• Female faculty members at University College London are shaving their heads in an effort to compel the institution to divest from Israel.
• The demonstration, inspired by Palestinian women in Gaza, highlights the ongoing dehumanisation and barbarism inflicted on Palestinians.
Female staff at University College London are shaving their heads to pressure the institution to divest from Israel, aligning with hundreds of academics urging the university to divest and boycott Israeli universities.
In a public demonstration, two female staff members from UCL and an alumna shaved their heads on Wednesday to show solidarity with Palestinian women in Gaza, who are compelled to do the same due to water scarcity.
May, a technician at UCL, initiated the act by shaving her head before a gathering of academics and staff commemorating Nakba Day yesterday.
Addressing the assembly, May, who chose not to disclose her full name, explained that she shaved her hair to spotlight the “dehumanization endured by Palestinian women in Gaza” and to urge UCL to divest from companies profiting from Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“A woman forced to shave her head would be considered dehumanizing in almost any circumstance. But sadly, it is a single tiny drop in the ocean of the unspeakable dehumanization, violence, and cruelty inflicted on the Palestinian people before our very eyes,” May emphasized.
“UCL is complicit by continuing to hold shares in arms companies and banking with Barclays, which has increased its investment in companies profiting from this genocide,” she added.
Elle, a lecturer at UCL, also joined the protest by shaving her hair to demand an end to the university’s research partnerships with Israeli universities.
“I’m here because I have an ethical obligation that my work doesn’t contribute to denying them their dignity, knowledge, history, humanity, or even their existence,” Elle asserted.
“I am here because our liberation is bound up with each other.”
Elle cited the inspiration from other women who shaved their heads outside parliament, mirroring the actions of Palestinian women in Gaza facing hair-related health issues due to continued displacement.
Their protest coincides with a growing movement among academic staff at UCL calling for an academic boycott of Israeli universities, as protest encampments expand across university campuses in Britain, including King’s College London, the London School of Economics, and Queen Mary University in East London.
