UMSU Education

Join us to disrupt the opening ceremony of LANDFORCES 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

LANDFORCES is a networking event for the bloodthirsty criminals who are raking in record profits from arming Israel’s genocide. Unimelb is one of many universities that are presenting at this weapons conference!

We are picketing and protesting the opening ceremony and arrival of attendees this Wednesday morning 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 join ED pub and students for palestine unimelb and disrupt wars for this anti-war action 💪🏼🇵🇸

FREE PALESTINE
FUND BOOKS NOT BOMBS

from
Yesterday a 23 year old Tamil refugee from Sri Lanka lost his life because of this Labor government’s brutal regime of torture. Mano Yogalingam, one of the organisers and volunteers at the refugee encampment in the Docklands, set himself on fire in an act of despair and protest. The reality is, Mano’s life was taken by the Labor governments brutal treatment of refugees.
He fled ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka, coming to this country at the age of 11. For 12 years he was kept in limbo by successive Labor and Liberal governments. For 12 long years he was kept on impermanent visas, not knowing month on month whether he would be deported back to danger.
The loss of Mano is a close to home reminder of the daily violence that this government perpetuates. His death is barely a news story.
Last council meeting we tried to move a motion that stood in solidarity with the refugee encampment and passed money to help them buy food and much needed supplies. Community for UMSU, the majority faction on council, refused to include this motion in the agenda. When we tried to move it in motions without notice, the chair and president, Disha Zutshi, refused to hear the motion saying it was not “urgent”. Mano’s death should serve as a horrifying example of what this kind of politics leads to. Refugees in this country have been left behind by this government for decades.
How many more refugees will lose their lives because of this barbaric system?
Join the demonstration tomorrow at 5:30pm, 808
Bourke st Docklands. We cannot give up the fight for permanent visas, for and end to the despicable system of refugee torture, and a world in which people are free to live their lives free from oppression.

FREE FREE THE REFUGES!

Tonight ED PUB office bella joined 500 anti racist activists for a rally to demand permanent visas for refugees.

These refugees are heroic, leading a 24/7 encampment outside of the department of home affairs office to demand their right to saftey in this country.

They, alongside 12,000 other refugees are being held in limbo by the Labor govt who has the power to grant them freedom TODAY.

Power to the refugees
Refugees are welcome here!
We won’t stop fighting until we win

UMSU ED PUB BELLA AND INDIGENOUS REP OSKAR CONDEMN THE REPRESSION OF PRO PALESTINE STUDENT ACTIVISTS AT UNIMELB AND ACROSS AUSTRALIA.

- DROP THE CHARGES
- UNIMELB DIVEST FROM ISRAEL
🇵🇸

Bella: last Friday i spoke at the forum about the need to build a radical, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist Palestine solidarity movement.

We need to kick the weapons manufacturers out of Melbourne, and protest the Labor govts complicity in genocide.

Get involved with and to DISRUPT the Land Forces Conference - aka the conference of war criminals - swipe for more details.

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

🇵🇸 UMSU ED PUB: SIGN THE OPEN LETTER - LINK IN OUR BIO 🇵🇸

umsu ed pub @ the Palestine rally - week 35 🇵🇸

UMSU ED PUB officer bella marching with after a historic student general meeting voted to demand that queensland uni divest from Israeli apartheid!

so proud of these incredible student activists - they’ve pulled off what is now the biggest pro palestine student meeting and rally on an australian uni campus in history 🤩🇵🇸✊🏼

FREE FREE PALESTINE!

UMSU ed pub x indigenous rep x enviro office out at the docks last weekend in solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸✊🏼

AUS govt cut military and diplomatic ties with Israel!
End the genocide in Gaza!
FREE PALESTINE NOW 🇵🇸

UMSU ED PUB PROTESTS THE STATE LABOR CONFERENCE FOR PALESTINE! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

The ALP has green lighted Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. They have signed 900 million dollar deals with Israeli weapons manufacturers, cut off life-saving humanitarian aid to millions of Palestinians, all while pretending that they are the good guys!

The ALP wanted to have their fancy conference uninterrupted, but pro-Palestine activists said HELL NO!

Labor party you can’t hide - you’re supporting genocide!

UMSU ED PUB & UMSU INDIGENOUS REP at the Palestine Solidarity Conference 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

UMSU ED PUB:
Stand in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza - STRIKE FOR PALESTINE NEXT WED 15 MAY

message for more details
🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

UMSU ED PUB: out on the streets tonight protesting Israel’s invasion of Rafah

HANDS OFF RAFAH
HANDS OF GAZA
FREE FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

Down at the RMIT Gaza solidarity encampment today! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

great day at the gaza solidarity camp with teaching us about the radical history of student protest at unimelb!

UMSU Education (Public) stands in solidarity with the Columbia University students fighting for a free Palestine! UMSU Ed officers are supporting the encampment at unimelb inspired by Columbia Uni, and this week in students council we passed a motion in support of Columbia Uni students. It's important our student union here supports students fighting for social justice and democratic rights around the world. And it's important our student union stands with Palestine and the campaign at unimelb.

The motion we passed in full:
UMSU Stands in Solidarity with pro-Palestine student activists at Columbia University

Preamble

As it stands, over 100 student activists from the University of Columbia in the United States have been arrested for setting up a ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ on their campus.

The University president Minouche Shafik and her administration have worked alongside state police and campus law enforcement to try and put a lid on pro-Palestine activism on the campus.

This has looked like the disciplining of protesters, prohibiting demonstrations, surveillance of student emails, considering whether or not to fire professors who have been accused of being overly zealous in their support of Israel or Palestine and now the arresting of over 100 students.

Student-led solidarity actions with Gaza are a key part of the pro-Palestine, anti-war movement all across the world. Universities have always been sites of political activism and it is important that in this moment, with Israel’s war on Palestine, that they remain so. While governments from America to Australia support Israel’s genocide, students must continue the fight to hold them to account.

Student unions, including UMSU, have a responsibility to defend democratic freedoms and the right to protest and to stand against any attack on these rights.

Platform
That UMSU stands in solidarity with pro-Palestine student activists at the University of Columbia,
UMSU defends the right to protest and denounces the University management and US Police for their attempts at repression and persecution.

Action
UMSU Students’ Council will take a solidarity photo with students at Columbia university.

out at the Palestine rally ! every sunday 12pm state library 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

UMSU ed pub officers bella and raph joined striking school and uni students on the streets for Palestine on Thursday 🇵🇸 🇵🇸🇵🇸

In Gaza homes and hospitals are being bombed. Students can’t go to class because their schools have been reduced to rubble by Israeli air strikes.

High school and uni students across Victoria went on strike in solidarity with the Palestinian people, to demand an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and a free Palestine.

UMSU EDUCATION X ENVIRO is putting on this forum tomorrow - the hypocrisy of western imperialism. come along to meet other left wing activists who have been organising anti war protests for Palestine 🇵🇸

UMSU EDUCATION PUBLIC X ENVIRO radical education week forum - the radical history of unimelb - on TOMORROW! 💥

from endorsed by UMSU education public officers Bella and Raph:

“Call out to student clubs and societies, and individual unimelb studnets to sign onto this open letter endorsing the April 18 school and uni student strike for Palestine!” if you want more details copy and past the link to read here” -

https://april18studentstrikeforpalestine.wordpress.com/all-out-for-the-april-18-student-strike-for-palestine/

we have also put the link in our insta page bio.

Join UMSU Education (Public) and UMSU Environment for Radical Education Week!

From the 15 - 19 April we will be hosting a range of public forums, events, and a film screening aimed at engaging students in left-wing politics and activism on campus.

Whether you want to get involved in Palestine campaigning or learn more about the radical history of unimelb - RadEd week the place to to be.

Tomorrow marks six months since Israel’s war on Gaza began.

UMSU education (public) officers bella and raph have been organising Palestine activism on and off campus for years.

We’ve helped to organise and lead the weekly Free Palestine Melbourne demo’s, and the historic school & uni student strikes with

We stand for an immediate end to Israel’s war on the Palestinians, a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the complete restoration of all humanitarian aid and infrastructure, a permanent end to the occupation.

We stand for a FREE PALESTINE.

No to labor’s new deportation bill!
out on the streets yesterday with

from

“Join Students for Palestine for a film screening of the documentary 5 Broken Cameras.

5 Broken Cameras is a first-hand account of protests in Bil’in, a West Bank village affected by the Israeli West Bank barrier. The documentary was shot almost entirely by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat.”

details - 6pm tuesday april 9, arts west 153

The Albanese Labor govt signed off on the single largest weapons export agreement in Australia’s history.

A contract worth more than 1 billion dollars will establish the production of heavy weapon carrier vehicles in QLD and exported for use by the German army.

We are in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Millions of workers and students are struggling to keep their heads above water with the rental crisis, skyrocketing grocery prices and falling wages.

Yet our leaders chose to fund the global war machine. and it’s not just this deal - just think about the 500 billion dollars the govt has dished out for the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.

Imagine if that money was spent on our education - you could wipe all student debt and make education free again easily! Or imagine if the almost half a trillion dedicated to weapons was instead dedicated to solving homelessness, poverty and hunger in Australia.

UMSU education public calls on the govt to scrap this, and all other weapons deals - use the money to fund our education, not weapons corporations!

UMSU Education Public calls on the Federal Labor Government to stop supermarket price gouging

Coles and Woolworths, Australia’s largest supermarket chains, are profiting off the cost of living crisis. These companies boasted a combined 2.7 billion dollars in annual profit in 2023. Coles has pushed up its gross margins from 24.7 percent pre-pandemic to 26.5 percent, while Woolwroths has reported a similar increase, 29.1 percent to 30.7 percent.

The two companies, which share almost two-thirds of the food retail market, are engaged in price-gouging: increasing the cost of their products above their rise in expenses.

While Coles and Woolworths rake in the profits, workers, students and the poor around the country are forced to go hungry. A Guardian Essential poll from December last year revealed that a majority of Australians (57%) say they are either financially struggling or facing serious difficulty. More than two thirds of Australians have placed the cost of living as their most important issue.

The skyrocketing price of groceries intensifies the pressures on millions of workers and students who are already struggling to pay their rents, mortgages and household bills. Many people have resorted to simply buying less food and skipping meals in the hope of keeping their heads above water.

UMSU Education Public demands that the Federal Government put price gaps on what grocery chains are allowed to charge. Putting price caps on groceries and forcing supermarkets to forgo some of their record profits could ease the pressure on millions of workers, students and the poor.

UMSU Education Public calls on the Federal Labor Government to stop supermarket price gouging:

Coles and Woolworths, Australia’s largest supermarket chains, are profiting off the cost of living crisis. These companies boasted a combined 2.7 billion dollars in annual profit in 2023.

Coles has pushed up its gross margins from 24.7 percent pre-pandemic to 26.5 percent, while Woolwroths has reported a similar increase, 29.1 percent to 30.7 percent.

The two companies, which share almost two-thirds of the food retail market, are engaged in price-gouging: increasing the cost of their products above their rise in expenses.

While Coles and Woolworths rake in the profits, workers, students and the poor around the country are forced to go hungry. A Guardian Essential poll from December last year revealed that a majority of Australians (57%) say they are either financially struggling or facing serious difficulty. More than two thirds of Australians have placed the cost of living as their most important issue.

The skyrocketing price of groceries intensifies the pressures on millions of workers and students who are already struggling to pay their rents, mortgages and household bills. Many people have resorted to simply buying less food and skipping meals in the hope of keeping their heads above water.

UMSU Education Public demands that the Federal Government put price gaps on what grocery chains are allowed to charge. Putting price caps on groceries and forcing supermarkets to forgo some of their record profits could ease the pressure on millions of workers, students and the poor.