UCC staff and students stage walkout in show of solidarity with Palestine

Students demanded the University make an official statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in war-torn Gaza as well as a review of all academic links between UCC and Israeli institutions.

Student and staff protest at U.C.C. Credit: Hayley O’Connell Vaughan.

A coordinated walkout of lectures took place on the campus of University College Cork this morning, as hundreds of students and a small number of staff gathered on the grounds of the university, to protest the upcoming annual visit of Irish politicians to the White House on St. Patrick’s Day.

The planned demonstration, organised by UCC Student’s Union and U.C.C. Socialist Society, demanded that all parties and politicians in Ireland show solidarity with the Palestinian people in the ongoing conflict with Israel and that lawmakers not meet with President Joe Biden in Washington on March 17.

Chants of “Free free Palestine” and “No shamrocks for genocide Joe” went up around campus as students and staff congregated at 11:30am by UCC’s amphitheatre to listen to a number of different speakers outline their concerns.

Palestinian flags placed outside the quadrangle. Credit: Hayley O’Connell Vaughan

Pride of place on the “Quad.” Credit: Hayley O’Connell Vaughan

“I’m not proud to be a student of UCC today,” Caoimhe Lyons of the Socialist Society said. 

“I couldn’t imagine anything more disrespectful than having students from Gaza on campus and for UCC to say nothing about what is happening,” she told those in attendance, referencing UCC’s continued silence on the matter.

“The cowardly government and institutions in this country who claim more information is needed are more than happy to do what their friends in Washington want them to do,” Morgan Hegarty of UCCSU Anti-Imperialism Committee said.

“And UCC are quite comfortable keeping silent because they have a number of links to Israel, like in applied pathogen ecology, which is sponsored by AXA and recently awarded a grant of one million euro to that department.”

“U.C.C. are not against genocide, they are enabling it,” he said, encouraging people to take action as soon as possible.

“Go to your departments and see what funding they are getting and work together to eliminate these ties.”

The mixture of passion and anger was plain to see and with six speakers in total, each of whom spoke for between four to five minutes, there was a genuine sense of outrage with how this conflict is being portrayed in the media and the Irish government’s stance.

“We should take a stance against genocide and ethnic cleansing” Edith May, a member of Rosa Cork, a socialist feminist movement said.

“When gender based violence is used as a tool, we refuse to remain neutral.”

When the last speaker had finished, the crowd marched towards the quadrangle and placed Palestinian flags on the grass in front of the main building. 

“It’s very disappointing,” Ciarán Dawson an Irish language lecturer with Ionad na Gaeilge Labhartha said of UCC’s position.

“There is no such thing as being neutral. Israel has blown up every university and hospital in Gaza, so they are making a statement that they mean to wipe the place out. This conflict will come to define our age, but whatever happens we will help the people of Palestine rebuild in the future.”

Here are the demands of the students in full:  

1. We call on the Irish Government to NOT meet with Joe Biden, coined “genocide Joe” on St. Patrick’s Day at the White House. 

1. The Government to expel the Israeli Ambassador. 

2. We are calling on UCC to end their silence and make a statement calling for:

• An immediate ceasefire in Gaza; 

• Condemnation of the mass killing, starvation and destruction being inflicted on the Palestinian people by the Israeli Government and Army;

• Recognition of the ICJ interim ruling and a call for Israel’s adherence to international and humanitarian law; 

• Unhindered access of aid, to and throughout Gaza;

• Review of all academic links between UCC and Israeli academic and industrial institutions.

• UCC to adopt a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Policy across the university; 

• The funding of and seeking funding for short-term and long-term supports, programmes, and collaborations with Palestinian universities. 

  The latest death toll stands at 31,470 Palestinians and about 1,139 people killed in Israel since October 7.