Content Warning: Mentions of genocide and a hunger strike.

On March 28, more than 40 protesters lay silently on the ground in front of the Arts Building for half an hour, their hands doused in red paint and bodies traced in chalk, to protest McGill’s financial and academic ties to the state of Israel. This ‘die-in’ was organized by the McGill Hunger Strike for Palestine—a group of students who are starving themselves in solidarity with Gazans who are facing famine to push for an end to McGill’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

Speeches began around 1 p.m. as the crowd continued to grow.  

“Today, we are standing on the edge of day 39 of our hunger strike. Thirty-nine days fueled by outrage, disgust, courage, love, compassion, unwavering conviction, and an unyielding demand for justice in Palestine,” Sage, who is part of the hunger strike, told the crowd.

Sage reiterated why the hunger strikers feel that immediate divestment from and an academic boycott of Israel are critical.

“By choosing McGill for our education, you and I are actively complicit,” Sage said. “We are participating in this genocide at this very moment, whether we want it or not. This is why we are here today to let McGill know that we are not okay with our education taking away lives.”

According to Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at McGill, another group fighting for the administration to cut ties with Israel, McGill invests approximately $20 million in companies supporting Israel’s siege on Gaza. The university also has partnerships with Israeli universities and institutions, through initiatives such as the Sylvan Adams Sports Science Institute and courses like FACC 501 in the Faculty of Engineering.

During his speech, Chadi, who is on an indefinite hunger strike, highlighted Israel’s targeting of academic infrastructure and students in Gaza.

“McGill university has funded the apartheid state of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people all throughout this genocide,” Chadi said. “It bears responsibility for the destruction of all twelve universities in the Gaza strip, which have been systematically targeted by a settler state. Over 4,326 Palestinian students in higher education, 231 teachers, and 94 professors have been martyred. If we were to dedicate a second for every single one of those students, you would stand silent for an hour and a half.”

Speakers also stressed the interwoven nature of anti-colonial struggles throughout the protest, linking the fight for Palestinian liberation to the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera’s (Mohawk Mothers) ongoing legal battle with McGill and the violence that western powers have instigated globally. 

“At the heart of our movement […] lies a fundamental truth that binds us all. That truth is the interconnectedness of our struggles,” Sage said. “We are not here just as individuals, but as representatives of the myriad of communities to which we each belong. Our fight for Palestine is intrinsically linked to the global struggle against imperialism and colonialism and all forms of oppression that seek to divide us.”

Throughout the die-in, organizers and protesters alike were critical of McGill’s response to the hunger strike and other pro-Palestine mobilization. The university has expressed concern over the health of hunger strikers, but has said that students must go through the official, bureaucratic channels if they wish to change McGill’s policies and investments. McGill has also stated that it will not consider severing ties with academic institutions in Israel. 

Chadi feels that the university’s messaging is contradictory to their actions.

“I think McGill’s unwillingness to discuss [divestment and an academic boycott] shows how blatantly hypocritical they are,” Chadi said in an interview with The Tribune. “They claim inclusion; they claim diversity; they claim freedom; and when the majority of their student body, when faculty and staff bring up something that is very dear and important in the midst of a genocide, when we are talking about where we want our money spent as students, they are shutting it down, and they are not allowing even discussion. At this point we are far beyond discussion; we are at action.”

In an email to The Tribune, the McGill Media Relations Office reaffirmed the university’s respect for “students’ rights to pursue political objectives and express political conviction.” 

”We urge them to do so in a way that prioritizes their health,” the office continued. “We have reminded the students that there is a process in place for expressing their concerns about any investment holding of the university. We have offered more than once to meet with them, but they have refused to meet on the terms proposed.” 

Em Kester, one of the students who participated in the die-in, spoke to the university’s response to pro-Palestine protests in an interview after the die-in. Over the past weeks, McGill has sent multiple university–wide emails telling protesters to respect McGill’s rules and regulations and telling both students and staff that they should avoid engaging with protesters and call security services if they are unable to get into buildings or have classes disrupted.

 Kester condemned McGill’s email communication around protests, calling them “fear-mongering.”

“I am saddened by the culture at McGill, and not supporting this, and not making it a university-wide thing, or even putting out a letter of support to protesters—like an email,” Kester said. “It’s a very conservative university and it makes that known every day.”

Kester also said that McGill has sent them emails saying that protesting could impact their ability to graduate.

“The university is threatening its students for doing a basic act of protesting. And I think that a lot of students are afraid of it,” Kester said.

The university did not respond to The Tribune’s questions about whether participating in on-campus protests may impact students’ graduation. The Media Relations Office did, however, state that it “is actively reviewing evidence and will begin disciplinary proceedings against any McGill students identified as having contravened the Code of Student Conduct, as [its] normal process.” On the evening of March 28, the university announced that it had called the police on protesters, and that at least one arrest “related to campus disruptions” had taken place. According to both the March 28 email and the Media Relations Office, the university plans to press charges.

One student who wished to remain anonymous spoke about the power of collective action in an interview after the protest, encouraging students who feel hopeless to mobilize.

“For people who haven’t been doing this because they feel kinda hopeless about it: When you’re occupying a space that you’re not supposed to occupy because McGill is telling you not to, you feel that power in the steps that you’re taking, and you feel that power in the collectiveness of it all. And these things only work if everybody does it,” they said.

After the die-in, organizers walked some protesters to meet the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera at the site of McGill’s New Vic project, where the Kahnistensera believe there to be unmarked Indigenous graves, while others went to join a SPHR protest taking place by the Milton Gates.