I was banned from York University almost a year ago for exercising my freedom of expression by organizing and participating in a peaceful protest for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions and against York’s investments in weapons manufacturers.
The administration singled me out as an instigator, and they now may be attempting to paint me as an outsider to the York community.
Despite the dubious claim that I was banned for disrupting classes during the protest (York’s own local adjudicator found no disruption), I initially received a letter from VP Students Janet Morrison stating: “The University does not give permission for members of the public—including alumni—to enter our campus lands for protests or demonstrations, or to engage in forms of speech or action that are, in any way, racist or that advocate racism, violence, or hatred.”
Aside from the fact that alumni participate in on-campus protests regularly, Morrison’s statement raises the question of whether I was banned for disruption, for my political beliefs, or because I’m Palestinian. The fact that York Security threatened another Palestinian alumnus with arrest and trespass makes the question more pressing.
Moreover, former director of Security Services, Rob Kilfoyle told Office of Student Conflict Resolution Director Debbie Hansen by email that although my status as an alumnus complicates things, he “would love to” trespass me.
In another instance of disregard for the role of alumni, when SAIA met with the administration, VP Academic Rhonda Lenton refused to include me because “the offer was made to meet with current members of the York community.”
I feel compelled to state my history at York, for the record.
I was a student of psychology and political science from 2001 to 2007. The attacks of September 11 occurred after I arrived to Canada and following my frosh week.
My world was changed.
I became radicalized as bombs fell over Afghanistan and Iraq, and as the second Palestinian uprising was crushed under blood-soaked tank treads and the rubble of thousands of demolished Palestinian homes.
That’s when I joined the anti-war movement and, through the mentoring of a group of Iraqi students, honed the skills of activism.
I was co-founder of Amnesty International at York, a member of Now End War and Sanctions on Iraq, an executive member of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, and a member of the Grass-Roots Anti-Imperialist Network.
I took part in the barricading of the entrances to campus on March 10, 2003, and helped to organize lectures, film screenings, and protests.
I worked for the Student Christian Movement at York and for the York University Telemail Program. I was elected to the York Federation of Students as the Stong College director, submitted articles for Excalibur and the YU Free Press, sang with the York University Choir, and performed with Vanier College Productions.
I experienced the corporatization of campus, repressive changes to university policies, and the numerous sanctions imposed on outspoken students and faculty as a result of those changes.
I went to pub nights when Founder’s Cock&Bull and Calumet’s On the Edge were more popular than The Underground. I lived at Stong Residence and Assiniboine. I walked through the graffiti-laden, weed-scented underground tunnels before they were closed, pulled all-nighters alone at the Student Centre and watched the sun rise from rooftops.
After I lost my home in Palestine, the York community became another home to me. York and I even share the same birthday. So rest assured, I am here to stay, and attempts at erasing my history at York University have already failed.
Hammam Farah
contributor
BDS is a campaign that marginalizes Jewish and pro-Israeli students. Whether or not you agree with their values, they have legitimate opinions from a different perspective. They are paying students trying to get an education. You’ve already paid your dues and you are preventing them from getting an education. Move on.
And fight your cause somewhere else.
You’ve got to get rid of this “us vs. them” mentality. It’s extremely unproductive and totally misrepresents the work of these activists at York University.
This is not an issue of Palestine vs. Israel. This is an issue of whether a public institution which ostensibly promotes itself as an advocate for social justice and human rights issues uses tuition dollars to invest in bombs, guns and other weapon paraphernalia to kill other human beings across the world.
It is a matter of morality.
To distort the BDS argument as simply, “marginalization of pro-Israeli students” misses the point entirely and confines the divestment argument to an entirely self-imposed narrative that comes from one’s own insecurity and fear of the “other”.
There is only one side, that is humanity.
Without a doubt York is an organization feasting on our tax dollars, with low educated lifers making 6 figures and completely unqualified for the positions they occupy. Disgusting.