Visiting the U of T encampment
Not really disruptive nor really antisemitic
For more than two weeks, pro-Palestine activists have camped on the lawn at King’s Cross Circle on the University of Toronto downtown campus. Calling themselves Occupy U of T for Palestine, the group has received extensive media coverage since they set up their tents. A central criticism, similar to the complaints about the protest in the U.S., is that the encampment is making Jews at U of T feel unsafe.
To learn more about what’s happening there, I spent about an hour walking around the encampment on the afternoon of May 15th. I visited with a friend and did not conduct any direct interviews as a journalist. However, I did engage with students whose tasks it was to “onboard” visitors by asking them questions. When asked to identify myself, it was as a faculty member at Toronto Metropolitan University and Humber College.
At the front gate of the the encampment, this is the first sign you see.
The Thawabit are fundamental principles outlined by the Palestinian National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1977, representing the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All Palestinian factions are expected to pledge fealty towards it. Our onboarders asked if we accepted the four points. “Sure,” I said.
After we walked around, I asked the onboarders — those sitting at the table near the front of the encampment — if they would bar entry to someone who didn’t agree with them. They said that they didn’t expect people to accept the Thawabit or to change their minds. The principles, they said, are a tool to sound out where people are at, with the safety of the campers in mind: if someone was looking to cause a fight, they’d be found out early on. The minders also said that you couldn’t enter the encampment with an Israeli flag, as that would be upsetting to campers whose family members were killed in Gaza.
The onboarders said that there are between 120 to 150 campers at King’s Cross Circle, but the numbers are growing. The camp has a high degree of self-sufficiency: there are tents for garbage, food, spiritual care, and legal support. One could also see a reading list from the Geography and Planning Department.
The signage on some tents invoked the language of resistance. The idea of “armed resistance in the streets of every vulnerable community” was certainly discomfiting.
Another tent had a sign that a lot of Jews would define as antisemitic and find offensive, if not threatening.
Although harsh and confrontational, I do not believe that’s antisemitic under the Jerusalem Declaration or the Nexus Definition. Beyond that one sign, all of the messaging was pro-Palestinian as opposed to antisemitic. That’s by design. The brochure handed to me on entry provided multiple clear guidelines for messaging.
No hate symbols
No symbols of contentious political groups (Hamas, Hezbollah…)
All messaging should be pro the right to resist
State flags are tolerated but not encouraged (except for Sudan, South Africa, Indigenous, allies of Palestine)
No chants that directly call for the murder of any person or group (cops, IDF, Bibi, (Meric) Gertler (U of T president)..
Messaging in solidarity with Indigenous communities (eg. red dress, MMIWGS2)
Campers can wear any non-hate symbol they want as long as its discrete, they are aware of the risk, and they are not lead organizers
The encampment struck me as peaceful and calm. Except visitors and the Indigenous fire-keeper, campers looked to be students. Many wore keffiyehs, and some wore masks. Some even knew German (Jews against genocide).
The onboarders indicated to me that they were prepared to stay until their demands were met. They demand that U of T must:
Disclose all investments held in endowments, short-term working capital assets and other financial holdings of the university
Divest the university’s endowment, capital assets and other financial holdings from all direct and indirect investments that sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine
Terminate all partnerships with Israeli academic institutions that either operate in settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories or support or sustain the state of Israel and its ongoing genocide in Gaza
If you had no business near King’s Cross Circle, then you’d probably be unaware of the encampment’s existence. There were students and parents moving around the streets north of the encampment, on the day I visited, and they didn’t seem bothered at all. The vibe was of a slow-paced spring and summer semester.
If there’s a coming pressure point for the encampment, it could be U of T’s upcoming graduation ceremonies, which start in early June.