Fight the repression of protest voices at London universities (Photo: Charlie Kimber)

University of London (UoL) management is launching an attack on the right to protest. It has obtained an interim court injunction that aims to repress any protest in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The injunction is trying to make protests require the authorisation of management before they go ahead on UoL land next to Soas and Birkbeck. The central London universities are part of UoL.

This isn’t just an attack on the Palestine movement, but on trade unionism, social movements and working class activity as a whole.

Adding a requirement of management’s prior approval is “as vindictive as it is ultimately futile”, states an open letter signed by over 480 academics, students and activists.

“What are we to make of managers of an educational body whose response to student protests highlighting institutional complicity in genocide, war crimes and apartheid is to suspend the alleged activists, assemble an array of vastly expensive lawyers and procure a court injunction against them?” it said.

But the injunction is hard to enforce. Just on Wednesday hundreds of students at King’s College London, which is part of UoL, walked out in solidarity with Palestine. Protests will continue on university land regardless of whether management wants them to or not.

University bosses are especially targeting the Soas student encampment, with the court injunction personally targeting three individual students.

UoL bosses have already permanently excluded one of the students, dismissing him from student union co-presidency. And they have suspended the other two students for six months. The final hearing for the case is scheduled in January.

Sean Wallis, London regional secretary for UCU university union, told Socialist Worker, “It’s a fight between confidence and fear.”

Tara Mann, one of the Soas students that university bosses are targeting, told Socialist Worker, “The injunction is aiming to silence protest on campus. This is a huge escalation of repression on campus. There has to be a campaign against this.”

She argued that the student movement has been “the radical edge of the Palestine movement” and that’s why management “is mobilising against it”.

Tara added, “We need a coordinated response that shows we won’t stand for repression of the Palestine movement. The courts are on the side of the universities and the universities are on the side of the state.”

Sean argued, “It’s incredibly serious. It is a trampling on the laws that protect free speech on campus.”

There are signs that this is being extended beyond protests in solidarity with Palestine. Unison union reps at Birkbeck university in central London scheduled a protest around the pay of cleaners at Birkbeck.

But Birkbeck management told the union reps that this would have taken place on UoL land and fell foul of the injunction. Bosses at Birkbeck retreated this week and the protest is back on.

Sean said, “Even if management individually authorises a protest it doesn’t deal with the problem. Management can decline the right of people to protest against them. That’s what it means if we start conceding.

“It is clear that this is an assault that has to be fought.” He said that “the basic principle” is that “no student should be served notice about a future protest”. “Any attempt to bar demonstrations unless they are authorised in advance shouldn’t be lawful,” he said.

“Why should they forgo the fight to protest in the future? The injunction is very wide-ranging.

“We are mobilising for the day of action of 28 November and calling for a mass protest.”

Marc, a PhD student at Goldsmiths and UCU member, told Socialist Worker that the injunction is a “clear example” of “suppressing academic freedom of speech”.

“It’s targeting students who have been highlighting institutions’ complicity with Israel’s genocide in Palestine.”

He argued that workers and students across UoL “will stand with the students and ensure that it’s not acceptable for universities in London to carry out this repression”.

Marc pointed out that different managements often “learn from each other”, meaning other university bosses may take up the same practice. “This can’t be repeated at other universities,” he said.

“It’s a real concern for the left and anyone campaigning for social justice. We need to keep up our action despite the injunction.”

A workplace day of action on 28 November is backed by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition and the TUC union federation. It is an opportunity to push back against any attempt to silence students’ and workers’ voices.

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