Last Thursday, on the front steps of the Sidney Smith Building at the St. George Campus of U of T, approximately 140 demonstrators and supporters gathered to protest the recent hate crimes that have plagued the Greater Toronto Area. These crimes include vandalism against Muslim and Jewish holy buildings and Jewish homes. A Jewish cemetery was also defaced.
The “Hate Is Not a Joke” rally was organized by the Office of Student Affairs in cooperation with university groups including Hillel, the Muslim-Arab-Jewish Dialogue committee, SAC, and many other faculty, student and community groups.
Nouman Ashraf, Student Affairs officer and a key organizer of the rally, explained his reasons for holding the demonstration: “We thought of it because of the rash of crimes [that were] anti-Semitic and hateful in nature.” Ashraf wanted this rally to happen quickly so that the message of tolerance could be “heard loud and clear, just as those who spread hate [try to do]”.
Among the speakers were Rini Ghosh, President-elect of SAC, Connie Guberman, Status of Women officer at U of T, Geoff Wichert of the Campus Chaplains Association, Sofiyya Ally, a member of the Muslim-Arab Jewish Dialogue and Johanna Herman, public relations coordinator for Hillel and for the rally.
Ashraf commented that the diversity of the speakers reflected the diversity on campus and the support from all corners of the university for this rally. Wichert spoke about this being a season of rebirth, and joked that it would take “guts to call this spring,” in the wake of recent acts of intolerance.
Ally and Herman spoke about their own personal experiences with hate and the importance of unity in resistance. “As Canadians we have a responsibility to be concerned about anything that goes against our [Canadian] values…We have a responsibility to speak up,” said Ally. Herman said that the “more people learn about our culture, history and religion, the more people learn that there is nothing to fear.”
Professor David Rayside, representing U of T’s Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender community, challenged rally participants to “confront prejudice and educate about prejudice.” Ontario’s Attorney General, the Hon. Michael Bryant, added the provincial government’s support in a letter that was read to the crowd.
Dhruv Jain, a U of T student who participated in the rally, commented that, “This is a first step. Youth is the place to start. We can drive out bigotry and hatred.” Another participant, Shlomo Gabel, said that “the ties that bind humankind together must be embraced, while still respecting each others’ differences.”
Rally participants signed a “Banner of Hope”, which read “Hate Will Not Be Tolerated.” The banner will be hung in the Sidney Smith Building. To mark their solidarity, rally participants also signed supportive cards which will be delivered to the targeted Muslim and Jewish buildings. Plans were also made to deliver lilies to the residents whose homes had been vandalized.
As the rally ended, Herman assessed its impact as “above and beyond expectations…There was a real sense of community and kindness.”
