News

Heartfelt speeches; high school and community support grows

Friday, May 10 marks the 12th day of protest for divestment and disclosure for Palestine on Tabaret Lawn. Protestors were joined by high school students, who walked out of school to support Palestinians.

As the second week of the student encampment nears an end, Al Jazeera reports that 34,904 Palestinians have been killed and 78,514 have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7.

INSAF (Arabic translation: justice or equity) and the Palestinian Students Association (PSA) had a disharmonious discussion with university representatives earlier in the week, where their demands were not addressed. 

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) published an open email campaign for supporters to pressure the U of O administration to “respect the student demands and divest from investments in Israel”. 

“Unfortunately, the administration at uOttawa has made no efforts to take the demands of the student protestors seriously, expressing their manufactured concerns about health and safety,” the statement read. CJPME established a goal of 2,000 emails to be sent to president Jacques Fremont and vice-provost, Jacques Beauvais; at the time of writing, nearly 1,000 emails have been sent. 

Since the beginning of the week, the amount of tents and chalk drawings have expanded, encompassing most of Tabaret Lawn and the pavement and steps to Tabaret Hall. In a meeting with the university administration earlier in the week, co-organizers were encouraged to reduce space on the Lawn and remove chalk drawings.

Housekeeping and events began at around 3 p.m., beginning with a group painting of a banner that reads “high schoolers for Palestine”. By the early evening, the lawn was filled with students and families alike, bringing the total number to over 100 participants. 

At around 5 p.m., Iyas Salim, an adjunct professor in international studies at Carleton University, recounted the life of his late brother-in-law —a 17-year-old high school student —, who was killed by Israeli Defensive Forces (IDF) shelling in March. “[He] was a beautiful young man…he was supposed to graduate this year from high school. His hobbies were playing soccer and computer programming.”

“His dream was to see the world. And his story, [we not only wanted to tell his story] in Ottawa, we told his story to many friends in Japan, in America, in many countries. The way I look at it now, Ahmed’s spirit has been able to travel the planet,” Salim shared.

Following Salim, a teach-in “Min el Mayye lal Mayye” was led by Dr. Nahla Abdo, a professor at Carleton University who studies settler-colonialism and decolonization. She discussed the brief history of Palestine, defined Zionism with participants, and discussed the impacts of Western imperialism on Palestinians.

Abdo also spoke of the importance that universities and educational institutions play in sharing the history of Palestine. “Academia should be concerned with people. It should be concerned with human beings,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to be an activist. Academia gives you a job, but activism gives you much more — a solid ground to stand on.”

A Shabbat candle vigil was held by Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Carleton at sunset. “During this time — these past seven months especially — we’re all here with a common purpose, which is total liberation for Palestinians,” said Amelia Blazer, the vice president internal for IJV Carleton.

Across the country, police officers confronted protesters at the University of Calgary, who had begun an encampment on campus at 5 a.m. that morning and disbanded around 12 a.m. later that day. Police officers used shields, tear gas and flash-bangs against the student crowd. Five arrests were made as well. 

Earlier on Friday, Palestine was officially recognized as the 194th member of the United Nations by the U.N. General Assembly. 143 countries voted in favour, 9 voted against — including the United States and Israel — while Canada was one of 25 abstentions from the vote.