A sea of tents and a communal kitchen: Life inside Oxford’s pro-Palestinian encampment

Outside of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, a sea of tents have taken over the normally pristine green lawn.

Oxford Action for Palestine has begun an encampment, similar to those seen at Columbia University and UCLA in the US, while demanding the university divests funds from Israel.

Those who enter the impromptu ‘checkpoint’ are given a run down about the rules inside of the camp.

The rules are: download the Signal app, submit a paper with your name, signal ID, and how you can help, then attend a welcome talk.

If you want to camp at there, you have to fill in a form at a QR code – the details of which are unknown.

The atmosphere is peaceful. A communal kitchen is whipping up lunch as Metro.co.uk reporters walk through.

Hand painted banners mark various locations as reference points.

The Dr Refaat Alareer Memorial Library tent offers books about Palestinian liberation and history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine – named after a Gazan professor who was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The Shireen Abu Akleh media tent – named after the Palestinian journalist who was killed by Israeli troops in 2022 – is where the camp spokespeople meet Metro.co.uk.

Mira, a visiting student at Oxford who is studying English Literature, said they were a part of groups in Columbia who helped set up the encampments there.

They added: ‘Looking at some of the things that have been happening in America and other parts of the globe we wanted to engage in forms of escalation or forms of action that were inspired and in solidarity with things happening on other campuses. 

‘There was a lot of frustration amongst the people who have been working with the administration and trying to put pressure on the administration of Oxford since October 7th, and a feeling that the things that we’ve been doing weren’t being taken seriously enough or weren’t having any noticeable effects. So we wanted to do something a little bit more visible.’

Oxford isn’t the only UK university taking after US encampment-style protests – Cambridge, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and others are hosting massive encampments.

Mira explains: ‘Our encampment started at the same time as Cambridge’s encampment. It may not be us taking actively taking a leadership role so much as being Oxford – we’re a little bit more in the spotlight then other universities.

‘The Pitt Rivers Museum contains many artifacts and other items taken in various Colonial conquests that both the university in particular and England has been involved in the past, so we thought that using this location would be a symbolic kind of choice as a protest against the legacy of British colonialism.

‘As well as specifically the English Legacy in establishing the Israeli nation state with the Balfour declaration,’ they add.

‘We’ve gotten a ton of community support and hopefully we can continue getting a ton of support as the encampment goes on. I think it’s the concern of any long-term movement to make sure that we have continuous support.’

Rachel, 64, works in Oxford and arrived outside of the encampment with a car full of food and supplies to donate to the protest.

She told Metro.co.uk: ‘There’s a groundswell of support in the university and the medical fraternity – that this can’t happen. We can’t sit and watch a genocide taking place on the news every day without feeling humanity and obligation to to stop this – and it’s nothing to do with anti-Semitism. 

‘It’s just a feeling of humanity towards people who are receiving brutalism.’

One member of the encampment tells Metro.co.uk although the camp has a mainly ‘left-leaning’ ideological base, unions and community groups across Oxford have shown support regardless of political leaning.

Wren, a master’s student at Oxford, told Metro.co.uk: ‘We’ve had so much community mobilisation, we’ve built a really nice open access space that everyone is welcome to come into. It’s been a real act of solidarity. We’re keeping our focus on Gaza, on Palestine.

‘…So many people have bought food donations, most of the things you see here have been donated by the local community and just goes to show how much support there is for Palestine.’

Speaking on recent coverage of the Palestine encampments which have referred to the protests as ‘performative’, Wren said: ‘I think we do have a degree of privilege and that’s why we’re exercising our privilege to help others. But performative activism is just not a word I would use for this at all. I think people are just responding to the unfolding situation, which is a genocide.’

Ian, 60, is a local nurse and member of the social worker party. He and other volunteers were handing out information pamphlets to passerbys.

He told Metro.co.uk: ‘We’re here to show support. Part of our aim is to get support for the encampment but also to have discussions.

‘Obviously a lot of people here are not socialists and they come from different political perspectives, which is great.’

When asked if the protests will expand if more tents arrive, Metro.co.uk is denied an answer – but the Oxford University protests appear to be going strong as of now.

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