The McGill Daily: Volume 113, Issue 19

prefecting since 1911

The McGill Daily is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory. Published by The Daily Publications Society, a student society of

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editorial board

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mcgilldaily.com

The McGill Daily is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory coordinating editor

Olivia Shan managing editor

Catey Fifield news editors

Emma Bainbridge

Sena Ho

India Mosca

commentary + compendium! editor

Gabriella Braia Gratton culture editor

Eliana Freelund features editor

Elaine Yang science + technology editor

Andrei Li sports editor

Vacant video editor

Magdalena Rebisz visuals editors

Eric Duivenvoorden

Genevieve Quinn copy editor

Vacant design + production editor

Vacant social media editor

Frida Morales Mora radio editor

Evelyn Logan cover design

Catey Fifield contributors

Emma Bainbridge, Lisa Banti, Catey Fifield, Ariane Fournier, Andrei Li, India Mosca, Lucien Steen, Benjamin Wexler

McGill leaves its Floor Fellows – and residents – hanging

In a shocking announcement on Thursday, February 15, McGill notified its 65 current Floor Fellows that their jobs would be eliminated in the coming academic year. This decision was announced abruptly and unexpectedly, leaving the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE), which represents the Floor Fellows, confused and distressed.

Employed throughout the university’s nine downtown residence buildings, Floor Fellows are McGill’s first line of service for first-year undergraduates living on campus. The role is filled by older students – from second-years to graduate students – who live alongside residents in order to ensure their safety and monitor their well-being. Floor Fellows are trained to identify emergencies, medical and otherwise, in order to refer residents to intensive care. First-years who feel ill at ease or who are experiencing health-related or personal difficulties may also turn to their Floor Fellows for support and advice.

Crucial to the effectiveness of the position is the Floor Fellows’ built-in proximity to residents. In eliminating the existing role, McGill is planning to cover the same scope of services and responsibilities by hiring an additional 30 “Residence Life Facilitators” to patrol dormitory halls and keep residents in check from a distance. Unlike Floor Fellows, the new Residence Life Facilitators will not be living alongside students. The removal of support from close quarters is concerning for the state of resident safety and student support moving forward. The decision to distance prospective help from students living in residences is both unintuitive and regressive. Students transitioning into university life will have their closest point of aid taken away without an immediate means of response to potential crises. For many residents, Floor Fellows serve as their most convenient and comfortable point of exchange with authority without having to navigate the slower and more complicated system of liaising with the school itself. Accessing student services at McGill can be very challenging, especially as a first-year living on your own for the first time in a new city.

newly created Residence Life Facilitator jobs in the coming year, no plan has yet been announced to directly compensate them for the termination of their employment.

McGill has a long history of disregarding the concerns of Floor Fellows and other AMUSE workers. At the beginning of the current school year, Floor Fellows were relegated to the smallest rooms in their residences, forcing them to share common spaces and bathrooms with their residents and eroding their privacy and sense of work-life balance. As with the decision to abolish the position, Floor Fellows were not consulted about a change that would drastically affect their working conditions. Just a year before that, Floor Fellows went on strike due to inadequate wages and late payments.

It is unacceptable that McGill is continuing to treat its employees this way. If you have thoughts on the decision or the role of Floor Fellows at our university, AMUSE is collecting testimonies to prove the devastating impact this decision will have on students. You can find the form at amusemcgill.ca. It’s important to continue to support AMUSE and the other labour unions at McGill currently fighting for fair wages and better working conditions, such as the Association of Graduate Students Employment at McGill (AGSEM), Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL), and McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA). Finally, if you are an employee at McGill, get involved with your union to collectively organize with your colleagues to ensure that your rights are respected.

ERRATUM

In our previous issue, the Black History Month special issue, we miscredited the artist who designed our cover. The cover for the Black History Month special issue was designed by Daylen Conserve, not Olivia Shan. You can check out more of Daylen’s work on Instagram @its.daylen and @tats.daylen. The Daily regrets this error.

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Alice Postovskiy

The university passed its judgment after an internal “departmental review,” conducted without consulting either the Floor Fellows or their union, AMUSE. Following the announcement on February 15, the union says it is considering taking legal action against the school for the spontaneous elimination of the 65 Floor Fellow positions. Although McGill has invited current Floor Fellows to apply to the

IRCC Announces Cap on International Student Permits

International students concerned about future

Lucien Steen News Contributor

The federal government has recently implemented study permit restrictions that now affect international students. In a January 22 news release, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced “stabilizing” measures to cap the number of study permits offered to international students in 2024 to 360,000, a 35 per cent reduction from 2023.

Study permit caps will be distributed on a provincial level, weighted by population size. This means that provinces with a higher proportion of international students, such as Quebec, will experience a greater decline in international student enrollment.

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, justified this move by citing the exponential growth of students applying for study permits. In 2024, international students comprised 2.5 per cent of all residents in Canada, double the figure recorded 5 years ago, causing what Miller describes as “pressure on housing, health care and other services.” Miller justified these measures in order “to protect a system that has become so lucrative that it has opened a path for its abuse.”

Abuses and “unsavoury actors” have been prevailing reasons for introducing study permit caps. These include private colleges, which supposedly provide students with an unsatisfactory standard of living, including poor access to housing and other services. This leaves students unable to afford the cost of living in Canada. Additionally, fraud is mentioned as a major issue: in 2023, over 1,550 study permits were allegedly connected to the issuance of fraudulent acceptance letters.

This said, Miller’s definitions of these supposed ‘bad actors’ has led organizations such as the Migrant Workers Alliance to underline how “tens of thousands of students will be punished for failures of government policy.” The press release also cited a lack of “predictability and transparency” of government

policy, largely tracing back to the Trudeau government’s everchanging international student policies.

In an October 2023 interview with Global News, Miller mentioned proposed international student caps as akin to “doing surgery with a hammer,” whilst in January 2024 he endorsed the study caps for “ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.” These sudden changes in policy have caused concern for Master’s and PhD students, who are exempt from the caps but fearful of another sudden change. In an interview with the Daily , Annabel Ling, a Master’s student at the University of British Columbia, stated “how can I trust a government which is in a constant tug of war with their own policies,” adding that “it is an unsettling time for any academic in Canada.”

The Daily recently reached out to the IRCC to discuss these measures. Regarding how the federal government intends to regulate the caps applied by provinces on international students, the IRCC Media Relations Office stated how “Matching allocations with a provinces per capital share of the population is the prime consideration.” referring to the ratio of permanent residence to International students in a province.

The email further explained: “To ensure international students who arrive in Canada are set up for success, we must tackle issues that have made some students vulnerable,” when asked about the nature of the federal government sudden turnaround on international student regulation.

The IRCC’s new legislation presents an additional challenge for anglophone universities in Quebec such as McGill and Concordia. These universities are reeling from tuition amendments targeting outof-province students, with 33 per cent increases in tuition being planned. Combined with the rise of $8,000 in the minimum tuition fees for international students in Quebec, this measure is predicted to cause a decrease in enrolment at the two anglophone universities. With applications for admission in Fall 2024 well underway, this announcement came at a shock for many applicants, including

For many, this cap feels like an attack on international students as opposed to those “unsavoury actors,” mentioned by Miller.

Ravi Rahman, a student from Hyderabad, India hoping to study at either the University of Toronto or McGill. He commented to the Daily: “I am just a bit confused as to why this announcement came so late” adding “Both my older brother and sister went to Canadian universities. I feel like I am being robbed of my education and to be honest I feel pretty upset.”

Other universities have had mixed responses. The University of Waterloo in Ontario outlined its support of the IRCC’s attempts to curb ‘bad actors,’ especially in the housing market, whilst the President Vivek Goel worried “we expect [the impact] will be a significant decline this fall in our international student population.” Meanwhile, the University of Saskatchewan could benefit from the caps if allocated three percent of study permits, which could increase their international student population by 11,000 a year if students decide to attend this institution. Concerns have since been raised about whether provinces which clearly

attract greater populations of international students like Ontario and British Columbia should have the majority of the 360,000 study caps available in 2024.

International students have expressed feelings of remorse regarding the caps. Fred Azeredo, a Theology major from Brazil, mentioned “while the concerns about obscure private universities’ abuse of international visas are valid, extending the cap to all international students across Canada hammers in just how precarious our status is here.”

Another international student, Ollie Saunders, stated how he is “very concerned about the future of international students at McGill, especially as I came here from the Philippines expecting to feel welcome, which is not the case.” Ollie added that he “worr[ies] about his younger siblings and their experience being damaged through this bill.”

For many, this cap feels like an attack on international students as opposed to those “unsavoury actors” mentioned by Miller.

Students aren’t the only ones

expressing concern about legislation impeding international students’ entry to Canada. Universities Canada, representing the voices of over 234 postsecondary institutions in Canada, including McGill, addressed a joint letter to Minister Miller expressing concern over the federal government’s motives. It mentions the collateral effects of the caps, “given that international students play a pivotal role in bolstering the economy by contributing $22 billion a year to our country.” This is particularly relevant to Quebec as Canada’s third most soughtafter destination by international students, with 12 per cent of all international students ending up in Quebec and playing a major role in Quebec’s economy. However, the McGill Media Relations Office commented to the Daily that “Preliminary indications are that the cap on international student permit applications is not likely to affect McGill’s ability to welcome international students,” ensuring McGill will find ways through these stricter measures.

Stephanie Ngo | Illustrations Contributor

McGill Abolishes Floor Fellow Position Union warns of “marked decline in the quality of student services”

Emma Bainbridge Coordinating News Editor

On February 15, McGill announced that the university’s 65 Floor Fellows, upper-year students living in residences, would be out of their jobs next year as the university would abolish their positions. This decision was received with significant uproar from the Floor Fellows and the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE), the union that represents them.

According to Graeme Scott, AMUSE’s Vice-President, Floor Fellows found out about McGill’s decision when they were called to a Zoom meeting with the Associate Director of Residence Life. In the meeting, which lasted only eight minutes, they were told that their positions would no longer exist after this year.

“There really was no sense that this was coming,” said Scott. The McGill Media Relations’ Office (MRO) told the Daily that this decision was “based on a comprehensive reassessment of

Student Housing and Hospitality Services’ (SHHS) operational needs.” They further explained that “the evaluation takes into account various factors, including the evolving demands and preferences of the student body and an analysis of the students’ use of the Floor Fellow services.” However, Scott believes that neither the Floor Fellows, nor other employees working in residences, were consulted in this process.

When asked about the rationale behind this decision, the MRO responded that “there are more support services available to students than there were when the Floor Fellow position was created, and the unit has determined that the services meet the needs of the students.” They contextualized this decision as “part of a broader initiative to optimize resources, improve efficiency, and better meet the diverse needs of the student community.”

With Floor Fellows gone, “there will be an increase in the number of Residence Life Facilitator (RLF) positions,” added

the MRO. Currently, RLFs’ main duties focus on planning events for students living in residence. Unlike Floor Fellows, they don’t live in residence, which makes Scott concerned about their ability to support students to the same degree which Floor Fellows can.

“I think it’s important to keep in mind that Floor Fellows, because we are live-in [and] because we are peers, are able to have a really close flexible peer relationship with our residents,” he said. “When a student is in crisis, it’s a lot easier for them to go talk to their Floor Fellow and have their Floor Fellow point them to relevant resources than it would be when they’re on their own, and don’t know how to access these resources.”

Similarly, AMUSE’s press release additionally argues that accessing the university’s alternative services is currently “a complex bureaucratic and technical process” that would be difficult for first-year students to navigate on their own.

Scott explained that Floor Fellows are trained in a wide variety of support roles to deal with physical

and mental health crises. They are taught how to recognize signs of suicidality, receive disclosures of sexual assault, recognize the signs of an overdose, administer naloxone, and perform CPR. However, he said that one of the most important roles that Floor Fellows play is giving residents someone to talk to who has once been in their shoes.

The decision to abolish Floor Fellows would leave McGill as one of the only universities in North America without a livein support system for firstyear students in residences.

“As we acknowledge the rich history of Residence Life, we are also excited about the opportunities to further enhance and evolve the program,” the MRO wrote in a statement to the Daily. “By building on the strengths of the past, we aim to ensure that Residence Life continues to support and foster a vibrant and inclusive community for all our students.”

Scott, however, is less optimistic. “We’re going to see a really marked decline in the quality of student services and the ability for

resident students to actually access resources,” he told the Daily

AMUSE is currently gathering testimonies about students’ experiences with floor fellows. If you’d like to share your thoughts or experiences, the form can be found on their website: amusemcgill.ca.

Asbestos Closure Disrupts McGill Theatre Production Students affected demand better communication and support from university

Lisa Banti News Staff Writer

The unexpected discovery of asbestos at McGill University’s Moyse Hall has significantly impacted the Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society’s (AUTS) production of Legally Blonde, highlighting broader issues of communication and asbestos management within the institution. The closure, prompted by asbestos detection in January, forced AUTS to relocate to a high school gymnasium, facing considerable logistical and financial challenges. This disruption extends beyond theatrical productions, touching on systemic shortcomings in university operations.

Kimberly König, AUTS President, offered an insightful account of the difficulties encountered, emphasizing the severe logistical hurdles and creative compromises necessitated by the abrupt venue change.

“Transitioning to a new space meant significant downscaling of our set, including the loss of Elle Woods’ iconic pink bedroom. This wasn’t just a logistical issue; it was a blow to our creative vision,” König revealed. This shift not only affected the aesthetic and narrative delivery of the production but

also imposed a financial strain on the society, highlighting the precarious nature of studentled initiatives amid sudden institutional crises like these.

The financial toll on AUTS was substantial, as detailed by König, with unforeseen expenses, and the challenge of securing refunds for Moyse Hall bookings exacerbating the society’s budget constraints.

“The financial impact was like walking a tightrope, where each additional cost threatened our budget’s stability,” she commented.

Tensions between McGill and AUTS exacerbated the situation, with König criticizing the university’s handling of the closure and the lack of direct communication. “We were piecing together information from various indirect sources, which is unacceptable in such critical situations,” she stated, emphasizing the need for clear and direct communication from the university, especially concerning health risks and support mechanisms.

This incident is not isolated, with a similar asbestos-related closures at the Macdonald campus in 2023, revealing communication flaws within McGill’s administration.

An internal audit resulted in 25 recommendations aimed at improving communication,

project management, and asbestos handling protocols. Despite the creation of a Task Force to address these recommendations, König re-emphasized the ongoing need for improved communication and tangible support from the university.

In response to these challenges, McGill has outlined action plans to address the concerns raised by AUTS and the broader university community. These plans focus on enhancing communication, student support, and asbestos management practices. Specifically, McGill will commit to providing regular, comprehensive updates on health risks and support services available to those affected by asbestos-related closures. This includes clarifying the decision-making process and ensuring that the university community is informed of any potential health implications in a timely and transparent manner.

Additionally, McGill aims to bolster support for student groups impacted by such closures, offering a clear roadmap for financial assistance, logistical support, and mental health resources. This initiative recognizes the significant burden placed on students and student organizations during these crises and seeks to alleviate some of the stress and uncertainty they face.

Moreover, the university is

dedicated to improving its asbestos management protocols, including rigorous risk assessments, transparent project management, and clear communication strategies. These measures aim to prevent future disruptions and ensure the safety and wellbeing of the McGill community.

König’s call for transparency, support, and improved management practices at McGill underscores the need for the university to prioritize the health and safety of its community while fostering an environment conducive to creative and academic pursuits. As McGill implements these plans, the focus will be on building trust, ensuring safety, and supporting student

initiatives, as well as pursuing the necessary steps in preventing similar crises and promoting a supportive campus environment.

The struggles faced by AUTS highlight not only the immediate impact on student-led productions but also the broader challenges of managing and communicating about asbestos within an academic institution. As McGill moves forward, addressing these issues through comprehensive action plans will be essential in safeguarding the university community and supporting the vibrant student life that characterizes the institution.

Olivia

Eve

Journalism Under Siege

“On Gaza” speaker series: forging a space for discussion about the critical conditions of Palestinians and fostering solidarity

India Mosca News Editor

March 7, 2024 marks five months of the war in Gaza. At the time of writing, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 30,000 people, including more than 12,300 children, 1,139 people in Israel, and 411 people in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, an estimated 1,200 journalists in Gaza continue to be targeted and face precarious conditions as they relay information about the daily events and conditions on the ground. On February 28, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a preliminary investigation of journalist deaths in the violence since October 7. The account showed that at least 88 journalists and media workers were among the more than 30,000 killed since the war began on October 7, making Gaza the world’s deadliest place for journalists.

On February 20, the Critical Media Lab hosted the hybrid panel “Journalism under siege” in collaboration with McGill, the Research Group on Democracy, Space, and Technology, and Tufts University. The panel is part of the “On Gaza’’ speaker series, and panel members included Sherif Mansour, the CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator; Nidal Rafa, a Palestinian journalist and producer; Ghoussoun Bisharat, the editor-in-chief of +972 magazine; and Palestinian journalist and human rights activist Mahmoud Mustafa, reporting from north Gaza. Previous events included discussions on health care and infrastructural ruination.

Dr. Diana Allan, associate professor in Anthropology at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill and co-founder of the Critical Media Lab, introduced the event as a discussion on the

“war on Palestinian journalism.”

Professor Amahl Bishara, the moderator of the panel and associate professor at Tufts University, added that “we all, and not just those concerned with Palestinian and Israeli people and places, but all those concerned with the fate and processes of human rights, decolonization and striving for justice, all rely on the work and words of the Palestinian journalists who are on the ground doing this work every day.”

The Daily spoke with Dr. Allan about her work as an anthropologist, archivist, and ethnographic filmmaker with Palestinian refugees living in the camps in Lebanon. She explained that the “On Gaza” series emerged from conversations with two of her graduate students about “the urgent need for a space on campus in which to discuss what is happening in Gaza.”

She further added that “as is often noted, we have been watching a genocide unfold in real-time literally, the obliteration of a world and a people, which is unprecedented and horrifying in ways that are hard to describe or bear.

And yet, outside of the student mobilizations on campus which have been so amazing and inspiring there has been almost no public discussion of these world-transforming events at McGill.”

“In convening these talks the aim has been to open a space for critical discussion about the material conditions of life and death in Gaza today, and the broader implications of Israel’s genocidal war on besieged Palestinians. Beyond simply sharing information, my hope is that these talks can also help to build solidarity and community, which is why they have been inperson,” she told the Daily

“ And yet, outside of the student mobilizations on campus — which have been so amazing and inspiring — there has been almost no public discussion of these worldtransforming events at McGill.”

- Dr. Diana Allan

Impunity undermining freedom of the press

Panelist Sherif Mansour expressed his concerns regarding the unprecedented killings of journalists in Gaza and their consequences. He emphasized that the alarming situation stems from a pattern of violence and killings that goes beyond the beginning of the war in October. Referring to the CJP’s 2023 report “Deadly Pattern,” he explained that there is a “precarious, dangerous and deadly environment, specifically for Palestinian journalists covering Israeli army operations.”

Killings of Palestinian journalists are not isolated occurrences. Since 2001, CPJ has documented at least 20 journalist killings by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

“What we see is that this deadly pattern continues unchecked because we haven’t seen accountability,” asserted Mansour. He explained that the Israeli army only committed to doing an investigation if the journalist killed had a foreign passport or worked for an international media outlet. Even then, “it doesn’t lead to anything: no one is charged, no one is held accountable.”

Such was the case with the Palestinian-American television

journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, killed by the IDF on May 11, 2022. The IDF investigation determined there was a “high possibility” that one of their soldiers “accidentally” shot the journalist while engaging Palestinian gunmen. This announcement came five months after her death. To this day, no accountability has been reached.

Mansour warned that since 90 per cent of the journalists killed in this war were Palestinians, this systematic targeting would compromise the ability of Palestinian journalists to cover IDF activities. “The deadly pattern has not just continued, but has turned what was a chilling effect before this war into a news blackout and forced on the media especially Palestinian journalists that were said to bear the brunt of Israeli fire and bear witness of all journalists worldwide about what is happening in Gaza.”

Challenges faced by journalists in Gaza

In late October, Israel’s military told Reuters and Agence France Presse that they are unable to guarantee the safety of journalists operating in the Gaza Strip, due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment. Journalists in Gaza face immense challenges in carrying out their work. The Israeli army has destroyed around 50 local and

international media outlets in Gaza since October 7, as reported by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), in addition to the devastating loss of life. In addition to the killings, reports have also emerged of different forms of violent “incidents” with the aim of reinforcing the “news blackout.” This comprises 25 arrests, various cases of assaults, threats, cyberattacks, and censorship. According to CPJ’s data as of February 27, 19 journalists were reported to be in Israeli custody.

Bisharat asked Mansour about the “horrific arrests of journalists,” which have been “somewhat neglected in this scheme of things.”

He explained that every year, CPJ produces a report on journalists who have been incarcerated.

“For the first time, Israel was one of our top war jailers of journalists,” he said. Throughout the war, they have documented 25 arrests with a majority in the West Bank. All were Palestinian journalists put in military trials under administrative detention.

“Under those tribunals [journalists] can be held indefinitely [without a trial] for the suspicion that they could incite violence in the future.”

He then added that among them, five had been beaten and tortured during their custody. Mansour then explained that these incarcerations were part

Eric Duivenvoorden | Visuals Editor

“A definitive history of the Palestinian Nakba, as told by Palestinians, has yet to be written .”

- Dr. Diana Allan

tortured during their custody. Mansour then explained that these incarcerations were part of a wider pattern of censoring Palestinian journalists.

The families of journalists in Gaza have also been targeted by the IDF. For instance, according to reports from Reuters and The Guardian, eight members of photojournalist Yasser Qudih’s family were killed on November 13 when their home in southern Gaza was hit by four missiles. On October 25, Wael Al-Dahdouh also lost his family to Israeli bombardments, after having moved to a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, where they though they would be safer.

“People didn’t hear the story about Wael Al-Dahdouh when he lost his kids and wife [...] If his name was John Smith I’m sure that it would have been a headline in Europe and America,” said Rafa. “It is so sad to see that there is such hypocrisy and such double standards when it comes to this. But this is reality.”

“All of us can only learn journalism from the journalists in Gaza,” declared Bisharat, pointing to the immense challenges and risks taken by the journalists on the ground. She explained that there exist three main challenges in covering what is happening in

Gaza. Firstly, “we need to make sure that audiences outside Israel and Palestine understand that history didn’t begin on October 7 [...] and that there is a regime of apartheid in full force in Israel/Palestine” she said. The second challenge regards getting the information out of Gaza, highlighting difficulties with the internet, blackouts, and concerns for their safety.

“The third challenge is trying to connect the dots,” she explained. +972 continues its efforts to cover simultaneously what is happening in the West Bank in terms of settler violence and the expansion of settlements, but also events in Israel.

She then proceeded to share the story of Ibtisam Mahdi, mother of two children, who “while trying to feed them, does amazing work of journalism.” Her last work was on the destruction of Palestine’s historical sites. She also recalls Mahmood Mustafa, who wakes up every morning to find food and internet while trying to report and take care of his parents.

“They are the heroes of this war,” said Bisharat. “Despite having to take care of their own safety, taking care of their family, they keep doing amazing journalistic work.”

Western response and coverage

“Mainstream Western media has consistently marginalized and silenced Palestinian perspectives and have served to center and bolster Israeli narratives,” declared Dr. Allan to the Daily

During her section of the panel, Rafa spoke out about issues in the international media coverage of Gaza. “There is a pattern here, not to put the context,” she explained, adding that “there is no conflict here, by the way, it’s an occupation. But if you don’t use the word occupation, how do you expect our audience to

understand what is going on?” Rafa warned that not including the context and explaining the larger unfolding of events is not only “dangerous” but is also done “intentionally.”

“I think terminology is very important [...] Instead of saying massacre they will say incident, instead of saying occupation they say conflict [...] Things are not done by accident [...] the problem is with the narrative, who is telling what, when and who is listening to what when how,” declared Rafa.

The role of oral history in understanding Israeli occupation

In 2002, Dr. Allan co-founded the Nakba Archive with Mahmoud Zeidan, a Palestinian educator and human rights advocate from Ayn Hilweh camp in South Lebanon. This community-run oral history project influenced her formation as a scholar of Palestine. She shared with the Daily the significance of oral history in highlighting the Palestinian experience and challenging dominant narratives about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I think Palestinians are often understood as abstractions — as humanitarian victims, as “terrorists,” but rarely as political subjects with legitimate aspirations for national selfdetermination, liberation, and the right to live dignified lives in peace and security,” she explained.

As part of the Nakba Archives, Allan and Zeidan recorded around 500 interviews about the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians, during the creation of the State of Israel, with first-generation Palestinians in camps across Lebanon over five years. Their aim in creating this archive is to re-centre Palestinian narratives, including those of Palestinian refugees, and expose the violent history of Israel’s state formation in the Middle East.

“A definitive history of the Palestinian Nakba, as told by Palestinians, has yet to be written.” she added. “Oral histories can fill some of these gaps, shed light on subaltern experience, and challenge settler colonial narratives — refugee narratives also have the power to transform our understanding of history itself — its form, substance and purpose, the matter of who tells it, what constitutes an ‘event’ or ‘truth.’”

Testimony of Mahmoud Mushtaha from northern Gaza

While he wasn’t able to attend the panel in-person, journalist Mahmoud Mustafa sent a video describing his everyday struggles in getting news out of Gaza. “No words can describe this agony of life,” he says. While testifying to the inhumane consequences of the warfare carried out by the IDF — the constant worry, hunger, lack of sleep, search for shelter, and so on — we could hear sirens and loud noises in the background. “The Israeli army is trying to mute us,” he asserts, adding that “our rights to be journalists are denied.”

Mustafa responded to accusations made against him for not being neutral. “Why are you asking me to be neutral while my friends have been killed? What do you mean by ‘you have to be neutral’? I am facing the killing and the dangers every day.”

“We need the support of other journalists outside Palestine to complete our work, to amplify our voice,” he concluded.

Necessityof protecting and amplifying the voices of Palestinian journalists

Dr. Allan told the Daily that “in this moment, when the censorship and silencing of Palestinian voices and those in solidarity with Palestinian

7 March 11, 2024

liberation is stronger than ever, supporting and amplifying the work of journalists like Mahmoud Mushtaha or Nidal Rafa is really vitally important.”

She concluded by empathizing with many students’ reaction to the McGill administration’s communication since the beginning of the war, highlighting the “unseemly power dynamics” at play in the unequal treatment of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel voices on campus. “These forms of censorship and intimidation are very troubling and are something that all members of our community need to actively challenge,” she added.

Nidal Rafa prompted that “the world has to stop with their double standards and to say enough is enough. I think Palestinians are not asking for much. [...] I say it’s very simple. There is an occupation here and Palestinians are asking for freedom and selfdetermination.”

On a more optimistic note, Bisharat added that “we are witnessing cracks in the international media in its coverage of Israel/Palestine,” referring to the work and fights of journalists such as Chris McGreal from The Guardian Sherif Mansour brought the event to a close by saying: “The consequences of what happens to Palestinian journalists are going to stay and go beyond this war, beyond this region. Because impunity like violence does not know boundaries.”

“Poetry as Resistance,” the next event on the “On Gaza” speaker series, is scheduled for March 12. The panel will be held in the Critical Media Lab, Peterson 108, from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. Prof. Rula Abi Saab from IIS, herself a poet and novelist, will be moderating.

Giants of Modern Art in Parallel Play

A review of the MMFA’s latest exhibition on Georgia O’Keefe and Henry Moore

Ariane Fournier Culture Staff Writer

It’s unclear whether American painter Georgia O’Keeffe and British sculptor Henry Moore ever met. Their paths crossed at least once, in 1946, when both were present at Moore’s retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. There is no record, however, of them ever interacting with one another outside of this isolated event.

Yet today, their work has taken up residence in the same halls at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore: Giants of Modern Art , organized by the San Diego Museum of Art, reveals an obvious dialogue between the two modernists’ oeuvre.

Having both relocated from the busy centres of New York and London to New Mexico and rural Hertfordshire early

in their careers, O’Keeffe and Moore became inextricably linked to their respective environments. The MMFA’s exhibition emphasizes the artists’ shared wonder of the natural world, dividing itself into four rooms: bones, stones, shells, and flowers.

The viewer is immediately drawn to O’Keeffe’s famous large-scale paintings of flowers, which are often regarded as erotic. It is easy to see why: her close-up views often border on abstraction, emphasizing shape, form, and color. Series I White & Blue Flower Shapes (1919), an oil on board painting displayed in the first gallery, acutely suggests female genitalia. So much so that during my visit, it left a group of high schoolers spellbound. One of them cleverly pointed out that the painting focuses on the flower’s reproductive organs, so that it is, in a way, sexual. “It does challenge perception

and ignite the imagination,” answered their tour guide, who proceeded to lecture the class on how cropping and enlarging a detail — a convention O’Keeffe borrowed from photography — can summon the viewer into an intimate exploration of nature’s intricacies.

The class snapped a few pictures before moving on to Stringed Figures (1938), one of Moore’s lead sculptures. According to the artwork’s didactic, Moore produced about 20 lead works at his countryside cottage, where he experimented with casting lead in his own pots and pans in the late 1930s. Much like O’Keeffe’s flowers, the sculpture possesses an uncanny sensual quality: its smooth curves and surfaces almost invite touch.

Moore was foremost a carver. He made several large elmwood carvings throughout his career, such as Reclining Figure (1959-

64), which reflects his growing interest in landscape. The form of the figure follows the grain of the wood while its hollows

and overhanging limbs evoke cliffs and caves.

The pair is at their most symbiotic in the bones portion

Both O’Keefe and Moore found magic and beauty in the uncanny. Their captivation with the living world and the various methods they employed to highlight different natural features are so striking that the viewer feels as if they are encountering everyday subjects — flowers, stones, and leaves — for the first time.

Ariane Fournier | Visuals Contributor

The MMFA’s latest exhibition invites Montreal’s museumgoers to reflect on the incredible similarities between Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore’s lives and work, helping cement their status as giants of modern art.

of the exhibition. Here, one can admire O’Keeffe’s paintings by peering through the holes of Moore’s sculptures. Such is the case with Reclining Figure Bone (1975). Carved in travertine marble, the structure resembles an elongated bone — or is it a figure? — that is pierced in two places. It sits on a large table in the middle of the room, putting it in conversation with O’Keeffe’s paintings of pelvic bones, which hang on the wall directly behind it.

Similarly, in Pedernal from the Ranch #1 (1956), O’Keeffe uses a pelvic bone as a window to frame the landscape. Flirting with surrealism, she manipulates scale and perspective by juxtaposing the small object with Pedernal Peak, her favorite mountain in New Mexico. Through her adept use of colour, she conveys the timeless beauty

of the Southwestern desert. The use of burnt orange helps capture the desert’s warmth and aridity, while the sky’s shades of blue and lavender clash with the mountain to accentuate its edges.

About halfway through the exhibition, visitors are invited to step into recreations of the artists’ studios, another testament to their shared

philosophy. If one wasn’t convinced of their connection, here lies the evidence: feathers, leaves, shells, animal skulls, stones, and pebbles lie here and there on each of their workstations, drawing attention to their shared thematic material. Both O’Keefe and Moore found magic and beauty in the uncanny. Their captivation

with the living world and the various methods they employed to highlight different natural features are so striking that the viewer feels as if they are encountering everyday subjects — flowers, stones, and leaves — for the first time. Moreover, by giving their subjects anthropomorphic qualities, they prompt us to recognize nature’s vitality — to pause and consider our interconnectedness.

Whether or not they ever got to shake hands, O’Keeffe and Moore certainly knew of one another: both were honoured with retrospective exhibitions at the MoMA in 1946, held only a few months apart. It is worth pointing out that both of them also died in the same year — 1986, another bizarre manifestation of their parallel trajectories. The MMFA’s latest exhibition invites Montreal’s museumgoers to reflect on the incredible similarities between Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore’s lives and work, helping cement their status as giants of modern art.

Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore: Giants of Modern Art will be on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts until June 2. For more information, visit the MMFA’s website at www.mbam.qc.ca.

Ariane Fournier | Visuals Contributor

Ariane Fournier | Visuals Contributor

Soup and Science Introduces Research at McGill

McGill students, faculty return to popular lecture series

Andrei Li Sci+Tech Editor

Looking for undergraduate research opportunities?

Curious about the work being done by the Department of Science at McGill? Or just craving some warm soup? From February 26 to March 1 in the SSMU Ballroom, professors and undergraduate students from all fields of science showcased their research to the McGill community at the Faculty of Science’s 37th Soup and Science public talk series.

Soup and Science happens twice every academic year: once in the Fall term (usually late September), and once in the Winter term (usually January or February). Every day over the course of a week, five speakers — typically four professors and one undergraduate student from the Faculty of Science — give an overview of the aims and importance of their research work.

The talks, each lasting around five minutes, aim to provide brief but complete introductions of the speakers’ research to both current and prospective McGill students. They offer undergraduates an opportunity to interact directly with professors outside of class.

Topics of the 37th Soup and Science talks ranged from evolutionary microbiology to bot detection, from drug synthesis and the development of quantum materials.

The talks, each lasting around five minutes, aim to provide brief but complete introductions of the speakers’ research to both current and prospective McGill students.

Following the lectures, audience members are challenged to a pop quiz on the topic of each presentation. Correct answers win the respondent a free “Faculty of Science” T-shirt. Afterward, soup is served for lunch — hence the “soup” in Soup and Science —

where students have the chance to mingle with the faculty, share their questions and discuss their interests. These discussions frequently end with offers for academic term or summer research projects.

Soup and Science was designed as a unique opportunity for students to meet their professors outside of the lecture hall. Science undergraduate programs often involve the successful completion of research projects, which take place either over the summer or during the academic term. For a first-time student researcher, searching for these positions can be daunting. This is where Soup and Science comes into play, with the aim to streamline this process by bringing professors and students together in a casual setting with more space for one-on-one conversations.

Rees Kassen, Professor of Evolutionary Biology and director of the Trottier Institute of Science and Public Policy, highlights the importance of promoting studentprofessor collaboration. He notes:

“It’s hard for professors, in a lecture hall of 200 to 300 people, to interact with students. In my own research, I try to find ways to engage as many as possible. I hope to share my passion and get as many people as interested as possible.”

For newer students, Soup and Science also offers a window into the nature of research beyond the scope of their classes. Unlike cut-and-dry course content, real scientific investigations can be long

and gritty, often requiring years of effort and a consistent process of trial and error to yield fruit.

“It’s really valuable for students to come and learn about science

the different things people do across the Faculty of Science,” says John Stix, Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Associate Dean of Research

Unlike cut-and-dry course content, real scientific investigations can be long and gritty, often requiring years of effort and a consistent process of trial and error to yield fruit.

in a setting that is informal and welcoming,” says Grace Parish, an undergraduate researcher working at the Nguyen Lab in McGill’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology. She observes how “presentations are short, engaging, and accessible, helping students figure out what they might be interested in without getting them bogged down in the details.”

Contrary to departmental seminars which tend to involve faculty members and graduate students in specific fields of research, Soup and Science talks are geared toward introducing research to an audience with little to no expected background. The relatively relaxed tone of the event serves to spark the curiosity of students and faculty alike, engaging them in a way where they feel more free to learn.

“These presentations really show

at McGill. He notes that while students are the main audience, the event is also of value to McGill professors as well. “[Researchers] tend to pigeonhole ourselves in our own fields, and we don’t know what people do across disciplines.”

Stix highlights the interdisciplinary benefits of Soup and Science in its ability to bring people from largely disparate fields, like geography and chemistry, together in the same room. For himself and many other

professors, Soup and Science lectures also offer new perspectives on their own work in relation to other fields they are not necessarily familiar with. “Over time, people often find connections — an instrument, a computer program — between fields. The goal of Soup and Science is for both students and professors to get exposure to see the amazing work being done here at McGill.”

To learn more about Soup and Science, you can visit their website at www.mcgill.ca/science/ research/undergraduate-research/ soupscience, as well as view a selection of past talks on the McGill Science and McGill University YouTube channels. You can also scan the QR code for the Daily’s video recap of Soup and Science.

“The goal of Soup and Science is for both students and professors to get exposure to see the amazing work being done here at McGill.”

- Professor John Stix

Magdalena Rebisz | Video Editor

Boycott, Define, Specify

A targeted boycott is

the

way forward for Pro-Palestine advocates at McGill

Benjamin Wexler Commentary Contributor

Israel’s recent assault on Gaza is one of the most brutal and indiscriminate urban military campaigns in recent history, killing nearly 30,000 people at the time of writing according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Starvation and disease tear through the Palestinian refugee population as the Israeli state restricts access to food and other supplies. Meanwhile, settler militias in the occupied West Bank escalate an ethnic cleansing campaign with the support of the Israeli military. Leading Israeli politicians have reiterated their opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state and plan for the indefinite occupation of the Gaza Strip.

With all of this unfolding, international pressure is more needed than ever, and boycotts are a tool accessible to civil society and students. In 2022, for example, the Palestinianled Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) forced the baked goods company Pillsbury to divest from a factory located in occupied East Jerusalem. At the same time, Michael Bueckert, vicepresident of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, highlights the need to be “very clear about our objectives.”

Important efforts to advance a boycott at McGill have run aground on avoidable errors.

Both the 2021 Palestine Solidarity Policy and the 2023 Policy Against Genocide in Palestine passed with strong majorities through a student vote only to face legal and administrative opposition. The 2023 Policy is now caught up in litigation. A major roadblock, rarely discussed in student media, was raised a few years ago by SSMU’s Judicial Board. As is emphasized in the Board’s 2021 clarification on the legality of policies against the actions of a particular country, SSMU’s Constitution “favours specificity and precision over broad undefined policies that may or may not contravene equity concerns.” This poses a problem for the policy, which proposes a blanket boycott against “corporations, institutions, or individuals complicit in genocide, settler-colonialism,

or ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.” The meaning of “complicit” is not defined.

As mentioned by Bueckert, vague policy risks unintended consequences. In 2019, for example, the University of Toronto Graduate Student Union refused to support a campus kosher food initiative, claiming it was “pro-Israel” and against “the will of the membership.”

A student union is of course entitled to criticize a state and pursue policies accordingly. But in this application, BDS policy slipped into restricting and marginalizing basic Jewish community functions, and confusing Jewishness with proIsrael sentiment. The union soon recanted under legal and public pressure, but this antisemitic incident is not anomalous to the history of student campaigns against Israel. The commonplace that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism” obscures the rather more complicated facts of Jewish life as it exists. AntiZionism is not antisemitism, but the two are not mutually exclusive. Israel is a demographic, cultural, and religious center of modern Jewry. It is not hard to discover evidence of association if you look for it –– and for many, association means complicity in state violence. Boycotts that pay no mind to these complexities too often place the onus on Jews to prove their “innocence”. So, kosher food is too “complicit”, same with multi-faith chicken soup charity initiatives, Yiddish cultural centers, and so on. Such unforced errors are political and legal liabilities, damaging to both Jewish communities and Palestine solidarity activism.

These problems speak to the double-edged legacy of the

Boycotts that pay no mind to these complexities too often place the onus on Jews to prove their “innocence”.

historical boycotts against Israel. Many activists take inspiration from the well-known divestment campaign against apartheid South Africa — a landmark of collective civic action in which McGill students played a proud role. And Palestinian civil society has long organized its resistance around boycotts. At the same time, Middle Eastern writers have discussed the role of antinormalization policy, which aims to isolate Israel and those who associate with the state, in the construction of autocracy and the liquidation of Jewish populations in Arab states.

Leila Ahmed, noted Egyptian American scholar of Islam, argues in her memoir A Border Passage that the anti-Zionist campaigns of her childhood justified the expansion of the Egyptian secret police and “proclaimed implicitly our opposition to the ‘Zionists’

in our midst, Egyptian Jews.”

Tunisian President Kais Saied recently proposed an anti-NGO law that protects his increasingly autocratic presidency under the cover of anti-normalization. The ancient Jewish communities in both Egypt and Tunisia have been reduced to shadows of their former selves.

At heart, the situation challenges McGill students to negotiate differences on a diverse campus. Similar challenges would arise should students decide on a stricter campaign against the Chinese state (for its treatment of Uyghur Muslims), the Moroccan state (for the occupation of the Western Sahara), or indeed any other state that persecutes specific marginalized groups. Ensuring the wellness and safety of Jewish communities is especially important given recent attacks against Jewish schools and synagogues in this city.

Yet there need not be any conflict between preserving Jewish communities and advocating for Palestine at McGill. Pro-Palestinian and divestment advocates have documented some institutions in McGill’s investment portfolio which are most complicit in human rights violations against Palestinians. Notable examples include Re/Max, which sells real estate on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank; Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank, which helps finance illegal settlement building; and Motorola Solutions, which provides extensive support to Israeli military operations and surveillance. By proposing a boycott policy against specific targets, advocates for Palestine at McGill can bypass legal barriers and push forward an urgently needed divestment.

Kismet Bandeen | Illustrations Contributor

READING WEEK CROSSWORD

Across

3. This city’s Fashion Week ended on March 6

6. The railway that can get you from Montreal to Ottawa in a little under two hours

7. You might have flown out of this airport recently (abbr.)

10. This SSMU co-op provides affordable bus trips to McGill students

13. You might have visited the new O’Keefe–Moore exhibit at this museum (abbr.)

14. This robbed us of an hour of sleep on March 10

16. You might have visited this chic new Chinese restaurant on Avenue Laurier

18. These bookish debates aired on CBC from March 4 to 7

19. You probably know at least one person who travelled to this Florida city over the break

20. Did you hit the slopes of this famed Laurentians ski hill last week?

Down

1. Reading Week gave us all a break from these

2. The 21st edition of this end-of-winter festival was held on March 2

4. What you took if you stayed in Montreal over Reading Week

5. The first race of this competition was held in Bahrain on March 2

8. You might have watched the second installment in this sci-fi franchise

9. Be kind to your teeth-fixing friends in this faculty whose classes weren’t cancelled last week

11. What your American friends are more likely to call Reading Week

12. You might have taken a trip to this Ontario capital

15. This annual awards show aired on March 10

17. You might have speed-read this latest Kristin Hannah novel

Catey Fifield | Managing Editor