Queen Mary students vote to revoke the IHRA definition

27 November 2021

^{Queen Mary students vote to revoke the IHRA definition (Unsplash/ sweetpeatribe)}

During their annual student meeting, Queen Mary Students passed a motion through a democratic decision to revoke the Student Union’s adoption of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, to adopt a holistic institutional approach to combat racism and hate speech, and to instead adopt the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA).

Friends of Palestine in Queen Mary Society, Decolonise QMUL Society, and Diaspora Speaks Magazine have joined hands to campaign to pass this motion as part of their work for justice and equality. These societies believe that passing this motion to revoke the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism would achieve reclaiming the rights for Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students and academics that support the Palestinian cause to speak up on the cause on campus.

Jumana Taha, a writer for QMUL’s Diaspora Speaks Magazine said: “everyone has a right to speak freely in public, and the adoption of this motion will ensure Palestinian students a safe space to publicly resist their oppression”. Friends of Palestine considered this achievement as a recognised mark in the political work within Queen Mary University, and they said: “it aims to shift the focus back to the fight against apartheid and settler colonialism.”

2⃣MOTION 2 is @QMULPalSoc‘s motion on revoking the adoption of racist policies that are not fit for purpose, and calling on QMUL to do the same. Passing this motion is critical and we really need as many students as possible to vote for it

— Decolonise QMUL (@DecoloniseQMUL) November 23, 2021

Queen Mary University is a Russel group university with over 25,000 students and more than 4500 staff members. It is one of the largest constituent colleges of the federal University of London.

QM University is also one of the most diverse higher education institutions in the UK. The Student Union holds its annual meeting in November, and all students are invited to submit their ideas and motions, which are then debated and discussed during the meeting. Any motions voted for at the meeting instantly become Students Union policy.