What are we hoping to achieve through CGS?

[eleftherios]

In response to Edd & Cisneros. Please try to avoid using the word University when you actually mean the Administration of the University. Please say "Administration". We are also the University. They are only the boring & bureaucratic & highly conservative bit of it.

Now, by taking action during the Massacre in Gaza we are showing that this university can have a human face and that face is definitely not the Administration's face. By doing the Events & Fundraising we are showing to them how fullish they have been on treating us in that way they did. Also, we bring more people to the CGS and learn more about the Israel/Palestine conflict ourselves. My feeling is that if the events of the following two-three months go well then the Administration will accept to help us.

Help the CGS Edd & Cisneros & all to make a really big & crowded event on the 13th of June with some famous bands & some press coverage and you will see that things can change. I agree very much with your point that we are not a charity. Yes, you are right we are not a charity. None of the charities I am aware of brought anarchists & zionist speakers to talk together or occupied. But, yes fund-raising yes we do. Believe me if the problem is that the politicians will not allow us to deliver the money & stuff to the Gazans on time as it happened with some charities then WE WILL GO with Wesam & Beccy etc. in Gaza and give them the money ourselves.

Finally, even if we knew that their schools will be bombed again in 2 years then we should still try to send money to rebuild their schools and even send students & engineers there to help them rebuild them asap.

[ellyrobson]

i think there are several things.

at the moment, we are mainly trying to acheive our demands to the university by ourselves. in some ways this is quite odd. we targetted the university because they have the money and connections to make this happen and we don't. In the occupation they continually said to us, look, do this yourselves. and now we are.

obviously part of the reason we're trying to get these things done is because we DO think they are important to the people of gaza. we didn't just present the university with a list of demands for fun. They were attempts to make a concrete change to the lives of those affected by the conflict and, yes, they did have a strong humanitarian emphasis (apart from perhaps the first demand which could be seen as more 'political).

This is an incredible amount of work for us! if the university wanted to set up a scholarship it would be relatively easy for them. For us, it entails hours and hours of research just to understand the system. and yes, the university could donate more than any of us, and in a legitimate way. charities law is a fig leaf for cowardice. the university has hundreds of wealthy contacts - fundraising would be very easy for them. the university has a lot of spare equipment - the convoy could be very succcessful if they were cooperating with us. Our demands rested on the fact that these were things the UNIVERSITY could do. whether they are things students can do is a pertinent question. we are all putting in a lot a lot of effort to make them happen.

i think we are right to try and make them happen, although it will take longer and our successes will be more modest than if the university had really shown any committment to engaging with the world around them - as they claim to do on the 800 year aniversiry.

however, the demands should certainly definitely NOT form our only action or our only set of principles - they were borne out of specific circumstance and we must be broader than that. at the moment we are trying as group to think through what our other principles of action are.

I think that what priya gopal said in the open meeting was extremely important. although we cannot cover all of the conflicts in the world, we must recognise the common thread running through this struggle and others. I would say that they are a struggle for justice. Justice is both political and humanitarian.

Our struggle with the university was a micro-micro-micro-cosm of much more serious, dangerous and important conflicts and struggles in the world at large. We SHOULD keep challenging the university in its 800th year. It's behaviour towards gaza and towards us shows no committment to engagement. Bureaucracy does not care about justice.

so one thing i feel we should do is be putting A LOT OF pressure on the university. We should be using the student papers to question what the 800 years is all about. We should see that our occupation about gaza is just illustrates wider failings in the university - this will interest more students, as generally students find it easier to think about student issues. if we can mobilise a campaign for change within the university, then next time we need to get aid to gaza, or fight any other struggle, it will be easier.

Whether or not we should be condemning things is an important question. we asked the university to condemn the recent actions of the israeli government during the offensive. our words to have a meaning attached to them. An important distinction was drawn in the last meeting of term, between an 'official' position and a 'collective' position or statement. I agree with the person speaking, that collective is far more appropriate.

Collective statements are complex. Some of us may not know exactly what we think as individuals. This is why the discussions every fortnight will be an opportunity to think around the issues and will enable us to make collective statements once we have helped educate one another and have debated the issues. I think this is why we are unable to make any collective statements at present - we have had no time for discussion.

I think our political direction needs to be discussed. I think statements will be an expression of any politics we can agree on. what action springs from politics is an important question. At the moment i'm not sure. I'm pretty sure we would all attend demonstrations, sit-ins and other actions for gaza. But should we be instigating this? Now? I think it depends on the situation, the momentum and the energy around it. The occupation had all of these things to spur us into action when the time was right.

I'm not suggesting political inaction, and i think there should be room for individual political conviction within cgs, but it is harder to find collective principles. When we do discuss, debate and disagree over politics (as we should!) we should also keep an eye on our commonality, because we want to come together to acheive things together.

I think there is more we should be doing. we ought to be trying to change the situation in palestine and israel for the better. So that there is more understanding and more peace. peace is a process of understanding and finding commonality rather than polarising, and i'm really proud of the education and events team who have done a lot this term, as well as those involved in seven jewish children. This is new. This was an implicit but not explicit part of the occupation and it has grown to be an important part of what we do in cgs since.

i don't think we can single handedly work out and implement a solution for peace in the middle-east. probably no one has suggested we can. but we must recognise our own limits. small steps are important. being broad is also important. The motions that beccy has brought to cusu are really important. showing solidarity (for well founded reasons) to other struggles is important. supporting the people of palestine is important. opposing the injustice of the situation in palestine is important.

what is just? I don't know. anyone who loses someone in a conflict will feel that this is an injustice. and it is. Who feeds the machinery of war? We must disengage and challenge these systems – arms investment, religious polarisation, hatred, racism. for peace to be acheived, hamas will have to stop attacks on israel (and hopefully its own people too). suicide bombers will have to stop attacks. but so will Israel have to stop attacks, so will Israel have to grant Palestinians self-determination and right to their elected government and let them live. how do we get there? i've just said it's probably not the role of cgs to work this all out, but we can definitely discuss it.

also. we are all people who think a lot. we also need to act.

lets focus on june 13th and other planned events too. I am aware that there are many many more posts on the general group than there are on many of the other places here - scholarships, convoy etc.

[ellyrobson]

fyi about concrete aims

Salutations,

As part of student activism, we have seen various forms of demonstrations and strikes acted out by students around the globe in solidarity with the Palestinian citizens in Gaza. Part of those actions, are the occupations of lecture halls, and university departments. These actions were hailed by many students herein and have encouraged them onto seeking a link with the outside- the 'outside' that supports.

As a result of this, we are seeking to form a link, or perhaps, a connection, discussion, and a route of communication between the students in Gaza, and students from different parts of the world.

During the 22 day Israeli attack on Gaza we were appreciative of the universities that have managed to gather interested student organizations, clubs and movements, and form a direct communication in lectures and discussion forums with the students here via the internet. Another method of communication was speaking out the voices sent in letters from students in Gaza to the students of a respective university, and so has occurred at the University of Edinburgh whereby the occupation of a lecture hall as well as the demanding that the university support students from Gaza, or scholarships to be provided to the university itself.

As part of this inflow of ideas and ways of action, we would appreciate the following to be considered:

I. have a column at the university newspaper or magazine; if possible a "Gaza" section to allow for the writings of students here to be published weekly

II. organize discussion forums and lectures in collaboration with student clubs and societies, in addition to movements and other forms of organizations to allow for communication from Gaza. This could be arranged with the coordinators herein and with technical help would provide a audio, or even video, medium of communication

III. suggest support to be provided for students here, or scholarships to be given to the university itself, with special help to students of Gaza

IV. organize exhibitions to allow for student of Gaza literary writings, particularly of that concerned with the siege and latest massacre against the Palestinian citizens of Gaza

Awaiting your reply in this regard, and looking forward to establish this exchange of ideas and experiences,

Salam from Gaza, Palestine
Natalie Abou Shakra

International Solidarity Movement, Free Gaza Movement, BDS, One Democratic State Group