Since the current genocidal assault on Gaza got underway, we are seeing a redoubling of efforts to take the McCarthyist process further still, with even moderate criticism of Israel now treated as anti-Jewish hatred. Those mounting the charge are extending their efforts into the realms of criminal law and the policing of public protests.

Photojournalist John Pinel Donoghue was in downtown Toronto on December 10 to attend a pro-Palestine demonstration demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. The protest started outside the US Consulate before moving to Yonge-Dundas Square and then to Toronto Police 52 division headquarters after a protester was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer.

On November 28, Panama’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the 20-year contract granted to Canadian mining company First Quantum is unconstitutional. The decision came after weeks of nationwide protests forced the government to announce a referendum on First Quantum’s contract for December 17. Now, however, the court seems to have decided the fate of the mine.

Over these last weeks, as Israel’s military machine has mounted an industrialized killing operation against hundreds of thousands of trapped people in Gaza, I have echoed the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” I don’t agree for a moment that this is an expression of antisemitic hatred or an incitement to genocide.

Argentines weary of annual inflation soaring above 140 percent and a poverty rate that reached 40 percent have elected right-wing libertarian economist Javier Milei. He had campaigned on the promise to privatize state-owned enterprises, slash government spending, dollarize the economy, eliminate the central bank, and close key ministries, among them health and education.

What does “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” actually mean? And when it comes to political slogans, should impact matter more than intent? As Carleton University professor Mira Sucharov explains, the controversy the chant generates suggests there is work to be done in better communicating with and understanding one another.

A full reckoning of what transpired during Euromaidan requires one to look at both internal and external factors, namely the divisions that existed within Ukrainian society, the peculiar ideology of Ukraine’s pro-European liberal intelligentsia, and the manner in which Ukraine became a battleground for competing geopolitical interests.

As those of us in Toronto watch the devastation occurring in Gaza, where Israel’s bombing campaign this month is estimated to have killed over 8,000 Palestinians, including over 3,000 children, and displaced 1.4 million residents, we are also witnessing Mayor Olivia Chow and other politicians condemning Palestinian activism here as antisemitic.

There remains a long road to housing justice from the vantage of our own system of exploitative, for-profit rents. With new movements like the Oakwood-Vaughan Tenant Union, however, taking on the financialized landlord class and articulating working class demands for decent housing, it is possible to imagine a better, more equitable Toronto.

My greatest wish—as a student and a human being—is to live in a world where all peoples, regardless of race, creed, or faith, can live in peace and dignity. A world where children can grow up free from the horrors of war. We must fight, when all seems dim, so that the world of our dreams can be born. We must fight on, for hope.