What is in store for the Palestinian solidarity movement at the University of Toronto (U of T) after the encampment?
Here I hope to offer a reflection on how we can use what was built through almost a year of organizing to move forward.
During the two months of the encampment, we held leverage and power that we wielded to try to gain our demands.
The university, scrambling to shut us down, filed an injunction request. This marked a clear shift in their attitude towards us, showing their readiness to sic Toronto police on students, faculty and staff peacefully protesting a genocide.
Since then, the university and the state have only escalated their authoritarian crackdowns on protests. During orientation week, terrified that students might set up another encampment, the university was crawling with both Toronto Police Services (TPS) and campus security.
In a flagrant violation of students’ right to dissent, the university’s new “User Guide on U of T Policies on Protests” bans the use of speakers at protests, the blocking of entrances to buildings, and sets an 11 p.m. – 7 a.m. curfew for gatherings on campus, among other measures.
On Sept. 6, when students were protesting on Bay St. downtown, outside of offices of the University of Toronto’s Asset Management Corporation (UTAM), which manages endowment investments, they were attacked by TPS. Students were pushed to the ground, kicked, punched, bashed with bikes and pepper sprayed.
To summarize, we have lost the leverage that we had over the university during the encampment, while the violence and repression that we are facing from U of T and TPS have increased. This paints a bleak picture of our current situation, but we must be sober in our reflections in order to accurately plan our next steps.
The fight for BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel) will be a long and arduous one, and while on the surface it may seem like we have made no material progress in achieving our demands, we have gained vital skills, knowledge and experience as a movement.
One of the most important developments for our cadre this summer was an internalization of the connections between our struggles. In the spirit of being critical, we offer two reasons for this.
Firstly, the bonds between the climate justice movement and the Palestine movement have grown very strong after almost a year of organizing side by side, sleeping bag by sleeping bag.
Secondly, the encampment itself was rife with conflict, often driven by discrimination and the personal biases we brought inside the fences. At its worst, this magnified social tendencies and toxic power dynamics that led to fracturing and harm. But by being forced to sleep in the discomfort (literally), campers were given a crash course in understanding true solidarity, ditching a transactional lens for an intersectional one.
Furthermore, when faced with the alienating reality of engaging in struggle for a long time without any tangible results, there is a tendency for a movement to burn out. However, that is not what we have seen with the movement on campus. Every conversation while flyering and every interaction as we march is tinged with a sense of optimism.
The fact that our people, many with less than a year of experience organizing, have been agitated and energized rather than deflated and burnt out when facing violent crackdowns on protests by TPS is a testament to the collective strength and confidence that we have built together in the past year.
We must, however, not be too optimistic and impatient. Skills, knowledge and connection are great but do not themselves make a movement strong. At the end of the day, we have lost most of our leverage over the university and are seemingly no closer to getting our demands met. And while the university is clearly scared of us, their fear has manifested in escalation of authoritarian policies towards student protesters, and they still appear dead set on being complicit in genocide and apartheid.
Students make a successful student movement, and our strength lies in numbers. Armed with skills and knowledge, we must continue to grow our base of support through a relentless campaign of mass education. Tabling, flyering, teach-ins, vigils, cultural events — things that gain less attention in the media but are essential to building momentum and showing what it looks like to developing a student body that is ready to act and escalate.
While we are bringing new people into the movement, it is vital that we are also building our collective capacity to withstand repression by the state and the university.
The encampment helped a large number of students build this capacity, acting as a training ground for those getting involved in the struggle. After it ended, these skills have grown internally within the students already involved, but haven’t spread to those who are new and coming into the movement.
As we build our base, our movement should also increase our capacity to withstand the escalating violence against us, so that newer students aren’t scared off, and the people who have been facing said repression for an extended period don’t burn out.
The momentum we lost when the encampment ended will be built again, and again, and again. We may not win this time, or the next time. But we will not lose either.
We are stronger, smarter, and tougher than we were yesterday, and we will ensure that we are stronger, smarter and tougher tomorrow than we are today. We will continue to grow.
NOTE: The author is using a pseudonym to avoid doxxing.
The Action Speaks Louder column is made possible with the support of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group – Toronto
Office (OPIRG-Toronto). The Grind maintains full editorial independence.
This article appeared in the 2024 Oct/Nov issue.
