Walkout for Palestine: Over 300 students attend protest in support

On October 16th at 1pm, Maynooth University was one of many third-level institutions nationwide that saw a walkout in protest of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and university inaction.

Organised collaboratively by Academics for Palestine Ireland (AfP), the Kildare branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (ISPC), the Maynooth branch Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) and the MSU, the walkout saw a turnout of over 300 students and staff members.

The BDS demanded in the Instagram post above that Maynooth University “commit to not developing any institutional partnerships” with Israeli institutions and arms manufacturers. Additionally, they demanded that the University dissolve and avoid ties to "companies complicit in Israeli genocide” and cooperate with Maynooth’s ethics committees to prevent funding research projects collaborating with “Israeli universities” and “any other complicit industry partners.”

Taking place outside the TSI building, with flags and banners held afloat, multiple speakers were present at the walkout to voice their advocacy for Palestine, its citizens and academics.

Mohamad, a sociology student with Maynooth BDS (see end of article), opened the walkout by echoing the above sentiments. He particularly praised methods of collective activism like boycotts and protests, such as the walkout itself, as tangible political action, and emphasised the continued need to support Palestinian people.

Dr. Mark Walsh of AfP, and the Mathematics and Statistics department, highlighted the necessity of Maynooth University and the global academic community contributing to the reconstruction of Palestinian education, in light of the destruction of not most, but all universities in the country at the hands of Israel’s military.

In addition, Walsh questioned the effectiveness of the ceasefire arranged with American intervention on October 13th. According to Al Jazeera, Israel has killed at least 9 Palestinians since the ceasefire was announced. Speaking on a separate occasion, Palestinian lecturer Abeer Barakat told Al Jazeera that Palestinians “are afraid that Netanyahu will [take] any kind of pretext, or any kind of excuse, to break this ceasefire.”

Also from AfP was member of the English department, Dr. Sinéad Kennedy, who read extracts from Omar El Akkad’s book One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, using contemporary literature to illustrate the egregious harm caused by complicity.

Similarly, Cristoir King of BDS emphasised the need to continue pushing for Maynooth University to take action and avoid complicity, particularly in light of President Eeva Leinonen not releasing a statement on the genocide until June 17th of this year – almost two years after Israel’s military invasion began. This statement also refrains from overtly calling the invasion a genocide, instead opting to declare support of “the ICJ’s positions on the prevention of genocide and unlawful occupation,” and that the university community “deplore(s) the escalation of Israel’s military campaign and intensified blockade of food, medical supplies and other essentials.” King expressed that BDS wants the avoidance of and severance from Israeli organisations to be not only practiced by Maynooth University, but officiated as policy.

The MSU’s VP for Welfare and Equality Ty Layberry-Ling also spoke on severance of ties, highlighting the fact that Maynooth University encourages all students and staff to use Microsoft Office (Microsoft being one of the “pressure targets” of the BDS movement to boycott). Intel and Apple were also major multinational corporations, with which Maynooth University should sever ties.

Concluding the speeches at the walkout was Bana Abu Zuluf, a PhD law student, Palestinian national and BDS member. She advocated for a “framework” to exclude Israeli universities from research partnerships with Maynooth, again reiterating the BDS’ demands.

Zuluf is one of the University’s most prominent voices of this advocacy and against the degradation of academic activity in Palestine – she will be speaking at a seminar hosted by Maynooth, “Scholasticide in Palestine and the Responsibilities of Western Universities,” taking place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 21st.

With applause and continued chanting, the walkout lasted for an hour before dispersing. Two years on from the start of Israel’s genocide, Maynooth University’s student and staff body are as fiercely vocal about the rights of Palestinian people and academics as ever. You can help by donating to charities like Children Not Numbers, who provide medical aid for children in the Gaza Strip.

If the speaker Mohamad could reach out to us, so we may properly credit his name and further details he would like included, he may do so via the email address publicationliterary@mulife.ie, or @silverhandjournal on Instagram. Many thanks to Ruth McGee for providing notes.