Students for Palestine "Unilaterally" Announces the USyd Encampment has been ‘Shut Down’

The University of Sydney's SRC, in a joint statement with Students for Palestine (SFP), announced the shutdown of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the University of Sydney, citing the campus management’s hostile actions due to two students being suspended and alleged harassment from Campus Security. Several groups still active in the camp, including the Sydney University Muslim Students Association (SUMSA) and Students Against War (SAW), claim that the groups made a “unilateral” decision without meeting with other organisations involved the camp. The encampment, which started in April, aimed to pressure USyd to disclose and divest from any connections they had with companies complicit in the conflict in Gaza. Neither of these aims have been met, however, with the announcement mentioning “empty deals” with University Management which were turned down. The statement also announced that Students for Palestine and the SRC will be refocusing their efforts on alternative protest action, including the general meeting next semester.

Multiple groups are involved in the encampment including the Sydney University Muslim Students Association (SUMSA)and Students Against War (SAW) who say they were not consulted about the decision or announcement. SAW has also requested for their logo to be removed from SFP’s announcement allegedly closing the camp. We spoke to Abdullah (a member of SUMSA) who reaffirmed that “SUMSA will be continuing the encampment” and stated that USyd has not directly ordered them to pack up.

Harrison Brennan from USyd’s SRC acknowledged that

“the statement released by Students for Palestine in collaboration with the [USyd] SRC was admittedly unclear. To clarify, the situation is not a total decampment, but rather a strategic withdrawal from some elements of the camp.”

Harrison commented that USyd management had threatened student suspension, disciplinary hearings, and actions that’d put international student visas at risk. Harrison also stated that those who collaborated on the statement (USyd SRC and Students Against War) were aware of its contents, particularly claiming SAW had not been present at the encampment and the statement reflected their alleged internal position.

SAW’s official statement on Instagram does not endorse SFP’s statement instead stating,

 “A SAW representative who agreed to have the SAW logo included on this statement and to endorse the statement was under the impression that this statement would be about the university’s repressive attempts to close the camp, as well as the need to organise through the holidays to mobilise a larger, more effective, student movement”. 

It is important to frame this news with the current situation in Gaza which this encampment exists to fight for. Tragic events emerge out of Gaza with the ongoing invasion of Rafah. The Nuseirat Massacre of June 8th left 274 Palestinians dead, with Israel claiming 4 hostages being saved in this massacre. Daily bombings, raids and the increasingly dire aid situation have lead to the 37,202 Palestinians killed as of June 12th in Gaza since IDF operations began following the events of October 7th. The infighting caused by the Students for Palestine statement does not help the people of Gaza. Instead, a greater commitment to build solidarity across activist groups at this time is necessary. The encampment will continue, with a reduced presence of USyd SRC and Students for Palestine.

UNSW and USYD Students for Palestine were contacted by the Noise team, but did not respond to the requests for a statement in time.