Why is the University disrespecting Holocaust Memorial Day with their ‘Festival of Innovation?’

This article is the opinion of another organisation and is not affiliated with The Boar

On Monday 27 January, the world honours the 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of the Holocaust. We remember the systematic murder of millions for their race, religion, or creed as a black mark against our shared memory. Humanity has vowed never to regress to such brutality, yet history often reflects itself – perpetrators of colonialism and nationalism still carry out Genocide, ethnic cleansing and unjust persecution in all corners of the world.

Instead of respecting the lessons of Holocaust Memorial Day, Warwick is holding its self-congratulatory ‘60 years of Innovation’ conference through the ‘Festival of Innovation.’ The university is celebrating its research with direct ties to genocide and human rights abuses in Palestine, Yemen, Myanmar, and beyond. The University of Warwick has also made a statement remembering the “millions of people murdered under Nazi persecution,” mentioning more recent genocides such as Rwanda and Cambodia, yet there is no mention of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. As students, and humans, we cannot let another genocide continue invisibly. “Never again” means never again for anyone.

Warwick has invited Greg Clark, the chair of WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group), to be their final speaker at this event. WMG has partnered numerous times with BAE Systems, a company which is involved in the making of F-35 fighter planes which are used by the Israeli military. WMG also collaborates with Rolls Royce, whose factories make the fan propulsion system for the same planes. Just last year, F-35 planes were used in an Israeli attack on Mawasi, a designated safe zone, causing major civilian casualties. This is one of so many instances. Warwick is supporting WMG at this festival by showcasing their CleanTech and AgriTech projects, both products of partnerships with WMG. This is in direct juxtaposition to Warwick’s promise to “reduce and, ideally, eliminate corporate behaviour leading to […] armament sales to military regimes,” made in 2023.

According to Amnesty International, “the evidence it has gathered provides a sufficient basis to conclude that Israel, through its policies, actions and omissions against Palestinians in Gaza following 7 October 2023, committed and is committing genocide.”

Just as Porsche, BMW, Deutsche Bank, and the German military industrial complex have profited from the Holocaust, WMG and its associated weapons companies continue to profit from genocide.

We, as Jews, faced centuries of oppression by western powers in Europe simply for being Jewish, culminating in genocide. We should not sit idly by while our government supports an effort to eliminate the Palestinian people. Core Jewish values of tikkun olam (repairing the world) and the sanctity of life compel us as Jews to stand up to injustice, and we urge everyone in our Jewish community to join us in the fight for liberation.

That said, we encourage members of the university community to hear the testimony of Holocaust Survivor Mindu Hornick and attend the Jewish society and History society event on Tuesday 28 January. As we reach the 80th year since the end of the Holocaust, there are few survivors still with us to tell their story, and we are privileged to be able to hear from one next week.

We will be spending our Holocaust Memorial Day commemorating the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, and deeply regret the university’s disrespectful and self-absorbed decision to flaunt its investments in injustice on the same day.

How can the University expect us to respect the memories of lives taken by one genocide yet, in a building 50 metres away, continue to fund and support another?