By: Sofia Chassomeris, News Writer
“SHAME!” shouted upward of 50 students gathered at convocation mall on September 13. SFU students gathered at the Burnaby campus for a general assembly to organize protests against SFU’s investment in the ongoing Palestinian genocide. The general assembly was held by the new group, SFU Student Strike for Palestine, which is part of a larger national strike movement.
The Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) of Canada is campaigning for students to unite in the national Student Strike for Palestine. SFU has shares in BAE systems, Booz Allen Hamilton, and CAE Inc. — three corporations that profit from supplying Israel with military arms and war-related products. SFU Student Strike informed The Peak that “four of 16 elected leadership members are non-SFU student RCP members,” while the rest are SFU students. The Peak was not able to independently verify this.
Speakers at the recent assembly emphasized the need for escalated protest such as a strike or walk-out. They noted that previous attempts to get SFU to divest, including a divestment petition, have been “non-disruptive to the normal functioning of the campus.” In June this year, the Faculty Association passed two Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) motions that would formally require SFU to boycott, divest, and sanction the previously mentioned companies. In September, SFU president Joy Johnson released a message on behalf of the university, maintaining that the institution will not take a public position on “partisan political matters and current events.”
During the assembly, students elected Anjan Momi to chair meetings on behalf of the group and elected other members to different committees to organize future assemblies and protests. The Student Strike noted, “Students and workers braved the rain and even shouted down a Zionist that tried disrupting us!”
The group had advertised the assembly around the Burnaby and downtown campuses with posters and leaflets. Hundreds of posters were put up around convocation mall in Burnaby twice but were all taken down each time. They read, “Help build the student strike for Palestine.” The university stated that “there is a long-established policy governing the display of posters on campus, which is designed to prevent damage to university property. Any posters that do not conform to this policy are removed by facilities services.”
In an interview with The Peak, Leonardo Curiel, a member of the SFU Student Strike’s finance and outreach committees, described his experience with campus security when handing out leaflets for the assembly during Club’s Day. “Security started tailing us,” he said, explaining that he had left Club’s Day and was leafleting outside of the event. “They were trying to say, ‘Oh, well actually I don’t think you’re allowed to leaflet here.’” Curiel said they didn’t explain why. He added that when he started recording the interaction was when security started to call for backup.
“They were threatening to call the cops on me for recording, even though it’s a public place, and it’s my right as a Canadian to do that.” Curiel said that the incident concluded with a campus public safety officer telling the group that they were allowed to continue distributing leaflets. “All that for nothing,” he said. Some Campus Public Safety (CPS) officers were seen watching the assembly from close by.
SFU offered the following statement: “SFU respects the right to peaceful protest at its campuses. CPS attends the area around all gatherings on campus to ensure the safety of our SFU community, including event attendees, and also responds to calls for service as and when needed.”
This is a developing story that The Peak will continue to cover.
