Students set up pro-Palestinian camp at U of M – Winnipeg Free Press

The wave of protests against university camps set up in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, who are facing 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 next week to advocate for “justice in Palestine.”

Mona Zangana, a spokesperson for the organization, said the three-day event, which starts Tuesday, will take place in the quad on the Fort Garry campus and is for students only. The encampment runs from 9am to 11pm every day.

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

“Hopefully they will listen to our demands and we will achieve a victory. Hopefully it won’t take more than three days for that to happen, but there is a possibility it could be extended depending on the situation and circumstances.”

Pro-Palestinian protests have cropped up on 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 about 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 of the university, including: implementing safety measures for Palestinian students; calling for a boycott of Israeli institutions “complicit in human rights violations”; 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 increased risks, and non-U of M students may be at risk of trespassing charges.”

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

Students are also encouraged to wear gray, black and plain clothes “to avoid being recognizable.”

Zangana said organizers will not allow any aggression, whether it comes from someone who supports their cause or not.

“Anyone who shows any form of aggression, racism, anti-Semitism or hatred, or things like that, we want them removed from campus immediately. That is not the message that SJP wants to convey to the university. We want to keep it as peaceful and respectful as possible.

“We want security to handle everything. We want this all to be done by the book.”

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

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

“UM supports academic freedom, the rights of our entire campus community to freedom of expression, and the right to assemble and protest, consistent with university policy and law. As with all events on our campuses, we expect it will continue to be 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 freedom of 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 will not set up a tent at the encampment, but if individual members participate “they will do so as part of their individual rights to free speech and academic freedom.”

Jeff Lieberman, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, and Paula Parks, president of the federation’s board of directors, said as long as students are respectful and don’t break any laws, they are respecting their right to protest.

“There are pro-Palestinian protests every week and, other than some language and anti-Semitism, it’s generally quite peaceful,” Lieberman said.

“Hopefully this will be done in a respectful manner. As long as it doesn’t cross the line into anti-Semitism and call for the murder of Jews, hopefully it will go from there.”

Parks said: “People should be able to voice their opinions and protest, but when it goes into an area where the safety of others is an issue or some incentive, that’s a different matter. If they want to get a message across, and do it in a peaceful and respectful way, then that’s how it should be done.”

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