Palestine

a picture of a group of people participating in an outdoor musical performance. The image is oriented towards a stage which is adorned with Palestinian flags. At the centre of the photo on the stage, is a singer in red, wearing a keffiyeh who leads a crowd of folks dancing and clapping who are in the foreground. Dude in a spiffy green collared shirt, undone a few buttons from the top, on a drum who is beside the singer, also seems to be singing into a mic. In the foreground you can see a person in white who is clapping and has a keffiyeh on their head.

From celebration to commemoration, KW’s Palestinian festival shifts focus to solidarity

July 26, 2024 by Dan Kellar

Due to the urgent situation in Gaza, organizers of this year’s Palestine Festival in Kitchener have shifted the focus from one of celebration to commemoration. One of the ways they’ve demonstrated the shift is by adopting a new theme — Solidarity: the World Stands with Palestine.

CKMS News spoke with Suhaila Salah, a co-founder of Sporas Scattered, who along with the local chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement who has organized the 3rd annual Palestine festival with the name Palestinian Solidarity Day. Speaking about the shift in the festival’s theme Salah explained, “It is not a day of mourning, it is a day to come together.” she added, “We still want to celebrate life”.

The Palestinian Festival happens Sunday July 28th in the public square at Kitchener city hall from 1-9pm.

A statement CKMS News received from Global Affairs Canada about accountability for the violence Israel is inflicting in Palestine is also included in this piece.

The photo shows a side walk with a couple of steps going up towards the right side of the photo. A fence made of wooden fixtures is between the sidewalk and the encampment. There is a smaller white sign in large black hand writing that reads “End Israelis apartheid now.” Seen over the wooden fence is the tops of tents of about five tents. The tents are green and blue.

VIU hands trespass notice to campus Pro-Palestine encampment

July 12, 2024 by Lauryn Mackenzie

Vancouver Island University (VIU) has issued a Trespass Notice to VIU Palestine Solidarity Encampment to vacate and dismantle the encampment by 8 a.m. on Monday, July 15.

CHLY reached out to VIU for comment and was referred to an update from the university posted on June 11.

The update notes that although VIU was hopeful a resolution could be found, “It has become evident that it is not realistic to continue to anticipate that the encampment can be resolved in this way.” As well university states it “must prioritize the safety and peace of all persons on campus.”

CHLY also reached out to the VIU Palestine Solidarity Encampment who referred VIU to a statement they posted on July 12.

In the statement, it states the encampment has “consistently maintained a peaceful and safe environment.” They also state that the escalation taken in their actions are “legitimate forms of protest [that] have been in response to VIU’s actions that put students at risk and villainize them.”

They do not state whether or not they will be removing the encampment before the July 15 deadline.

The boards that lined the perimeter of a protest encampment at a University. The boards are painted with the Palestinian flag and Palestinian poetry.

Pro-Palestinian encampment ends but fight continues at University of Waterloo

July 10, 2024 by M.P. Holmes

After 56 days, the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Waterloo has been peacefully dismantled. The university agreed to drop a legal claim and injunction proceeding in exchange for the voluntary decamping.

Throughout its existence, the encampment received significant support from the university community and succeeded in pushing the university to disclose its Israeli-related investments and relationships.

The encampment members criticized what they called the university’s anti-free speech strategies, including surveillance and intimidation, and emphasized their resolve to keep fighting for divestment from Israel.

A line of protestors stands beside a building - police are in a line nearby

Police use tear gas, physical force against pro-Palestine protestors at McGill

June 10, 2024 by Jules Bugiel

Editor’s Note: This story includes coarse language in both the digital and audio stories. Audience discretion is advised.

Montreal police used tear gas and physical force to disperse protestors and made 15 arrests following an occupation of McGill’s James Administration Building on Thursday (June 6). Protestors were calling on McGill to divest from companies and boycott institutions complicit in the war in Gaza.

Around 4 p.m., a small group of students and community members entered the building and barricaded themselves in a room on the third floor. A support rally of over 100 people blocked the main entrance and cheered on those inside.

Administrators, including McGill Principal Deep Saini, were ushered out of the building around 5:30 p.m. Riot police arrested those inside around 6:30 p.m. Between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m., police used tear gas, batons, and riot shields to disperse those outside.

CKUT reported live from the scene. Most in the crowd refused to give full names out of fear of recrimination.

CKUT will be following this story as it develops.

VIU Student Union fights for students’ rights to protest on campus

May 30, 2024 by Lauryn Mackenzie

The Vancouver Island University Students’ Union (VIUSU) has had to take steps to advocate for students’ rights to protest at Vancouver Island University.

This comes following the start of the VIU Palestine Solidarity Encampment and the measures the university has put in place following the start. These measures, VIUSU says, are lockdown measures and sparked concern regarding students’ rights and freedom of expression.

CHLY speaks to James Bowen, executive director of the Students’ Union, about the steps the Students’ Union has taken and the concerns they still have after Vancouver Island University lifted the measures.

The photo shows a walking path beside a hill. A fence made of wooden fixtures as a way to not get people on the hill. Seen over the wooden fence is the tops of tents. Seven tents are seen over the fence.There are serval white signs with black writing hanging on the fences but can not be read in the image.

Pro-Palestinian encampment at VIU still stands after three weeks in

May 28, 2024 by Lauryn Mackenzie

After its start May 1, the Palestine Solidarity Encampment still stands on the Vancouver Island University (VIU) Nanaimo campus.

The encampment was started in solidarity with Palestinian people and to demand action from the university.

The day after the encampment was started, students were notified by the university that if the encampment was to stay, students could face academic repercussions. As well, the hours to access the library would be changed only letting those with student or employee IDs access the building at certain times.

In a letter from VIU’s President and Vice-Chancellor Deborah Saucier sent May 17, she wrote that although VIU supports peaceful demonstrations on its campuses and the freedom of expression, she is troubled by the “increasing number of concerns, harassment, and other complaints to VIU and WorkSafeBC.”

Groups on campus have come out in support of the students’ rights to protest, including over 105 staff and faculty members, and the VIU Students’ Union.

A photo with pine trees a blue sky, and a white brutalist multi-story building in the background, and supporters of the encampment milling about the middleground, and the Gaza House art wall and encampment in the foreground.

Support grows for “Gaza House” solidarity encampment at UWaterloo

May 27, 2024 by Dan Kellar

The Gaza House solidarity encampment at the University of Waterloo continues to gather support while negotiations with the school’s administration have stalled.

The indications of support include a letter of support from faculty, staff, and librarians from UW and Wilfrid Laurier University and a statement of solidarity from the chairman of PSAC 902 which represents graduate students and teaching assistants at WLU. Rallies have been held by Gaza House which brought hundred supporters to campus.

This show features Sarah A., a student member of the encampment’s negotiating team. Sarah asked for partial anonymity because she fears being targeted off campus by agitators who do not support the solidarity encampment.

CKMS News also spoke with Law Professor Irina Ceric about students’ protest rights and reactions to encampments from administration at different universities.

CKMS News was told by UW representatives that no one was available to comment despite repeated requests.

Student stands in front of microphone under a blue tent. The student is speaking to the crowed that is unseen in the photo. There is a sign on the front of the blue tent that reads "Watermelon Seeds Lit Fest"

Authors host literary festival in support of student protestors

May 24, 2024 by Lauryn Mackenzie

Local authors held a literary festival to support the student protestors at the Vancouver Island University (VIU) Palestine Solidarity Encampment.

After three weeks since the encampment started, novelists, poets, playwrights, and journalists, took part in the Watermelon Seeds Festival of Literature on May 22. The festival is to demonstrate solidarity with the student protesters at the encampment

Warren Heiti, a professor at VIU who coordinated the festival, said the student protestors are the university’s moral and political leaders.

The festival held at the encampment showcased seven authors and three students who all read from their own materials or books or poems that went along with the festival’s mission.

This festival follows after an open letter from VIU staff and faculty was sent to the university on May 7 stating their concerns about how VIU responded to the start of the encampment.

A man sporting a kufiyeh holds a mic at a press conference on McGill's lower field. Tents and Palestinian flags can be seen in the background.

McGill seeks new injunction against pro-Palestine encampment

May 18, 2024 by Jules Bugiel

McGill University announced Friday they’re taking the next steps in their legal proceedings against the pro-Palestine encampment (the “Popular University Encampment”) on their downtown campus. The steps come in the form of a new interlocutory injunction request, according to a statement from McGill communications.

Their last request was for a provisional interlocutory injunction, which holds the added criterion of urgency. That was rejected by Quebec Superior Court Judge Marc St-Pierre on Wednesday.

CKUT will follow this story as it develops.

With additional files from Athina Khalid and Louise Banks.

Palestinian flags, and posters in support of Palestinians, surround Trent University campus sign.

Trent students join in protesting in support of Palestinian People

May 17, 2024 by Edward Sweeney

Students4Palestine Trent organized a “Nakba Day Sit-In” yesterday at the Trent University Peterborough Campus, protesting for the disclosure and divestment of Trent University’s financial ties to the State of Israel, and for the support of Palestinians in Gaza.

The name of the event refers to May 15, 2024, being the 76^th commemoration of the day of Nakba, or “catastrophe,” according to Students4Palestine Trent’s posts for the sit-in.

Over 100 people attended the sit-in, including students, alumni, faculty, and community members, says Jo (members of Students4Palestine Trent have chosen to remain partially anonymous while interacting with media), the media spokesperson for Students4Palestine Trent.

“It is our responsibility to come and support students,” says Dr. Feyzi Baban, a professor in Trent’s International Development Studies department.

There have been similar protests at many university campuses across the country in recent weeks.

Gaza solidarity encampment launched at the University of Waterloo

May 14, 2024 by Dan Kellar

Dozens of people converged at the University of Waterloo’s main campus on Monday morning to launch a Gaza solidarity encampment. The group’s OccupyUWaterloo Instagram page calls the encampment “Gaza House”

The group says the university is complicit in the current siege on Palestinians by the Israeli military, which has resulted in over 35,000 people dead, tens of thousands more injured or missing, and the majority destruction of Gazan infrastructure, including all universities and hospitals. The group is calling for divestment from weapons manufacturers and institutions which support the occupation of Palestine, and “an end to UW’s financial and academic ties to the genocidal and apartheid state of Israel.”

These demands share similarities from the demands from encampments set up at over a dozen other universities in Canada.

This show features an interview with Gaza House encampment spokesperson Nick Joseph. Also included is the statement UW provided, and Waterloo mayor Dorothy McCabe reacting to the encampment.

Three tents sit beside each other on the top of small hill. The tent to the left has a blue tarp covering it, and the one in the middle and to the right is white on top and teal on the bottom. A Palestine flag hangs above them

Students set up a pro-Palestine encampment at VIU

May 2, 2024 by Lauryn Mackenzie

On Wednesday, students in solidarity with Palestinians set up a pro-Palestine camp at Vancouver Island University’s (VIU) Nanaimo campus. Tents, tarps and signs were placed outside the school’s library.

CHLY reached out to students involved with the encampment and was told that at this time they are not willing to speak with the media. Instead, CHLY was directed to a statement issued earlier that day outlining their demands.

The Students for Palestine Committee state that they are calling for the closure of the campus Starbucks, for VIU to make a statement against the genocide and to start an investigation into a bag search incident that occurred on March 7 of this year.

A statement sent to CHLY from VIU says the university “respects the right of everyone to peaceful protest and freedom of expression.”

CHLY will be following the story as it develops.