Andalusian universities are slowly mobilizing in support of the Palestinian people, with the University of Granada being the most active at the moment. About 50 tents make up the solidarity camp against Israel, set up mainly by Granada students in the university campus of Fuentenueva. In Malaga, only around twenty students gathered in support, while in Seville, plans are being made to start their camp next week. The camp in Granada, near the Faculty of Building Engineering and sports facilities, has attracted 80 to 100 people who plan to remain there until the Spanish government and universities, particularly the University of Granada, cut all ties with Israel and its higher education institutions. The camp was briefly abandoned for a protest at the university’s headquarters during an institutional event for Europe Day, before the students returned.
Hada Martínez, a protester at the Granada campus and spokesperson for Students for Palestine, the group leading the camp, stated that the main objective is to cut academic relations with Israel by universities and the government, as failing to do so makes them complicit in the genocide. Belén Habboob, a pre-doctoral researcher at the University of Granada with a Palestinian father and Spanish mother, joined the camp. She emphasized that simply recognizing Palestine is not enough and urged Spain to take a stand against Israel similar to South Africa’s denouncement in The Hague. Habboob highlighted the urgency of addressing the ongoing genocide in Palestine and called for the decolonization of the region to allow Palestinians to live on their own terms.
In Malaga, about twenty students protested at the University of Malaga’s Library to demand the institution cut all ties with Israel. This action followed a larger protest by a hundred young people across various faculties in solidarity with Palestine on the Teatinos campus. Banners with messages like “Stop the Zionist genocide in Gaza” were displayed by students supported by groups such as Málaga Palestine, Student Union, Revolutionary Left, CGT, and Axarquía for Palestine. Discussions are ongoing regarding whether to continue the protest, relocate, hold a sit-in, or organize a camp, depending on the university’s response to the CRUE statement on Gaza.
Seville students plan to follow suit soon. The University of Seville and Pablo Olavide University students will hold an assembly to vote on initiating a camp next week. The group PalestinUS, dedicated to solidarity with Palestine in Sevilla, is organizing the camp in conjunction with both universities. Committees will be established for various tasks related to the camp, including acquiring permits and ensuring security. Workshops and activities will be arranged for students unable to join the camp to participate in protests against Israel’s actions. The unified efforts of students in Andalusian universities reflect a growing wave of support for the Palestinian cause and a call to action against the ongoing conflict in the region.
