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From Eelam to Palestine: Why Self-Determination is Important to the Canadian Student Movement
All right, I guess this is another article on the student movement. Seeing as I’ve been hanging around the university for the past four years, and spending a couple of those kicking around the student movement as a rank and file activist, it’s what I know best these days, so chances are it is what I’ll be writing about most often. In light of recent events in Tamil Eelam and the attacks on Gaza last winter, this week, I’ll be writing about self-determination and why it is important to the student movement. This can be difficult because often, student unions which take positions on issues which at first glance don’t seem to directly affect students take a lot of flak in right-wing media outlets for being “out of touch” with “real student issues” or whatever right-wing critics allied with imperialist states can come up with.
When it comes to supporting peace, justice and self-determination, one of the leading mass organizations in Canada is the 500,000 strong Canadian Federation of Students. The CFS and numerous local students unions, including the University of Manitoba Students Union, have signed on to and supported the Halt Genocide Tour, an initiative of the Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils. In addition, the CFS-Ontario and several student unions in Ontario have affiliated with the Palestinian Right to Education Campaign. Sadly, however, it was decided not to consider a motion calling for an investigation into the feasibility a boycott of Israel at a general meeting of the CFS in 2007. As a result, the national CFS does not have a position on Palestine. It is worth noting that there is a strong lobby for Israel on campuses, in the form of the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students (tied to the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy), Hillel, and the extremist far-right Jewish Defence League (JDL).
The denial of self-determination to various oppressed nations, backed up with state violence, has grave consequences for educational rights in these nations. As international solidarity is a cornerstone to building a global movement, students should be very concerned about attacks on education rights around the world. Campaigns against these occupations are often a call for help, suppported by many civil society organizations within the communities involved. When confronted with a call for help from fellow students in oppressed nations, is important for us to take action and not to ignore the call.
The clearest example of educational rights being trampled by an occupying force is probably the current situation in Gaza. In December 2008, the Islamic University of Gaza (with 20,000 students, nearly as many as the University of Manitoba) was bombed in six separate airstrikes, destroying the Science and Engineering buildings. Several other schools were attacked during the bombings, as well as the Ministry of Education. The ongoing siege of Gaza has made it impossible to provide children with the educational supplies, electricity and transportation to go to school. As a result, many children simply aren’t able to go to school. Movement restrictions have prevented numerous students from studying abroad or in the West Bank. The situation in the West Bank is not much better; the head of Birzeit University’s Student Council was charged with ‘belonging to an illegal organization’ and ‘holding a position of responsibility’ by Israel and incarcerated for a year. Thousands of students are harassed by checkpoints or are cut off from their schools by the apartheid wall. And of course, many students are killed outright by Israeli bombs and bullets.
The burning of the Jaffna Library in Tamil Eelam is an example of state violence causing irreparable harm to the pursuit of knowledge. On the night of May 31, 1981, in the midst of anti-Tamil pogroms, Sri Lankan state sponsored paramilitaries destroyed the Jaffna library and 97,000 unique books and manuscripts within. Needless to say, such destruction of historical texts is a great tragedy not just for those studying history, but for society in general.
It is far more than just educational rights which are being denied in places such as Palestine and Tamil Eelam. When thousands of people have been killed and many more displaced over decades of occupation, educational rights are actually pretty far down on the list of reasons why it is important to support an end to these occupations. Particularly as we live in an advanced western imperialist country, one which is occupying Afghanistan and arming and diplomatically empowering Israel, we have a responsibility to the rest of the world to do whatever we can to oppose imperialism. International solidarity can make a change in the long run. BDS campaigns helped defeat apartheid in South Africa, and can help defeat Israeli apartheid as well.
Some people, particularly vocal right-wing students whose voices are often greatly exaggerated by campus media (and Macleans), argue that the student movement shouldn’t focus on such issues because they believe that they are outside of our mandate because they are divisive and don’t affect students directly. Setting aside the fact that this argument is completely without merit, and only put forward by the political right to discourage solidarity between students and other oppressed groups, this argument fails by its own standards. Despite racist international differential fees, Universities in Manitoba are home to a very diverse student body. Without question, our student unions will be representing members whose homes and families are in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Eelam, or wherever else state violence is used to quash a people’s national aspirations (not to mention Quebec or the First Nations within the borders of the state of Canada). The student movement would be failing to represent these students if we fail to take the side of peace and justice, not the other way around.
In conclusion, the importance of our recognition and campaigning for the rights of oppressed nations to self-determination can not be understated within the student movement. Indeed, with globalized capitalism and imperialism, it is the global working class which is under attack. The only logical response for working class students is to try to build a global student movement. And international solidarity is the most important part of building global networks to fight back against oppression everywhere.
For more information, check out:
The Palestinian Right to Education Campaign
Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils (CanadianHART)
An article from 2005 which discusses the Israel lobby on campus
Brian Latour is a student, activist, and student activist living in Winnipeg. Read more by Brian Latour.
Great article, Brian!
#1. Posted by Adrie on May 26th 2009 at 9:51am
Good stuff. The question of ‘why should student’s organizations be involved’ is a tricky one, since as you pointed out it’s not as though UMSU (or any other Student Union I can think of) is directly involved in a struggle for national liberation.
The answer, I think, is as simple as pointing out that universities are one of the few locations (sites of social struggle!) left where people are organized into collective associations, and as such, these collection associations (students’ unions) should be a vehicle for political action by its membership. Beyond all the other rationales, students’ unions are used to organize collectively because they are there - just like churches, community and cultural associations, unions, and a myriad of similar organizations should be (and are!).
Tangentially, I think there are two reasons why students’ unions (and labour unions, for that matter) are more likely to be vehicles for this kind of organizing: one, they are situated in an area of conflict and struggle, the university, and as a result tend to be politicized; two, because they (counter to the opinions of some) tend to have a more democratic internal structure that allows this kind of organizing to occur.
OK, enough ranting. Again, good article.
#2. Posted by Chris in Winnipeg, MB on May 26th 2009 at 1:16pm
Thanks, you two!
Chris, I like what you’re saying there. It’s a good argument for student unions and associations and the student movement to take positions on many issues beyond the “bread and butter” issues within the university. Things like student unions are important to the struggle, and we need to be fighting to keep the struggle alive within them.
Unfortunately, there is the typical refrain from right-wing media outlets (and useless student organizations like CASA and OUSA) that we shouldn’t talk about important social issues because they “don’t affect students” (regardless of whether the issue in question affects students as workers or people). As I briefly alluded to above, this is total bullshit intended to render the student movement impotent. The right realizes that a radical, militant student movement has the potential to be a force for serious change and to challenge capitalism (see: May ‘68), that is why they spend so much time attacking student organizations in campus media (and Macleans), or trying to subvert the student movement (like when the Tories were caught plotting a couple months ago). But right-wing responses to the student movement and why they are wrong could be a whole article in and of itself…
#3. Posted by Brian in Winnipeg on May 27th 2009 at 10:16am
Good to see you back among the living. Wonderful post!
#4. Posted by Desert Peace in Jerusalem on May 30th 2009 at 10:37am
Great article, my friend. However, I am curious about your views towards the Israeli state. Do you believe that the Israeli state has the right to self determination?
#5. Posted by Greg H. in regina.sk on May 30th 2009 at 3:04pm
Attempting to directly apply concepts of self-determination to the Israeli state is somewhat problematic at best for a few reasons. First, the character of the Israeli and Palestinian states are much different - Israel is a colonialist settler state while Palestine is an oppressed nation representing the people who have been there for thousands of years. Despite the historical oppression of the Jewish people, Israel isn’t an oppressed nation. In addition Israel already has much more than self-determination: Israel is militarily and diplomatically empowered by most major western imperialist states (especially the big one, the US) to attack its neighbors, construct illegal settlements, and deny self-determination to Palestine - things which go far beyond self-determination and into the realm of imperialism. And the whole question of Israel’s self-determination is to some extent immaterial to the immediate issue of the occupation; self-determination for the US or Germany doesn’t really factor in to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan or Poland, France, Norway, etc in any meaningful way.
That said, the new world I have in my heart (to paraphrase Durruti) isn’t about denying people the ability to live wherever they want and have their needs met based on their religion or ethnic background, whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze, etc. But right now we are so far away from that world in so many ways; one of our more immediate problems is that of ending the occupation and delivering self-determination to Palestine.
I hope that answers your question.
#6. Posted by Brian in Winnipeg on June 1st 2009 at 6:46pm
Sorry it took me so long to reply - I spent much of last week doing the layout for our magazine/trying to get our website online. *deep breathe*
I understand your points (or do I?) and I appreciate the Durruti reference. However, I am still not sure that the Palestinian state is the appropriate target for such noble sentiments. Consider this quote, by Mahmoud al-Zahar:
“Before Israel dies, it must be humiliated and degraded. Allah willing, before they die, they will experience humiliation and degradation every day.”
Are you really okay with quotes like that?
#7. Posted by Greg H. in regina.sk on June 8th 2009 at 10:08pm
I’m sure a quick google search could find many similar quotes by founding fathers and major political figures in practically any country, including Israel, which are similar. And not just quotes, actions as well - the bombing of Gaza or the invasion of Iraq speaks a lot louder about imperialism than anything coming out of the mouths of any politicians.
And there is a big difference between “okay with” and “think it should be used to deny a people’s self-determination”. I’m not “okay with” the actions of, say, the government of Ireland all the time, but I in no way wish for a return of the British every time an Irish politician says something I don’t like.
And I’m not going to sit here in my nice peaceful office and criticize certain Palestinian groups for using words like this when referring to a state which has been oppressing them for decades or attempting to exercise a right to self-defence (albeit in a completely ineffective and indiscriminate manner). It’s awful easy to preach about clean hands and moral superiority from thousands of miles away (and when nonviolent strategies may not even work), and difficult to understand the frustration of 60 years of occupation.
#8. Posted by Brian in Winnipeg on June 8th 2009 at 11:13pm
“The clearest example of educational rights being trampled by “:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70Oqo_wmuGo&feature=channel
Could you please explain about “trampled educational rights” again ?
#9. Posted by BlueWhite in Calgary on June 9th 2009 at 8:47pm
The left I subscribe to promotes peace, human equality and dignity. There will not be peace in the Middle East until people stop taking sides. Both sides have legitimate claims to the land and both sides have committed atrocities.
I am saddened by this topic and many of the responses to it.
#10. Posted by Greg H. in Regina.sk on June 10th 2009 at 1:07pm
“Not taking sides” sounds nice and neutral, but when we have a situation where one ‘side’ has such a massively stronger position than the other, such as the case with Israel & Palestine, ‘not taking sides’ equates with supporting the more powerful and dominant force - in this case, Israel.
#11. Posted by Chris in Winnipeg, MB on June 10th 2009 at 2:20pm
re: Greg,
I have to agree with Chris. The left is all about supporting peace and justice, and there won’t be peace and justice in Palestine until the occupation is over. And right now, it is Israel which is the much more powerful entity and has the power to do all sorts of nasty things. I’m not sure the claims of both sides are equally legitimate as one is an oppressed nation representing the people indigenous to the region and one is a colonialist settler state which is supported and empowered by western imperialist countries.
In short, the left is about fighting for peace and justice, and that means opposing the occupation. “Not taking sides” is not and has never been a leftist principle.
#12. Posted by Brian in Winnipeg on June 18th 2009 at 1:11pm