Victoria University Students Stage Sit-in On Campus To Protest Against Investments In Israel

16 August 2024 – Right in front of the building where the Vice-Chancellor’s office is located, students and staff at Victoria University of Wellington chanted in protest of the university’s recently-announced investments in Israeli government bonds. Then, the crowd marched to the entrance of Hunter Atrium and transformed into a sit-in, staged at the lobby of the Atrium.

Around 80 people were part of the sit-in, right below the Vice Chancellor’s office. Attendees loudly chanted “Disclose, divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!” and “Every time Vic Uni lies, a whole school in Gaza dies!”.

The rally-turned-sit-in was organised in response to the University Foundation’s recent disclosure to Salient, the university magazine, which reported that the Foundation has almost $50,000 invested in Israeli government bonds. Israeli bonds finance the apartheid state’s military campaign and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“The Foundation and the Vice-Chancellor has been ignoring the university community’s demand for divestment from apartheid and genocide. So we’re bringing our demands to university leadership, right where they work, where they make decisions that run counter to what the university community wants, and that go against the ethical obligations the institution is bound by.” said Nabilah Husna Abdul Rahman, an organiser from Student Justice for Palestine.

An attendee at the rally, Sumaia, said, “The student speakers raised powerful points about the need for divestment. It’s a great action to put pressure on the university leaders.”

Teaching fellow Bonnie who was present at the rally said, “I'm here alongside my colleagues, other teaching staff, and students to call for Vic to divest from Israeli government bonds now, and to also take further substantive action to support and care for our Palestinian staff, students, and community."

A journal article published in the medical journal Lancet has reported that the accumulative effects of the genocide in Gaza could mean the death toll could reach more than 186,000 people.

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