A group of activists have set up an encampment outside the Scottish Parliament to show solidarity with Palestinians and pressure the government’s support of Israel during the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.
The “Gaza Solidarity Camp Scotland” website issued demands for the Scottish Parliament to pressure Westminster to support an arms embargo to Israel, supporting the right for organizers to protest freely, and to recognise the actions of the Israeli government as constituting genocide.
A member of Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society (EUJPS), an organisation collaborating with the Solidarity Camp, was interviewed anonymously about the ongoing effort to change University policy to reflect the goals of the encampment.
“As JPS, we’ve been escalating continuously throughout the year” said the demonstrator.
In negotiations with the Edinburgh University Senior Leadership Team, including the Principal, Vice Principal, Director of Finance, and University Secretary, the EUJPS demonstrator said that “[The Senior Leadership Team] really highlighted how they will not feel pressured to act on ethical or moral obligations and rather for legal purposes.”
The encampment is hoping to pressure the Scottish government to stop supporting Israel’s military campaign .
“If we work hard enough to pressure the government to take a stand against Israel in terms of an arms embargo or sanctions, then we can pressure the university through that.”
The Solidarity Camp outside the Scottish Parliament has been set up around a week after similar encampments in solidarity with Palestine have been established across universities in the United States.
Both Oxford University and the University of Warwick saw solidarity camps set up on the same day the camp outside the Scottish Parliament was established.
“We’re trying to become part of a nationwide movement and in that sense as well, we can press, it can become a nationwide pressure against universities of Scotland that invest in Israel” the demonstrator said.
In the early hours of the camp, there were demonstrators making banners, a large Palestinian flag set up over the terraced steps of the Parliament, and activists preparing for what could be days of maintaining the encampment.
As camps like these continue to develop across U.K. universities and seats of government, the anonymous demonstrator said they posed an opportunity to “come and learn and get educated and share knowledge and share skills and build community through solidarity.”
The Scottish Parliament has been asked for comment.
Image via Sam Marks