Statement from AMUSE in Support of Student Encampments at McGill

We, the union of casual workers at McGill, stand shoulder to shoulder, in solidarity and pride, with our peers who are protesting on university grounds against the illegal occupation of Palestine. McGill is implicated through its investments in genocidal institutions like Lockheed Martin, a weapons manufacturer with direct ties to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), and Safran, a French air defence company. We hear you and appreciate your struggle against the current administration of McGill that refuses to support its students and workers.

Right now, protesters are met with hostile statements and threats of violence from Francois Legault,Montreal police, and McGill’s administration,  all of whom vilify the legitimacy of the struggle and refuse to acknowledge the plight of the Palestinian people as a result of Israeli oppression. Ultimately, institutions of higher education, claiming to be spaces where the smartest minds come together to express their critical thoughts freely, are sanctioning this act of liberty. President Saini, rather than joining the presidents of institutions like McMaster and The University of Toronto in defending McGill’s role and its students’ bodies right to protest, has condemned and threatened students and unequivocally sided with the Zionist state and its allies, who continue to financially profit from their genocide of the Palestinian people. McGill’s complicity in this genocide is undeniable, and is in track with McGill history of repressing freedom of thought by suppressing protests and workers unions and by refusing to condemn it’s founders ties with slavery, as well as it’s historical support of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

AMUSE condemns the threats made by the president to involve the Montreal Police to use brutal and militarised force against those peaceful protestors. AMUSE also condemns President Saini’s baseless claims that these protests are anti-semetic as the encampment has shown that Jewish organisations like the Independent Jewish Voices of Palestine are in support of these encampments and of student democracy. Today, it is clearer than ever before: we need to abolish these inherently violent systems and allow student democracy to flourish without condemning and repressing it.

To the protestors: as you erect tents across McGill, as you demand that McGill divest from companies profiting from genocide, as you demand to put an end to programs that have ties with Israeli institutions, you are making history! Your loud cry for Palestinian liberation is being heard and is slowly but forcefully resonating around the world.