Bambi learned from French (https://shorturl.at/eaMT3) and Canadian (https://shorturl.at/1c7U5; https://shorturl.at/mhEUb) media articles about the vandalism and intimidation that happened at Concordia University, in the so-called name of the Palestinian cause.
Indeed, a group of about 20 masked demonstrators occupied a building on campus for about an hour, chained its doors, and “considerably” damaged walls and glasses with graffiti. The police was called by the university administrators. It did not have to make any intervention though, as these so-called demonstrators left on their own.
Why do such demonstrators think that they can free Palestine by chaining university doors in Canada? If they are truly convinced by their demands, why are they resorting to intimidation, instead of effective communication, and why are they hiding their faces?
Thank Goodness, Québec Higher Education Minister, Ms. Pascale Déry, said a clear NO to this violence (https://shorturl.at/mhEUb): “C’est assez! Des actes inacceptables que je dénonce vivement. Une fois de plus, j’en appelle au calme. Il existe tellement de moyens de s’exprimer sans verser dans l’intimidation, l’incitation à la haine et le saccage dans nos campus” [“Enough is enough! Once again, I appeal for calm. There are so many ways to express ourselves without resorting to intimidation, incitement to hatred and vandalism on our campuses“].
Will these radicalized demonstrators, whether true students or not (and the organizations funding or endorsing them) listen to Minister Déry this time? If not, what’s next not only at Concordia University, but in all our institutions of higher education?
Your question is as pertinent today as it was 35 years ago when I walked int othe Timmy Horton’s on Concordia campus, above deMaisonneuve, near the Norman Bethune Traffic Island. I was up to the cash and first thing out of the clerk’s mouth is not “Hello/Bonjour”, not “Welcome to Tim’s” but rather “Look, I don’t want any trouble.”
I look around and the only other customers are young men who fit the profile of “Palestinian sympathizers”. With my dark hair and rugged good looks, I guess I did too. I was able to get my order filled but who knows what made the clerk so fearful?