Meetings were held almost every day at the Encampment, ranging from brief 15 minute check-ins to discussions lasting 5 hours. These meetings covered a wide spectrum of matters including daily programming, front-desk rostering, welfare and safety updates, direct action planning, and preparation for engagements with university leadership.
Meetings were structured with a rotating appointed Chair to facilitate, a minute taker to record, and time keeper to ensure speakers kept to time. Agendas were closed daily at 4:00pm with meetings commencing at 6:00pm.
Every meeting opened with an Acknowledgement of Country to ground the group in the reality that the Encampment stood on unceded Ngunnawal and Ngambri land. The acknowledgement was followed by a five-minute daily update on the situation in Palestine and any developments across the global student encampment movement. This update was either delivered by the Chair or by a volunteer nominated at the beginning of the meeting.
Meetings upheld a progressive speaking list where Palestinian voices were prioritised, followed by anti-zionist Jewish voices, BIPOC and gender diverse attendees before opening to the remainder of attendees. This ensured equitable participation, accountability to the movement, and a conscious redistribution of space in decision-making.
While agendas often carried over from the night before, the nature of organising within an antagonistic institutional environment meant issues regularly emerged with little notice. Urgent matters, including threats of eviction, power shut-offs, security escalations, removal of School of Art projects that displayed Palestinian symbols and culture, and unplanned visits from public figures or community leaders, were often added hours before meetings commenced.
Meetings concluded with a summary of decisions, clear action items, and a run-down of the next day’s schedule, responsibilities, and anticipated developments.
The following is a fictitious recount of minutes from the ANU Gaza Solidarity Encampment, based on real events.
Date: another day in isreal’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
Acknowledgement of Country: We begin by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land on which this Encampment takes place, the Ngambri and Ngunnawal peoples. We recognise that this land was stolen, sovereignty was never ceded, and that the genocide, dispossession, and erasure of First Nations peoples continues today in ongoing forms of colonial violence. Our solidarity with Palestine is grounded in solidarity with First Nations peoples here, on so-called Australia. Liberation begins with Land Back.
Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
Chair: Battikh 🍉
Minute-Taker: G.Kanafani
Time-Keeper: Handala
Meeting began at: 5:59 PM
Meeting ended at: 7.45pm
_______
May 28, 2024
israeli Rafah invasion expands, tanks reach central Rafah after flattening east Rafah where invasion began.
Another tent massacre in “safe area” al-Mawasi (West of Rafah) which israel told people in Rafah to flee to, killing 21 people.
israel bombs western Rafah, forcing Indonesian field hospital, Kuwaiti Hospital & Emirati field hospital to shut down. Heavy shelling of Tal as-Sultan area kills 16+ including an attack on tents that killed 7.
Ireland, Norway & Spain recognise Palestine (limited to West Bank & Gaza). Israel condemns
Source: Letstalkpalestine
Bell cancelled appearance today.
______
VC Bell was meant to be on campus but she bailed.
Not common knowledge that she was there.
Bell doesn’t make many appearances when she knows there are students around so the next time anyone sees her, let the group know and messages can be sent out for a snap rally.
TL;DR
VC is giving us nothing, mediation team is pressuring VC to respond and agree to meet with them.
Will give VC until early next week to agree to meet, and then will publish a statement from the mediation team highlighting the administration’s silence.
_______
VC has been unresponsive to our emails since establishment of the Encampment.
VC only agreed to meet after failing to shut down Encampment.
Passages from VC at meeting:
We haven’t asked any student to stop protesting, everyone is allowed to protest.
Response from mediation team:
Three reasons for making offer
Meeting closes with a reference to Melbourne Uni’s process of engaging with student encampments as an alternative to ANU’s approach.
Penny Wong action at CAAL Annual Lecture
Cease and Desist Logo Copyright
______
6 of us went into the event
We were intently watched by security and cops and warned that we would be arrested if we didn’t leave post-disruption
Two people upstairs yelled at Penny while we held up flags
An email was received from ANU lawyers with a cease and desist for using the ANU logo - our edited version - on social media because it “misrepresents” the relationship between ANU4Palestine and the university.
While we are on the topic of logos, are we happy to change instagram logo to the most recent version (the one ANU lawyers are referencing).
Action Item: Instagram logo to be updated
TL;DR
Unanimous vote for keeping the camp over the break. Discussion around risks of de-camping and then re-camping after the break. Survey suggests that there are the numbers for continued maintenance of camp over the break.
_______
This agenda item will require a vote to be conducted.
Discussion of decamping is disheartening. Some people will have to leave over break but if they can stay, we shouldn’t stop them.
Worried about this discussion in regards to morale. Let’s not underestimate the effect of our presence here. Forcing university to talk about something they want to ignore.
De-camping is too early, let’s push discussion back and talk about keeping people warm, food, etc. This Encampment isn’t just about us, it’s about the wider community in Canberra. They don’t want us to actively plan to shut down if we don’t have to.
Chair prompts discussion on usefulness of having a vote
A PhD student who returned after two months to ANU has noticed a real shift in the atmosphere. Even a small presence matters.
Voting on decamping becomes silly if we don’t look at numbers on form first; sounds like there are enough people to stay over the break; those who want to stay should stay.
A motion to assess feasibility before discussion is moved.
Survey: 40 responses, each respondent is able to stay for an average of 50% of time during break, estimate that we have 11/12 people staying per night. This is not everyone who is involved in the camp.
We can sort out a system to support people to stay. We can get enough thermals, blankets, etc.
Chair asks for dissent on Encampment continuing.
Suggestions that we should do a weekly survey asking ppl to commit to staying.
We should decide on whether we are decamping before we decide what that would look like.
If people want to come, we won’t stop them. At Unimelb people decamped after disclosure. That decision was made on the basis of exhaustion. If people think that more energy will be put into the camp than will come out of it, it’s worth considering decamping for the break and coming back after in a different spot with more space. Consider dynamism of movement and the idea that camping might be sapping energy. Worried about safety.
There was initial concern about having too many people wanting to stay. Now there is no worry. Recamping in a bigger spot doesn’t make sense because we’re struggling to get numbers.
Unimelb decamping will be just for the break. Then they will reoccupy. We could choose to do that and then occupy a building potentially after break. Just floating ideas, not dissenting to camp staying.
Momentum would be lost if we de-camped, there would be a smaller return after break.
Decamping and then coming back might put energy into camp.
The continued existence of the camp puts pressure on university. Financial pressure in the form of security. The presence of the camp is a threat to ANU’s business as usual.
ANU will be continually pressured by the camp despite numbers. They’re hoping the camp disappears. After break they’ll be panicking about open day & graduation.
L went to a meeting with 7 disciplined students from camp and got a call from management asking him to ask us to move from Kambri lawns. Location here is important. They could do something to prevent us from coming back to Kambri lawns if we decamped.
Unsure of what University could do if we decamped. They could reshape Kambri lawns to prevent people from camping. If you have enough people to stay, you may as well have an Encampment. Don’t give the university a strategic possibility.
The university is so committed to safety, even if there aren’t many of us they still have to pay for security guards. If we decamp they’ll make it hard for us to come back. What we’re doing is making an impact and packing up is chucking away everything the community has given us.
A lot of people think there are lots more people sleeping here than there are. The ANU thinks it’s packed and will be packed over the break.
Unanimously voted for staying encamped.
Chair: We should have a vote on decamping for the winter break. Primarily because people have different opinions, there’s no consensus.
*discussions on how vote should be conducted*
Every other vote has been done in person. Let’s just do this one in person and remove this item from future agendas.
Vote Held
Unanimously voted for staying encamped.
per link
Q: Is the University re-examining its Socially Responsible Investment policy in light of some of the protestors’ demands?
A: Yes.
The University’s Socially Responsible Investment Policy was introduced in 2013.
The policy promotes investment in securities, companies, trusts and other entities that support socially beneficial outcomes, while avoiding investment opportunities that are likely to cause substantial social injury. The policy also acknowledges that many large companies have diverse activities.
Over the last decade, the list of things that we as a community care about has changed and evolved and the University thanks our student body for drawing our attention to areas that we may need to now consider in 2024. This includes expanding companies for review, along with emerging areas of research including artificial intelligence.
The University will take a paper to ANU Council meeting on Friday 14 June to discuss this policy with our governing body.
ANU is confident that if we can address the tool by which we make these decisions, we can also find a way to recognise our values-led approach in how we invest University resources.
______
L**** from ANU Security came to camp to announce that the FAQs page was updated. L**** said “guys, you won”.
The VC is thinking of tabling a paper that will discuss disclosure according to the FAQ.
They’re trying to give us a carrot; the general consensus is to ignore this carrot.
This is a false promise, it increases the urgency to keep building the camp and mass protest to continue to pressure ANU admin so they give us more than nothing-promises. We should be skeptical of vague messaging.
Everyone staying over should fill out a form with emergency contacts, identifying risks specific to them.
Level of disclosure is up to personal discretion.
______
Safety net for arrests and identifying people who are most at risk.
We do have a working group for this now. Should be aware of who is most at risk in our community.
Good to have measures about escalatory risks; should specify multiple times on the form, that it is not mandatory to give information you are not comfortable to provide
Limited in the people who can see it.
Votes for: 13
Votes against: 4
Did not count abstentions
Please sign up for night watch and rego desk! Chuck your name in the roster. New tent audit including new numbers. Instructions in the chat on the protocol for tents.
If you reach this, the meeting is likely going to run too long.
demos journal acknowledges the Ngambri and Ngunnawal people on whose lands this journal is made and imagined. Sovereignty of these lands was never ceded. Always Was Always Will Be Aboriginal Land.
Web Design by Rio Ramintas
Build by Charlotte McLachlan
demos journal © 2026. All Rights Reserved.
