Six student-led campaigns joined together for an Intersectional Justice rally at Oxford University last Friday.
More than 50 students congregated outside the Clarendon Building presenting a list of demands to the university focusing on the need to adopt more socially and environmentally-just policies.
Acknowledging the connection between campaigns for both social and climate justice, the six campaigns organised the rally to demand an integrated set of practices related to social and environmental justice.
Intersectional justice refers to the advancement of equality and justice for all by combating in-tersecting forms of structural inequality and discrimination.
The six campaigns, which include Common Ground, the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign (OCJC) and the Student Union Disabilities Campaign, plan to organise similar rallies until they are “thoroughly considered or adopted by the University.”
The rally saw representativesfrom the campaigns taking turnsto present demands related to theirgroups’ specific missions.
Expressing solidarity with theother groups, Common Groundbegan the rally by presenting their
demands.
A campaign that re-examines
Oxford’s colonial past, CommonGround called for “reparative justice and critical examination of Oxford’s physical iconography and curricula.”
The other groups followed with their demands, including the classification of students with unsettled status as home students, a more just and accessible campus for people with disabilities, fossil fuel divestment, and a consistent living wage for workers.
Organisers of the event releaseda statement summarising their mission. They said: “As one of the best-known and longest-standing academic institutions in the English speaking world, the Universityof Oxford often serves as a model for other universities.
“The University has a moral imperative to take this responsibility seriously and adopt just practices, including providing its workers with a living wage, divesting from fossil fuels, and protecting students placed in or threatened with detention and/or deportation, among others.
“We rally in solidarity with all campaigns that are working to promote a more just Oxford and en-courage the University to recognize our demands.”
Oxford University has been contacted for comment.
