One woman was charged with assault as protestors supporting a cancelled conference on Palestinian solidarity marched across campus yesterday.
The protest, which began at Sid Smith and made stops at Simcoe Hall and the Student Affairs office, attracted both pro-Palestinian supporters and pro-Israeli counter-protestors, who spent the day locked in what often became tense verbal confrontations. At one point, police physically separated the two factions, and one protestor was charged with assault after allegedly spitting at a pro-Israel protestor. The woman could be seen seeking shelter among fellow protestors, and then attempted to board a passing TTC bus on Harbord Avenue before police stopped the bus and removed her. She later rejoined the protest.
At issue was the sudden cancellation of the Palestinian Solidarity Conference, which was supposed to take place last weekend. Organizers were informed at the last minute by Student Affairs that their room booking had been pulled due to the group’s basis of unity, which included the tenets that a two-state solution in the Middle East was not acceptable, and that the Palestinian right of return to the region was non-negotiable. Israel is also referred to as a “racist apartheid state” in the basis of unity.
“President Birgeneau has issued the very Orwellian statement as to why they cancelled this conference,” noted Abdel Takrit of the Arab Student’s Collective (ASC). “He says it is to ‘protect free speech’,” continued Takrit. “We demand an apology for the racist atmosphere of this campus. This is intolerance, this is racism, and we oppose it.”
Hillel member Simon Lightstone had a different take on the situation. “Students with dissenting views have been shut off [from the conference],” he stated. “I feel they’re taking advantage of free speech.”
But for U of T student Nathalie Hamam, the conference was supposed to be a chance for like-minded activists to come together, hence the basis of unity. “The purpose was not an exclusionary purpose,” she said. “The purpose was to restrict the conference to people on the same political wavelength.” Hamam pointed to the constant bickering between the two sides at the protest as proof that little is being accomplished when the groups come together.
At Simcoe Hall, ASC member Hazem Jamjoum delivered a letter to Assistant Vice-President and Director of the Office of the President Dr. Beata FitzPatrick, demanding that the group be compensated for the cancellation of the conference. A similar letter was later delivered to the Student Affairs office, and a meeting was set up for today.
