Students to erect pro-Palestinian camp at U of M

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This article was published 03/05/2024 (568 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The wave of university encampment protests that have been set up in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza as they endure a months-long Israeli offensive has reached Winnipeg.

Students for Justice in Palestine, a group at the University of Manitoba, plans to set up an encampment to advocate “for justice in Palestine” next week.

Mona Zangana, a spokesperson for the organization, says the three-day event, beginning Tuesday, will be in the quad at the Fort Garry campus and is for students only. The encampment will run from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day.

“The whole point basically of the encampment is so the university takes us seriously and understands exactly what our demands are,” said Zangana on Friday.

“Hopefully, they’ll listen to our demands and we will have a victory. Hopefully, it doesn’t take longer than three days, to have that happen, but there is a possibility that it does get extended just depending on the situation and the circumstances.”

Pro-Palestinian protests have popped up at several Canadian campuses in recent days, including at the University of Toronto, McGill University, the University of Ottawa and the University of British Columbia.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel in October, killing some 1,200 people. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, local health officials say.

The U of M group has made several demands to the university, including: implementing safety measures for Palestinian students; calling for a boycott of Israeli institutions that are “complicit in violations of human rights;” and ending student-exchange programs with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The group also warns that, if they go to the encampment, “international students may face heightened risks, and non-U of M students risk trespassing charges.”

Zangana said they expect 200 students to pitch their tents in solidarity with the protest.

The students are also being encouraged to wear grey, black and plain clothes “to avoid being identifiable.”

Zangana said the organizers will not allow any aggression, whether it is from somebody who supports their cause or not.

“Anyone who shows any aggression, any racism, any antisemitism or any hate, any of that sort of thing, we want them removed off campus immediately. That is not the message SJP wants to relay to the university. We do want to keep it as peaceful and respectful as possible.

“We want security to deal with everything. We do want this all to happen by the book.”

The anti-war protest movement began last month at Columbia University in New York. More than 100 people were arrested this week when police broke up that encampment.

The University of Manitoba said in a statement “we are aware of a protest encampment next week on UM’s Fort Garry campus.

“UM supports academic freedom, the rights of our entire campus community to engage in freedom of expression and the right to assemble and protest, in accordance with university policies and the law. As with all events on our campuses, our expectation is that it will remain a safe and respectful environment.”

Orvie Dingwall, president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association, said the union “respects and upholds the essential right of students and faculty to engage in peaceful protests and counter-protests.”

“We welcome free expression on the University of Manitoba campuses to ensure students’ ability to explore and learn, as well as faculty members’ right to academic freedom.”

Dingwall said the union won’t pitch a tent at the encampment, but if any individual members participate in it “then they do as part of their individual right to free expression and academic freedom.”

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Jeff Lieberman, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, and Paula Parks, president of the federation’s board of directors, said as long as the students are respectful and break no laws, they respect their right to protest.

“There are pro-Palestinian protests every week and for the most part they have been peaceful. However, at times there has been hateful, antisemitic language shouted and that is unacceptable. The protests at the University of Manitoba must not be allowed to be a forum for hatred against Jews,” Lieberman said.

“Hopefully, this will be done in a respectful way. As long as it doesn’t cross the line to antisemitism and calls for the murder of Jews, hopefully things will go on from there.”

Parks said “people should be able to have their opinions and protest, but when it moves into an area where the safety of others is a concern or any incitement, that’s something else. If they want to get a message across, and it is in a peaceful and respectful manner, that’s how it should be done.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.