PBI-Canada visits University of Ottawa encampment that calls for divestment from weapons companies
Photo: PBI-Canada visits the encampment at the University of Ottawa, May 1, 2024.
The Ottawa Citizen reports: “Protesters at the University of Ottawa [uOttawa] began their second day of pro-Palestinian sit-ins Tuesday [April 30] on the rain-soaked lawn outside Tabaret Hall. The goal is to get the university to ‘disclose and divest’, said co-organizer Ayham Hakimi, a third-year student.”
The article continues: “[The university students ] are demanding uOttawa divest from Scotiabank, which has attracted media attention because of its investment in an Israeli arms firm known as Elbit Systems Ltd.”
Demands of the encampment at the University of Ottawa.
The Fulcrum also reports: “Organized by INSAF [Integrity Not Spite Against Falastin] uOttawa and the Palestinian Students Association (PSA), with support from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Carleton, the goal of the encampment is for the University of Ottawa administration to fully divest from ‘any and all corporations involved directly and indirectly’ involved in the genocide in Gaza, disclose their direct and indirect investments, and adopt the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association definition of Anti-Palestinian racism. They are also asking the university to sever ties with Israeli institutions, such as ending the exchange program with Tel Aviv University.”
Video by CTV.
In this statement posted on the University of Ottawa website, Éric Bercier, Associate Vice-President, Student Affairs, writes: “While peaceful protest is permitted in appropriate public spaces on campus according to our policies and regulations, encampments and occupations will not be tolerated.”
Encampment co-organizer Hakimi has responded to Bercier by saying: “I find it very ironic that talking about occupations won’t be tolerated. But that’s exactly what we’re protesting here — an occupation that’s happening in Palestine.”
CTV further reports: “The Ottawa Police Service says Tabaret Lawn is on private property and is not engaged on the campus at this time. ‘We continue to liaise with uOttawa Protection Services. We are also in communication with other post-secondary institutions,’ an Ottawa police spokesperson said in an email.”
Encampments at 6+ universities in Canada
World Beyond War Canada has noted that the University of Ottawa encampment is one of six currently happening in Canada (the others are at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, McGill University in Montreal, the University of Victoria, Western University in London, and Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo).
NBC News also notes that there is an encampment at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
And an encampment began at the University of Toronto this morning.
Campus-based protests in the United States
NBC also lists protests at 54 other campuses. That list shows there have been arrests made by police at 27 of those locations.
The Associated Press has reported that in the United States: “Police have arrested hundreds nationwide since detainments at Columbia [University in New York] on April 18.” By April 30, the BBC further noted: “More than 1,000 students have been arrested in less than two weeks during these protests.”
Divestment from weapons companies
The Guardian has highlighted that at Columbia “students are demanding the university drop its direct investments in companies doing business in or with Israel, including Amazon and Google, which are part of a $1.2bn cloud-computing contract with Israel’s government; Microsoft, whose services are used by Israel’s ministry of defense and Israeli civil administration; and defense contractors profiting from the war such as Lockheed Martin, which on Tuesday reported its earnings were up 14%.”
That article adds: “Yale University’s Endowment Justice Coalition and student groups at Cornell University, are [also] pushing administrators to drop investments in weapons manufacturers specifically.”
The United Nations comments
On April 30, Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, commented: “We are troubled by a series of heavy-handed steps taken to disperse and dismantle protests across university campuses in the United States of America. Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to society, particularly when there is a sharp disagreement on major issues, as there are in relation to the conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.”
Peace Brigades International supports the demand for an immediate ceasefire and continues to call “on the international community to suspend the supply of arms to Israel and the armed groups involved in the conflict.”
We continue to follow this.
Further reading: More than 800 human rights defenders killed in Palestine over the past six months (PBI-Canada, April 26, 2024).
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