Bristol Palestine Alliance dons banners on Cabot Tower and renews calls for app boycott

Three days ago (Tuesday 19th November) the student group Bristol Palestine Alliance along with BristolOccupy4Palestine (Instagram) displayed banners in solidarity with Palestine on Cabot Tower to protest the university’s ties with arms companies.

The Group has also renewed calls for a boycott of the attendance check-in app developed by Israeli company Ex Libre after an international student had to end the boycott to save their visa.

The group has taken to Instagram in their renewed boycott calls providing students with email templates, and an open letter as well as encouraging students to complain using the university’s feedback form.

The banner displayed is to draw attention to and condemn Bristol Uni’s ties with arms companies during the “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

The newest protest comes off the back of a year of action for Palestine on the University of Bristol’s campus. The Campus saw occupations, encampments and marches as well as open letters and boycotts.

The next action point will be an “End the Educide” march and rally on Sunday 24 November which will start on Tyndall Avenue at 12pm.

Protest collaborator Alex Wolfe-Warman said on Instagram: “Bristol University’s military partnerships value £92,809,934.

“Ahead of our Educide march and rally on Sunday 24 Nov ( starting at Tyndall Avenue 12pm), we hung the Palestinian flag from Cabot Tower and reminded people of this huge amount of money and called for divestment and demilitarisation of education.

“All the schools and universities in Palestine have been destroyed. End the Educide, divest now. One love. Peace.”

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In a letter to staff and students in May, vice-chancellor Evelyn Welch said: “I have received messages from and had many conversations throughout the past year with student and staff groups, some of whom have called for the University to adopt an institutional position in relation to the ongoing conflict.

“I understand this request and appreciate that many in our community feel deeply about the situation.

“Our principles of free expression and academic freedom require us to remain impartial as an institution. Taking a position or stance on this, or any other conflict, can inhibit members of our community who want to speak their minds.

“I know this is difficult, and at times uncomfortable, especially when there are strong feelings, hopes and expectations about geopolitical issues.

“I have to stress that as a University our role is to enable staff and students to express themselves freely, not to become an advocate for one view or another.”

For more information on Bristol Unis defence partnerships see here.

A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “We support the right to freedom of expression and to engage in lawful, peaceful protest and understand the deeply held concerns that many in our community feel about the situation in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon. The University’s association with a wide variety of organisations helps drive innovative research and improves our students’ future careers. All our partnerships undergo stringent diligence checks and ethical reviews.”

Images via BristolOccupy4Palestine on Instagram.