Pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill campus grows on 3rd day
Pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill campus grows on 3rd day
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What did we learn when the trucker convoy occupied downtown Ottawa? We learned that a protest and an occupation are not the same thing. I don't know what the acceptable length of a protest should be, but the trucker convoy showed that 3 weeks was way too long.
That's a false equivalence if I've ever heard one.
- The trucker convoy was based on sovereign citizen nonsense and conspiracy theories. This protest is against genocide.
- The convoy shut down whole blocks of downtown, creating a dangerous zone of lawlessness and people shitting in the snow. This protest doesn't prevent university business, and is law abiding and sanitary.
- The convoy stored thousands of pounds of propane and diesel fuel within mere meters from Parliament combined with idiots shooting fireworks, and this protest has zero chance of literally blowing up parliament.
- The convoy was so dangerous that the police didn't even dare enter to enforce laws, the OPS police chief repeatedly said there is nothing they could do without endangering officers, student protests like this are routinely and often brutally stopped by police action without any threat of harm or injury to the police.
So no, I don't think they're equivalent in any way. I hope these protestors continue until they're successful without having their right to peaceful assembly curtailed unjustly.
You are making a lot of assumptions there. I'm not saying the two protest groups are equivalent. I'm saying that uninvolved people only have so much patience for disruption. Protester's don't have the right to occupy someone else's property or engage in the prolonged disruption of other people's rights. The University is private property and no one has a right to occupy it. The protesters are trespassing. Legal protest is about making your voice heard. It is not about using your presence to force the issue your way. That's illegal and rightly so.
I'm guessing you don't have a lot of experience with student protests? They are very common in Montréal, there is nothing extraordinary about this one.
And McGill's property is semi-private. The university recieves public funds, has easements with the city, and does PIL instead of property tax. So it's not as clear cut and dry as say, someone's kitchen.
You're right, I don't. There weren't any long term protests or encampments at my university when I was there. How long does McGill usually let it go on, or do the students just run out of steam on their own? Is the timing of the encampment related to having just finished exams?
The 2012 student strike (printemps érable) lasted from February to September. It was not an encampment per se but it says something about student tenacity. Occupy Montreal lasted a month and a half, although not on university grounds.
Does the end of term matter? Sure. This has been true since students have existed. Remember May 1968? Or Jagger singing "summer's here and time is right for fighting in the streets"?