A pro-Palestine walkout adopted the slogan “No Back to School,” drawing a parallel between the ongoing Israel-Gaza war and students returning to campus for the fall term.
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) organized a walkout on Sept. 13. At 3 p.m., participants marched across campus for around an hour to call on the University to divest from companies and corporations connected to Israel while highlighting the disparity in educational opportunities between Gaza and Queen’s.
READ MORE: Pro-Palestine protestors set up encampment on Queen’s University campus
The walkout began at Richardson Hall, where protesters covered the building’s name plaque with a Palestine flag. The group then marched through campus, pausing to deliver speeches and to chant. Demonstrators blocked a section of Union Street outside Stauffer Library, prompting honking and frustration from drivers.
A ing driver shouted “Go home,” which the protester responded, “I wish.” This exchange was met with calls for “shame” from demonstrators.
During their stop at Stauffer Library, protesters hung a sign from the second-floor patio of the building, which read “No Back to School in Gaza, Queen’s. Divest Now.” As the protest continued, library security removed the sign that had been hung over the outdoor banister. Participants returned to Richardson Hall to find the Palestinian flag, which they covered the building’s plaque with, was no longer in place
Protesters, wearing keffiyehs and medical masks, declined on-the-record interviews with The Journal, citing concerns for their personal safety on and off campus.
One unnamed student protester shared their feelings of privilege and gratitude for being here and being alive while expressing dissatisfaction with the silence in North America surrounding the conflict.
“I’m a Palestinian student here at Queen’s. I’m a grandchild of resilient grandparents who were kicked out of their homes with nothing other than the clothes on their backs […] I’m someone that comes from a long line of resistance and existence,” the student said in their speech. “We sit here with the privilege of safety, and we have an education, with the luxury of making plans, of dreaming about our futures while they have no certainty beyond the horrors of survival.”
On June 3, Principal Patrick Deane established a Review Committee for Responsible Investing to evaluate a request from the Queen’s University Apartheid Divest (QUAD) campus group. The request, submitted in May, calls on Queen’s to divest all economic and academic ties with the State of Israel, in line with the University’s Responsible Investing Policy.
READ MORE: Pro-Palestine protesters claim Queen’s isn’t meeting their divestment demands
According to the Gazette, the review committee is tasked with examining the special request and formulating recommendations to the Principal. The committee states it will invite a delegation from QUAD to present it for further evaluation and organize further consultations to gather a broad range of perspectives from the campus community.
Throughout the protest, speakers consistently expressed dissatisfaction with the committee. When ed for further comment, SPHR declined to speak.
Corrections
A previous version of this story mistakenly stated the speaker’s grandparents were “Brazilian” instead of “resilient,” and omitted Queen’s students have the privilege of “education” within the same speech.
The Journal regrets the error
Tags
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].