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INSIDE THE STUDENT MOVEMENT THAT FORCED IRELAND’S TRINITY COLLEGE
TO DIVEST FROM ISRAEL  
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Priyanka Borpujari
May 17, 2024
Waging Nonviolence
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_ As news of crackdowns on U.S. campus protests spread, students in
Ireland drew inspiration and planned a strategic path to victory. _

Trinity College Dublin Students Set Palestine Solidarity Encampment,
(Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

 

Right after Dublin native Ben turned 16, he spent his summer vacations
working at event companies that organized concerts and comedy shows.
Little did he know that three years later, that experience would help
him organize — with nearly a hundred of his peers — a major
protest of Trinity College Dublin’s ties with Israel.

After five nights in tents on the grassy patch in front of the
highly-visited Book of Kells Museum, Trinity acceded to the
protesters’ demands and went down in history as one of the first
universities to agree to divest from Israeli companies. “I always
wanted to partake in effecting change, and this was an opportunity,”
the philosophy and politics student said five days after the
encampment ended. 

Trinity’s divestment announcement stated that business ties with
Israeli companies would not be renewed, with the final contract
expiring in March 2025. The fact that it is a total — albeit phased
— divestment, speaks to the protest strategy plotted out by
students. 

Since Israel’s assault on Gaza began in October, Trinity’s
boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, or BDS, started organizing
weekly protest marches with the students union, which was also in the
midst of protesting a fee hike for masters programs. When news of
the encampments at New York’s Columbia University
[[link removed]] spread
to Dublin, Trinity’s students were ready to do something similar. 

“Information obtained through a Freedom of Information request
revealed Trinity’s ties to companies in Israel,” 23-year-old
student union president László Molnárfi said during an online
gathering to celebrate the divestment victory on May 9. “We held
several meetings to discuss this; we created a document on rules of
encampment based on the guidelines that had been laid out by the
Columbia students. We also drafted a document of our demands for
divestment.” 

Molnárfi noted that even though direct action seemed daunting at
first, it was something the university couldn’t ignore. “It
changes how the university interacts with the students, because it
impacts their reputation and finances — and that is what
institutions really care about. Trinity’s decision to divest will
also impact the Irish government. There are moments in history when
what seems small actually has a large impact historically, and this is
one of those moments.” 

A STRATEGIC BLOCKADE AND ENCAMPMENT

The financial impact Molnárfi and other students knew the university
couldn’t ignore was the loss of tourist dollars. So, on April 30,
they blockaded the entrance to the Book of Kells Museum, which houses
a 1,200-year-old Celtic Gospel book and a library built in the 1700s.
The students union was swiftly hit with a $232,585 fine
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the loss of tourist revenue, with Trinity’s provost — according to
Molnárfi — telling them the university lost over $10,000 every hour
the museum was blockaded.

Despite the harsh penalty — and the fact that it was exams week —
Trinity students continued their protest, fueled on by the news
trickling in from universities in the United States. Political Science
student Elisa Zito, who was among the organizers of the direct action,
said that a series of meetings from April 29 onwards garnered enough
traction to proceed with an encampment. The date was decided for the
morning of Saturday, May 4. 

Benches placed in front of the Book of Kells Museum entrance.
(X/László Molnárfi)

“We sent out a document to nearly 500 members, and because it is
tough to control such a large crowd, news about the impending camp
reached the university’s security. This is why we decided to instead
camp from Friday evening, for fear of preventive retribution,” Zito
said, adding that it was a tradeoff between getting as many people to
camp and controlling the news spread. A well-coordinated
infrastructure team secured tents for all. Meanwhile, benches bearing
the names of Trinity’s historic alumni were placed as a barricade
outside the museum.

The next morning, the university doors were shut. An announcement
stated that they would reopen to the public on Monday. Students began
expecting an eviction, or worse: that the Gardaí (Ireland’s police)
would be called in to arrest them. A security team working in three
shifts, each composed of three students, was tasked with making rounds
of the campus, keeping their ears and eyes open to any threatening
information. 

Donations for food and other supplies began to pour in on Saturday
and, by Sunday, a functioning system was established. Morning meetings
at the camp were for logistics, and Ben would get busy compiling a
list of needed food or hygiene items, which was shared in a group and
on their Instagram page. Students or staff would bring those items to
the gate, and Ben would go to collect them. Meals were cooked in the
postgraduate student housing.

During the meetings prior to the encampment, students underwent
drills, in the event of arrests. According to Ben, they created a
three-tier risk assessment: Those identifying as “green” would
risk arrest, “yellow” was for those ready to form human barricades
and “red” meant not wanting to risk arrest whatsoever. These were
not strict markers, as a student could switch their code anytime based
on their comfort level. The students were also advised to wear face
masks to protect their identity, and to protect themselves from any
punishment from the university. There were rules of no photography
without consent and no posting photos on social media if anyone was
visible. As a result, most students wore a surgical face mask, or a
keffiyeh. Ben wore a bandana, and is still not going by his real name.
“I need to stay anonymous because there is a real threat from
far-right groups. I am not scared per se, but I am simply being
cautious,” he said, adding that while his family were supportive of
the cause, they had reservations of such direct action.

The students also had the support of the staff. According to Assistant
Professor of Clinical Speech and Language Studies Caroline Jagoe, the
Trinity chapter of Academia for Palestine
[[link removed]], or AfP, was involved in several
activities aimed at addressing the university’s silence on Gaza.
“We wrote letters, met with the provost, conducted teach-ins and
held events,” she said. “Some of us were involved in parallel
initiatives; in my case, with Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine.
We saw our role as supporting the students in their direct action:
offering material support, teach-ins as requested and within a
schedule designed by the student organizers, and general solidarity
through a presence at the encampment as much as possible, by bringing
in items that were needed, and working from one of the picnic tables
in the encampment area.”

Evening meetings at the camp were democratic spaces for discussions,
where the terms of negotiations with the university would be discussed
and voted on. Ben said there was an air of uncertainty. “Will we be
evicted? Will we be arrested? Will they negotiate and agree to our
terms? It was only after the first meeting with the university
management on Monday that we felt a sense of relief, when they said
that this would be treated as an internal matter and the Gardaí would
not be called in. While we were glad that Trinity recognized
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ruling on the genocide of Palestinians, we were not too happy with the
wording of the divestment statement from the university. We wanted to
ensure that it was not just an empty document of words.” 

Political Science Lecturer Eman Abboud — a Palestinian herself —
felt it was important that staff be present during the encampment to
oversee the safety of students. “It was overwhelming how many of our
colleagues from across Ireland were also reaching out. We provided a
Palestinian dinner night and a pizza night too, to keep the morale
high among the students,” she said, adding that there were nearly 30
staff members in and out during the five days, including non-teaching
staff. 

By Wednesday, the divestment agreement had been finalized and the
students ended the encampment that evening. “It was an out-of-body
experience, with elation. It is a great victory, but it is only the
first step towards putting the wheels in motion for similar changes in
different universities across Ireland,” Ben explained while in the
midst of running between various charities to donate the surplus food
and hygiene items. 

While the divestment agreement made clear that business ties with
Israeli companies would not be renewed, the terms to end academic ties
with Israeli educational institutions remains tricky. The mutually
agreed upon decision has been to create a taskforce that includes two
students from Trinity BDS, two students from the student union and one
academic from AfP.

A NEW MODEL FOR HOW UNIVERSITIES SHOULD ENGAGE WITH STUDENTS

The quick success of the students’ direct action was unexpected in
light of the forceful retaliation seen at universities in the U.S. So
what made this encampment — and Trinity’s decision to divest —
so different?

“The students were not starting out from ground zero. They displayed
good leadership, and know-how to be disruptive, with blocking access
to the Book of Kells, which impacts the revenue of the university,”
said Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation
Brendan Ciaran Browne, author of “Transitional (in)Justice and
Enforcing The Peace on Palestine
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also said that the university management must be commended for
engaging sensibly with the students: “The demands were attainable in
line with BDS. Given the violence meted out towards students in
universities in the U.S. and in some parts of the EU, the result at
Trinity has been a good example. The university was level-headed and
careful; they knew that quashing the students’ movement and
encampment wouldn’t go down well with the Irish population.”

With her expertise in non-conflict responses to ethnic grievances and
ethnopolitical exclusions, Abboud saw that this collective action had
all that is necessary to be successful: “It was targeted, it was
strategic, and it brought the college community together. When you are
armed with knowledge and want to be on the right side of history, then
the battle is easy. The remainder is about getting the administration
on your side.”

Jagoe echoed a similar sentiment, noting that “When business as
usual was disrupted by radical action, the university made a choice to
engage constructively and not aggressively.” A native of South
Africa, Jagoe knows about radical action all too well: She was
nine-years-old when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. “As a
child, I was aware that South Africa was under sanctions. I was aware
that the apartheid government was doing despicable things and that the
world disapproved. But I was also a white South African child,
sheltered and privileged. At the age of 15, my English teacher took us
to listen to a couple of days of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission hearings, which were taking place in the town hall near our
school. This was when I began to be changed by what I heard of the
human and community impact of apartheid and systematic human rights
violations.”

Jagoe often wondered if she would have been brave enough to march
against apartheid if she had been alive in 1976. “My involvement in
protests about Gaza requires very little bravery. But this time I have
a voice to join in the solidarity movement and stand with Palestinian
people, and with my healthcare colleagues in Gaza. Nelson Mandela
reminded us that our own freedom is always bound up with that of
others, and he spoke specifically of Palestinian liberation.” 

In the 16 years that she has been living in Ireland, Jagoe has noticed
some caution around supporting Palestine, for fear of impact on career
progression, or job security if on precarious contracts. Some of her
colleagues have been supportive in a quieter manner. When asked about
the mood within his department since October 2023 and with the
encampment by the students, Browne joked: “I plead the Fifth.” 

Acknowledging her privilege of being a permanent employee, Jagoe felt
it was her responsibility to speak up against injustices. “I have
always been proud to work at Trinity. But if our investments allow for
one chain in a fence designed to prevent free movement, one slab in a
wall of the blockade of Gaza, then that is one chain or one slab too
many. If our investments enable one more child to be killed, one more
person to be injured, one more healthcare worker to be tortured or
killed, how can we go on to teach about rights, equality or protection
of healthcare services? It is too easy to see investments or purchases
from suppliers as abstract, but there is a reality on the ground for
every euro we spend or invest, and for every engagement that
legitimizes a regime intent on undermining the rights and dignities of
other human beings.”

Abboud — who has family and property in Palestine — has found
solace in being part of the AfP. As a Palestinian living in Ireland
for the past eight years, she was disappointed with her employer
stating that it would stay neutral during a genocide against her own
people. “It meant that I could be put in a situation where I would
have to justify the humanity of Palestinians. I felt ashamed to be
working there. It didn’t sit right with me, and that’s what
motivated me into action: I would be speaking up and supporting their
right to exist if it was any other country.” 

Being inspired by the students and colleagues across Ireland who are
part of AfP, Abboud felt there was a unified motivation to make
Trinity a better place, and hold it accountable to the standard it set
for itself. “We kept drawing upon the mission statement and goals of
the university, because the mission of the college is aligned with BDS
— it’s what they rightfully did to Russia. While I might not agree
with how Trinity handled it at every step of the way, I am now proud
of the fact that Trinity is presenting a new model for how
universities should engage with students: by allowing them to have
their right to collective action. When a movement is this big it’s
certainly worth listening to.”

Ireland’s solidarity with Palestine is not new: Browne said that it
was the first country in the EU to recognize the Palestine Liberation
Organization when it was established in 1964. “The solidarity has
largely been through grassroots activists, stemming from our own
colonial past and violence. However, we cannot just see it as a
post-colonial response, because Ireland is still very divided.
Ireland’s peace process is lauded internationally, but it is not
seen in the context of everyday realities.”

Boycott as a concept and a tool of direct action also has its roots in
colonized Ireland, when an English land agent named Charles Cunningham
Boycott — working on behalf of a landowner in County Mayo in
northwest Ireland — extorted massive rents from tenants, those
unable to pay were met with violence. A movement began in 1880 whereby
Boycott’s employees stopped working and began to isolate him,
resulting in a powerful political concept that we now understand as
boycott. Exactly a century later, in 1984, 21-year-old cashier Mary
Manning
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to handle a South African grapefruit at the Dunnes Store in Dublin —
not far from Trinity — leading the path for Irish anti-apartheid
activism. 

The Irish government has announced that it will recognize
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State of Palestine on May 21. While Abboud feels this move is too
little too late, Browne is more cynical: “The Irish government is
good with words but quite slow in providing tangible solidarity and
support. The current Taoiseach Simon Harris said he is “repulsed”
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the actions of the Israeli government, but his government is not
closely looking at its trade arrangement with Israel.”

Nevertheless, the actions of the students of Trinity have caused
ripples across academia on the Atlantic island, as a few other
universities
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since set up encampments on their campuses. Meanwhile, the students
union at Trinity is still battling the $232,585 fine imposed on them,
having so far refused
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pay it or engage in negotiations. According to Molnárfi, “We should
not be afraid to use our power as students. The Freedom of Information
requests showed that the university was neutral on the genocide. We
shared that information and were able to mobilize the obvious anger,
and used it as an opportunity to organize direct action.” 

Ben, meanwhile, walks through the university campus differently now:
“There is a shift in the way I view our campus. It is no longer just
a university and a monolith, but it is an active space where we
affected change and made history.”

_Priyanka Borpujari [[link removed]] is an
award-winning journalist currently based in Dublin. She has previously
reported on issues of human rights and justice from across Japan,
Bosnia-Herzegovina,El Salvador, Indonesia, and India. Connect with her
on Twitter/X @Pri_Borpujari_

_Waging Nonviolence is a nonprofit media organization dedicated to
providing original reporting and expert analysis of social movements
around the world. With a commitment to accuracy, transparency and
editorial independence, we examine today’s most crucial issues by
shining a light on those who are organizing for just and peaceful
solutions._

* ireland
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* Student protests
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* Israel
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* Palestine
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* Divestment
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