Protest camps and higher learning

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/05/2024 (516 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

University and college protests over the war in Gaza are as slippery a political slope as many of us have ever encountered in our lifetimes.

Consider the basic rules of engagement: college and university students, appalled by the ferocity of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, are occupying encampments on pristine post-secondary lawns, making demands and generally condemning the actions of a nation they see as an immoral aggressor.

Response to the protests has been uneven, to say the least.

In the United States, concerned that the protests were veering too closely to unadulterated antisemitism, schools and states moved quickly to remove protest encampments by force.

Now that the protests are springing up in Canada, how do Canadians want schools and governments to respond?

A Leger poll released last weekend revealed that 48 per cent of Canadians were against the demonstrations because they represent a threat to the safety of students, and 33 per cent said they should be dismantled if they involved hate speech or clearly antisemitic messages.

Only 23 per cent said the protests should be respected as a form of free speech and left alone.

The fact that only a fraction of respondents understand the relationship between democracy and protest should be a source of concern for citizens of this country, although the poll clearly shows that it is not. Why are we so quick to denounce these protests?

The stated purpose of the protests is very muddy indeed. Most are described as “pro-Palestinian” but clearly the thesis of the protests does not stop there. There are clearly anti-Israeli and — in some instances — antisemitic sentiments.

This is clear from references by some protesters to adages like “from the river to the sea,” a politically charged phrase used to describe the need to return all land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, a region that includes Israel and its occupied territories, to Palestinian control.

Many Palestinians argue the phrase is actually a call for peace in the region, or argue it is a call to end restrictions and blockades on travel. But many Israelis view it as a call to arms to destroy Israel. Whichever meaning was behind the use of this mantra at student protests, it has served to encourage those given to antisemitism, and convince those who would take away the right of the students to protest.

There is also the elephant at the protests: Hamas. Many critics of the protests have pointed out that the outrage being expressed by students all over the world is heavily focused on the ferocity of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, with little or no scorn saved for the agents of Hamas, who violated a ceasefire to launch a campaign of carnage and sexual violence on Israelis.

It is on this one point — the clear preference of protesters to lean into the wholesale condemnation of Israel without even a shred of criticism for Hamas — that no doubt fuelled the police action in U.S. schools. It may also be informing the lack of support for the protests among Canadians. The waters can become muddier when the virulence of a protest action leaves others feeling unsafe.

However, it is important for us to remember that it’s not necessary for a protest to include all views of history or current events. In this country, we have the constitutional right to engage in peaceful demonstration when we believe strongly enough in something to join the march.

We can only hope that schools and governments in this country can remember that principle.