The symbolic and historical role of the McGill camp for Gaza

New York, Washington, Ottawa, Paris, Berlin, Geneva, Mexico, Mexico, Mexico, Mexico, Mexico, Mexico, Sydney, Washington, Ottawa, Paris, Paris, Berlin, Geneva, Mexico, Mexico, Sydney, Vancouver, Toronto... Starting from the prestigious University of Columbia in the United States, an international movement of student mobilization for the Palestinian cause has spread since April 17. In Montreal, the McGill University camp became the place where the struggles for Gaza converged. On the fourteenth day of the occupation of the establishment that forms the Quebec elite, La Converse interviews students, professors and researchers in an attempt to better understand the challenges of this mobilization and to recontextualize what some consider to be a new “May 68".

In the heart of the Montreal metropolis, behind the imposing Roddick Gate that marks the main entrance to McGill University, a camp in solidarity with the Palestinian people is growing day by day under the eye of business buildings. On the lawn that is finally green after long months of winter, several dozen tents are hidden behind metal fences covered with banners and signs: “You are financing the genocide”, “Teachers for Palestine”, “McGill against austerity”, “McGill against austerity”, “Quebec doctors against the genocide in Gaza”.

If commentators and columnists rush to claim their opinion as an unchangeable truth, to point the finger at the good guys and the bad guys, who are right or wrong, it is crucial to take a step aside. By questioning pro-Israel activists as their pro-Palestinian antagonists, by questioning Jewish and Muslim communities, students and professors, or by recontextualizing the McGill encampment in a historical perspective, we discover the shades of gray in a debate that is too often in black and white.

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Rafah under siege

The attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October in Israel claimed the lives of 1,200 people, including 37 children. To date, it is estimated that 125 people are still being held hostage including 2 children, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). After seven months of Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip, 35,562 people were said to have been killed, including 14,000 children and 9,000 women, according to Unicef's May 21 report. The UN agency estimates that a child is injured or killed every ten minutes in the Gaza Strip. A new tragic development that is part of a complex history of colonization and apartheid suffered by Palestinian populations for over seventy-five years.

The Israeli army launched the assault on Rafah on Monday, May 6, bombing the last refuge of 1.4 million Palestinians trapped in the southern Gaza Strip — half of the population of the enclave according to the UN. A decision widely contested by international political leaders, including by the United States, which has always been an ally of Israel. Two days earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also announced his refusal to sign a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Nearly 9,000 km from the theater of this offensive on Gaza, Montreal students are on their twenty-sixth day of encampment in front of the oldest university in Quebec. Applauded by some, criticized by others, This new student movement divides Quebec society, some of whom see it as the “courage of youth”, the other as “disguised” antisemitism.

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Local demands

Very quickly, just a few days after the first night of April 27, a real organization was set up on campus, in particular to deal with the rain that turned the park into muddy ground last week. “There is a very great solidarity on the part of many Montrealers of all backgrounds and ages who brought us wooden pallets to avoid staying in the water, food, clothing... In the current context of tensions, it's really very pleasant,” says Camille, a student at Concordia who joined the movement on the third day.

Beyond practical considerations, this coordination allows the various groups - including “McGill Hunger Strike for Palestine”, “Independent Jewish Voices” and “Students for Justice in Palestine” - and individuals who make up the movement, to manage to speak with one and the same voice. This was particularly the case during the press conference organized in front of a dozen journalists following an unsuccessful negotiation session with the administration on Monday, May 6. “We organize courses to de-escalate violence in the event of external provocations, workshops, discussions, screenings... Everyone has the opportunity to express themselves and we take all decisions collectively,” says Ari Neumann, a Jewish McGill student.

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Perceived as “utopians” by some, or even “privileged people who do not know what they are talking about” by their pro-Israel opponents, the campers have concrete demands on the administrations of Montreal universities. “We know that McGill, like Concordia or UQAM, cannot decide on a ceasefire and that is not what we are asking for. Our demands are clear: the boycott and financial divestment of universities from companies that support Israel and the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” insists Ari Meumann.

Inspired by their American peers, the demonstrators established a list of companies, some of which work in the arms or national defense sectors. “Their request to divest from Montreal universities is part of a strategy to make the issue local, because they are often accused of being too utopian. There, they base their demands on something more concrete, more relevant, which will mobilize more students and prevent the university from telling them that it cannot stop the war. McGill is the most compromised Quebec university at this level,” explains the historian and specialist in Quebec student movements, Daniel Poitras.

Indeed, McGill University has invested over $70 million in companies that support or contribute to Israel's policies. Part of this budget would be directly intended for manufacturers of weapons and military technology with contracts with the Israeli army. For example, these are Lockheed Martin, Thales, Safran, or Bombardier. Other targeted companies provide fuel or communications equipment to the IDF.

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“It is a question of morality on which we think it is entirely legitimate to question. We believe that a university cannot invest in anything and everything with our tuition money,” said student Mehdi. Last November, McGill students already disagreed by voting with more than 78% one Anti-genocide policy, during a referendum organized by the solidarity group for Palestinian human rights. It was only five months later that the camp was set up. In situ.

“We listen to their requests and strive to find concrete solutions in line with the mission and principles of our institution,” the university said in a brief statement two weeks ago. For their part, the demonstrators are calling for the camp to expand “until and until the administration presents concrete measures and a timetable.” Galvanized by the victories obtained at some American universities — nearly a dozen of them have sealed an agreement with the mobilized students —, and while new Canadian campuses are mobilizing, McGill campers seem determined.

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More and more committed professors

“It's always hard to write the story at the moment it's being made. In the eyes of the historian, a failed revolution is only a riot; in the mouth of a reactionary power, it is normal to describe the precursors of a revolution as a riot,” wrote the late Guy Michaud in an article published in June 1968 in Le Monde Diplomatique. Professor at Nanterre, the second largest university in France, he supported the student movement led in particular by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, alongside other renowned teacher-researchers such as the sociologists Alain Touraine and Henri Lefebvre.

Half a century later, these words still resonate. “What we are experiencing today may in fact make one think of what happened at the beginning of May 68 in France, we must observe how this will evolve in the weeks to come”, nuances Daniel Poitras. Indeed, it is difficult to anticipate the long and medium term effects of this new student mobilization. However, there is an anchoring in a certain anti-establishment tradition in the academic world, while being distinguished by certain particularities. Indeed, there is a revival of student interest and commitment to a cause that is being played out abroad, as well as the active participation of faculty members.

La Belle Province has already seen several student protests flourish in the past. The first emerged in the mid-fifties. “A fairly little-known event took place in 1955: the first interuniversity demonstration with a social purpose in Quebec, against the rise in the price of streetcar tickets, explains Daniel Poitras. In 1958, it was the first day of a student strike inspired by what was happening in France, with big names like René Lévesque speaking out to support the movement. At that moment there is no turmoil.”

Finally, the end of the sixties marked the appearance of the first Sit-In within schools. “The radicalization of student revolts is mainly taking place through Cegeps, half of which are busy in the fall to demand more rights such as the creation of scholarships for students, or even a second French-speaking university. It was also at this time that we observed an internationalization of the student movement. However, this openness to international news remains timid (...). The war in Vietnam, which mobilized a lot in Europe or the United States, mobilized only 1000 people during a march, recalls the author of The University of Montreal. An urban and international history. “What's happening today at McGill is remobilizing an international consciousness that had been dormant for some time.”

Marked by a “survival issue” and a “feeling of isolation”, Quebec tends to lag behind in becoming aware of certain international issues. But that has slowly evolved over the last few decades.

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The increasingly visible and active participation of dozens of university professors in the current movement for Gaza is an illustration of this. “I am Jewish, I grew up going to camps for young Jews who praised Israel, but my studies allowed me to get away from this unique vision; today, I teach at a university where I teach students about history, sociology, reflection... It seems natural to me to be with them when they apply the teachings that they received to defend the Palestinians,” testifies Daniel Schwartz, assistant professor of cinema at McGill University.

According to him, more than 150 teachers have offered their support to the campers. Among them was Palestinian Nayrouz Abu Hatoum, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at Concordia: “It's important to be there as professors because students sacrifice a lot in their lives to be here and defend their beliefs. This is the minimum we can do to make them feel listened to and legitimized in a context where there are a lot of Gaslighting and oppositions,” she believes.

Illegality and antisemitism are in fact the two motives put forward by those calling for the dismantling of the camp.

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Antisemitism: “an ostracizing label”

As at Science-Po Paris in France or Columbia in the United States, McGill students are under attack. The administration as well as certain political figures such as Prime Minister Legault are calling for its dismantling, arguing that the occupation was illegal.

“Campuses have a symbolic role in social awareness because they are the future Quebec elite, a social status that gives a certain legitimacy to their speech. Moreover, as soon as students call on political figures, they are uncomfortable, especially when it comes to McGill, which is considered to be the crème de la crème,” analyzes Daniel Poitras.

The McGill camp has not experienced any overflow and remains pacifist. Built between two university terms, it does not interfere with access or the current activities of the university. Even the police forces, often quick to intervene in the past, claim to have encountered no problem with the demonstrators who communicate with them regularly. For her part, the Quebec Superior Court judge rejected the request for an interim injunction made by two students who sought to dismantle the camp in order not to interfere with freedom of expression.

Nevertheless, several Zionist organizations reacted by organizing a counter-demonstration a few meters from the pro-Palestinian camp. Face to face, the demonstrators look at each other but do not understand each other. “We are asking for the dismantling because these people want the death of all the Jews in the world even though I am more Arab than most of them,” confided Myriam, a Jewish Montrealer of Moroccan origin.

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A perception shared by the approximately 200 demonstrators mobilized to music on May 3, 2024, between two projections of images and testimonies of survivors of October 7 on a giant screen. Concordia student Ora Bar confirms: “We are really here for unity and to demonstrate that we are human and that encouraging our murder is not the way to peace.” The young woman has been very active since the start of the conflict. And for good reason, Ora Bar is one of the winners of the scholarship offered by Honest Reporting Canada, a pro-Israel lobby organization. For this second edition, twenty students, some of whom are following a journalism course such as Ora Bar, received $1000. In exchange, the student, born in Israel, undertakes to defend and disseminate the Jewish State's propaganda on her social networks, during the events in which she participates... She must also monitor student media coverage on the Concordia campus concerning Israel.

A role that she also fulfills by responding to media interviews. The same day of this demonstration, Ora Bar was on the set of Radio Canada's 24.60 television program. The famous presenter Anne-Marie Dussault introduces her as “a Jewish Israeli student from Concordia University in Montreal with a degree in journalism, born in Israel and back in Quebec since the age of 11.” At no point is there any question that she was a recipient of the Honest Reporting Canada bursary.

To find out if antisemitism is an issue of concern in the camp, we interviewed Ari Neueman, a Jewish student and participant in the pro-Palestinian camp. The use of the word Intifada is particularly singled out. “In Arabic it means uprising or revolt, it is not a call for murder. The question of antisemitism within the movement was indeed raised, but not by members of the Jewish faith. It was the other groups who came to us to ask us if we had been confronted with this kind of problem, which is not the case. As a precaution, we have organized a discussion on the subject and we all agree that we oppose Zionism and not Judaism. They purposely link religion to politics so that they can never be blamed,” she said.

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Indeed, anti-Zionism has existed since the creation of the political movement aimed at the establishment and consolidation of a Jewish state (New Zion) in Palestine. In Montreal as in Israel, Jews who oppose the Jewish state are often considered traitors. Their support for the pro-Palestinian movement, which would thus prove that it is not antisemitic in essence, is therefore swept aside by the pro-Israel ones.

“When you look at the insults hurled at students who are protesting for Palestine, antisemitism is always on the rise. This reflex to use ostracizing labels aims to invalidate the position of the other. Before, students were called communists, now it's antisemitism because it's the only thing we could oppose them”, decrypts Daniel Poitras.

So now is not the time for dialogue as the postures are fixed. However, the McGill campers managed to put Gaza back in the media spotlight and to challenge public opinion, while the demonstration, which has been organized every Sunday for several months, was losing momentum. On May 20, Karim Khan, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, requested arrest warrants against three Hamas leaders as well as the Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister.