Direct Action Works: Trinity’s Pro-Palestine Encampment is Proof
Direct Action Works: Trinity’s Pro-Palestine Encampment is Proof
Text: Izzy Copestake
After negotiations with the College, protesters celebrate a “partial success”.
If anyone needs their faith restored in the power of protest, they need look no further than Trinity College Dublin over the bank holiday weekend. Last Friday, the college made international headlines after hitting its student’s union with a fine of €214,000 for blockading the Book of Kells in protest of several issues over the year. Some of these protests were against the College’s academic and financial ties to Israel.
In response to the heavy fine, protesters on Friday headed into campus with tents, supplies and banners, and set up a Palestinian solidarity encampment outside the Book of Kells. The entrance to the popular tourist attraction has now been blockaded with benches and signs have been hung reading “Boycott Apartheid Israel”, “Trinity Funds Genocide” and “Silence is a Crime”.
Despite Trinity completely shutting the college for everyone except staff and students, and closing libraries and toilets (despite some students needing facilities to study for exams), the encampment has rapidly expanded since the first tents were pitched on Friday night. Trinity BDS has asked for donations of tents, food and water from fellow students and staff. On Sunday, pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside the college to show their support for the student protest inside.
After three nights of the encampment, protesters received some positive news yesterday evening. Following meetings with senior representatives of the TCD encampment on Monday evening, the college agreed to: Recognise the ICJ ruling on genocide, confirm the process of divesting from investments in the Occupied Territories, support Palestinian students via scholarships, and have set up a new task force to review academic ties to Israeli institutions. The BDS group has described the college’s new stance as “the first proactive engagement the college has had with the BDS group on campus in years.”
The college has also committed to treating the encampment as an internal matter, therefore ruling out any involvement from the Gardai at present. While the steps Trinity is taking has been welcomed by protesters, this by no means spells the end of the encampment. In a statement released on the @tcd_bds Instagram, SU President László Molnárfi called on students and staff to join the protest, and stated: “We cannot stop yet. This is the time to push Trinity College Dublin to divest from all Israeli companies in the endowment fund as well as suppliers and exchanges.”
Today, reports emerged of Israel’s violent assault on Rafah: the last “safe space” for Palestinians, and the most densely populated place on earth. As student protests across the world have demonstrated, direct action has the power to put pressure on institutions tied to Israel. Protest, divestment and solidarity with the people of Palestine is necessary now more then ever.
Elsewhere on District: Trinity Are Fining Its Student Union €214,000 For Peacefully Protesting
