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LSE Students Occupy Against University’s Ties To Libyan Regime

Uniriot Roma | 23.02.2011 12:40 | Anti-militarism | Education | Social Struggles

At 7PM on February 22nd, Students at the LSE began an occupation of the Senior Common Room in the Old Building (Houghton St.) against the LSE’s regarding their association with the Libyan regime. In light of recent events the LSE administration announced that they would no longer be accepting the money from the Gaddafi family. They have already accepted £300,000 and were scheduled to receive and additional £1.2.

UPDATE: This morning LSE students occupied the office of director Howard Davies in protest at the university's links to the Libyan regime.



Students are demanding:


a) A public statement by the LSE administration denouncing the recent gross violations of human rights by the Gaddafi regime and Saif Gaddafi’s violent threats against the protesters in Libya

b) A formal commitment by the LSE refraining from cooperating with the Libyan regime and any other dictatorial regimes that are known to be implicated in gross violations of human rights.

c) Rejecting the rest of the yearly installments that are being received from the £1.5 Million donation of the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF) and work towards creating a scholarship fund for underprivileged Libyan students using the £300k that LSE has already accepted and not spent yet.

d) Revoking Saif Gaddafi's LSE alumni status, as his public statement on Sunday 20th of February and the various reports issued by International Human Rights Organisations clearly demonstrate that he is implicated in the killing of innocent civilians as well as other human rights violations. His association with the LSE community and particularly its student body is a disgrace that is not tolerated by the LSE staff, students and alumni.
e) Publicly committing that no grants from officials of such oppressive regimes will be accepted in the future by establishing a set of standards and a process of democratic decision-making with student representation that determines whether or not the School should accept money coming from controversial donors.
Failing to do these would not only betray the LSE's ethical values, it would also tarnish the School's reputation in a region whose people are currently fighting to reclaim their freedom from corrupt dictatorships--and are winning the fight so far.
Following the publication of these demands LSE students will occupy a space on LSE campus.

Uniriot Roma
- Homepage: http://www.uniriot.org/uniriotII/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2540:lse-students-occupy-against-universitys-ties-to-libyan-regime&catid=132:eunir

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Why has it taken this long?

23.02.2011 18:31

The LSE accepted money from Gaddafi two or more years ago. Why were there no protests then? Why the sudden change in heart? I think we should be told.

antifa

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fuck students

23.02.2011 21:36

antifa, i think a better question to ask is why UK students didn't occupy their universities when they were accepting hundreds of millions from the perpetrators of proper genocide - i.e. the invasion of iraq.

who cares

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tyrants

23.02.2011 22:28

Right - so allowing Mubarak and Gaddafi to stay in power is a Very Bad Thing. Removing Saddam from power is also a Very Bad Thing. Cognitive dissonance.

antifa

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fuck antifa

24.02.2011 10:39

antifa, you fucking prick (no offence to the organisation!)

Removal of saddam from power was NOT the purpose of the invasion of Iraq. Any country invading another is WRONG. 1 million dead Iraqis is WRONG. Half a million dead Iraqi children by sanctions before the war was WRONG. If people of a country rise up and want to change the order, good for them. You can FUCK RIGHT OFF. You prick.

You might support British and Yank murderous occupations, but I for one do not.
No cognitive dissonance here.

who cares

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Long memory

24.02.2011 11:58

In 2009 Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation pledged £1.5 million of which £300 000 has already been sent - not a lot of student protest then .

Ashok Kumar, who is education officer for the LSE students' union, said:

"I think it's reprehensible that the university continues to benefit from money that was stolen from the Libyan people and it's only right to return it to the people who are now being murdered in the streets fighting for their freedom."

Fine words Ashok , however we must wonder why it took until now for it to be "reprehensible", was it not two years ago ?

Gaddafi's second son Saif al-Islam, who studied at the university from 2003 to 2008 also failed to attract and protest from the Students Union, was it ok because he funded parties and outings ?

Marvo the memory man

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Obvious you don't care

24.02.2011 12:23

'Any country invading another is WRONG.'
Oh, you mean like Saddam invading Kuwait? And we shouldn't have invaded France in 1944, either? Memo: apologise to the French.

'1 million dead Iraqis is WRONG.'

You're quite RIGHT it's WRONG. Because nothing like a million Iraqis died as a result of the 2003 invasion.

'Half a million dead Iraqi children by sanctions before the war was WRONG.'

You're quite RIGHT it's WRONG. Because nothing like a half a million Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions.

'If people of a country rise up and want to change the order, good for them.'

And if they're held down by secret police, by the military and security services, we just walk away whistling 'It's nothing to do with us'. I think you might be better off posting under the name 'Pontius Pilate'


'You can FUCK RIGHT OFF. You prick.'

I do admire the level of intellectual debate you can meet on the forum.

antifa

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stop using the name of REAL anti-facists

24.02.2011 13:37

Who the fuck are you? You are definitely not in the real antifa. I don't think it is antifa's line to support illlegal invasions and occupations of other countries by the British army. Seems the 'we' you refer to is you and the British state...

Don't like the level of my debate? too bad. Apologists and supporters of genocide can all FUCK OFF.

i care

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Real debate

24.02.2011 14:13

'Apologists and supporters of genocide can all FUCK OFF.'

You mean, like all those in the LSE who supported Gaddaffi only a year or so ago?

antifa

definition of genocide

24.02.2011 14:58

Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as

...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

– Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2[3]

FTP

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And your point

24.02.2011 15:12

is what?

antifa

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Debate without evidence?

24.02.2011 15:36

'antifa' : "You mean, like all those in the LSE who supported Gaddaffi only a year or so ago?"

What are you referring to here?

Proof please

not genocide

25.02.2011 13:57

my previous comment was in response to the hidden comments. read the definition and make your own mind up - but technically what's happening in libya now is not genocide. lets be accurate in our reporting and critical in our analysis of the enemy's media.

FTP

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