Across the past few months we have seen a huge rise in efforts to pressure those in power to detach themselves from the state in Israel as it enacts a complete genocide against the Palestinian people in the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks. These protests have taken many forms, we have seen red paint thrown over Israeli embassies, a massive boycott of Israeli goods and companies with business ties to Israel and even a case of the most extreme form of protest with self immolation, rest in power Aaron Bushnell. Perhaps the most widely noted has been the setting up of encampments on university campuses across the globe. The goal of these encampments is to demand universities cut all ties with Israel and condemn the genocide. Last month saw the US National Guard sent to New York’s Columbia University to forcefully remove protestors peacefully camped out on the campus quad. There has been many criticisms levied at these young protestors, some from a few Jewish students and ex-students, and also outside ardent Israel defenders who argue their presence generates anti-Semitic sentiment on campus; and also the age old conservative rhetoric that kids just love to kick up a fuss. So when an encampment developed on my own campus at UCD, I felt I would be remiss to not visit and hear first hand what my fellow students had to say.
I visited the encampment on Tuesday the 14th of May at which stage it had been active for four days. The day before had seen a downpour of heavy rain, the protestors had been misquoted and subtly misrepresented by the Independent. Just before I arrived at the camp, President Orla Feely had cancelled a meeting, planned months prior, with UCD SU, UCD BDS and Palestinian students. All in all they’d had a disheartening few days and I expected as such to be reflected in the mood and atmosphere of the camp; I was quickly proven wrong. The weather had taken a turn for the better (or worse, depending how much you like camping under a blistering sun), there were speakers playing pro- union songs, people were painting a massive poster in the sun and one man was cycling around on a unicycle. I was welcomed by all who I met and was offered to stay for dinner (Umi falafel had offered to cater) which I unfortunately had to decline. The first question on my mind was how have a group of students managed to do what UCD have never been able to; creating a positive atmosphere on campus during exam season?
The bright atmosphere and high energy was far from accidental, I was told by Aoife, a media representative from UCD BDS who spoke with me on the day. The morale of the camp was a huge part of the planning, taking a similar precedence as the makeup of the camp did, she told me. There was a concerted effort on behalf of UCD BDS to ensure morale stayed high in order for the movement and the energy of the encampment to maintain a consistent level. This included planning events such as educational lectures, musical performances, yoga sessions and open mic poetry. Aoife was clear in how BDS had viewed the camp morale from the start; an essential building block to maintaining the protest and ensuring demands would be met.
The list of demands made by UCD BDS, UCD SU and Palestinian Students are incredibly robust in nature. The list equating to twelve demands in total, ranging from calling on UCD to sever links with Israeli institutions through academic ties, to simply asking President Orla Feely to make a statement condemning the genocide (the full list of all twelve demands are available on The UCD BDS Instagram page). Aoife stressed to me that, in summary, what the protest is about is severing ties even if they be academic, calling for more transparency from UCD concerning potential ties with Israel (following misleading and false claims made by UCD earlier in the year where they denied having any ties at all) and for UCD to make stronger efforts to stand with and support their Palestinian students. The college has still failed to condemn the genocide of Palestinians by Israel in any official statement since October 7th. For Aoife this resembled an incredible injustice considering the university had made a statement condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine within hours of it happening, Aoife felt simply that the university had “completely failed to support Palestinians”. Aoife was confident however that the ongoing movement of UCD BDS and the presence of the encampment on UCD campus would at least force President Orla Feely to reckon with her lack of action, telling me confidently that “she can’t ignore us for much longer”. Aoife also assured me that UCD BDS would be continuing the encampment until the demands were met but that there was also movement planned over the summer whether they are met or not, UCD BDS will still continue to push for a ceasefire no matter what, but Aoife also reminded me “there’s genocides across the world; Sudan, Jordan or Congo for example” and that UCD BDS was passionate about calling out global injustice wherever it may be.
I was also delighted to speak to upcoming UCD SU President Miranda Bauer who had been at the encampment with her fellow students (who she has already been elected to represent) since its beginning. Miranda told me how vital she felt it was to be at the encampment, not only because the cause was incredibly important to her, but because of the sense of unity and solidarity she felt with her fellow students; “Even since day one people really were looking forward to do the encampment because we all really believe in the cause”. Miranda stressed the importance of the presence of the SU at such an encampment, telling me “It is one of the main tasks of the union… to be political and represent the students in a political way”. Furthermore stressing the importance of what the students had to say telling me “The university has been quite bad in acknowledging the fact that what is happening is a genocide that it is important to divest from Israeli institutions … not just the ones we have now but in the future .. and of course opening more pathways .. for Palestinian refugees to come study”. Miranda also expressed frustration with President Orla Feely’s decision to cancel a meeting with UCD BDS, UCD SU and Palestinian Students that had been planned months before; telling me “Now that that meeting has been cancelled my faith has been dwindling”. She also made sure to stress multiple times to me that it was the cancelling on Palestinian Students that felt the most disrespectful to her; the fact that the university has failed on all levels to recognise the situation in Gaza as a genocide and then refused to even meet with their Palestinian Students was a clear lack of respect or dignity towards Palestinians on campus for Miranda who was also planning on staying at the camp until the demands were met.
After speaking to Miranda I asked if there were more people I could talk to and she waved me over towards two women eating their lunch beside the camp, they were staff members engaging with the protest. Despite me clearly interrupting their lunch, they agreed to speak with me about their feelings towards the encampment as staff members. Largely the sentiment shared by both of the women was that of immense pride towards their students. Similar to the students, they felt there was a sense of injustice in the universities refusal to acknowledge the genocide, one of the ladies telling me she felt “disappointed but not surprised”. The two women both expressed the pride they felt watching the students standing together, making sure their voices were heard. Further than this pride, they stressed to me that there was a responsibility of staff to speak out and to support the students. They felt the presence of staff at pro-Palestinian movements has been severely understated, in one sense through how they are reported but also through a lack of visibility. One possible reason for this may be hybrid work, one of the women theorised, that there are actually many staff members working remotely who would love to take part but their distance from the campus makes it difficult to engage with the protests The women ended their conversation with me by saying that now was the time more than ever for UCD staff to make themselves visible at pro-Palestinian demonstrations that; “this a chance for students, staff and retired staff to redefine the UCD community”.
As I spent my day walking around the camp, talking to students, the sense of pride the UCD staff had expressed became more and more understandable. The passion expressed by every single student in the face of injustice was awe inspiring. Each student understood perfectly why they were there and what it was they wanted. I was told by a student, Micah; “Everyday I see these videos of people in Palestine digging through the rubble to find their families and it just fills me with so much anger and then you go to your university and find out the administration who you pay your tuition fees to that they are actually siding with this imperialist order, with the Zionists”. It was clear they felt a serious injustice was being enacted particularly against the universities’ Palestinian students and so they were not going to leave until they saw change; “They haven’t been listening and what we’ve been doing clearly hasn’t worked so we’ve decided to escalate”, I was told by Josie a member of UCD BDS. Another student, Enzo, told me simply “It really just goes to show as a whole how she’s gone about it the entire year, just sticking her head in the sand”, in relation to how the situation has been handled by President Orla Feely. The voices of the students were loud and clear, they refused to allow their university to be complicit in genocide. Nobody was going to tell them to back down, nobody was going to make them leave; they were adamant that this cause was worth putting everything on the line and when asked how he would respond to any naysayer, Enzo summed up the sneaking suspicion I had towards the camp since I had entered. In one quick line, he told me “Whether it’s apartheid South Africa, or Vietnam… you’re always going to have someone saying you shouldn’t be doing this, but the young are the changemakers and it’s our responsibility”.
At no point during my day at the UCD encampment did I meet someone there just for fun, to cause trouble or get out of exams. Every person I spoke to, answered me clearly, coherently and passionately about UCD’s role in this genocide and how it has to end. In the eyes of every organiser and participant I saw pure determination, an unwillingness to be told to be quiet or go home. Every participant spoke consistently about how what this was really about that although there are no direct ties UCD has with Israeli institutions beyond joint engagement in academic projects, that the universities inaction in recognising this as a genocide, in supporting students from Palestine whether they be in Ireland or not was a disgrace, as I was told by student and organiser Josie “enough is enough, no more business as usual”. From the time the camp had started to my arrival it had tripled in size, and a quick stroll past on my way to the library two days later it had doubled in size again; the student voice was getting louder. As the encampment has grown in size Orla Feely has released two statements, in both she respects the rights of students to protest on campus. In the first she stresses a need for all students to feel safe on campus and in the second she expresses dismay that UCD campus is being defamed (what she is referring to here are statements and murals written on the pavement in chalk). While the Trinity encampment took place we saw similar language and accusations of defaming and disrespecting the campus. With regard to the UCD encampment however, I was there, the atmosphere was electric, I felt safe and welcomed at all points. There will be those who label these protesters as kids who have no idea of the gravity of this situation, but I was there, and everyone I spoke to knew exactly what the issue was and refuse to move until the demands are met. The encampment at UCD is a gleaming beacon of how the student voice can and should be used, to face injustice and stand in solidarity with those who are oppressed. This takes guts and determination, a certain sense of bravery that was visible at all corners of the encampment, a tangible feeling of social change as soon as I crossed the threshold.
To see Adam’s interviews with protesters participating in the UCD encampment, head over to our TikTok.
With thanks to those at the UCD encampment who spoke with us on the day, and Eva Byrne for assisting with filming.
