Posters promoting the newest chapter were posted around campus
On Nov. 26, reports of posters for a “white student union” at McGill were published in The Montreal Gazette.
The next day, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), along with 34 university affiliated organizations, released a statement reaffirming their commitment to racial equity and inclusion.
The posters in question depicted three white men with the words “white student union” and a URL to an associated website.
The organization takes credit for “starting a branch at McGill University” as well as similar campaigns at multiple universities in Toronto as per their website.
The group claims to be “combating anti-white discrimination; fighting anti-white hate speech” at Canadian universities.
As reported by CTV, the group does not seem to have gained much traction at McGill with only 16 students having applied to join. They are also aiming to meet twice a month, including one lecture and one social gathering. Their goal is to eventually hold conferences that include speaker series.
In the statement posted to their website, the SSMU condemned “white supremacy, white nationalism and all derivative structures of oppression and marginalization of Black people, Indigenous Peoples, People of Colour, and religious minorities.”
In an email to the Fulcrum, Brooklyn Frizzle, SSMU’s vice president of student life, reiterated the SSMU’s opinions and specifically pointed to a statement by a Montreal Anti-fascist group on Facebook.
“My colleagues and I, personally, [found it] quite moving,” Frizzle said of the statement.
The Facebook statement called the group responsible for the posters “little more than a minuscule group of racist militants” and reprimanded media outlets who “took the bait and produced articles that even included photos of the poster, which serves to boost the signal.”
Following the original publication of this article, the organization behind the posters requested to respond to the allegations found on the Facebook statement.
“Not only is SWC not “supremacist” in any form, but our entire project is defined by our opposition to supremacy,” wrote the organization’s spokesperson to the Fulcrum. “Marxists explicitly seek to achieve a “supremacy of the oppressed” over their perceived “oppressor”, and modern Marxists define the “oppressor” as white people. This narrative naturally incites hatred towards whites and combating it is our central purpose.”
The SSMU urged people to “centre BIPOC community members in interacting with racially hateful discourse, to ensure that it is not amplified as it is condemned.”
They also encouraged anyone speaking on the matter to make use of “content warnings, amplify the voices of those directly affected, and educate yourself about their lived experiences.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Jan. 14 at 10 p.m. following legal counsel to include a statement from the SWC who expressed the desire to respond to the specific statement that was cited by the SSMU’s Brooklyn Frizzle from the Montreal anti-fascist group.
