At around 7 pm on the 16th of May, an encampment was set up on Magdalen College grounds, almost a year after the first encampments by Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P). The new collective — named Oxford Against Genocide—has set out 7 demands:
- Disclose university-wide assets
- Divest university-wide assets
- Overhaul investment policy
- Boycott institutional relationships
- Drop Barclays
- Rebuild and reinvest in Palestine
- Stop gentrifying Oxford
The first six demands remain the same as OA4P’s. However, the seventh demand is a new addition. When asked why the encampment has been set on the grounds of Magdalen College, a spokesperson on behalf of the collective claimed that it was the only college that did not respond to the data request under the Freedom of Information Act. They also claim that the college has “used a national fund earmarked for social housing to construct a bridge over grandpont nature reserve, taking money from Oxford’s needy to make it easier for researchers to go to their labs.”
The collective is a new autonomous collection composed of members of the University and the wider community. They plan on occupying the grounds until the University meets their demands or until they are forced to leave. The spokesperson stated that they are “no longer interested in negotiations with the University. If they want to speak to us, they can come to our encampment and speak to us in public. There will be no more meetings behind closed doors.”
Protestors marched from Manzil Way until they reached the encampment’s location on Magdalen grounds. They rallied against the “systemic starvation across Palestine,” which has been “urging intervention in the situation”. They claim academia as “inherently political”, condemning that “our education comes at the cost of shedding blood”.
When questioned by The Blue, the police stated that they were under the assumption that the protest would continue to Carfax Tower, seemingly taken by surprise by the encampment’s location.
OAG focused on Oxford’s £9 billion endowment, which they claim has been funding “anti-BDS coalitions”—referring to companies that do not comply with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Protestors are praising the students for the “strong push” they are using to “build our side” to get the University to divest.
Teige Matthews-Palmer, a prominent activist for Palestine in Oxford, states that the “current situation in Palestine is that total blockades have starved families for two months. Israel is starving them to death, and it’s an unimaginable crime. Israel has also announced to the world that it is openly admitting to ethnic cleansing. We need urgent action to stop all arms and supplies to Israel.” When asked about his opinion on the encampment, he states that it is “fantastic to see the spirit of the student movement still strong, and responding to Israel’s carnage. If only our so called leaders in politics and in the universities who are invested in Israel could show as much courage and heart as students, maybe we can live in the kind of world we all deserve.”
One protestor from the wider Oxford community also gave a statement: “It’s horrific that it’s continued for this long.” She added that she remembered how they closed last year’s encampment, claiming students are particularly “brave and courageous, especially considering what was done to them.”
A child aged 4 also led a chant, emphasising the protest’s focus on the deaths of children in Gaza.
An eyewitness report states that the encampment had left Magdalen grounds as of 12:34 a.m. on Sunday, May 18th. This morning, the area was surrounded by fences. Sources state that the encampment was not raided, but had moved on its own accord. Later that day, at 4.02 pm, the encampment had posted on Instagram to state their relocation to the Angel & Greyhound Meadow, claiming that there were “significant problems with the camp site in terms of size, proximity to a busy road and accessibility”.
Statements collected by Nithusha Sathyendran with the help of Edie Firth.