Hi everyone, I’m Yara (she/her) and I’m running for Equality & Liberation!
I'm running for Equality & Liberation because for the last three years that I’ve been at SOAS, I’ve discovered how hypocritical higher education institutions are and the lengths that they’ll go to to prioritise profits over people. The title of this role alone is an oxymoron because none of us can truly be liberated within an elitist academic institution like SOAS. But I do think it’s important to use a role like this to facilitate understandings of equality & liberation when we’re existing and operating in an institution that doesn’t care about us. We can provide each other with the tools needed to reimagine a world where we’re all liberated and the ways we could achieve this. Something I’ve learned beyond the classroom, in organising spaces and on picket lines, is that imagination alone isn’t enough; it has to be followed by action. The power is in our hands as students and we have the ability to truly challenge, dismantle and abolish the structures which continue to oppress us.
Since I started at SOAS, I’ve been involved in the Palestine Society and began running the society after my first year. My focus for the Palestine Society the last couple of years has been to centre political education alongside BDS campaigning. We’ve worked hard to build a vibrant academic boycott campaign to put pressure on SOAS to cut their ties with Haifa University, an Israeli university located on colonised Palestinian land with deep links to the Israeli Military. I’ve also branched out into other SOAS campaigns such as the student-UCU solidarity strike coordination, Students Against Securitisation and Surveillance (SASS) and Justice For Workers (J4W). Without a doubt, coordinating with such incredible students across campus has highlighted that these seemingly different campaign goals are one in the same when we are all fighting for a free, decolonised and demarketised education.
Empowerment & Education
Organising ourselves is crucial if we want equality and liberation, so I want to use the experience & knowledge I’ve developed as a student organiser to help empower students to do whatever they want. Something I’ve heard more times than I can count is that a person is interested in a campaign or a society but doesn't feel like they know enough to get involved. If I waited until I felt like I knew enough to get involved in anything, I never would’ve joined. You learn as you go along, and that’s where I want to step in.
-
Skillshare Workshops - I want to hold regular skillshare workshops where you, the students, get to decide which skills you need to put your politics to practice to the best of your ability. These skills can cover anything from public speaking, media training, how to make eye-catching banners, or how to conduct research for your campaign e.g how to write and submit Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the University.
-
Discussion Groups - I hope to invite people from within SOAS and external guests to host spaces where we can discuss what liberation means to us. Liberation looks different for different people, so I’m excited to create spaces where groups can engage in these conversations. I've organised and participated in Palestinian Sumoud Circles which have been so transformative, validating and educational for me, so I’m determined to replicate this feeling for other students.
-
Liberation Spaces - In the interest of reimagining, I would like to facilitate creative, social spaces for students to explore liberatory practices. Liberation is not bound by rules and order, so I want to encourage students to embrace the concept of imagination and to push the boundaries of what’s possible. We are made to feel restricted and constrained every day by the state’s mechanisms of control, which means that all we have is each other. Liberation isn’t an individual project, it’s a collective responsibility. We need to centre care in our pursuit of liberation because working together to liberate our minds is half the battle.
Campaigns
-
Student Occupation - A priority for me in this role would be to continue to support the demands of the student occupation which Management forcefully shut down. I will use my position and access to SOAS’ decision-making actors to ensure that these demands, which reflect a wide array of student and staff needs, do not get taken off the table.
-
BDS - I intend to continue my support for the academic boycott campaign of Haifa University in my capacity as a Sabbatical Officer. Not only do I want to see the end of SOAS’ current partnership with Haifa University, I want to ensure that SOAS pledges not to re-partner with any Israeli institution.
-
SASS - I’m eager to do more work around abolishing Prevent to make sure that students can no longer be surveilled to the absurd extent that they currently are, and that they’re not perceived or framed as suspects. Prevent is a racist, neo-colonial duty disguised as a counter-terrorism act, which disproportionately targets Muslim, Palestinian and Black students. It has no business operating on our campuses or elsewhere.
-
Art and the African Mind’s #FireHabib Campaign - Adam Habib was hired precisely due to his ability to suppress politically active students on campus. This track record of his is desirable for SOAS as an institution because they need someone who will go to any lengths to crack down on the protest culture we have at our university. His recent decision to call private bailiffs on student protestors at SOAS is a microcosm of the state’s Police, Crime, Sentencing & Court bill, which is why I also want to work with KillTheBill on reaffirming students’ legal right to protest. I intend to see Habib’s removal through, due to the inhospitable and unsafe environment he has created with his presence, particularly for students of Afrikan heritage.
-
Divest Borders UK - I hope to reinvigorate the Divest Borders UK campaign which was a budding cross-campaign at SOAS last academic year. The aim is to tackle SOAS’ ties to the UK’s border regime by investigating their investments in the UK immigration detention and deportation system, as well as the border industrial complex.
-
Justice For Workers - I want to contribute more of my time and efforts into ensuring that Management accept the demands of the Justice For Workers campaign and put an end to the despicable treatment, unfair pay, ridiculous working hours, and health risks that our cleaners have faced at the hand of the institution.