Birmingham

Contact details for the occupation

Their website
One of the occupiers website

Contact details for the university

Vice-Chancellor and Principal - Professor Michael Sterling
Email: m.j.h.sterling@bham.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 4536

Occupation

Started - 20th January 2009
Ended - 20th January 2009
Where - Arts LR4
Why - in solidarity with the people of Gaza

Demands

Their demands

1. hat the university corporate issue a statement (i) condemning the massive breach of the human rights and the indiscriminate killing and injuring of the people of Gaza during the ongoing military operation
   (ii) condemning the deliberate destruction of educational infrastructure in Gaza (iii) condemning the denial of the right to education for Palestinians and Israelis (iv) calling for an end to the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories (v) calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador in protest at the contempt demonstrated by Israel for international law and human rights during the current military offensive (vi) calling on the British government to provide urgent aid and medical assistance to the people of Gaza.
2. That the university actively support the ’Birmingham-Ramallah Twinning Initiative’, part of which involves twinning the university with a university in Ramallah.
3. That the university divest from the Barclays Global Investment index, a pooled fund with a high level of investment in arms companies, specifically BAE Systems, which supply weapons to the Israeli military.
4. That the university implicitly recognise the separate identity of Palestinian students who come to Birmingham in all the services and facilities available to them (at the moment Palestinian students are not administratively separate from Israeli students).
5. That the university donate old computer equipment and textbooks to universities in Palestine, specifically those that were partially destroyed in Gaza during the current Israeli military operation.
6. That the university provide material support to Palestinian students who wish to study at Birmingham, both by waiving the fees of students already here now and by increasing the numbers of scholarships and
   studentships available to those who may wish to study here in the future.
7. That the university withdraw all goods produced illegally by Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories from university retail and catering outlets.
8. That the university close any accounts with Lloyds TSB and withold a renewal of their lease on campus in protest at their instructing the Islamic Bank of Britain, in their capacity as a clearing bank, to terminate the account of Interpal, a charity which raises funds to aid the population of the occupied Palestinian territories.
9. That the university should accommodate and fund a public lecture on these issues open and free to all members of the university and the public.

Negotiation

22nd January 2009
Students make a post occupation statement about why they had to end the occupation.
The occupiers were met with the Vice Chancellor on Thursday 22nd January between 9.45am until 10.15am. The occupiers said the ‘meeting was quite unproductive and resulted in effectively no commitments at all from the university’.

20th January 2009
The occupation ends at 9pm on Tuesday night after 12 hours. Although negotiations with the university were ongoing, at 7pm the university and West Midlands police started to close the building down at 7pm (it usually shuts 9-10pm). They (tried to) prevent occupiers from getting water and did not allow people to bring in food from outside. The Registrar and the Head of the College of Arts and Law visited the occupation to offer another meeting with the Vice-Chancellor to discuss our demands in exchange for leaving the building. During the negotiations the police and security staff stayed outside the room but upon the return of the spokesperson a security guard pulled the door open which occupiers then proceeded to blockade. After much discussion the occupiers accepted the offer as it was feared they would be violently evicted.

The university continue negotiations They offer:

1. They are not prepared to condemn the actions of Israel as outlined in demand number 1.
2. They are prepared to discuss the Birmingham-Ramallah Twinning Initiative. However, this could not be guaranteed in writing (Demand number 2)
3. They are prepared to discuss the support for Palestinian students as outlined in demand Number 6.

The university start negotiations They verbally offer:

• 2 Meetings, one discussing the political demands and another to discuss the material support for Palestine.

They give a deadline of 7pm.

Support

22nd January 2009
ISM express support for occupations

20th February 2009
The occupation started with about 25 occupiers and ended with 42 people inside the occupation, and a further 6 handing out leaflets outside.

Repercussions/Intimidation/Obstacles

5th February 2009
Redbrick (Student newspaper) reports on the actions of the University and Guild of Students (the student union at Birmingham). Subsequently letters published in the paper have ’slowly enabled news of the week of action to get out to Birmingham students’

22nd January 2009
The occupiers hold a large protest ‘but the event went un/misreported by university media, most notably the widely read ‘Redbrick’ student newspaper’.

20th January
By 7pm there were 2 police vans and numerous police cars outside. The occupiers counted at least 30 police and 15 security guards.

19th January 2009
‘At a meeting of Guild council on Thursday 19th February the Palestinian society finally managed to submit the motions relating to the Gaza crisis which they were prevented from tabling at the January meeting by Guild officers. However, during the meeting a coalition of zionists and Guild officers conspired to amend the motion so that it was converted into one preventing all further debate and discussion of Palestine in the council in the future (until it expires or is overturned in a future meeting). They then carried the vote by a small majority, once again shutting down all debate on the Palestinian issue in the union.’

Protest

22nd January 2009
There was a large protest following the occupation.