By Laurie Smith, CS Sheffield

Sheffield University became the 34th university to be occupied on Monday March 16 when students took control of two lecture theatres in the Hicks building right outside the Student’s Union. The willingness of students to act in a radical fashion has been thoroughly inspiring, and this has been no different in Sheffield. Clearly, new layers of students are starting to see through the lies of the British state and the imperialist project it pursues. Solidarity with the people has become a symbol for a shifting political consciousness amongst students and this can only be welcomed.

We have been using the space to hold meetings and film showings, which have attracted up to 70 people, and building support with stalls on campus. The university have refused to negotiate with us, and applied for a court injunction in order that the police can remove us. They have also moved all lectures, though some lecturers have co-operated with us in letting them continue. At the moment the area is locked down with no-one allowed in. The authorities are letting food be taken to the occupiers, not being quite so brutal as to try and starve us out as the authorities did in Manchester.

At first activists had been arguing for occupation at meetings of the University’s Palestine Society, but this tactic was repeatedly rejected by the members of Socialist Action who effectively control PalSoc. A list of demands similar to those put forward at other universities was sent to the Vice Chancellor in the hope that he would be reasonable (see my article ‘Action for Gaza in Sheffield- viable strategies needed’ for more on the discussions leading up to the occupation). However, when the University refused all of the demands and SA members continued to argue against occupation, those of us willing to take direct action decided to organise separately. It was clear from the experience of other universities that occupation is usually the only way to achieve any demands around Palestine, and always achieves far more than without direct action. We decided on a location, started building a meeting under the banner ‘Practical Action for Palestine: what can we do?’ and about 40 of us occupied after hearing speakers from the Manchester and Birmingham occupations.

There are benefits to the tactic in itself, even if no demands are met and we are kicked out. Our occupation has been largely very democratic, and this is a new experience for many. Though it was the ‘usual suspects’ of the Left who were pushing hardest for an occupation (Socialist Workers Party, the left-Zionist Workers’ Liberty, the Anarchist Federation and Communist Students), a substantial number of unaffiliated students are taking part, largely inspired by the fact that we are actually doing something. The process of building for the occupation, and raising awareness once it began, has shown the Left can work together, albeit around the low-level demands of this short term action. This has been inspiring for all involved, and CS members have engaged in many productive discussions about the broader politics of Israel-Palestine, the student movement, and Marxism.

A psychology professor at the University, Tom Stoppard, addressed the occupation and talked about the last time direct action was taken in Sheffield, when lecture theatres were occupied over the war on Iraq. He also addressed the complete hegemony of the postmodern consensus in academia. I made the point that debate could unfortunately be homogenised on the left too, and that the occupied space should be a model of free and vibrant discussion. Whereas the various Left groups would usually ignore each other and plug away at building their own dogmatic groups, the occupation has forced them into debate, and discussions on imperialism & resistance, the use of boycotts as a tactic etc. have been far more interesting than the usually small and hegemonic affairs organised by the Left groups. In this sense the occupation has provided us with a glimpse of the kind of unity we need in order to proceed – honest, open and frank criticism of ourselves and each other does not preclude unity – it fortifies it.

Leading Socialist Action member Fiona Edwards (Union Women’s Officer), who opposed the occupation from the start, has been throwing tantrums and undermining the occupiers in what is clearly a case of sour grapes now we have started something she cannot control. Nevertheless she has been using all the bureaucratic levers at her disposal to undermine genuine collective action – Stalinism on a the level of a student union. We heard on Thursday that the University was willing to negotiate with ‘all those involved’, including the Palestine Society, Islamic Society and a delegation from the mostly right wing Student’s Union. I predicted that this would likely mean equal delegations from all groups and undermine our strong position- and after all, members of the University societies actually involved in the occupation could play a full role. We had been demanding that the V.C. come to the occupation and negotiate with us as a collective, but it was agreed to send a delegation as observers, who had to report back to the occupation before decisions were taken. A post on the occupation blog welcomed the decision to bring onboard ‘all interested parties’, and perhaps because of this the V.C. reversed his position on Friday, saying he will not negotiate with any of the occupiers, only with representatives of the Student’s Union, the Islamic Circle, PalSoc and the new addition of the Jewish Society.

The V.C. is beginning negotiations with these societies while still pursuing the court order to kick out the occupiers, most of whom now acknowledge it was a mistake to accede to the Vice Chancellor’s plan. But we are, with some success arguing for the societies to ask that we should be represented. It is our direct action that has resulted in these negotiations, and if we stop now they will probably be fruitless. The occupation has so far been inspiring for all involved, and it would be a shame for it to be derailed by management splitting our support. Morale remains high though and we plan to continue the occupation until our demands are met.

We in Communist Students have been involved in the occupation from the start – including keeping up the momentum over a long weekend when many left and were locked out. We are greatly enthused by the amount of students who have thrown so much in for the cause of the Palestinian people.

We wish to deepen the politics of the occupation and win new militant layers drawn into struggle into the fully inspiring yet thoroughly practical project of Marxism – one that can consign wars, occupations, sanctions and blockades to the dustbin of history by taking on the rotten capitalist system and its states that are the cause of all this. We urge all of our members, supporters and readers to send greetings of solidarity and help out where they can.

Victory to the Sheffield Occupation! Victory to the people of Gaza!

Messages of solidarity can be sent to sheffieldoccupation{at]googlemail.com

Our blog is at http://sheffoccupied.blogspot.com/

Our demands:

Our Email to the VC

Sent at 11:24pm, 16 March 09.

We are writing to you from inside a student occupation which began this evening in the Hicks building. We have peacefully taken control of two lecture theatres (5 and 6) on Floor E and are running them safely as democratic, student-run spaces.

We have done this in protest at the failure of university management to continue a process of negotiation over the university’s response to Israel’s recent attack on Gaza.
As student activists and members of the University of Sheffield community, we call on the university to:

1. Issue a statement condemning the disproportionate actions of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people.

2. Create a special programme of five Palestinian scholarships and waive all fees for current students from the occupied territories.

3. Enter into an academic partnership with the University of Gaza.

4. Donate old books, computers and other relevant equipment to the University of Gaza, and pay for the transport of these materials.

5. Publicise the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal on Sheffield University notice boards, website and via email.

6. Initiate a programme in partnership with students of divestment and ending links with the arms trade.

7. Allow those studying medicine to carry out their electives in the occupied territories of Palestine.

8. Commemorate the United Nations Palestine Solidarity Day on November 29th.

9. Echo the Occupation’s statement of support with Israeli students who have been imprisoned for refusing to serve in the IDF.

We have taken this action because we believe our university should be run democratically from below by students and staff, and not in the interests of corporate profiteering. Because of this belief, we express our solidarity with university workers and demand

10.That they face no cuts in jobs, wages or conditions.

We further demand

11. That participants in, or supporters of, the occupation face no repercussions.
We would like to begin open negotiations with representatives of university management as soon as possible. To this end, we invite you to visit us in our occupied space (Hicks LT6) tomorrow morning after 9am to commence discussions.
Email correspondence with the occupation can be conducted through this address.

Yours,
The Sheffield Occupiers.