Who We Are
Students for Palestine Finland is a national student-led movement dedicated to advocating for the implementation of academic boycott in higher education institutions as called for by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Grounded in the principles of decolonization and international solidarity, we center the rights and liberation of the Palestinian people in our fight for collective liberation. Our movement is committed to the principles of anti-zionism, decolonisation and anti-capitalism. Therefore, our struggle for a free Palestine is also a struggle for all Indigenous peoples’ material rights over their ancestral lands and natural resources.
Core Values
— Our Mission
Students for Palestine Finland (SfP Finland) is a nation-wide student movement united by the values of solidarity, historical justice, commitment, (re)learning as well as community and care. These values drive our grassroots mobilizations in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
Our aim is to serve as a network of political action, education, and organization for the formulation of a collective voice from within Finnish academia. By providing a platform for action, we empower individuals and collectives to claim their agency and support one another in the pursuit of collective liberation from colonial domination, and stand in solidarity with the struggle toward a liberated Palestine from the river to the sea.
The values and principles of SfP Finland have been formulated collectively alongside local chapter and internatonal partners. The foundational structure of our movement is an on-going process, that necessitates learning and re-learning, engaging discussions and active listening.
— Our Vision
1. We strive for the realization of liberation and self-determination for the Palestinian people. In our work for the Palestinian cause, we contribute to the liberation of all peoples under colonial oppression and exploitation.
2. As an organization we aim to actively dismantle colonial systems of oppression within educational institutions and knowledge production.
3. We act in solidarity in a way that connects and integrates theory and practice through political education and amplification of Palestinian voices and knowledge within educational institutions.
What We Do
01.
— Encampment
For five weeks, we occupied the front yard of Helsinki university building Porthania, in the centre campus. Not only did we act in resistance and strenghthened the community, but we also held decolonial struggles discussions, teach-ins, a book club and more. In accordance with the BDS guidelines, we demanded that the University of Helsinki:
1. Revokes its exchange agreements with Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
2. Suspends ongoing research cooperation with Israeli universities. This includes the at least 13 EU-funded research projects partnered or coordinated by University of Helsinki that have Israeli unversities as partners;
3. Discloses its financial investments in companies profiting from the genocide of the Palestinian people and begins the process of divesting from complicit companies such as HP.
The University responded by suspending its exchange programs to Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem on ethical grounds. In doing so, the University took one minor step toward the right direction.
However, in refusing to stop collaborating with Israeli universities through EU-funded research projects and not investigating its investment flows through different funds, the University still refuses to stand against genocide, apartheid, and settler-colonialism.
02.
— Sit-ins
We hosted a sit-in at Aalto University to mark the International Day of Solidarity for the Palestinian people on 29th November 2024. The sit-in brought together students & allies from Aalto University, the University of Arts and the University of Helsinki. The sit-in was a message to the University management and AYY (Aalto University student union) that it is an ethical obligation to demand the academic boycott of Israel & they must commit to it.
03.
— Walkouts
We have organized multiple walkouts in different universities across Finland in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in protest to the ongoing genocide against them.
04.
— A solidarity cafe
We have organized a solidarity cafe for Palestine in which we also managed to collect some funds which were sent to Medical Aid for Palestine.
05.
— Film Screenings
We have arranged and participated in film/documentary screenings related to Palestine, colonialism, activism, etc.
06.
— Teach-ins, Reading circles
We have held teach-ins, reading circles, and discussions about different topics such as transnational activism and solidarity in the Mediterranean, decolonial struggles, anti-zionism, and academic boycott.