• Queen Mary is at the heart of Tower Hamlets, the goldmine for UK campus protests
• Queen Mary ramps up security barring people from entry for the first time
In the heart of Tower Hamlets, the vibrant pulse of Queen Mary University resonates with the fervor of protest. Against the backdrop of the borough, home to the largest Muslim community in the UK, Queen Mary stands as a beacon of activism, drawing attention not only from its students but from the surrounding community as well.
Tower Hamlets has the largest Muslim population of any constituent in the entirety of the UK, ranking one for both proportion of Muslims and numbers alike. On top of that, it ranks in the in the top 5 for the largest ethnic minority proportion in London. The pro-Palestinian sentiment has not been concealed, with Palestinian flags being raised high above many lampposts across the borough for months after October 7 outlining the deep-seated sentiment of solidarity within the community.
Tower Hamlets has been instrumental in showing solidarity with the Palestinian people with flags, bus stop ads and much more
Encampments were launched in multiple universities across the UK over the past few weeks, with Kings College, LSE, and Queen Mary launching theirs this week. What must be noted is that the difference between other universities and Queen Mary is that both the community within them and the community that surrounds the campus itself are heavily supportive. With other universities the latter is usually absent.
As I stepped into Queen Mary on Monday, I saw a community like no other. I was greeted with a scene unity and determination. People from different areas of different ages and backgrounds had come to show solidarity and support to the student protesters who set up camp, recognising the sacrifices and risks being made by student protesters. A fierce speech was given, demanding change, and with flags raised high in the air, the local community could not miss the incredible spectacle that was arising.
Queen Mary has for a long time failed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, while many other universities have been quick to do so. What’s worse is that since 2011, Queen Mary has collaborated on research with an arms company, Qinetic, that tests Israeli military drones used against Palestinians. On top of that, a Queen Mary spin-off company has developed video recognition technology that has been supplied to Israeli military surveillance systems. Queen Mary’s investments in complicit companies of the ongoing genocide are £1,117,069.
Palestinian Solidarity Campaign has found that Queen Mary has more then 1.2 million in investments to companies complicit in genocide
The response by the university to the encampments
After the encampment was established on Monday and after protesters had gathered, there had been a change in the rules of who could enter campus and who couldn’t. Queen Mary has always operated as an open campus where students and locals alike could walk in freely and enter some of the buildings without being forced to show or touch ID. The grassland and outdoors were seen as communal places for the local community. However, after the protests began on Monday, security had been deployed at every entrance of the campus, preventing anyone without a Queen Mary ID from entering. What’s bizarre is that yesterday a BBC journalist was allowed to enter the campus and harass encampment protesters with insensitive questions, such as on the topic of October 7th. Just imagine a pro-Palestinian protest to raise awareness about the deaths of more than 30,000 people with the highest kill rate since the Rwanda genocide, and the BBC has come to ask those who are crying in sympathy to speak about an incident that occurred more than half a year ago that had less than 10 times as many casualties. The Queen Mary encampment has raised awareness and highlighted the ineptitude of the mainstream media in handling justice when speaking about the ongoing genocide. Both the BBC and Sky made Gaza a substory on their news websites and channels, even while the bloodiest phase of the genocide is taking place in Rafah.
Queen Mary is the goldmine of opportunity for change in the university scene
Tower Hamlets has likely been the most outwardly pro-Palestinian constituent in the whole of the UK, raising and hanging more flags than any other. Queen Mary is at the heart of Tower Hamlets, and with it, the community around Queen Mary has and will continue to be instrumental in supporting the encampment taking place. With graduations expected at a multitude of universities soon and the prospect of the removal of tents becoming ever closer, Queen Mary has something other universities do not: a community both within and outside the encampment that will come to its aid whenever needed or asked for.
University encampments are one of the strongest weapons to hurt Israel
There are many youths that are still oblivious to the Palestinian plight, and many university students even now are not politically aware enough to care or understand what’s going on. However, when a university encampment is launched in a multitude of universities across the country and when it reaches both the mainstream media and does its rounds on social media, it forces people to understand and care about the topic at hand. It therefore demonstrates to Israel that an entire generation, a generation that will one day rule the land, govern the people, and judge its foreign policy, is a pro-Palestinian generation that will not shudder when called out. Netanyahu himself spoke out about the encampment protests in the US, calling them anti-semitic, highlighting the significance they can have in changing the narrative that has enabled this genocide to continue. If there is one thing that can cause fear in the Israeli government and elites within Israel in their grotesque display of genocide on international screens and one thing that could be a crucial thing to stop the ongoing genocide in Rafah, this could well be it.
