A look back on student encampments and resistance
The dismantling of the McGill encampment was not the end of Palestinian solidarity in Montreal
Over the past year, universities in Montreal and across the world have witnessed a surge in student activism, with campus encampments serving as symbols of Palestinian solidarity.
Antler, a camper at the McGill University encampment, who was granted a pseudonym for safety reasons, was about to leave Montreal for summer break when the encampment was erected on April 27. Instead, she chose to stay in the city to show her solidarity.
“This is a student opportunity that doesn’t happen often. It’s the first encampment in Canada, it was in a school that is already on stolen land, it had a lot of backstory to it that was very important to us,” said Antler. “At the time of the encampment, it kind of felt like it was the most we could do.”
The encampment brought unprecedented attention to the issue of divestment, highlighting activists’ demands that McGill and Concordia divest from companies with connections to the ongoing genocide and cut all academic ties with Israel.
McGill filed three injunctions in an attempt to get the encampment removed. Two were rejected by Quebec Superior Court judges, and the last was withdrawn by McGill after the dismantlement of the camp by a private security firm on Jul. 10.
“The fact that it was forcefully removed by mercenaries only contributed positively to the momentum,” a representative from Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill said.
According to the representative, the encampments showcased the unity and power of the student front.
“We had never seen this much media coverage on this topic despite divestment being a demand for the past two decades,” they said.
Antler was not present the day the encampment was taken down, but says she is very proud of what all the campers accomplished.
“Honestly, more than anything, more than disappointed, I was just very, very proud of how long the encampment stayed and how resilient the students were,” she said.
The removal of the encampments did not mark the end of the divestment movement, but rather a shift in tactics. Activists like Hassan Ridha from the Palestinian Youth Movement are now focusing on long-term strategies that involve coalition-building across different communities.
“When multiple separate efforts are joined together, they become more powerful,” Ridha said.
Despite the lack of meaningful progress from university administrations, Ridha sees the rise in solidarity as a significant victory.
“I consider the unification of students, businesses, professionals and parents a major success of the encampment,” he said.
According to the SPHR McGill representative, the Montreal community played a crucial role in supporting the encampments and keeping the movement alive.
“The Montreal community has supported us throughout the encampment with donations for what was necessary to keep the encampment alive,” the SPHR McGill representative said. “That in itself plays a huge role in achieving divestment.”
Currently, activists like Ridha are looking to engage new supporters to sustain the movement, particularly incoming students who may be unfamiliar with the history of the encampments.
“To engage new supporters, it is important to be as present as possible in as many places as possible,” Ridha said. He believes that by expanding the movement’s reach and involving more communities, the movement can continue to grow and evolve.
“At the end of the day, we are students who don’t want our tuition money to go to the funding of a genocide,” the SPHR McGill representative said. “That is such a simple ask: justice.”
This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 1, published September 3, 2024.
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