Thursday 19 February 2009

Result of the Negotiations

The Acting Vice Chancellor told us in a meeting this morning that in order to set up scholarships for students in Gaza we would need to go to each department head and discuss the possibility with them as power is apparantely devolved to each department and out of the control of the VC and uni bureaucracy. Whether this is true, or an attempt to avoid being proactive over this issue is unknown. Either way the next stage of this process is underway and we will be engaging with each UEA department and aiming to gain more support from both students and staff. Rest assured, we will continue to try for options in order to gain at least partial success for our aims.

We were also told that the following statement, from Universities UK would be circulated:

“Universities UK supports calls for an end to the conflict in and beyond Gaza. We are particularly aware that many of the civilian casualties have occurred in educational establishments.

The UK’s universities are resolutely committed to the right to education, enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Higher education, in particular, is a global activity and we value our academic links with universities all over the world. The international nature of higher education means it is a force for understanding, tolerance and respect between peoples.”

7 comments:

  1. I'm ashamed at how easily you've rolled over there. I thought you were actually FIGHTING for something, not just letting the VC walk all over you.

    Where in that statement does the Uni actually condemn what Israel is doing?

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  2. Nowhere does it, thats kind of the point. If you actually read what was written we aren't rolling over, and are continuing the campaign. The fact is, we report what happens, so people who are interested know. What is written is what we were told, so that is what we are reporting. We aren't giving up on our aims, the point of this report was to show the uni authorities reluctance to do anything. The fact is, that we might not be able to achieve all of our aims, and while we are going to fight for them all, we are aware that we might not get them.

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  3. FREE FILM SHOW: JERUSALEM, THE EAST SIDE STORY

    UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA
    ROOM 01.02 ARTS BLOCK,
    THURSDAY 5TH MARCH 2009 at 7.00pm,
    All welcome

    The film, by Mohammed Alatar, will be followed by a discussion

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  4. According to respected international lawyer Franklin Lamb a recent CIA report gives the Israeli state 20 years before it collapses. Apparently members of the US Senate Intelligence Committee have seen the report which argues that a two-state solution is no longer realistic and that a one-state solution is the only viable democratic option. It predicts:

    "an inexorable movement away from a two-state to a one-state solution, as the most viable model based on democratic principles of full equality that sheds the looming specter of colonial Apartheid while allowing for the return of the 1947/1948 and 1967 refugees. The latter being the precondition for sustainable peace in the region."

    http://gazasolidarity.blogspot.com/2009/03/cia-predicts-collapse-of-israeli-state.html

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  5. ... A month later and still nothing! I'm sorry but there is certainly no evidence that you are continuing your campaign. It all seems to have just been a huge ego-boosting publicity stunt by a group of attention-seeking nobodys...

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  6. The so-called UEA "occupation" was a farce. 7 or 8 students petulantly boarded themselves up in a classroom for the best part of a day, mostly causing antipathy amongst their UEA peers, and achieving no policy changes from the VC whatsoever. social action my arse. maybe if they learnt something in their classrooms instead of being obnoxious these people might get somewhere.

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  7. This wasthe DUMBEST thing I have ever seen. 100 signatures? Wow! The words that the university appeased you with: Pathetic! You are all pathetic losers and probably don't even know what you are fighting for!

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