA4P added that “the University has a duty of care towards students and they’re very clearly failing it.The video yesterday shows they are actively failing it.”
Furthermore, one of the representatives then went on to highlight that whilst the University “puts out statements implying we are a hostile presence on campus [it is] their own employees and their own actions [that] are making us unsafe.”
When asked what OA4P hopes to achieve with this new mobilisation, the representative reiterated that “the momentum is absolutely on our side”, adding that so far, “over 550 faculty and staff have signed a statement of support”. The representative also noted that over 2000 students have signed a statement of support in the last three days, and over 30 JCRs have published motions of support in some capacity.
Concluding the interview, the representative told The Oxford Blue “we look forward to being in a public space where people can come and rally with us.”