2025 marks ten years since the Rhodes Must Fall Oxford movement began. At Race & Resistance, we will be dedicating space in our series across the year to the past, present, and future of the movement. This week, we will be revisiting an ‘incident’ which took place in 2020, where a speaker at a RMFO rally spoke about Israel, in what one commentator called “a context where you wouldn’t really expect Israel to be relevant”. This session will be dedicated to analysing the response issued by the movement’s organisers, and connecting the movement with other international issues, such as Israel & Palestine.
Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, we have some additional notes. Firstly, this event is framed in the context of respectful conversation and attentive listening, given the heightened emotions that can be evoked when discussing subject matters like this. Secondly, the Race & Resistance Hub, while committed to creating a safe space to foster intellectual freedom, we are also committed to truth-telling and advocacy for those whose voices are often ignored or silenced, and as such, we would like you to keep this in mind before attending.
We also have some materials we would like you to consider before attending the session:
Jacob Judah, ‘Oriel students condemn ‘antisemitic tropes’ at Rhodes Must Fall protest’, The Jewish Chronicle, 12 June 2020 (www.thejc.com/news/oriel-students-condemn-antisemitic-tropes-at-rhodes-must-fall-protest-qspvx5or)
Statement to the Equality and Diversity Officer Oriel College, Middle Common Room, 16th June 2020
Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford responds to the “Statement from the Governing Body of Oriel College, Oxford”, 17th June 2020
We do ask attendees to consider the chosen materials, however, we welcome anyone who is interested, regardless of the extent you have engaged with the materials. The discussion will be guided by your thoughts and opinions, however, we will also come prepared with prompts to spark conversation.
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