protest

Western community protest: demanding divestment, accountability, and policy changes

This Tuesday, March 18th, Western University students and faculty members gathered on concrete beach to protest the preceding night’s deadly raid in the Gaza Strip — a raid in which over 400 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes. This attack sparked global outrage as many — including local health officials in the Strip — recognize it as a violation of the current ceasefire (effective January 19th, this year). The rally was composed of students from the Western Divestment Coalition, members of Independent Jewish Voices, amongst students and faculty. The protestors had two demands. Fourth year Psych student and Palestine activist…

Read MoreWestern community protest: demanding divestment, accountability, and policy changes

“From the river to the sea, from the cedar to the olive tree”: Stories of Lebanon and Palestine

“There is nothing that will compare to that childhood,” says Lebanese-Canadian PhD student Amer El-Samman, who grew up in the port city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon. He remembers the city as huge, bright, and authentic. It boomed with up-and-coming Internet cafés while remaining lush with old towns infused with unique, intergenerationally-preserved customs. The people were tolerant. Ways of life were passed down with “care, affection, and stability”. All religions lived side by side; El-Samman remembers sects of Muslims and Christians, and a Jewish family in his grandmother’s town who were a “remnant of a once sizable population before the…

Read More“From the river to the sea, from the cedar to the olive tree”: Stories of Lebanon and Palestine