Manchester university have now been in occupation for nearly a month! Their vice-chancellor has so far failed to enter into negotiations and a demo is planned for this afternoon. Please take one minute of your morning to take action to support them. Copy and paste the text below into an email, adding your name at the bottom, and forward to president@manchester.ac.uk. We want to inundate him with support for the occupation! You can also call him at 0161 306 6010 to express your feelings. Please circulate widely.
Dear Vice-Chancellor Gilbert,
I am writing to express my total support for the Manchester University occupation in solidarity with Gaza and its demands.
The Manchester University occupation has been the longest and the largest of a national wave of UK university occupations in solidarity with Gaza and its students have shown admirable passion and commitment to this urgent cause. That its students are sufficiently compassionate and engaged to interrupt their own lives to this extent in order to speak out in solidarity with the victims of violence and oppression is surely something to be celebrated by Manchester University. The students have demonstrated utmost willingness to work together with the university administration and have sought negotiations throughout the entire protest.
The Manchester University occupation has the support of a strong national student movement and its principles and sentiments are reflective of those of the majority of the British public. Its demands are similar to those currently being implemented in numerous universities across the UK which are now working together with their students to put an end to their institutional collusion with the illegal Israeli occupation and find ways to use their privileged position to help those who are suffering because of it. Manchester should be no exception. Therefore we urge you to do the same and hope that you will begin working together with the students of the occupation to address their demands.
Yours sincerely,
name, Uni/organisation