On 18 October 2023, the Delegates’ Council (DC) of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) discussed at length, amended, and ultimately voted to approve two separate motions related to the recent escalation of violence in Palestine and Israel, and the employer’s response to the student-run club Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill.
Our union’s Delegates’ Council and non-delegate AGSEM members in attendance had a lengthy and respectful discussion of both issues. Our union is not a monolith: those present represented a plurality of positions and spoke with nuance, passion, and clarity on the content and purpose of these motions. The Executive Committee would like to thank and commend everyone who participated in the meeting for their commitment to upholding the values of our collective, which include encouraging the participation of all union members and cultivating spaces in which equity, diversity, and safety are fundamental. Our diversity is our strength.
The motions are presented in full below.
At this moment, the Executive Committee (EC) of AGSEM would like to reiterate the position of solidarity with Palestine taken by the Delegates’ Council. Individuals living in both Palestine and Israel have been and continue to be subjected to unfathomable violence, and many in our community are experiencing profound grief and loss. The AGSEM DC and EC acknowledge the physical and psychological costs of military violence on civilian populations, grieves for the deaths, injuries, and displacements of all civilians affected regardless of nationality and extends support to all our members affected by these tragedies.
We reject the conflation of support for Palestine with antisemitism and of Judaism with Zionism. At this moment more than ever, we must be careful with our words and judicious with our actions. Real instances of antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and white supremacist incidents are on the rise worldwide and have led to violence committed against individuals on the basis of their race, nationality, or religion. We condemn Islamophobic, antisemitic, and anti-Palestinian sentiments and stand with the Muslim, Jewish, and Palestinian members of AGSEM.
Simultaneously, we acknowledge that the real grief of Jewish people over the events of 7 October 2023 is being used to justify the ongoing escalation of retaliatory violence in Palestine, including numerous war crimes against civilians and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The DC and EC recognize that the events of October 7 did not occur in a vacuum. Palestinians have been forced to live under illegal military occupation for decades and the violence over the last weeks can only be expected to continue so long as this occupation continues. We also recognize the right of all human beings to safety, dignity, and the right to self-determination, and stand in solidarity with Palestinians, including those living in Gaza who have been subjected to military occupation since 1967 and blockade since 2005. Both bodies of AGSEM condemn the occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinians. We also condemn the Canadian government's support for the Israeli state and the distortions of the mainstream media in Canada in its coverage of this conflict.
Our employer, McGill University, has not condemned any attacks or violence perpetrated by Israel on Palestinian civilians, but has selectively condemned those by Hamas on Israeli civilians. In fact, the employer has worked to selectively silence the only voice for Palestinian students on campus: McGill’s Students for Palestinian Human Rights (McGill SPHR). We must not forget that this is not the first time the employer has used its power to silence students and stop student organizing on the topic of solidarity with Palestine.
Members of the McGill upper administration have sent several university-wide emails since October 7 that have condemned the Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU)-supported student-run club SPHR. These emails claim SPHR’s social media statements celebrate violence and harm the Jewish and Muslim communities on campus. In a statement on October 10, McGill revoked permission of SPHR to use McGill’s name, thus jeopardizing its status as a student club.
With their response, the employer has implicitly framed the actions of Israel as a solely retaliatory response to the actions of Hamas on October 7, while neglecting the context of the preceding 75 years. In their communications, they have also dishonestly framed Israeli settler colonialism and Palestinian resistance as a simple religious conflict and in their condemnations of SPHR, equates support for Palestinian liberation from occupation with celebration of terror and death.
Different views must be allowed to coexist at McGill. The employer’s reaction to SPHR was premature and heavy-handed and their actions have made this a very dangerous moment for free speech on campus. The AGSEM DC and EC support freedom of expression as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the right to academic freedom without threat of harassment following expressions of support in issues of moral conscience. As such, the DC and EC stand with the SPHR club at McGill in their efforts to support Palestinian liberation and dignity and call on the employer to reverse their decision on SPHR McGill.
In the adopted motions, the Delegates’ Council mandated the Executive and Mobilization Committees to mobilize AGSEM members to participate in Palestinian solidarity actions, according to their conscience. This includes the global call to general strike in solidarity with Palestine on October 20. AGSEM will unequivocally defend and support striking union members against reprisals from the employer.
In solidarity,
The AGSEM Executive Committee
Motion of solidarity with Palestine
Passed by the AGSEM Delegates’ Council 18 October 2023
WHEREAS individuals living in both Palestine and Israel have been recently subjected to unfathomable violence;
WHEREAS Palestinians have been forced to live under illegal military occupation for decades, and the violence that took place over the last weeks can be expected to continue for the duration of the occupation;
WHEREAS the Israeli occupation and subsequent Palestinian resistance have been dishonestly framed by the Canadian government, media, as a simple religious conflict rather than violent settler colonialism;
WHEREAS any support for Palestine is falsely labeled as antisemitism, particularly in North America where the modus operandi of mainstream media and politicians has been to extend support solely to Israel while remaining silent on Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians;
WHEREAS real instances of antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and white supremacist incidents are on the rise worldwide and have led to violence committed against individuals on the basis of their race, nationality, or religion;
WHEREAS the Israeli state and its allies in the West have been weaponizing very real grief for the Jewish people as a means to justify war crimes against Palestinians;
WHEREAS AGSEM is also committed to interrogating the diverse effects of under-acknowledged, violent colonial histories on the land on which we organize;
WHEREAS AGSEM has been recently called upon by multiple members, delegates, and bodies within the McGill community to take a public stance on the forced displacement and ongoing genocide of Palestinians by the modern state of Israel;
WHEREAS an open letter published on 16 October signed by the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, signed by 18 trade unions and professional associations, has put out an “international call for action” to workers worldwide to halt the Israeli war machine.
WHEREAS the AGSEM Delegates' Council is a representative and democratic body capable of taking political positions;
WHEREAS McGill has not condemned any attacks or violence perpetrated by Israel on Palestinian civilians, but has selectively condemned those by Hamas on Israeli civilians.
BIRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council acknowledges the physical and psychological costs of military violence on civilian populations, grieves for the deaths, injuries, and displacements of all civilians affected regardless of nationality and extends support to all our members affected by these tragedies;
BIFRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council both rejects the conflation of support for Palestine with antisemitism and of Judaism with Zionism. AGSEM Delegate’s Council condemns Islamophobic, antisemitic, and anti-Palestinian sentiments and stands with its Muslim, Jewish, and Palestinian members.
BIFRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council recognizes the right of all human beings to safety, dignity, and the right to self-determination, and stands in solidarity with Palestinians, including those living in Gaza who have been subjected to military occupation since 1967 and blockade since 2005. As such, the AGSEM Delegates’ Council condemns the occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinians;
BIFRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council mandates the AGSEM Executive Committee and Mobilization Committee to mobilize AGSEM members to participate in Palestinian solidarity actions, according to their conscience;
BIFRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council will take tangible steps to boycott Israeli products and services, such as by transitioning away from website and email servers hosted by a company that benefits from the occupation of Palestinian land.
BIFRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council condemns the Canadian government's support for the Israeli state and the distortions of the mainstream media in Canada in its coverage of this conflict.
BIFRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council mandates the AGSEM Executive Committee to provide resources to building the movement for Palestine.
BIFRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council submit this motion to the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN) and call on it to publicly support the Palestinian struggle and oppose Canadian imperialism’s role in the oppression of the Palestinian people.
Condemnation of McGill’s recent emails/Support for Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR)
Passed by the AGSEM Delegates’ Council 18 October 2023
WHEREAS McGill has sent several university-wide emails over the last week that have condemned a Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU)-supported student-run club, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR). These emails claimed that SPHR’s social media statements harm the Jewish and Muslim communities on campus, while simultaneously claiming the right to free association and expression for members of the McGill community with a need for compassion within our community at a time of division;
WHEREAS these communications have implicitly framed the actions of Israel as a solely retaliatory response to the actions of Hamas on October 7th, while neglecting the context of the past 75 years that preceded such actions;
WHEREAS these communications have also dishonestly framed Israeli settler colonialism and Palestinian resistance as a simple religious conflict;
WHEREAS in the condemnations against SPHR, McGill equates support for Palestinian liberation from occupation with celebration of terror and death;
WHEREAS violence against Palestinians and their supporters has dramatically increased in the past weeks, and these condemnations against SPHR may have put its membership at increased risk of violence or reprisal.
WHEREAS the dismissal of pro-Palestinian statements as being endorsements of terrorism or antisemitism extends beyond McGill’s campus: unions and student groups across the country have been harassed and threatened with decertification for supporting Palestine;
WHEREAS the AGSEM Delegates’ Council has been called upon by multiple members, delegates, and bodies within the McGill community to take a public position on the employer's attacks on SPHR;
WHEREAS AGSEM has been called by McGill Institute of Islamic Studies Student Council (MIISSC) to release a statement of Palestinian solidarity that echoes the global Palestinian movement’s call for a general strike this Friday October 20;
WHEREAS AGSEM’s policy requires a GA in order to call a strike and does not have enough resources or time to call a GA before October 20;
BIRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council stands with the SPHR club at McGill in their efforts to support Palestinian liberation and dignity;
BIFRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council condemns any further harm that may come to Jewish, Muslim, Arab, or other racialized students or staff as a result of misplaced aggression resulting from inflammatory or accusatory media surrounding recent events in occupied Palestine and Israel;
BIFRT the AGSEM Delegates’ Council supports freedom of expression, as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the right to academic freedom without threat of harassment following expressions of support in issues of moral conscience.
BIFRT AGSEM is in solidarity with all workers, students, businesses, and citizens who decide to join the global general strike for Palestine on October 20, 2023.