‘All of humanity should break out in a fever’: Seven days at Western University’s encampments

 

Earlier this month, students at Western University in London, Ontario began organizing encampments demanding divestment from companies funding genocide. Western University currently invests $33.6 million in companies complicit in Israel’s violent occupation of Palestine.

The first encampment was on May 1 and ran from noon to midnight; the second was on May 8 and was also planned from noon to midnight, but instead became indefinite from that point onwards. The following is an account of the encampment’s first seven days.

“When one part of humanity aches, all of humanity should break out in a fever,” says a Western University alumnus in a speech at the first encampment. “And you are that fever. When you remove the signs of agendas, when you remove economy and politics and money, and you’re really looking at the truth, what’s happening is wrong regardless of how you try to explain it.”

A whiteboard placed at the encampment entrance lists student demands in red.

It demands disclosure: a list of investments tied to Israel and weapon manufacturers. It demands divestment from companies with ties to Israel. It demands that Western University condemn Israel’s illegal occupation and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has killed over 35,000 Palestinians – some of whom are family of Western University students.  (more...)

‘All of humanity should break out in a fever’: Seven days at Western University’s encampments