Tens of thousands of Quebec students may join the pro-Palestinian protest on Thursday and Friday.
Students in several Concordia departments are set to strike on Thursday and Friday, with others scheduled to hold votes in the coming days. Organizers are calling on the school to “divest from Israeli apartheid.”
Via social media, Concordia sociology, anthropology and geography student associations also said they would join the strike. Students in fine arts and some other departments have yet to vote.
Some student associations at the Université de Québec à Montréal have voted to strike. At McGill, votes are scheduled to take place this week.
An alliance of student groups known as the Coalition de Résistance pour l’Unité Étudiante Syndicale says tens of thousands of students may be on strike, with the goal “of getting institutions, corporations, the federal government and the provincial government to sever all ties with Israel.”
Among the actions planned is a student march that is to begin at Place Émilie-Gamelin at 4:30 p.m Friday.
“This protest marks a continuation of student-led efforts to call for divestment and human rights advocacy, emphasizing the influence of Quebec’s student unions in addressing global issues from within academic and governmental spheres,” the group said.
At Dawson, a vote held by the Dawson Student Union approved a one-day strike Thursday, in “solidarity with students facing repression and the genocide in Gaza.”
The student union said 447 students voted in favour of the strike, with 247 voting against.
Dawson’s Jewish Student Association had urged students to vote No.
In an email to students last week, Dawson said Thursday will be a “regular school day.”
“The college values the importance of education and encourages all students to fully engage in their learning opportunities,” the school said.
“At the same time, the college is committed to fostering a safe and respectful environment for everyone. If any concerns about safety arise, this situation will be reassessed.”
Jewish groups, including Hillel Montreal and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), last week condemned a post by Dawson’s Muslim Student Association (MSA).
“To those considering a NO vote… know that your vote cannot alter the destiny that awaits the Zionist entity,” the MSA said in a social media post on Friday urging students to support the strike.
“Efforts to obstruct justice will be in vain. The liberation of all the Islamic homeland is inevitable… History will bear witness to the triumph of Islam. Remember Hittin.”
This part of the post now appears to have been removed.
It was an apparent reference to the 12th-century Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn, described by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as having “marked the defeat and annihilation of the Christian Crusader armies by the Muslim forces of Saladin. It paved the way for the Muslim reconquest of the city of Jerusalem.”
The Gazette was unable to reach an MSA spokesperson.
The CIJA described it as a “threatening message, linking the vote to the ‘the liberation of the lands of Islam’ and Saladin’s victory against the crusaders at Hittin. This is an explicit attempt to intimidate ALL Dawson students, not just Jewish students, and should be condemned.”
Students at some French CEGEPs have also voted to strike on Thursday and Friday, including at Collège de Maisonneuve in Montreal.
At Collège Lionel-Groulx, north of Montreal, the student association says it plans to block entrances to the school’s buildings beginning at 6:15 a.m. on Thursday and Friday to pressure the administration to cancel classes.