Palestine on Campus

In the Gaza Strip, children are starving to death. 

Shots ring out daily at aid distribution points where Palestinians line up for the chance to bring home a bag of flour, if they survive the gunfire.

Israel’s stated goal in its military incursion in Gaza is to eliminate Hamas in retaliation for its attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Yet of the over 60,000 Palestinians killed in Israel’s war, scholars estimate that over 80 per cent were civilians, with over half being women, children and the elderly. 

This staggering death toll, along with the numerous reports of human rights abuses coming out of Gaza, has prompted international organizations and scholars to conclude that what we’re witnessing is genocide in real-time.

In Montreal, an ocean away from the airstrikes, the city’s campuses are a point of convergence for the pro-Palestinian movement, as students mobilize for their schools to divest financially and academically from Israel’s war and ongoing occupation. 

McGill in particular has been a focus of the student movement. The university invests over $5.5 million in weapons manufacturers that supply the Israeli military, among dozens of companies with ties to Israel. McGill was also the site of the first pro-Palestinian student encampment in Canada when the tents first went up in April 2024.  

The encampment was torn down one year ago this weekend, but the calls for divestment only grew — and so too did the repression. 

Campus crackdown 

In reporting this documentary, we spoke with activists at McGill and Concordia who are organizing and diversifying tactics to keep the Palestine issue front and centre. Most did not agree to appear on camera out of concern for public retribution and academic repercussions.

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Their fears reflect the rising tensions between the universities and their students, as administrations — and external organizations — look to minimize, even stop, protests related to Palestine on campus. Lawsuits, injunctions, disciplinary proceedings, investigations, and ballooning private security measures are efforts to crack down on student calls for divestment from Israel, leaving observers worried about the repercussions for student democracy and academic freedom.

Meanwhile, at Dawson College, faculty are pushing back against provincial intervention in the classroom after the CAQ government launched an investigation under the guise of ensuring student safety. The report resulting from that investigation, however, focuses on secularism in CEGEPs, taking aim at prayer rooms and student organizations.

A need for dialogue

Our investigation highlights an apparent lack of communication between university administrations and the student movement for Palestine, which enjoys broad support among the student body as evidenced by incredibly successful strike votes and divestment votes at both universities.

We regret that both McGill and Concordia turned down our interview requests for this documentary. Interviews would have been ideal to have representatives from both universities address the actions of their administrations this past school year, but we do appreciate that both took our written questions and provided some responses.

In the absence of a meaningful reconciliation between the goals of the administrations and the demands of the students, we hope this documentary can help initiate the necessary conversations to chart a path forward.