On 7 June 2024 St John’s MCR passed a motion with 20 votes for, 14 against, and 1 abstention, titled ‘Solidarity with Palestine and Support of Oxford Action for Palestine Protests.’ This followed an Ordinary General Meeting with 35 members present. We join several dozen other college common rooms across Oxford which have likewise expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In accordance with the final wording of the motion,
- We call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, for the reopening of borders to allow humanitarian aid, the return of all Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners detained without charge or trial, and express unwavering solidarity with the civilian populations in Gaza and Israel
- We condemn all instances of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of discrimination that have occurred on campus in relation to this conflict
- We express support for the solidarity encampments set up by students at the University of Oxford, affirm students’ right to peaceful protest, condemn the disproportionate and University-sanctioned violent crackdown on such protests, and urge St John’s College to likewise condemn this. We further condemn any intimidation of University staff
- We explicitly do not support 4.1 and 4.2 of the OA4P demands
- We call on both the University of Oxford and St John’s College to comply with demands related to both disclosure and divestment, by disclosing all investments and divesting from all arms companies as well as from companies complicit in the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. If the College does not comply, we call for it to publicly provide a timeline for how it will immediately begin divestment proceedings
- We call upon the University to stop banking with Barclays
- We call on both the University and St John’s College to outline, in dialogue with their Palestinian community members, concrete measures they are already taking and will take in the future to support Palestinian scholars at risk, and to commit to financial and material means to support the Palestinian-led rebuilding of education in Gaza
- We call for the University of Oxford and St John’s College to actively prioritise the well-being of all students, to prevent outside agitators and media harassment of students and staff, and to refrain from intimidation tactics, excessive police involvement and targeted disciplinary actions
Many of the above points will be brought to the St John’s College Governing Body, where relevant. It is our belief, as expressed in the motion, that St John’s College should be transparent and accountable to its students by releasing its investment records, and that it would be inconsistent with the College’s charitable mission to have assets in arms companies and/or companies complicit in the ongoing violence against Palestinians.
Supporting the push for divestment is an immediate, local and vital way we as students can exert our power within the University to help end this conflict, and make significant change by ensuring the University’s financial and academic power is not used to support or profit from Israel’s war on Gaza nor from occupation of Palestinian territories, nor from any other violent conflicts.