Campbell MacDiarmid in Ottawa
GUARDIAN UK
Fri, 14 June 2024
A post advertising the McGill Gaza solidarity encampment’s ‘youth summer program’.Photograph: Instagram
A pro-Palestinian student encampment at a prominent Canadian university has announced a “revolutionary youth summer program” with posts featuring photos of masked, armed guerrillas reading communist literature, drawing criticism from a Canadian Zionist organization decrying what it said was metastasizing antisemitism.
The student group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill called for students to sign up for “revolutionary” trainings to be held on the university campus this month. Since April SPHR McGill has been occupying part of the Montreal campus to protest against Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.
“We pledge to educate the youth of Montreal and redefine McGill’s ‘elite’ institutional legacy by transforming its space into one of revolutionary education,” the group said in a post.
“The daily schedule will include physical activity, Arabic language instruction, cultural crafts, political discussions, historical and revolutionary lessons.”
The announcement was illustrated with photos of gunmen wearing keffiyeh scarves covering their faces reading from Chairman Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book. The photos of the Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation were taken in Jordan in 1970, a time when the Chinese Communist party supported the Palestinian movement.
Related: Canadian students hunger-strike for college to divest from Israel-linked firms
In a statement on Friday, the McGill president and vice-chancellor, Deep Saini, described the use of the image as “extremely alarming” and said the university had contacted law enforcement agencies.
“It should go without saying that imagery evoking violence is not a tool of peaceful expression or assembly. This worrying escalation is emblematic of the rising tensions on campuses across North America, where we have seen many incidents that go well beyond what universities are equipped to manage on their own,” he said.
Saini said the university had contacted “municipal, provincial and federal public safety authorities, flagging this social media post and other recent activities as matters of national security, and requesting all appropriate interventions to ensure the safety of our community”.
Montreal police say they have no plans to end the pro-Palestinian encampment.
SPHR did not respond to requests for comment but one McGill faculty member said that while the advertisement used deliberately provocative imagery, what was being proposed appeared to amount to a teach-in.
“I don’t see anything objectionable in providing history and context to the current movement,” said Barry Eidlin, an associate professor of sociology at McGill.
“Are you going to be outraged about a 50-year-old picture of a PLO guerrilla, or by hundreds of people in a refugee camp being slaughtered because the Israeli government doesn’t know how to negotiate and feels that they can kill any number of Palestinians to justify liberating a few hostages?” he asked.
This week SPHR rejected McGill’s latest offer aimed at securing an end to their protest.
The student group has been calling on the university to cut investments they say are complicit in the genocide of Palestinians and to end relations with Israeli academic institutions.
The students rejected a proposal to offer clemency to protesting students and to review McGill’s investments in weapons manufacturers as “laughable” and “an immaterial response”.
The Canadian Zionist organisation the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) called on McGill to stop turning a blind eye to “hate and toxicity”.
“Authorities must act to dismantle the toxic encampment immediately, or the antisemitism, hate, intimidation & harassment will continue to metastasize,” it said in a statement.
“You have masked individuals with assault rifle weapons as the image representing what they hope to do, they’re calling it revolution,” Eta Yudin, CIJA vice-president for Québec, told the Guardian. “One has to ask what they have planned?”
McGill condemns 'alarming' image of armed fighters shared by encampment group
Fri, 14 June 2024
A post advertising the McGill Gaza solidarity encampment’s ‘youth summer program’.Photograph: Instagram
A pro-Palestinian student encampment at a prominent Canadian university has announced a “revolutionary youth summer program” with posts featuring photos of masked, armed guerrillas reading communist literature, drawing criticism from a Canadian Zionist organization decrying what it said was metastasizing antisemitism.
The student group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill called for students to sign up for “revolutionary” trainings to be held on the university campus this month. Since April SPHR McGill has been occupying part of the Montreal campus to protest against Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.
“We pledge to educate the youth of Montreal and redefine McGill’s ‘elite’ institutional legacy by transforming its space into one of revolutionary education,” the group said in a post.
“The daily schedule will include physical activity, Arabic language instruction, cultural crafts, political discussions, historical and revolutionary lessons.”
The announcement was illustrated with photos of gunmen wearing keffiyeh scarves covering their faces reading from Chairman Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book. The photos of the Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation were taken in Jordan in 1970, a time when the Chinese Communist party supported the Palestinian movement.
Related: Canadian students hunger-strike for college to divest from Israel-linked firms
In a statement on Friday, the McGill president and vice-chancellor, Deep Saini, described the use of the image as “extremely alarming” and said the university had contacted law enforcement agencies.
“It should go without saying that imagery evoking violence is not a tool of peaceful expression or assembly. This worrying escalation is emblematic of the rising tensions on campuses across North America, where we have seen many incidents that go well beyond what universities are equipped to manage on their own,” he said.
Saini said the university had contacted “municipal, provincial and federal public safety authorities, flagging this social media post and other recent activities as matters of national security, and requesting all appropriate interventions to ensure the safety of our community”.
Montreal police say they have no plans to end the pro-Palestinian encampment.
SPHR did not respond to requests for comment but one McGill faculty member said that while the advertisement used deliberately provocative imagery, what was being proposed appeared to amount to a teach-in.
“I don’t see anything objectionable in providing history and context to the current movement,” said Barry Eidlin, an associate professor of sociology at McGill.
“Are you going to be outraged about a 50-year-old picture of a PLO guerrilla, or by hundreds of people in a refugee camp being slaughtered because the Israeli government doesn’t know how to negotiate and feels that they can kill any number of Palestinians to justify liberating a few hostages?” he asked.
This week SPHR rejected McGill’s latest offer aimed at securing an end to their protest.
The student group has been calling on the university to cut investments they say are complicit in the genocide of Palestinians and to end relations with Israeli academic institutions.
The students rejected a proposal to offer clemency to protesting students and to review McGill’s investments in weapons manufacturers as “laughable” and “an immaterial response”.
The Canadian Zionist organisation the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) called on McGill to stop turning a blind eye to “hate and toxicity”.
“Authorities must act to dismantle the toxic encampment immediately, or the antisemitism, hate, intimidation & harassment will continue to metastasize,” it said in a statement.
“You have masked individuals with assault rifle weapons as the image representing what they hope to do, they’re calling it revolution,” Eta Yudin, CIJA vice-president for Québec, told the Guardian. “One has to ask what they have planned?”
McGill condemns 'alarming' image of armed fighters shared by encampment group
CBC
Fri, 14 June 2024 at 5:45 pm GMT-6·4-min read
The pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the McGill University campus has been in place since late April. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press - image credit)
McGill University is sounding the alarm after a student group associated with the school's ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment posted a photo of armed individuals and called for participation in a "revolutionary youth summer program" on campus.
"This is extremely alarming," said Deep Saini, the university's president, in a statement. "It has attracted international media attention, and many in our community have understandably reached out to express grave concerns — concerns that I share."
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) made the post Wednesday evening, saying the summer program is planned for lower field next week.
The photo used was originally taken in 1970. It depicts fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization reading copies of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung in Jordan. The fighters are holding assault rifles.
"It should go without saying that imagery evoking violence is not a tool of peaceful expression or assembly," said Saini.
"This worrying escalation is emblematic of the rising tensions on campuses across North America, where we have seen many incidents that go well beyond what universities are equipped to manage on their own."
The post to the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill Instagram page shows several armed fighters reading books. The photo dates back to 1970.
The post to the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill Instagram page shows several armed fighters reading books. The photo dates back to 1970. (sphrmcgill/Instagram)
Zeyad Abisaab is a Concordia University student who volunteers at the McGill encampment. He is also co-ordinator of Concordia's SPHR chapter. He said the post is about ongoing activities at the encampment such as workshops, discussions and art programming.
"It's a space for people to learn. It's an educational space," said Abisaab.
He said the image, which has circulated in pro-Palestinian online spaces for years, is a historical photograph of a colonized people learning about the colonial struggles of others. Rather than focusing on the photo, he said Saini should be more concerned about the school's ties with the manufacturers of weapons used to kill, injure and displace about two million people in Gaza.
"This is what truly should be spoken about," said Abisaab.
SPHR pledges to educate Montreal youth
The caption of the post reads, "We pledge to educate the youth of Montreal and redefine McGill's 'elite' instutional [sic] legacy by transformining [sic] its space into one of revolutionary education. The daily schedule will include physical activity, Arabic language instruction, cultural crafts, political discussions, historical and revolutionary lessons."
On Monday, McGill said it is proposing to review its investments in weapons manufacturers and grant amnesty to protesting students as part of a new offer to members of the pro-Palestinian encampment. Several groups involved in the encampment later issued a joint statement describing the latest offer as "laughable" and an "immaterial response" to their demands.
In Friday's statement, Saini said McGill has reached out to municipal, provincial and federal public safety authorities, flagging the group's social media post and other recent activities as matters of national security.
Zeyad Abisaab is co-ordinator of Concordia’s chapter of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights. He says the photo his group recently posted is historic.
Zeyad Abisaab is co-ordinator of Concordia’s chapter of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights. He says the photo his group recently posted is historic. (CBC)
Saini said this is "only the latest escalation in SPHR's long-standing strategy of intimidation and fear."
This is the same group that described the Oct. 7 Hamas assault and taking of hostages as heroic, said Saini, accusing SPHR of harassing McGill community members and invoking offensive antisemitic language and imagery.
"Their incendiary rhetoric and tactics seek to intimidate and destabilize our community," Saini said.
Saini said McGill will further increase the presence of security staff near the encampment and elsewhere on campus while continuing to pursue legal action to bar SPHR from using the McGill name on social media platforms and elsewhere. He said the school will pursue internal disciplinary processes as well.
Federal minister, B'nai Brith react
Henry Topas, Quebec regional director with B'nai Brith Canada, said participants in the encampment on McGill's campus have exceeded the boundaries of a peaceful demonstration.
He called on the city to intervene, saying there has been "a plethora of all types of hate-ridden" images on campus.
Montreal MP and federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller took to the social media platform X to lament SPHR's post.
"Enough is enough, this is hate speech and incitement to hate, pure and simple," Miller wrote. "De-escalation at McGill has clearly failed. This needs to end!"
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