Will you write to NUS to demand they stop silencing student activists?

Posted: 31st July 2025

Earlier this month, elected student officers and student groups from more than fifty universities sent an open letter to the National Union of Students (NUS) calling on it to take action against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Instead of listening to its members, NUS has responded by trying to repress students who are organising in solidarity with Palestine.

Will you write to NUS to demand they stop silencing student activists?

Throughout history and around the world, students have often been at the forefront of the progressive movements that have shaped society – opposing war, fighting for equality, and campaigning to end injustice. Palestinian students have long been an important part of their people’s struggle for freedom and today students are central to the global movement for Palestinian rights.

Unfortunately, students are often also at the sharp end of repression. Over the past two years, Israel has systematically destroyed Gaza’s universities while those in the illegally occupied West Bank face ongoing threats, incursions and attacks by the Israeli military. Across the West, governments are also cracking down on student protests.

Representing more than seven million students in Britain, NUS could be a powerful voice for good – speaking out against genocide and apartheid while defending academic freedom and freedom of expression on campus.

Instead, it has chosen to side with the government and reacted to legitimate student criticisms by threatening elected students’ union officers and banning them from its ‘Lead and Change’ national meeting, which took place this week in Birmingham.

Will you tell NUS to stop silencing its members on Palestine?