Solidarity with Palestine at Educational Institutions in Canada and Quebec
Valiant Fight of Students to Maintain McGill Encampment for Gaza
Students from McGill and Concordia universities, like students across the United States and Canada, set up a camp on McGill campus on April 27. Since then encampments in support of the Palestinian people have been established at the University of Ottawa, Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, the University of Toronto, McMaster University in Hamilton, the University of Windsor, the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, the University of Calgary, the University of British Columbia's Point Grey Campus, the University of Victoria and Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo. Students at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John have an ongoing daytime encampment, while day-long events have also taken place at Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Western Ontario in London, the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec. At the University of Toronto on the evening of May 2, hundreds came out to support the encampment, standing ready against the possibility of provocations by a Zionist counter-protest.
At McGill on April 27, a spokesperson from the Society for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill addressed the weekly march against the Zionist genocide in Palestine called by the Palestinian Youth Movement as it arrived to support them. He explained that a student referendum, with broad participation, had overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on McGill to divest from companies profiting from the genocide of Palestinians and to sever ties with Israeli academic institutions after the Zionists' total destruction of universities and schools in Gaza. The response of the University was to attempt to decertify SPHR McGill.
After months of refusal by the McGill administration to have any discussion about its role in supporting genocide, the students decided they needed to step up their fight for their demands. The decision was taken to establish the encampment to express their refusal to have their tuition fees used for the murder of others. Students of all backgrounds, Jewish, Palestinian and countless others, as well as professors and teaching staff, are determined to stand together until their demand for divestment is met. Their unity and their refusal to succumb to provocations puts the lie to the outrageous, unsubstantiated accusations that they are anti-Semitic and are bullying and intimidating fellow students.
Any violence and intimidation originate with the McGill administration, the Zionists, and Quebec Premier Francois Legault and his administration. On April 29, it was the University administration that called on the Montreal police to dismantle the encampment.
On April 30, lawyer Neil Gary Oberman, acting on behalf of two unnamed pro-Israel McGill students, requested the Quebec Superior Court grant an injunction banning pro-Palestinian demonstrations within 100 metres of McGill properties. McGill claims to own some 150 buildings in the city which means that should such an injunction be granted it would effectively ban demonstrations in downtown Montreal. In seeking the injunction, Oberman argued that support for Palestine created a "hostile, aggressive and violent" atmosphere through use of slogans such as From the Sea to the River, Palestine will Live Forever!
On May 1 the court rejected the request for the injunction. People noted that Oberman is a shareholder in the civil and commercial litigation group of the Spiegel Sohmer law firm. Spiegel Sohmer posted a notice on their website on October 8, 2023 that "Spiegel Sohmer is supportive of its Jewish clients and colleagues and stands united with the Jewish people and Israel..."
Meanwhile, claims by the McGill administration and the CBC of having evidence of "safety" issues have gone unsubstantiated, while Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel could only refer to "comments from students who don't feel safe," without specifying what comments he was referring to.
On May 2, a group of about 100 Zionists gathered on the sidewalk outside McGill, hurling abuse at the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, defending the genocide being committed by Zionist Israel and calling on police to dismantle the peaceful encampment. At the same time, without any legal grounds, the Quebec Premier declared that the McGill protest was illegal and called on police to use whatever means necessary to put an end to it. His remarks followed those of Quebec Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Dery, who said on April 30 that the McGill administration "did the right thing" by asking the police to dismantle the encampment.
On May 3, the Quebec Federation of University Professors (FQPPU) issued a statement in which Premier Legault's call to deploy police against the students was rejected. "In a free and democratic society, it is not up to the political authorities to give orders to the police on operational matters," said Professor Madeleine Pastinelli, President of the FQPPU in the statement. "For the Premier to attack demonstrators' freedom of expression by calling on the police to intervene against them sets a dangerous and worrying precedent." She noted that the Superior Court ruled against an injunction against the encampment "As there was no evidence of any threat to anyone's safety, the court concluded that the demonstrators' rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly should prevail." She concluded by saying, "University campuses have always been places where ideas clash, sometimes vigorously."
Neither the rainy weather nor any of these provocations and attempts to criminalize them and violate their rights to speech and assembly have dampened the determination of the students to achieve their aims. So far there has been no action to dismantle the encampment. In fact the encampment has grown five times larger and continues to provide a welcoming and learning atmosphere for all.
Montreal students have expressed their profound appreciation for the broad public support they are receiving. People drop by at all hours of the day and night to bring supplies including food, water, tents and sleeping bags, to encourage the students and express moral support. On the evening of May 1 supporters gathered to defend the encampment against a possible police raid. The next morning, hundreds of supporters, including students, seniors, young Jewish families and Palestinians gathered to stand with the demonstrators again. A similar emergency support rally was held May 3.
There is broad support for the students and their demands for an end to the U.S./Israeli genocide in Gaza and Canada's support for it, and for the administrations of both Concordia and McGill to end their complicity with the genocide by divesting from all companies profiting from these crimes and severing ties with all Israeli academic institutions.
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 32 - May 9, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54323.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca