Chants such as “Shame Carleton,” “Free Palestine” and “Tuition is for education, not for Israeli occupation” arose from the Carleton University campus on Nov. 9.
At 2:45 p.m., hundreds of students, many wearing keffiyehs, participated in a “Shut it Down for Palestine” walk out organized by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Carleton. Raising signs and their voices, student protesters declared a number of demands from the university, including that Carleton address its Palestinian students and divest from weapons manufacturers.
Beginning in the Carleton University library quad, the walk out relocated near Pigiarvik (formerly Robertson Hall) after an altercation with two counter-protesters.
A video recorded by the Charlatan depicts students and on-site campus security separating two counter-protesters from the crowd.
“A fight erupted during a demonstration in the [1000]-block of Colonel By Drive,” a statement from the Ottawa Police Service read. “Police attended, and the demo was peaceful with no further incidents.”
While the crowd marched over to Pigiarvik, one of the SJP organizers said through a microphone, “Let’s go. We’re not here for violence.”
Amid conflict over the past month, Israeli government bombings along the Gaza Strip have killed more than 10,000 Palestinians and wounded 25,000. On Oct. 7, armed group Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, according to estimates by Israeli authorities.
The organized walk out in freezing weather included student speeches, chants, flyers and the tying of red, green, white and black ribbons to campus infrastructure.
“It’s important to watch youth as they come together and raise their voices and protest,” Henzy Dasan, a recent Carleton graduate in public policy and administration and walk out attendee, said.
Calls to Carleton administration
As part of the walk out, SJP Carleton published multiple demands for Carleton University administration.
The first demand called for Carleton to “properly address its Palestinian student population, many of whose families have been displaced, injured or killed.”
Zuhra Jibil, a masters of journalism student and protest attendee, said the university needs to acknowledge students’ lived experiences.
“I hope to see Carleton really just acknowledge that students want to be heard,” she said. “The university has a responsibility to all the communities at the school. This isn’t just an issue happening abroad, but an issue that affects so many students at Carleton too.”
Dasan said Carleton has a history of silencing Palestinian students, citing past complaints brought to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (OHRT) of Carleton censoring students through poster removal. The students’ complaint of discrimination was rejected by the OHRT.
“It’s appalling to me that [Carleton’s] newsletters and statements are highly neutral,” Dasan said.
“Carleton is committed to the safety and wellbeing of every member of our community and dedicated to providing an environment that is conducive to personal and intellectual growth, free of injustice and characterized by compassion, respect, peace, trust and fairness,” the university’s Nov. 10 statement to the Charlatan read.
Protesters also demanded Carleton divest from “defence contractors and arms companies,” namely, DRS Technologies, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Curtiss-Wright. Lockheed Martin, for example, has an ongoing industrial relationship with the Israeli government, according to its website.
The university partners with General Dynamics for research projects and features the named companies as co-operative education employers.
A fourth-year Palestinian international student from Jordan interviewed by the Charlatan, who asked that his name not be used in this story because he fears retaliation and desires privacy, said the university needs to go beyond offering “empty words.”
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy coming from the school, especially since they advocate for humanitarian factors,” he said. “What is humanitarian about genocide and bombing Gaza?”
Other protest demands included renaming Azrieli campus buildings, named after David Azrieli, a former president of the Canadian Zionist Federation who SJP said was involved in the ethnic cleansing of Indigenous Palestinians; and reassessing Study Israel trips that “[exclude] Palestinian students who often face difficulties gaining entry to Israel.”
Jewish students voice their perspectives
“I came here because of my frustrations with the lack of activism from the pro-Israel side,” said Ben, a Jewish first-year legal studies student interview by the Charlatan, who asked that his last name not be used in this story because he fears retaliation and desires privacy. Ben was a counter-protester at the event.
Nir Hagigi, a Jewish second-year global and international studies student and walk out speaker, said he and other Jewish students “do not stand for what Israel is doing.”
“In Judaism, we have a notion called ‘tikkun olam.’ It translates in Hebrew, literally, to ‘repairing the world,’” Hagigi said. “I’m here today to tell everybody that Zionism and Judaisim are two different things.”
He said the rising death tolls and bombing in Gaza need to end.
“Ten thousand people [are] dead and there’s no end in sight. I’m here today to protest that,” he said.
With files from Isabelle Alexandre, Alea St Jacques, Chloë Hayes, Audrey Gunn and Jonah Grignon.
The Charlatan updated this story, originally published on November 10 at 8:27 p.m., which reported 1,400 Israelis killed on October 7. Following a revision issued by the spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry, the updated estimate of Israelis killed on October 7 is now 1,200. The Charlatan has updated this story to reflect the most recent estimate.
Featured image by Chloë Hayes/the Charlatan.
