Content warning: Mentions of sexual and verbal assault
Members of Amnesty Youth Otago (AYO) were verbally attacked at OUSA’s Clubs Day on Thursday, February 20th. The group’s ‘Stop Israel’s Genocide’ banner attracted hateful and threatening comments by members of the public – including an ex-Israeli Defence Force member.
Co-Presidents 17-year-old Juju and Bella, and Schools’ Liaison Nikau were manning the AYO tent at Clubs Day. At around 11am, a male member of the public approached. Nikau had first noticed him standing to the side “eyeing up” the stall – or, more accurately, their banner. “We could just tell he was gonna say something,” Nikau told Critic. “And then he just says, ‘Oh, you just love Hamas, don’t you guys?’”
The trio attempted to explain their banner. Following the release of a damning report by AYO’s mother organisation stating, “Amnesty International investigation concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” the student-led Otago branch had received a banner to reinforce their pro-Palestine position. “It was recommended to all of the uni groups that we put that up because Amnesty’s very proud of the work they’ve done,” said Juju, explaining that the group had been repeatedly asked by students at last year’s Clubs Day about their stance. “[It’s a] very clear issue for students, so we wanted to have it up.”
But the man interrupted their explanations by pointing at Juju and Bellas’ faces and allegedly saying, “They raped people like you on October 7th.” He referred to the 2023 date when Hamas attacked Israel with 1200 casualties. Israel has since, according to the Amnesty investigation, “unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity.” Bella was understandably rattled by the interaction, telling Critic, “It was so scary – it was so threatening.”
During further attempts to reason with the man about how Israel’s acts of genocide against Palestine are not about Hamas, Juju was pointedly asked how long her family had resided in Aotearoa New Zealand. Juju compared this to the recent xenophobic comments made by Winston Peters in Parliament, when he told migrant Green MPs to “show some gratitude”; and when Shane Jones yelled across the House floor to “send the Mexicans home.”
Depressingly, it wasn’t Juju’s first experience of the sort. “I’ve had ten fucking years in this country,” she said. “Every time something like [the Clubs Day attack] has happened, it’s always like, ‘How long have you been here? What right do you have to be talking, or to be speaking, or to appear in anything politics related whatsoever?’ [...] They act like the New Zealand society and the system is like this big old Rubik's cube that nobody can solve. And it’s like… Dude.”
The man made further derogatory remarks about Nikau before moving on past the stall, swatting Nikau’s phone out of his hand when he tried to photograph him. And the day’s nastiness was unfortunately not over for AYO, who were later approached by an ex-IDF member proclaiming that Israel’s army is “the most humanitarian in the world”, choosing to ignore the facts of the Amnesty report the trio once again attempted to explain. “It’s impossible to engage with someone when they do not engage with grounds for debate or conversation,” said Juju. “They just say ‘That’s not true, that’s all made up, it’s fake news.’’’
Otago Students for Justice in Palestine (OSJP) were also out on the day, parked up across the road since they’re not OUSA-affiliated. OSJP didn’t experience the same level of aggravation from the public. Juju’s theory for the difference in treatment is that those who have a pro-Israeli stance cannot accept their rhetoric being broken down by a large and trusted international organisation such as Amnesty International. “They’ve taken a strong position on [the Palestine conflict] a bit late – really late – but they took a position on it, which is making the white, colonial side of Amnesty angry,” Juju said. “People [...] look to Amnesty as something that’s in line with the UN, or in line with America. Except it hasn’t been for a really long time; people just have a hard time accepting that.”
Juju explained to Critic that the US branch of Amnesty called the conflict a genocide before Amnesty International published their official report confirming so. “That made really big waves in America [...] It’s harder when [a pro-Palestinian stance] comes from an institution that historically has been, or people perceive to be, not radical.”
While Juju is not Palestinian, she can clearly trace her connection to the conflict. Her family fought in the 1973 war when Israel took and occupied Sinai, Egypt. When Egypt took Sinai back, Israel was already building establishments and settlements. Juju’s great uncle, who was in the Third Army, was taken hostage in 1973. The keffiyeh - a traditional headdress - that her family owns was gifted to them by Palestinian families. “I have direct links to this [...] greater Israel issue [...] I cannot forget that when I’m in conversation with someone that believes [that they deserve] my land.”
In the aftermath of Clubs Day, AYO told Critic Te Ārohi that they’ve felt well taken care of by OUSA and the University. The Exec had checked in with them during the day after being the first to call Campus Watch about the attack, and OUSA Student Support and the Proctor have followed up with the group since with plenty of resources.
OUSA President Liam White told Critic that there’d be considerations over future safety measures to plan against similar situations. “Clubs Day is normally a very peaceful, chill event,” said Liam, explaining that this was the first time in his five years at Otago something like this had happened. Following AYO’s experience, he’s suggested to the Uni that Campus Watch be involved with future Clubs Days. Liam also said he would be “open to consideration” and “happy to have the conversation” about moving Clubs Day to the Union Lawn in the future, away from members of the public.
Welfare and Equity Rep Amy commented, “Obviously this isn’t something that we anticipated happening [...] It’s not something we would like to happen again, but with all of the stances our clubs are taking, it’s something that could happen again.” Both Liam and Amy agree that student welfare and safety will always be a major priority for OUSA. “It’s something that needs to be more front of mind next time,” Amy continued. “Now that it’s happened, and we’ve seen it happen, it’ll definitely be something that we need to consider."