The collection of 12 tents pitched in a soggy garden at the heart of Bristol university’s campus is on a much smaller scale than the Palestine solidarity encampments sweeping the US. But the outrage at what this new generation of student activists regard as the complicity of education institutions in Israel’s assault on Gaza is just as raw.
“It makes me feel sick to my stomach,” said Olivia [not her real name], a second-year student at the university, outside the camp on Friday. “I feel deeply disgusted and ashamed. This protest is absolutely the least I can do for someone studying at a university that is so complicit.” Like many of the students involved in the protest, she doesn’t want to share her name. “There could be academic repercussions [for students taking part]: anything from being banned from university buildings to suspensions and expulsions,” she said. “This has happened in the UK, but not at this university so far.”
At least seven similar encampments have sprung up at British universities in the past week, including Warwick, the first to pitch tents, Newcastle, Sheffield, and a “village” in Manchester, where there are more than 50 tents. All are demanding universities cut ties with companies activists claim are arming Israel.
The campus protests come after a string of occupations of university buildings. Goldsmiths senior management on Friday agreed to offer scholarships to Palestinian students and will review the university’s ethical investment policy after a five-week occupation by students.
The mood on British campuses remains very different from that of American universities, where officers have broken up protest camps and arrested more than 2,000 activists. The Bristol camp is opposite the university’s security services office but there is almost no security presence. “The university asked us to leave [on 2 May] but they haven’t made any other threats,” said Olivia. “The police came to look but they haven’t spoken to us.”
However, the leader of the Commons, Penny Mordaunt, and Rishi Sunak’s official spokesperson have both indicated they would support action to quell disorder or harassment. Mordaunt said UK protesters should be met with an “extremely strict response” if they copied US campus tactics, which she claimed were violent.
This worries some Bristol university staff backing the camp. Prof Colin Davis, who dropped by on Friday to support the students, claims the government is stoking conflict. “[Mordaunt] called on universities to respond to these protests severely. This could lead to the kinds of scenes we’ve seen in Columbia and UCLA replicated here, which is just appalling.”
Davis backs the main demand of the camp. “It is feasible that research that goes on at this university helps make the weapons that are dropped on people in Gaza … it is deeply shameful.”
Bristol university has longstanding links to BAE Systems, which has four sites in Bristol, including collaborating on research projects. A report by the Campaign Against Arms Trade claims BAE Systems partially manufactures F35 fighter planes, which have been used by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Jewish students have expressed alarm at the rising levels of antisemitism they face. Last week, Edward Isaacs, president of the Union of Jewish Students, wrote in the Jewish Chronicle that “as Jewish students muster the resilience to begin sitting their end-of-year exams, campuses take another step forward in increased toxicity towards [them]”.
He added that, although the UK was not seeing the same scenes as the US, “the rhetoric emanating from these [UK] encampments is increasing in hostility”.
Isaacs called on universities to do more to stand with Jewish students: “Time and again, since 7 October, universities have been unwilling to effectively stand in allyship with their Jewish students and ensure they can be fully included in campus life.
“Now is a bellwether moment for university administrations as to whether they will muster the moral courage to stand in allyship with Jewish students, and ensure campuses are places where they can study free from hatred.”
The Bristol students deny claims that Gaza solidarity encampments create a toxic and hostile atmosphere for Jewish students. The organisers pointed out that some of the campers are Jewish. “We are not here to make Jewish students feel unsafe,” said . “We are here protesting the university’s complicity in the war machine that is providing Israel with the weapons to commit atrocities.”
Phoebe, who has spent two nights in the camp, said she felt she had to take action: “There is an unprecedented amount of insight into this genocide. It is harrowing. I’ve cried watching videos [from Gaza]. I don’t think I would like myself if I was doing nothing about it.”
The camp has been inundated with donations from other students, university staff and locals. There are bags filled with food and drinks under a gazebo, where a huddle of students are sheltering from the drizzle. Some well-wishers have brought hot food, including a bean chilli and soup. One lecturer arrives carrying bags of cutlery, bedding and books to read.
“These students are doing something historic,” says a lecturer who wished to remain anonymous. “Not since the South Africa anti-apartheid movement has there been a global student movement that has demanded divestment from a settler colonial state.”
On Friday, a rally of about 100 students and staff gathered nearby to demonstrate support for the encampment. Dr Eldin Fahmy, a lecturer, said: “We are all inspired by events we are seeing in the United States. The resistance of students [there] has been magnificent.”
Paolo Gerbaudo, an academic at King’s College London, who studies social movements, suggested: “The US has a far heavier footprint in terms of its support for Israel, hence US students feel a stronger burden of responsibility for what is happening in Gaza.”
A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “We fully respect the rights of our students to peacefully protest within the law. We recognise the distress and impact on all staff and students at the university of the ongoing conflict in Israel-Gaza. It is more important than ever that we sustain our shared values of mutual respect, support and compassion for each other, whatever our individual views.”
BAE Systems said it operated under the tightest regulation and complied fully with all applicable defence export controls: “The ongoing violence in the Middle East is having a devastating impact on civilians in the region and we hope the parties involved find a way to end the violence as soon as possible. We respect everyone’s right to protest peacefully.”
