Trinity College Dublin agrees to divest
JVL Introduction
In a resounding success for student protest, Trinity College Dublin has agreed to divest from Israeli companies with activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN blacklist as well as endeavouring to divest from other Israeli companies.
Unlike at other universities, there was no attempt here to break up the encampment. The authorities said they understood the encampment’s rationale and expressed their horror at what has happened in Gaza, both at the taking of hostages and at the hugely disproportionate response.
They stated unequivocally: “The humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the dehumanisation of its people is obscene.”
Would that UK universites would have the same degree of compassion and understanding…
RK
This article was originally published by the Guardian on Wed 8 May 2024. Read the original here.
Trinity College Dublin agrees to divest from Israeli firms after student protest
Five-day encampment in university grounds that caused the college major loss of income ended in victory for campaigners
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Wonderful news! Likely to have SOME positive effect too on the decisions of other university / college administrations in Ireland, Northern Ireland and mainland UK.
The needs of our basic self-esteem entail that each of us must feel we’re creatures of value able to think, ‘I am not merely another transient animal but a person of significance in a world of meaning.’ We become heroes in our own lives, not of course the ‘high’ heroism of mythology, but the noble heroism of everyday working life.
But when everyday heroism feels insufficient, we must must find a Grand Cause. Its moral worth is separate from our participation in it, but it must be ‘big enough’ to take us beyond ourselves. ‘Whataboutery’ is wrong in this case, above all because the usual ‘whatabouts’ are too small for the role.
Now, it’s possible to view the conflict at the eastern end of the Mediterranean as, objectively, quite small. After all, Israel is a small country, the occupied Palestinian lands even smaller, the total population not huge. Seen in those terms, hardly enough to hold aspirations of self-transcendence.
But consider: apart from geopolitics, hegemonic crimes (themselves redolent of ‘heroism’ to the perpetrators), the story is not at all small, it’s the largest possible: starting with a supposed mandate from the Lord and Master, Creator of the universe Himself, it proceeds through narratives of marching armies, religious wars, endless persecutions and pogroms, the Judeocide itself, told and retold down the ages in Sunday School, in cheder, indeed in the nursery. Yes, it’s big enough.
And not least, this heroic project originated, during the reign of Elizabeth I within Christianity, as the ‘British Movement for the Restoration of the Jews to Palestine’, long before Herzl and others made it their own symbolic immortality project.
Zionism: a large enough cause for the clashing heroisms of both proponents and opponents. Pro or con, joining the struggle I become larger than myself,
probably unaware that regardless of merits in the cause itself, I’m unconsciously securing a symbolic share in a spiritual existence through all eternity.
I’m not saying The Guardian article was a ‘cut and paste’ job – that would be silly – but credit must be given to The Irish Times for the first report of the students’ success, and TCD’s administration’s common sense in the amicable settling of this protest.
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2024/05/08/trinity-students-likely-to-end-encampment-after-deal-with-college-over-israeli-ties/
…and, now, reports are saying Cambridge University has followed suit.
Finally, some welcome, positive news to report. Let’s hope an end to the genocide, in Palestine, will follow shortly, showing BDS has a part to play, as it did in South Africa.
Sooner, rather than later.
I am unsurprised by the Trinity College decision. Why I had Irish Great Grandparents. Family history lessons took the form of stories which led to deeper reading of social history and fictional stories. The Clearings and The Famine have left their deep marks on the Irish People and diaspora.
Terrific news! Surely this settlement also reflects the consciousness that Ireland was a colonised country which experienced a genocide; and the long re-learning process for Trinity College, which had once been a prime institution for colonial rule and has since gone through many changes and much self-examination.
I’ve read two reference up to now to “the Mainland.” The Republic of Ireland ceased to see Britain as its “Mainland” a long time ago.