Rabble Rants: Students and Labour United
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Topic 1: All Eyes on Rafah
We give an update for the week of May 24th, including the latest attacks on a 'safe zone', the lack of a US 'red line' and the creation of buffer zones that block the border with Egypt.
Topic 2: Students and Labour Unite at UofT Encampment
An Emergency Rally in the face of a possible injunction and police action saw Ontario Labour leaders pledge to "put their bodies between police and students". We give updates on the encampments, discuss the possibilities of escalation and vent about the hypocrisies of our politicians.
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Transcript
You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness.
Speaker:You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful
Speaker:adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us
Speaker:fight for a new world, a decent world. Welcome to Rabble Rants. I'm Santiago Gelo Quintero,
Speaker:and alongside Jess McLean, we're going to unpack the stories that have us most riled up and
Speaker:All right, today we're going to talk about the student encampments again, but only in so much
Speaker:that they are asking us to turn our eyes to RAFA as well. I mean, the whole purpose behind
Speaker:the encampments is to draw attention to the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians.
Speaker:And this last week and a half in RAFA has been horrific. Israel has again bombed the safe
Speaker:zone. in RAFA, killing about 45 people in a single bombing, mostly women and children,
Speaker:who were sleeping in their tents at the time. I mean, the internet is awash with a fresh
Speaker:wave of horrific images that you can never unsee, you know, parents bringing out pieces of their
Speaker:children to simply prove the horrors that they're going through. And true to force, Israel first
Speaker:denied the bombing. They've now admitted it was them. They're saying it was an accident.
Speaker:They're going to investigate. I mean, it's almost a meme at this point, the cycle of denial and
Speaker:minimization that goes on for these war crimes that apparently still don't cross the US's
Speaker:red line as they've reiterated support for Israel and said that it was bad, but it's just not
Speaker:bad enough for us to do anything about it. And we've talked about international law before.
Speaker:This particular bombing happened almost immediately after the ICJ ordered Israel to cease operations
Speaker:in Rafa, which is considered a humanitarian safe zone. That's from the South African case
Speaker:against Israel that Mexico is now asked to join. So we've also seen a bunch of nations recognize
Speaker:the state of Palestine this past two weeks, Norway, Ireland. Spain. But yeah, in terms
Speaker:of RAFA, another development that we need to be talking about is the creation of a buffer
Speaker:zone. This is nothing short of annexation. And when you look at the map, it really does start
Speaker:to look like what the West Bank looks like. Parcels of land separated by military corridors
Speaker:and one of the most significant corridors. that they've created is to block off the Egyptian
Speaker:border. Tanks have moved into Ra'afah as well, so much so that almost every aid organization
Speaker:has ceased operations, most notably the World Central Kitchen. But also I'm sure you've seen
Speaker:the many, many GoFundMeets that are going around of people trying to flee Gaza, and if you're
Speaker:paying attention, it's through Egypt that people are finding any refuge. And so this crossing
Speaker:has completely... been surrounded by the Israeli military. The only border that Palestinians
Speaker:now have access to is the sea, and Israel blockades the sea, so they have them completely surrounded.
Speaker:There's nowhere for people to go, and yet they keep dropping bombs. You know, like, the attacks
Speaker:in Ra'aqa right now have been truly horrible when... after eight months. There's still after
Speaker:eight months and all the desensitization that people have gone through. Everybody like the
Speaker:amount of people who are horrified right now, what's going on is as much as I've seen it
Speaker:throughout the past eight months. I was curious to see what the Zionists were thinking of saying
Speaker:about it, like how they're justifying it turns out there's fake recordings going around where
Speaker:They have people pretending to be Hamas saying that, oh, it wasn't actually an Israeli bomb.
Speaker:It was that they hit ammunition depots that Hamas had that exploded. So in case you're
Speaker:wondering how they're justifying it to themselves so that they don't have to process the horrifying
Speaker:images, that's how they're doing it. because there always has to be a way to do so, right?
Speaker:That makes me so fucking mad because we absolutely know those were US bombs that were dropped
Speaker:on tents. We fucking know it. Like you can trace it back to your tax dollars. One other tool
Speaker:that they're also doing and we've seen it before is this pivot to these crisis of anti-Semitism,
Speaker:right? Just talk about something else, anything else, because we can't possibly justify this
Speaker:shit. No, it's... I think a textbook case of how people justify things, justify the unjustifiable.
Speaker:No, it's, I mean, I'm shocked. The last couple months for me, I'd say have flown by in a weird
Speaker:way because I've been so burnt out, stressed, overwhelmed and busy. And now somehow we're
Speaker:eight months in and this shit still keeps happening. Like I think back to October. It was horrible
Speaker:in October, like every single day, every, all the news were here. I remember, I remember
Speaker:I wrote an article, like two, three weeks in where we were talking about how Israel had
Speaker:dropped two nuclear bombs worth of bombs. In like two weeks or something. Yeah. And that
Speaker:now represents a fraction of what's happened in Gaza. You say eight months, but now we're
Speaker:almost nine months by the time listeners are going to hear this. You're almost at nine months.
Speaker:Shit, we're almost getting to one year of this genocide. And now these people are completely
Speaker:trapped. Like when I say trapped, I mean they are trapped. But you're right. Despite the
Speaker:length of this and the amount of horrific images people have been exposed to, right, and stories,
Speaker:it has not... dwindled their resolve. It builds, right? Because we are seeing the tide turning
Speaker:and the door will never close on people viewing Palestine as a legitimate state. And like,
Speaker:there's some things that just we can't go back on, right? There's been advancements, despite
Speaker:the horror. And we're still seeing activists escalating their tactics. And they have been
Speaker:steadily. I don't know where we're going to go from here. Well, we can talk about that.
Speaker:No wonder students are taking over their campuses. One of the things that I heard this week, it
Speaker:was a reminder. I mean, I think I already knew it, but that every university in Gaza is gone.
Speaker:Every single one. Every university in Gaza is gone. And these were I mean, these were good
Speaker:universities. One thing that Palestinians have always valued very highly is education as a
Speaker:tool of resistance. Right. Palestinians are For the level of poverty that they, I mean,
Speaker:I don't think anywhere in the world you'll find a group of people that are more poor, yet most
Speaker:educated. Like Palestinians are incredibly educated. These universities were incredibly important
Speaker:to Palestinian culture. Like I said, knowledge and education was for them a form of resistance.
Speaker:They saw it as a way, like, if I learn things, I can learn ways to help my people. And Israel
Speaker:knows that. They didn't accidentally blow up. I mean, there was literally controlled demolitions
Speaker:of universities. And in case you're wondering whether or not that's a conspiracy theory,
Speaker:you don't have to take my word for it. You can take IDF soldiers words for it because they
Speaker:filmed it and bragged about it. So it's not like that's a fucking mystery. No, and what's
Speaker:most shameful is that these universities, these institutions, seeing this devastation of other
Speaker:universities, scholasticide was a term I learned this week down at the Accampment. It's part
Speaker:of genocide, right? It's part of destroying an entire peoples and weakening them. But the
Speaker:fact that these institutions have not spoken out and in fact are demonizing the students
Speaker:on their campus trying to stop this slaughter is... It should shock people. I mean, it should
Speaker:change the way you view universities and how they operate in case you thought they were
Speaker:just like these glowing institutions focused on education and empowering youth or whatnot.
Speaker:Because yeah, what's going on at the universities in Canada in particular at the University of
Speaker:Toronto just demonstrates the opposite.
Speaker:Like, I find that so amusing because universities are pivotal cornerstones of capitalism in the
Speaker:way that they function. I mean, it's a microcosm. They are as they operate as institutions, but
Speaker:it is true. Like York University's political science program is a den of Marxists. Okay.
Speaker:I went through it. I'm not saying you have. Look, the students, faculty, yeah, but like
Speaker:as institutions and the way they function and the people who succeed because of it, you know,
Speaker:that's a different story. But one thing I wanted to mention real quick was I'm reminded, you
Speaker:know, suppressing knowledge is a very key element of genocide, as you said. And I'm reminded
Speaker:of Canadian genocide against Indigenous people and how they... I mean, not just, I mean, the
Speaker:residential schools, how they kept people from, from accessing their traditional knowledge,
Speaker:how they suppressed their ways of knowing and how pivotal that was in that genocide, that
Speaker:ongoing genocide, right? It's fucking nothing new under the sun, right? Oh, there's so many
Speaker:parallels to draw there. And it really... when people talk about, oh, you know, you're protesting
Speaker:a university thousands of kilometers away. What does it mean? I mean, do you not see the parallels?
Speaker:Do you not see how these things are interconnected parts of the exact same system anyways? And
Speaker:if you don't make sure you check out our episode with Ms. Squasson, she did a great job of listing
Speaker:the amount of parallels between the colonialist project that is Canada and the Zionist project
Speaker:that is Israel on the Internet isn't real. you know, to fake the algorithm out. I'm loving
Speaker:that. I should just work it into my vocabulary. Maybe our transcripts won't get flagged. But
Speaker:anyway, let's get into the encampment. Let's. The People's Circle for Palestine. I like that
Speaker:name. Yeah, it's a good name. I'm sure many listeners are aware of what's been going on.
Speaker:They better be. It's the largest student encampment in North America right now. We know that there's
Speaker:an encampment, but I'm sure many of you have already heard about what's like been going
Speaker:on the past week, right? With the University of Toronto giving an ultimatum to the students
Speaker:to clear out by Monday, was it 24th? No, 26th? I have horrible track of days. Monday, last
Speaker:Monday. Monday passed. Monday passed from when we were recording this, we were recording this
Speaker:Thursday the 30th for context. If not, they would be trespassed, they threatened students
Speaker:with expulsion, they threatened faculty with being fired. Faculty and staff. And now next
Speaker:Monday, so the 3rd, again we're recording this the 30th, they have their convocation, so the
Speaker:timing was obvious. They wanted their green circle. for convocation purposes. And things
Speaker:did not go the way that the university would hope whatsoever. Now, I was thinking like,
Speaker:okay, we gotta get ready, you know, gotta get ready to defend it. But I honestly, I didn't
Speaker:expect what happened. And it was a pleasant surprise to see Laura Walton. president of
Speaker:the Ontario Federation of Labour, which represents 54 unions and over 1 million workers in Ontario,
Speaker:put out a pretty badass letter calling on Labour to support the students and saying if the University
Speaker:of Toronto makes a move against the students, they'll have to go through the workers first,
Speaker:which was very welcome to see. And Jess and I went down for the rally they had Monday as
Speaker:the... clock ticked to 8 a.m. marking the deadline and it was a good showing. It was. You know
Speaker:who didn't show up is there were zero police. You could, I mean when we had gone earlier
Speaker:you could see a surveillance van that was Mark Bell media bullshit. But you know like you
Speaker:could see cops just on the outskirts of campus. They came to the front gates at one point when
Speaker:there was an issue and but like. They were nowhere. And I have not been to any rally or demonstration
Speaker:in Toronto in some time that did not have at least bike cops kind of on the perimeter and
Speaker:a bus or a van down the street just ready to release the beasts. So that, I thought, was
Speaker:notable. I want to add an editorial note as well. In case people don't remember Laura Walton
Speaker:before she headed the OFL. She almost led a general strike here in Ontario. She was the
Speaker:president of the particular education workers that went up against Ford when he used the
Speaker:notwithstanding clause. And they stirred this province up. They got other unions like OPSU
Speaker:and JP Hornick, who was also at the emergency rally to stand in solidarity and walk on Wildcat.
Speaker:strike. And this is this is a promising development in terms of the Ontario Federation of Labor.
Speaker:I mean, you could criticize the demonstrative nature of union rallies, like the need to brand
Speaker:it and remind everyone what union you are. And, you know, some of that, I think, is not in
Speaker:great taste. But the notion that labor leaders would quite explicitly say that they would
Speaker:stand between police and students should they try to move in on them is extraordinary. Yeah.
Speaker:And they weren't saying they'll go like that. That they'll write their MP or be really upset
Speaker:about it. Was clear they're going to put their bodies on the line in between the cops and
Speaker:the students, which is what you want to see from Labour. I mean they... JP Hornex said
Speaker:great things. Solidarity is a verb. It requires action, right? And that, you know, student
Speaker:issues are labor issues. Absolutely. Like we see the parallels, you know, like great stuff.
Speaker:I'm not going to be too flowery because I do have some, I think, fair criticisms. There
Speaker:are certain things I would like to see that I didn't see, but I was glad to see. Labour
Speaker:show up on Monday. At that point, there was no chance in hell that cops are gonna show
Speaker:up at 8 a.m. that morning to clear the students. And it would have been a, I mean, the night
Speaker:before, there was a windstorm in Toronto, and I was worried that all the tents were gonna
Speaker:be blown down, and then it was pouring rain, and it would have been a really horrible day
Speaker:to try and defend an encampment, really. Worst possible moment to defend an encampment. So
Speaker:I'm really glad. I appreciate Labour's support there. That's exactly what we've been calling
Speaker:for, right? Is Labour to show up in solidarity? It was a pretty historic moment. Not that you
Speaker:would know that from the headlines of major media who were mostly talking about the injunction,
Speaker:which the OFL did join the injunction to defend intervening status, to defend the students,
Speaker:which is also nice to see because they can afford. good lawyers and whatnot, unlike UFT lawyers
Speaker:who defend rapists. You have to clarify what you mean there. The same lawyers that are defending
Speaker:the University of Toronto have defended the likes of Giangameshi and Harvey Weinstein.
Speaker:And so it's, yeah, you think they would make better choices. I think overall the University
Speaker:of Toronto has seriously... mismanaged this because okay, they purposely delayed their
Speaker:injunction, I'm thinking, to take the wind out of the sails of that emergency rally, so to
Speaker:speak, instead of having to then go and protect the encampment, people dispersed because there
Speaker:was a 24-hour delay. And then that hearing again has brought a longer delay that actually puts
Speaker:it- Two weeks. Almost three, puts it past their convocation almost. We're talking about- near
Speaker:the end of June. And so one of the main arguments from the University of Toronto and why they
Speaker:need an injunction is because they need that green space so bad. It's the space that's right
Speaker:next to their convocation hall. And the judges basically told them with this delay, like that
Speaker:there is no urgency there. So most of their argument for the injunction altogether will
Speaker:then rest. on the fact that they're trying to portray it as anti-Semitic, violent, and a
Speaker:threat to student safety, which is an old narrative that pro-Palestinian activists have been facing
Speaker:forever, but obviously hyper-intensified at this point. It's not like the university cares
Speaker:too much about protecting Jewish people, because there was a woman there, Susan Weiss, who...
Speaker:She had survived the Holocaust. She's an outspoken activist, anti-Zionist. And when she arrived
Speaker:to speak at the rally, when I said she survived the Holocaust, you can imagine she's quite
Speaker:old. She's in her mid-80s and required mobility assistance. So they asked the campus security
Speaker:if they could bring the car closer to help her, to which the security guards said, too bad.
Speaker:So. In case you're wondering how performative the universities care for Jewish people is,
Speaker:there's your answer. Back to the injunction though, folks may remember, or maybe not, McGill,
Speaker:University of McGill tried to get an injunction against the student encampment that is still
Speaker:going strong there and they failed. So it's not actually very promising the university
Speaker:will get the injunction and I think Santiago and I have been going back and forth in our
Speaker:discussions with each other on how this will play out. I'm sort of convinced that police
Speaker:will eventually move in simply because there's just this really concerted effort to add crime
Speaker:into the equation. Right? Doug Ford right now has just openly blamed immigrants for shootings
Speaker:at two Jewish schools in which police have not released any identifying information as to
Speaker:the shooters. And so on top of that, we're seeing, you know, bullshit arrests happen on the fringes
Speaker:of the encampments. And, you know, they work hand in hand with certain players to sell that
Speaker:narrative that it's, you know, just inherently violent. I think eventually they'll create
Speaker:a situation in which that allow them to move in. I hope I'm wrong, because they still hold
Speaker:such great potential. I mean, just two weeks ago, however, we did see McMaster student encampment
Speaker:close up shop. And I don't, you know, you can hear it in my voice. I feel uncomfortable criticizing
Speaker:activists anytime. You never know people's situation, but you couldn't help but see some of the disappointment
Speaker:on social media as well from within the community. The students there were promised kind of meetings
Speaker:in October to discuss the divestment situation and they ended their encampment for that. And
Speaker:when you get the update that I gave at the beginning of the episode on what is happening in Rafa
Speaker:and the urgency to think you'd wait till the one year anniversary to even discuss divesting
Speaker:from those weapons seems like it's not really related to the current genocide at all. Right?
Speaker:You could say that that's related to the occupation. right, the long standing ongoing violent occupation,
Speaker:but certainly you can't pretend that those goals were aimed at stopping this current genocide
Speaker:or in particular this siege on Rafa. So, I mean, that was really disappointing, but I am, I
Speaker:am buoyed by what I'm seeing in the resolve of the University of Toronto students, that
Speaker:emergency rally and the students that spoke there in particular. made it clear that they
Speaker:were not going anywhere. Like, disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest. Right?
Speaker:Like, that is their mantra. They know what's going on. They're doing an incredible job.
Speaker:Like, really, I mean, you could almost write a textbook of what they're doing. They've been
Speaker:on it. Since they won, I think they've handled everything as if they... Like in such a great
Speaker:way, they've really controlled things, they've educated and they kept turning back the issue
Speaker:to what was happening in RAFA during the talk. That was just so needed because some of the
Speaker:rah my union is so great and stands behind you like that was just repeated so many times.
Speaker:Like so many times and then with no direct call to action there, right? So when they when we
Speaker:heard the personal stories like of that. Yeah, no, I was personally inspired by those students
Speaker:who spoke. I mean, seriously, like, I mean, these are people who are very close to me in
Speaker:age and I was, you know, I was thinking like, could I, if I was up there speaking, could
Speaker:I frame everything as eloquently as perfectly as importantly and as crucially as they were?
Speaker:No, no, fuck no. The unions is great, but the students stole the show. I was incredibly moved
Speaker:by everything that they were saying. And I just couldn't help thinking, like, I would be, like,
Speaker:if I was there every day for four weeks, I'd be so fucking exhausted by now. And the fact
Speaker:that they're this far, and they were able to communicate the way that they were doing was
Speaker:incredible. But you would also be surrounded by incredible people. You would not be doing
Speaker:that alone. Right, that's one thing I think is so clear when you talk to everyone involved,
Speaker:like heavily involved. We've had them on the show, is they really feel like everyone around
Speaker:them is doing everything they can. And so I think that energy that people are continuing
Speaker:to bring to these actions and to their work is helping people get through it. Because like...
Speaker:Santiago said, like, there were people up there talking about losing 40 plus members of their
Speaker:family in a single strike, and then it only got worse from there. And then they belong
Speaker:to an institution that is completely complicit in this genocide and then is demonizing and
Speaker:criminalizing them for trying to stop the slaughters of their family. I did appreciate when Sid
Speaker:Ryan got up there. He was one of the last speakers at the emergency rally there, and he pressed
Speaker:that point that resistance is permissible and expected. He called what happened in Ireland
Speaker:the Irish Intifada and kept reminding people, or rather, he asked the question that we should
Speaker:continually to ask why. Trudeau can stand up there and say he defends Israel's right, that
Speaker:he supports Israel's right to defend itself. But yet it is so taboo and draws such scorn
Speaker:if you say the same about Palestine, that they too have the right to defend themselves. Because
Speaker:when we say that here in Canada, when we say they have the right to defend themselves, that
Speaker:means millions of aid in weapons and trade and whatnot. And so There's real meaning to that
Speaker:statement, but it just simply doesn't apply to Palestinians or people trying to stop what's
Speaker:happening. So you know, Jolie comes out and she condemns the strikes in Ra'afah with one
Speaker:hand and then again tries to shut down these protests with the other. You mentioned someone
Speaker:who said that they've lost over 40 members of their family. I want to take a moment because
Speaker:their speech, they're a healthcare worker. Part of the healthcare worker lines for Palestine
Speaker:who works at UFT. Basel Baud. Their speech was incredibly powerful and I just want to share
Speaker:a little bit about their experience. They mentioned about how they've lost 44 members of their
Speaker:family. One of one part of his family was Dr. Omar Farwana. who was the Dean of Medicine
Speaker:at the Islamic University of Gaza, who was killed with their wife, their children and their grandchildren,
Speaker:including a 17-day-old infant, who was the cousin of Basel. And I think Basel put it well. He
Speaker:was talking about the inactions of the medical... the silence from the medical community, who,
Speaker:in his words, do not give one word for those who do not take life, but give it. then I only
Speaker:have one word for them, shame. I can't fathom that. I can't fathom the suffering that he
Speaker:has gone through. And that was what you got from there. Like, you know, people can talk
Speaker:about, and you'll hear the narratives, right? They're trying to frame these, the encampment
Speaker:as an exclusionary space, as a violent space, right? There's the violence. We can see the
Speaker:violence. We know where the violence is, but they're not concerned about that violence.
Speaker:Right? Like that's the thing. That's the hypocrisy here. Like I'm out here listening to what they're
Speaker:saying. It's affecting me deeply. Meanwhile, the president of U of T, he won't meet with
Speaker:these students at all. He's avoiding them. You know, uh, He will go to the legislature and
Speaker:talk about antisemitism though. He has time for that.
Speaker:who has been a spokesperson there every day for the past four weeks, I mean, absolute fucking
Speaker:bad ass. They put it, well, it can't be because they do not know where we are because we have
Speaker:been here the whole time, right? But you know what they will do? They'll host press conferences
Speaker:and then they'll exclude even their own student journalists from the varsity, the UFT student
Speaker:paper from attending, but they won't talk to the students. This is why the encampment cannot.
Speaker:And this is why it's important to show up for it. And I know, look, I know a lot of our listeners
Speaker:are in Toronto. There's a chance here in the coming days that we hear the call, that we
Speaker:need to show up. You don't, look, if you're uncomfortable putting your body on the line,
Speaker:show up with a camera and be there. Be there as a presence if you can. If you can do it,
Speaker:please be there. If folks go to OccupyUofT's Instagram, I will link it in the show notes.
Speaker:They have a link tree there. You can join their Telegram Messenger. That's where they put out
Speaker:updates and community callouts. This is a great tactic for these encampments to be able to
Speaker:engage the wider public who can't camp overnight. You talked about hypocrisy and I can't talk
Speaker:about the emergency rally. without ranting a little bit about the fact that the Ontario
Speaker:NDP were allowed to take the mic there. And I don't know who the fuck invited them and
Speaker:I don't care. I don't think it was the students that invited them from what I know of the students.
Speaker:No, it sounds like it was the steelworkers probably. Oh, that would not surprise me. I love unions.
Speaker:But if anybody knows anything, the steelworkers in the Ontario NDP or the NDP in general, I
Speaker:mean, they walk step in step. Their staff are like the same. It's... It's a little bit of
Speaker:a red flag for me when they get up to the mic and they have Jamie West, who is the labor
Speaker:critic for the Ontario NDP standing there in his bright orange windbreaker, not a Palestinian
Speaker:piece of regalia on him, right? Not even a watermelon pin that Jagmeet so bravely wears now. Okay?
Speaker:He couldn't even put that on. He's standing there with his windbreaker. And I say to Santiago,
Speaker:I don't know what I'm going to do if he takes the mic. He better not take the fucking mic
Speaker:because I won't be able to control myself. And I was not, I was not. I'm glad you didn't,
Speaker:I'm glad you didn't. I snicker-snackered and I made a few call-outs while he was speaking,
Speaker:but I didn't want to disrupt an event that wasn't mine. But then I thought, oh, well, that doesn't
Speaker:stop other people. You know what I mean? Like I can't talk about disrupt. Anyway, there's
Speaker:not a lot of thought that goes through my head. Rage kind of takes over, right? Like I was
Speaker:shaking, I couldn't hold my phone steady. And I just asked him when he walked away from the
Speaker:mic, like, where the fuck were you when Sarah Jemma needed you? Because people, let me tell
Speaker:you that this man got up at the mic and he had the nerve to say that he knew solidarity was
Speaker:a verb as well. He said he knew that it was super important to stand with people even when
Speaker:it was hard. The fuck you do, buddy. The fuck you do. And it was so funny watching this guy's
Speaker:body language. because what a fucking liar. Like everyone else brought passion, care, like
Speaker:everyone else felt it. And this guy looked like someone was holding a gun to his head to be
Speaker:up there. To be fair, okay, I made sure to make hard eye contact with this man the entire time,
Speaker:shaking my head. And because Santiago's got a press pass, like I'm right front and center
Speaker:with the media with really nobody in front of me. He saw. I was angry with him. He probably
Speaker:saw me glaring at him before he ever took the fucking stage. I was not happy he was there.
Speaker:And obviously socialist action was up at the front because you can't miss their 10 foot
Speaker:banner. And they have qualms, I'm sure it was well. So I heard Barry and a few other folks
Speaker:chirp in a way. So he absolutely, he was not getting the same reception. So students came
Speaker:out and we looked like we were ready to die for them, right? And nodding along and cheering.
Speaker:the ONDP gets up in there, I imagine it was just daggers all around. I couldn't be the
Speaker:only person looking at him going, what the fuck are you doing here? You have some nerve. And
Speaker:I'll tell you, at the very end of his speech, when we talk about putting our bodies on the
Speaker:line and all of that, he gets up there and he can't even say the words that the Ontario NDP
Speaker:stands with these students, not in their stand against genocide, not in their point of divestment.
Speaker:and not even if they are attacked by police, right? Raiding their peaceful protest. No,
Speaker:no, he cannot tell you that party stands with you. He just repeats the line we've already
Speaker:heard about eight times by this point, that labor stands with you. He's not even a union
Speaker:employee anymore. Right, he's just the labor critic. And... But the hypocrisy there was
Speaker:just so glaring. So you know, I apologize to anybody who threw that event. I think Spring
Speaker:Magazine had a lot to do with it. I don't know if you folks invited him, but fucking don't.
Speaker:Please don't do that. Please don't legitimize these politicians who have done less than fuck
Speaker:all or more than fuck all because they've done harm, whatever that would be. Like they left
Speaker:Sarah Jama standing alone. They demonize folks right from October. Like fuck them. They don't
Speaker:We didn't add anything to the rally. You only gave him cred. Yeah, no. But then you didn't,
Speaker:because he looked stupid. And thankfully, you know, people called him out on it, right? As
Speaker:as he finished his speech, he was booed away with calls to reinstate Sarah Jamma that were
Speaker:echoed by one of the students who was acting as master of ceremonies. That's right. The
Speaker:MC, the crowd was chanting, reinstate Sarah Jamma and She totally encouraged that. I was
Speaker:like, well, she didn't invite him. Yeah. So, you know, that's what I felt a little more
Speaker:justified. They got it. You know, they got it. You know, and this is the thing, like we hold,
Speaker:quote unquote, our own accountable, right? Like we're not out here, you know. We like that
Speaker:is what you want to see. You want to see these fucking some of us do fake ass. Motherfucker.
Speaker:Get booed off stage like they deserve. So shout out to them. That was great. And I only did
Speaker:it because Santiago couldn't do it with his press pass on. It's like he's gotta pretend
Speaker:like he's as neutral as possible, which is kind of frustrating standing next to you when you're
Speaker:playing that role because you're like, you know, what's wrong with you? Why aren't you yelling?
Speaker:And they're like, oh yeah, okay, yeah. I was like, but the gig is up, like I was holding
Speaker:your umbrella. But I want to talk before we sign off, because the most important part is
Speaker:like the potential these hold. And I think simply occupying the grass is where they're at now,
Speaker:but they're going to have to need to escalate, especially if you look at the University of
Speaker:Toronto and the fact that they're not negotiating and you need to get what you need to get and,
Speaker:and The folks at McGill, one thing that they're doing successfully is pressuring people to
Speaker:boycott the campus. So students might not be in session. Well, they are, their summer school,
Speaker:but it's like... How much smaller? It's a skeleton crew. Yeah. And but what the university does
Speaker:do a lot of is hold events, right? Teaching events, conventions. I mean, they rent out
Speaker:their space for all sorts of things during the summer. And so they're asking people not to
Speaker:enter the space, like not to use the campus to boycott them. And I saw Fernwood Publishing,
Speaker:who have been donating books to the encampments. So if encampments reach out to them, they will
Speaker:send you a whole bunch of books for your library. But they have declared their solidarity and
Speaker:have pulled out an event, I guess a publishing event that was scheduled there. So I think
Speaker:that's another way that students can start to hit the purse strings. of these universities
Speaker:to increase the pressure on them, right? Like, let's say they can live without that piece
Speaker:of grass forevermore. What else are you going to do? So that's one. Yeah, I want to put out
Speaker:some requests, I guess. And my first one goes out to Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario,
Speaker:because, you know, look, I'm great like Fred Hahn. He's been doing great stuff. I don't,
Speaker:I appreciate Fred Hahn. But one thing, you know, he mentioned about how the biggest union in
Speaker:terms of faculty and staff at the University of Toronto is CUPE. Over 50% of the university
Speaker:are CUPE members, right? And one thing that I guess was absent for me in terms of a call,
Speaker:because he mentioned about how Laura led an illegal strike. to protect the healthcare workers,
Speaker:right? And one thing I wanna hear him say it, and I think it would be powerful because we're
Speaker:right now worried about the cops coming in, about this and that, is if the cops come in,
Speaker:CUPI needs to go on strike. The university does not get to continue functioning if the cops
Speaker:move in. That's something I wanna see CUPI doing. That is, put your bodies on the line. Yes,
Speaker:great stuff. But at the end of the day, If the university cannot function, that is maximum
Speaker:pressure on them. They need to function. So, and, and Kupi holds that power. So that's something
Speaker:I want to see. And I say that with love to Fred. I say that in solidarity with Fred. But that
Speaker:is exactly what he needs to be doing right now. I think if we know Fred and we kind of do,
Speaker:he would want nothing more than that. And there is precedent for this because in the United
Speaker:States, at UCLA, we talked about the violent police action there. I hope I'm getting the
Speaker:university right. Either way, all of the unions on that campus issued a strike notice and they
Speaker:attempted to legitimize it. So rather than just like going on a wildcat strike because of the
Speaker:unsafe working conditions that then existed with the use of such police violence. And it's
Speaker:justified, there's faculty here too, it's not just students. Like it's CUPE members who will
Speaker:be attacked by the police. So like they have that justification if they need it. It'll be
Speaker:CUPE members fucking dismantling the encampment, right? Once the police haul them out of there,
Speaker:who do you think will be tasked with cleaning up the tents and the barricades and all of
Speaker:that? It will actually be just like it was at Occupy. It'll be CUPE members forced to do
Speaker:that. And that would horrify Fred. We know him, there's limits within what's possible, but
Speaker:I think Fred has been pushing these boundaries, and just today he was re-elected at QP's convention
Speaker:as their president. So as much as people come out and try to say like, oh this isn't what
Speaker:Union's for and he doesn't represent me, well you don't really represent your Union then
Speaker:because he keeps winning those votes, bitches. And he's been fucking slandered in the press.
Speaker:The post, the sun, like they've been going after Fred for months. Like Fred- Years, but yes.
Speaker:Years, but like in the last few months, the attacks against Fred have been, they've definitely
Speaker:increased a drastic amount. Like I can't imagine a thick skin. And like I said, this comes from
Speaker:a place of like knowing what Fred's about, knowing that this is something that like he would want
Speaker:to do. And this is us saying like- Please do that. We give you the green light, Fred. Not
Speaker:that he listens to us, but it comes out of love. It comes out of this is the thing that will
Speaker:shut them the fuck down. And because we're talking options, right? And it's like, OK, it'd be
Speaker:good to see the students withholding tuition. That would be nice to see. Returning students.
Speaker:I know where you put a call up for first-year students to start fucking around and their
Speaker:spaces will just be taken because a lot of people are not being accepted into university out
Speaker:of high school. And so... Yeah, like it's too big a sacrifice for them. They're thinking
Speaker:this is my whole fucking future and it won't impact him. It's not so much like the risk
Speaker:to students because people are risking life and limb. It's that like the university will
Speaker:be able to replace them. You can't replace third, fourth year students as easily, right? They're
Speaker:deep into the program. If they fill the schedule up and then don't pay, you're in trouble. But
Speaker:at the end of the day, the most crucial thing is time here, right? And there's no room to
Speaker:wait until September, right? Which is why. When you think about like, what is the most powerful
Speaker:action that can be taken right now? It's the workers of the university saying no. And there's
Speaker:a lot of precedent here. I mean, one of the faculty members who was speaking at the rally
Speaker:spoke about how, and she was Jewish, she was saying about how the biggest threat to her
Speaker:was being told she couldn't give academic speeches at the encampment. without risk of her job.
Speaker:Right? You mean she couldn't do the teachings? Yeah, the teachings. Right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker:yeah. Exactly. Right? Because I learned from her speech there, so I don't know if it was
Speaker:academic by definition, but I did some learning. Yeah. I mean, this is the shit that tenure
Speaker:was created for, right? To protect. Like, you want to talk threats to academic freedom, it's
Speaker:the university censoring their faculty, many of who, like... more than aware, many of who
Speaker:have dedicated their lives to studying these issues. Right? You can tell them that they're
Speaker:wrong, that they don't understand it. You fuck faces.
Speaker:I'm sorry. I love when you go off the rails like that. I mean, we're there. But one of
Speaker:the things, you know, you can't wait till September. So what universities are doing right now is
Speaker:convocation. So for those who've never gone through convocation, I mean, it's weeks of
Speaker:this shit. I mean, hundreds and hundreds of students and their parents all get up, everyone
Speaker:has their cell phone on, and they run through all these names and they're in the great halls.
Speaker:And so if you're watching, if you're on TikTok or Instagram, I'm sure you've seen the United
Speaker:States going through convocation and they are being seriously disrupted. Now they're not
Speaker:stopping. But, you know, when the university president gets up there, or for fuck's sake,
Speaker:Jerry Seinfeld was at one of the universities giving their speech. And so you can only imagine
Speaker:the reception he got. And then people are walking out en masse, they're holding up their flags,
Speaker:they're chanting on the way out. I mean, it's something. But one of the interesting things
Speaker:that I saw in the article talking about the injunction at the University of Toronto was
Speaker:that the protesters... Wait. So the university is trying to frame like it's a threat to convocation.
Speaker:Amongst other things and one of the responses to that from the protesters was like hey We're
Speaker:like just on the grass outside your convocation hall You haven't used that piece of grass in
Speaker:quite some time. You've gone without it before There's no way that is a disruption to your
Speaker:convocation and a flag kind of went up for me and I was like Are you guys promising not to
Speaker:disrupt their configation? Because if I was on the grass with a couple hundred people around
Speaker:a hall and looking for ways to shut the university down, I don't know, I'd be contemplating it.
Speaker:But then again, like, do you take students graduation day away from them? But I it's that balance,
Speaker:right? We talked about that the narrative, like I actually don't give a fuck about somebody
Speaker:missing their graduation when there's a genocide going on. Like, there's just so many things
Speaker:that I can't prioritize at all. Like it was something silly today. Like. someone talking
Speaker:about, oh, we don't mow our grass in May. And what will the neighbors think? Because I don't,
Speaker:anyway. And I'm like, I don't give a fuck what the neighbors think. There's a goddamn genocide
Speaker:going on. Find priorities, man. Like, I literally don't care. And so like, I don't really care
Speaker:if someone doesn't get a picture with their diploma and their hat and gown. I went through
Speaker:it and I hated it. I thought it was kind of awkward. I have like one photo I like from
Speaker:it. So if you compare that to... genocide and the fact that all those universities are gone
Speaker:so like none of those kids will be graduating none of them will even be going back next year
Speaker:the year after that or the year after that so I would say disrupt the shit out of those convocations
Speaker:I mean like shut them down like make it impossible for anyone to park anywhere on that campus
Speaker:make it so they have to walk through the hardest picket lines if those unions want to like put
Speaker:their bodies like Also, can you help escalate the situation before it gets there? Like a
Speaker:strike after a police action would be great, like expected. You know, if you couldn't get
Speaker:there to physically protect them, let's say middle of the night, the call doesn't go out
Speaker:in time. So then you make a big stink afterwards. But like that's been done before. That's been
Speaker:that could be a spark that does something else. But yeah, let's have me. Me. I hate the pomp
Speaker:and ceremony of these things. What convocation or? Yeah. Yeah, I think they're representative
Speaker:of exactly what I'm talking about when I say that these universities are these institutions
Speaker:that are cornerstones of capitalism, right? And like I get how it's important, right? Like,
Speaker:it's important to families and the students. But you know, I feel like I can speak with
Speaker:a certain level of authority here as a graduating student who just went through eight years of
Speaker:post-secondary when I say fuck that shit, because it's not real. And for me, I hate things that
Speaker:celebrate things that... I hate when things are so polarized to when it's a, you know,
Speaker:if you were to fail universities, you're a failure in the eyes of society, but it's also a huge
Speaker:accomplishment to graduate. Like, I don't know, I hate that duality of it, right? Because it
Speaker:doesn't represent somebody who came out of here more knowledge-ful necessarily, right? I've
Speaker:known so many students who have gone to post-secondary, who haven't graduated, and who... When they
Speaker:left, they left knowing more than a lot of the students who made it to the finish line. And
Speaker:that's not to disrespect the students who made it to the finish line. Good on you. It's a
Speaker:whole lot of hard work. But, it's just this... The way that they do it feels wrong to me.
Speaker:The way that these ceremonies function feels... It doesn't feel like a genuine celebration
Speaker:of students' accomplishments. It feels like a fucking advertisement for these institutions
Speaker:to tell people, don't you want this approval? Don't you want us to tell you did a good job?
Speaker:You know? And fuck you. Why do you get to decide what a good job is? I'll tell you what a good
Speaker:job is. The students in those encampments, they're doing a good job. And the amount of learning
Speaker:that they're doing there probably far exceeds what they've done inside the walls of the institution.
Speaker:Because I remember as organizing, as a university student, that's where I really learned like...
Speaker:some stuff, like I've got all kinds of facts and I understand different theories of politics
Speaker:and this and that, that do come in handy to explain things and whatnot. But the practical
Speaker:knowledge that I gained was definitely outside the classroom, right? It was with comrades,
Speaker:it was trial and error, and it was going up against the same institutions we were paying,
Speaker:which felt really shitty. That's what they... You're paying thousands. You've learned what
Speaker:you need to learn about society, about the way that the world works while you're in your time
Speaker:at the university. You won't give a shit about these ceremonies and you'll be there disrupting
Speaker:it with everyone else. I think so. That's what I take on it. I think so. I think, you know,
Speaker:like, and you have to not balance so much what the outward perception will be. You know, the
Speaker:parents that will be online crying about the fact that their kid didn't get a graduation,
Speaker:photo taken in the ideal spot or whatever it is. I mean, that... you can't let that stop
Speaker:you from your mission, right? Like there's always gonna be those calculations to do about how's
Speaker:this gonna be perceived by X, Y, and Zed? And at this point I say like, fuck X, Y, and Zed.
Speaker:Like just keep plowing ahead and, you know, cause there always be detractors from like
Speaker:the smallest tiny action you do to the most disruptive one. It'll be the same people out
Speaker:there bitching and moaning about it being too much or being ineffective and they don't know.
Speaker:Like one of the points that was made at the emergency rally was that you don't often know
Speaker:when you're making history in the moment, right? That's something that happens upon reflection,
Speaker:upon how history turns out, right? How those actions played out long-term, but there's no
Speaker:doubt that these students in these encampments, which is sparked by something that we should
Speaker:have never seen, you know, that itself has been transformative for the world's population.
Speaker:These encampments are transformative for the students and everyone experiencing them. And
Speaker:I hopefully it changes the way in which universities think that they can interact with their student
Speaker:populations, right? So I'm so proud of what they've done and I'm here to defend them.
