“Gaza, Gaza, Montréal est avec toi.”
Around two hundred members of the Montreal community gathered in Victoria Square for a protest on Nov. 29, organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)’s Montreal chapter, in honour of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Throughout the demonstration, protestors called on private corporations, the Canadian government, and universities in Montreal complicit in the genocide of Palestinians to cut financial ties with the Israeli state.
In an interview with The Tribune in Victoria Square, a representative from Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance (SPHR) at McGill spoke to the way that student activism and wider community activism for Palestine are interrelated as part of the international Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. This movement aims to financially pressure Israel to comply with international law, targeting a wide range of institutions “from McDonald’s to McGill.”
“It’s very important for students to show solidarity with the wider community, and the wider community to show solidarity with the students, because there’s more power in numbers,” the representative said. “We’re all fighting the same fight, whether that’s divestment from academic institutions or divestment from all the other companies that we’re going to be walking by at this protest.”
One attendee who wished to remain anonymous explained to The Tribune that protests are a way to drive gradual, step-by-step progress towards defunding the Israeli state’s genocide in Gaza.
*“Keeping those protest spaces alive is really important […] so that every time the topic evolves, we can be there and show our political support for those actions,” the attendee said.
Organizers later led protestors into the street and onto rue Sainte-Catherine. Demonstrators walked west through crowds of Black Friday shoppers, calling on onlookers to join the protest in support. Many pedestrians stopped to listen, with some following the protest along the rest of its route.
“We will never normalize what is happening,” a PYM representative said. “If you are hearing these words, you are part of this fight. You are accountable [….] Whether you’ve been with us for decades, or this is your first time joining us, you are part of this struggle, because if you are not with us, it means that you are normalizing what is happening.”
Two Cégep students were among the protest’s attendees. They told The Tribune that they have been supporting the Palestinian cause for over a year, without seeing any progress be made in the demands they are fighting for. The students also expressed disappointment at the investments of numerous universities—such as McGill, Concordia, and Université de Montréal—in companies complicit in Israel’s siege on Gaza, noting that this has also impacted their considerations on where to pursue their university career.
“I used to be a student who wanted to go to McGill, because it’s known for intelligent students,” one Cégep student said. “But then a very dear friend to me went on a hunger strike to protest the genocide happening. She made [her hunger strike] unlimited because she was confident that no university was going to let their students starve. But McGill was able to prove the opposite. They let her starve. So I took a vow to never go to McGill.”
In a written statement, the McGill Media Relations Office (MRO) explained that the university aims to “remain neutral on geopolitical issues.” However, the MRO stated that McGill upholds community members’ right to freedom of expression, which is also part of the code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
“We respect the right of students to pursue political objectives and to express their beliefs,” the MRO wrote. “Still, when a small group of students went on a hunger strike early this year, we urged them to put their health and well-being first since those are our priorities.”
The protest ended on the corner of rue Sainte-Catherine O and rue Guy where protestors danced and chanted: “The students united will never be defeated.” Organizers then played Palestine’s national anthem while they circulated a donation box for Palestinian aid.
A PYM speaker concluded the protest by reminding participants that the movement is far from over.
“From our banks, Scotiabank, that invest millions of dollars in Israeli weapons systems, our universities like Concordia, that invest in weapons companies, from our pension funds, every part of Canada is complicit in genocide,” they said. “We are here to say that as long as there is genocide, we will continue to take to the streets.”
*This quote has been translated from French.
