The Palestine Solidarity Network: University of Southampton (PSN:UoS) have released an open* letter to the university containing a list of demands. Students and Alumni are invited to add their names as signatories.
*Signatories’ names will only be made visible to University management for security reasons.
The full list of demands, as well as the form to sign the letter, can be found on PSN:UoS’ Linktree alongside some other useful links.
“The continued brutal assault by the Israeli government and armed forces on Palestinians has killed over 36,000 civilians, mainly women and children, and injured more than 80,000 more in Gaza. The Israeli state’s collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank in response to the terrorist attack by Hamas on 7th October includes cutting off water, food, power, and medical aid, and the mass displacement of 75% of the population within the Gaza strip. This is in contempt of the ICJ ruling that the state of Israel provides “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip from the risk of genocide.” [Citations from original text adapted to hyperlinks by Wessex Scene]
The full list of demands gives a more in-depth explanation of each point. Point 5, for example, further condemns antisemitism and point 2 lists some specific actions the university could take to avoid putting money in places where it may fuel the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Point 1 is particularly relevant to us as students. The destruction of educational institutions has left many students in Palestine at a dead end, and others outright dead. The least we can do is condemn this destruction.
Basil Al-Mojabir, a student trying to raise the funds for him and his family to escape the region, pleads:
Please help me escape this impending death
Basil is one of countless people desperate to leave Gaza and get on with the kind of study we take for granted.
Continuing to speak out against atrocities is one way we as students can enact change; even these past few days, students speaking out and protesting has seen other universities divest from problematic companies.
Why not spare a minute of your time to sign the letter? In the long run, it may spare someone their life.
