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Over one hundred students and members of faculty gathered in UCD while government refuses to provide visas to Palestinian students who earned a place in Irish universities
Organised by UCD Academia for Palestine and UCDSU, a ‘Let The Study’ standout protest took place at the main lake, in front of James Joyce Library at UCD’s Belfield campus today.
A number of speakers read out testimonies from the students unable to attend UCD, while Palestinian students who were evacuated from Gaza last year and are currently attending UCD also spoke to the crowds about their own experiences.
Speakers referenced the over one hundred students from Gaza who had their visas to study in Ireland rejected, as reports state that the deadline for appeals to be approved is today, September 17th. Anne Mulhall mentioned how 19 or “possibly more” UCD students have been officially denied visas, and they were represented by 19 school bags. They discussed the “impossibly high barriers...set by Jim O’Callaghan,” while also expressing gratitude for students who were evacuated last year, speaking today.
“Shame” was chanted in response to the mention of Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, while chants rang out at times throughout the protest including: “Grant their visas, let them study,” and “free free Palestine.”
Speakers described the “global shift to the far right” as “something we all feel in our bones,” and the Irish government’s own complicity despite their “nice sounding statements of solidarity.” They decried the scholasticide, murder and “unimaginable daily loss and violence,” occurring in Gaza, and how students are put in further jeopardy by the “Minister for Justice, unseen civil servants, and Taoiseach Michéal Martin.” They called on those in the college community to “do what we can to work together...to put as much pressure as we can muster” on the government, appealing for them to “turn the course and grant the visas.”
UCDSU Campaigns and Engagements officer Tom Conway described the government’s decision as “racist, unfair and cruel,” and stated that it was time to “organise” with plans including relaunching UCD BDS and organising town halls, before finishing with the statement, “f*ck Jim O’Callaghan.” Other speakers reaffirmed that the Palestinian students are not the “case numbers” they are being reduced to and criticised the use of students “as political pawns.”
Speakers including Rachel Hickey read out testimonies on behalf of students in Gaza whose visas were denied. There were calls to action from some testimonies, as students and staff were urged to contact their TDs as “a few minutes of your time can decide 58 futures.” Dima, a Palestinian student studying at UCD recited a poem, while Sondos described her own experience of coming to Ireland, and the pain she felt in experiencing the “two contrasting worlds.” “In Gaza, even the definitions of ordinary things have changed: what is home, what is humanity, what is dignity, and what is tomorrow.” She described how studying at UCD has
shaped her, through participating in communities and how she hopes to “one day, take what we have learned back into the rebuilding of our home.” She described the hardships endured by the students whose visas have been denied, as they are the students “part of that future,” and that they “are still allowed to imagine tomorrow.”
A testimony was also read out from Ahmed, a student in Gaza awarded a scholarship to study at UCD whose visa was denied, which stated “the war has not ended, we are the ones running out of time.”
Aline Barte, a woman who was in negotiations with UCD to donate 1.2 million to provide full scholarships to Gazan students with acceptances, provided further examples of students who were due to start college this week but their visas were denied. She described Palestinian students as “the canary in the coalmine, the testing ground for imperialism before it boomerangs back to us.” she continued “we have watched the annihilation of people and international law in Palestine through our phones for three years but they have lived through it.” The Department of “Injustice” was described as having a broken moral compass, as the visa requirements send a message, particularly in the broader sphere of Ireland’s increasingly restrictive laws on immigration.
UCDSU Welfare Officer Éabha Hughes spoke to the University Observer, explaining that from next week the SU will begin canvassing for UCD BDS via social media, and anyone interested should contact UCDSU.