Department of Politics Palestine Solidarity Committee

Recommendations Report
April 5th, 2024

Introduction

On November 14th, 2023 the Palestine Solidarity Committee was approved by the Department of
Politics Faculty council at York University. The committee was struck with a mandate to:

1. Develop departmental policy/protocol to define and address anti-Palestinian,

Islamophobic, and anti-Arab racism to ensure the protection of students and faculty to
speak about, teach about, and support Palestine freely and without fear of reprisal.

Given the first mandate, the Palestine Solidarity Committee came up with a departmental
definition of anti-Palestinian racism to ensure the protection of students and faculty to speak
about, teach about, and support Palestine freely without fear of reprisal: Anti-Palestinian
racism is defined as the beliefs, attitudes, actions, practices, and behaviors of individuals and
institutions that devalue, minimize, and marginalize the full humanity and dignity of
Palestinians. It is the systematic and structural denial of the Palestinian right to
self-determination and national liberation, and the collective existence of the Palestinian people,
while upholding Zionism. Zionism is a settler colonial project and ethno-religious ideology in
service of a system of Western imperialism that upholds global white supremacy. Anti-
Palestinian racism is closely related to Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism given stereotypes
against both Arabs and Muslims stemming from orientalism (Edward Said, 1979) and the West’s
“war on terror.” Anti-Palestinian racism also includes censoring those standing in solidarity with
Palestine and Palestinians.

2. Identify ways in which the Department of Politics can demonstrate meaningful solidarity
with Palestine, such as by exploring how we as a Department are complicit in the
colonization of Palestine and working towards severing these connections, by way of, for
instance, academic boycott or other actions.

Given the second mandate, the Palestine Solidarity Committee came up with ways for the
Department of Politics to demonstrate meaningful solidarity with Palestine, and to sever
connections that would make the department complicit in the colonization of Palestine: Israeli
academic institutions are a key part of Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and
apartheid. Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) urges
a boycott and work for the cancellation of all forms of cooperation with Israeli academic
institutions, including events, activities, agreements, or projects with them. PACBI also urges a
boycott of propaganda initiatives that promote Israel or whitewash its violations of international

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law. The academic boycott is a boycott of complicit Israeli academic institutions not individuals.
This boycott should continue until Israeli academic institutions recognize the rights of the
Palestinian people as set out in the BDS call and end all forms of complicity in Israel’s violations
of international law.

The Palestine Solidarity Committee aims to support several broader principles that the
Department of Politics has dedicated itself to upholding and strengthening York University’s
commitment to decolonization, equity, diversity and inclusion (DEDI). In order to ensure that the
Department of Politics maintains its commitment to addressing anti-Palestinian racism and
displaying meaningful solidarity with Palestine, the committee will periodically review the
actionable steps being taken to ensure the recommendations within this document are followed
through.

Anti-Palestinian Racism and Destruction of Palestinian Knowledge

As part of its genocidal campaign in Gaza, Israel has destroyed Palestinian academic institutions.
All schools in Gaza have officially stopped teaching since November 6th, 2023, unable to
continue due to the scale of the Israeli attacks and the displacement of 85% of Palestinians in
Gaza. In the past four months, all or parts of Gaza’s 12 universities have been bombed and
mostly destroyed. According to university authorities, Israel occupied and used Israa University
as a military base and detention facility for months before destroying it on January 17th, 2024.
Approximately 378 schools have been destroyed or damaged. The Palestinian Ministry of
Education has reported the deaths of over 4,327 students, 231 teachers, and 94 professors.
Numerous cultural heritage sites, including libraries, archives and museums, have also been
destroyed, damaged, and plundered.

During the recent genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), South
Africa argued that Palestinian academics were being intentionally assassinated. A legal
representative for South Africa, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, told the court:

“Almost 90,000 Palestinian university students cannot attend university in Gaza. Over 60
per cent of schools, almost all universities and countless bookshops and libraries have
been damaged and destroyed. Hundreds of teachers and academics have been killed,
including deans of universities and leading Palestinian scholars. Obliterating the very
future prospects of the future education of Gaza’s children and young people.”

The term "scholasticide," coined by Oxford professor Karma Nabulsi, encapsulates this systemic
assault on Palestinian education. Nabulsi contextualizes scholasticide within Israel's
long-standing settler colonization and occupation of Palestine, dating back to the Nakba of 1948.
She identifies a pattern of attacks on scholars, students, and educational institutions –

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highlighting the role of education in Palestinian society and resistance. Scholasticide
encompasses a range of actions aimed at eradicating educational life within Palestinian
communities. These include the killing and harassment of educators, the destruction of
educational infrastructure, hindrances to rebuilding efforts, and the denial of access to education
for political prisoners. The goal is clear: to undermine the social order and perpetuate the
oppression of Palestinians.

The recent escalation of scholasticide in Gaza underscores its intimate connection to genocide.
Raphael Lamkin, the first to define genocide as an assault on the cultural fabric of a community
resonates deeply here. The deliberate targeting of educational institutions and resources seeks not
only to erase Palestinian knowledge but also to destabilize the foundations of Palestinian society.
Beyond Gaza, similar tactics have been employed in the Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem,
and among Palestinian citizens of Israel. The comprehensive nature of these measures
underscores their role in the broader effort to ethnically cleanse Palestine.

Sources:
https://www.faculty4palestine.ca/tag/scholasticide/
https://scholarsagainstwar.org/toolkit/?fbclid=IwAR2y-i3dago_HtL1I7imInvqOfXPapyP5U_kW
C0ogLD5L1-GPnP748YdMtA
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/24/how-israel-has-destroyed-gazas-schools-and-universi
ties
https://theconversation.com/the-war-in-gaza-is-wiping-out-palestines-education-and-knowledge-
systems-222055

Department of Politics Commitment to Democracy and Social Justice

In line with the first departmental mandate, the Palestine Solidarity Committee has developed a
definition of anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab racism to act as a foundation
for the Department of Politics protocols so that students and faculty can speak about, teach
about, and support Palestine freely without fear of reprisal. The definition which came out of the
Palestine Solidarity Committee both centers anti-Palestinian racism and contextualizes where,
and how, anti-Palestinian racism arises. It also identifies attempts to make invisible, and/or
hinder Palestinian solidarity, as central to promoting anti-Palestinian racism, especially through
the dehumanizing erasure of Palestinians.

In 2020, the Department of Politics submitted to the Dean of LA&PS a proposal to hire two
professorial-stream Black faculty with specializations in Black Politics which opened with a
Thomas (2020) quote on diversity regimes which read: ”cultivating values like democracy,
equality and liberty, even if we know that the university rarely if ever lives up to these values.”
The department's proposal acknowledged the York University call to address its stated
commitment and strategy to “decolonizing, equity, diversity, and inclusion” — or DEDI as is

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more commonly referred to at York University. Inherit to York’s commitment was an
understanding of anti-racism as ‘proactive steps to fight racial inequity” that “differs from other
approaches that may focus on multiculturalism or diversity because it acknowledges that
systemic racism exists, and it actively confronts the unequal power dynamic between groups and
the structures that sustain it.’

Anti-racism, as acknowledged by both York University, and the Department of Politics, is then
an actionable and pro-active commitment that confronts unequal power dynamics between
groups and the structures that sustain them. Contextualizing anti-Palestinian racism allows us to
actively confront this component of the anti-Palestinian racism definition as defined by the
committee: Zionism as a settler colonial project and ethno-religious ideology in service of a
system of Western imperialism that upholds global white supremacy; As such, the second part of
the Palestine Solidarity Committee mandate on the different active steps we can take to severe
the Department of Politics complicity in the colonization of Palestine directly confronts an
unequal power dynamic between groups and the structures that sustain them. At minimum, this
requires the Department of Politics at York University to engage in an academic boycott of
Zionist institutions and international companies engaged in violations of Palestinian human
rights. Anti-Palestinian racism, and the proliferation of it, is one way that Zionism asserts its
power.

On Tuesday, March 19th the Hebrew University (UN) suspended Palestinian Professor
Shalloub-Kevorkian, given their critiques of the genocide occurring in Palestine, stating that the
institution is a “proud Israeli, public, and Zionist institution.” Long warned to all academics by
the Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement: Israeli universities are major, willing
and persistent accomplices in Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid,”
providing the ideological justifications for colonialism and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians – and
much more broadly, providing “moral justifications for extra-judicial killings.” Given the
recognition of such institutions themselves as Zionist, it would behoove the Department of
Politics at York University to also identify them as such.

Department of Politics Commitment to Decolonisation, Anti-Racism, and Human Rights

According to York University, and accepted by the Department of Politics at York,

‘[d]ecolonization refers to the social and political movement for Indigenous self-determination,
and the liberation of all humans and non-humans from the oppression of colonial systems,
institutions, logic and practice.’ The Palestine Solidarity Committee recognizes the movement
for Palestinian self-determination as one in which indigenous self-determination and the
liberation of all humans and non-humans from the oppression of colonial systems, institutions,
logic and practice are at stake. Palestinians are a colonized indigenous people fighting for
self-determination against the racist forces of Israeli settler colonialism and Western imperialism.

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The struggle for Palestinian self-determination will support the liberation of all humans and
non-humans from colonial oppression.

According to York University, and accepted by the Department of Politics at York,

‘[a]nti-racism refers to taking proactive steps to fight racial inequity. It differs from other
approaches that may focus on multiculturalism or diversity because it acknowledges that
systemic racism exists and actively confronts the unequal power dynamic between groups and
the structures that sustain it.’ The Palestine Solidarity Committee aims to strengthen anti-racism
by proactively fighting anti-Palestinian racism, which is systemic in all imperialist regions, and
which involves unequal power dynamics between oppressed Palestinians and their supporters on
the one hand, and the imperialist oppressors on the other. Opposing anti-palestinian racism is an
essential condition for tackling anti-racism within the Department of Politics at York University,
at York University, and globally.

According to York University, and accepted by the Department of Politics at York, ‘[h]uman
Rights recognizes the inherent dignity, and the universal, equal, and inalienable rights of all
people. It recognizes all people’s entitlement to pursue individual interests, opportunities,
contribute to society and a life of dignity, equity, and respect, free from discrimination and
harassment.’ The Palestine Solidarity Committee aims to strengthen human rights by recognising
and supporting the inherent dignity of Palestinians, as well as their universal, equal, and
inalienable rights. As a promoter of settler colonialism in Palestine, anti-Palestinian racism
threatens human rights by undermining the Palestinian people’s entitlement to pursue their
individual interests and opportunities, as well as their ability to contribute to society and live a
life of dignity, equity, and respect, free from discrimination and harassment.

Sources:
https://www.yorku.ca/dedi-strategy/principles/

Department of Politics Commitment to Academic Freedom and the Collective Agreement

On October 25th, 2023, the Department of Politics unanimously passed a motion in defense of
Academic Freedom at York University:

‘York University is a diverse intellectual community constituted by many views on a

range of social and political issues and both students and faculty have a great deal to offer
on matters of such significance. The University’s protection of academic freedom, the
right to freedom of speech, and the right to raise troubling questions and challenges to
established beliefs is even more important in times of crisis.

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 It is the role of the University to remain politically autonomous and to respect a diversity
of viewpoints. At a minimum, York University must ensure a space for meaningful
dialogue and engagement for its faculty and students without fear of reprisal.
Furthermore, an institution committed to academic freedom must gather evidence and
engage with its communities before it exercises disciplinary authority. It is inappropriate
for the administrators of the University to speak for the institution without such
deliberative evidence gathering. In failing to meet this bar, we are concerned that our
administrators have put York University into disrepute.

The Department of Politics is resolute in its support of all members – faculty, staff and
students included – who speak up about the current war in Palestine and Israel and who
bring their expertise and experience to bear on public conversations. We are, therefore,
deeply concerned that the email from the York University administration of Friday,
October 20 will have the effect of limiting such crucial conversations. This represents a
failure of the administration to uphold these principles of academic freedom in a situation
of intense conflict where the active protection of such freedoms is needed most and need
to be extended to student associations as part of the university. We are equally concerned
that the administration’s decisions and actions do not reflect collegial norms of
engagement and debate but instead are presented as administrative fiat. Such actions put
everyone in the university community at risk.’

Since then, we have witnessed a rise in harassment, censorship and racism against students and
faculty who are speaking about and teaching on Palestine. Recent instances include Toronto
Police disrupting Dr. Muhannad Ayash’s public on-campus lecture on February 2nd, 2024, as
well as the University issuing statements against a ‘Teaching Palestine TA Toolkit.’ These
instances, along with many other daily encounters across campus contribute to an atmosphere of
surveillance, fear, intimidation and repression on university campuses and seek to silence
Palestinian voices and scholarly critiques of Israel. It is unfortunately in line with many other
instances of repression and intimidation by university administrations at campuses across North
America, which have contributed to an atmosphere of anti-Palestinian bias and racism.

In line with the department motion, and in line with the Faculty Collective Agreement
2021-2024, Academic freedom allows us to comment and critique on historically and
philosophically relevant topics in context and allows for the pursuit of truth and fulfillment of
university objectives. Thus, Academic freedom does not require neutrality, and inherently rejects
notions of self-censorship. As scholars we should not be pressured to condemn Hamas while
failing to discuss or critique Israel’s ongoing settler-colonial violence and ongoing attacks in
Gaza and the West Bank. We echo the open letter issued to York University Administration by
the Middle East Studies Association on February 16th, 2024, that urges York University to

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publicly and forcefully reaffirm its commitment to protecting the academic freedom, and free
speech rights, of all members of the campus community.

Sources:
https://breachmedia.ca/toronto-police-crashed-york-lecture-palestine-muhannad-ayyash/
https://mesana.org/advocacy/committee-on-academic-freedom/2024/02/16/letter-to-york-universi
ty-regarding-police-disruption-of-a-lecture-on-campus

Palestine Solidarity Committee Recommendations

The following recommendations is a means for holding the Department of Politics at York
University accountable for what it has already committed itself to:

1. Protect students, faculty, and staff who talk, teach, research, and write about and support
Palestinian liberation by way of upholding and supporting academic freedom and labour
rights to do so.

2. Publicize and provide departmental support throughout the complaints process at the
university level for reporting anti-Palestinian racism and harassment.

3. Endorse an academic and commercial boycott of Israeli institutions and all Israeli and
international companies engaged in violations of Palestinian human rights at the
department and university level. Practical examples of this include severing ties with
Zionist departments and institutions and boycotting campus catering companies such as
Starbucks and Aroma at department events.

4. Establish ties with political science departments at Palestinian Universities.

5. Invite visiting scholars, activists, and public intellectuals with expertise on Palestine to
teach, lecture, and conduct research on the subject, with a focus on Palestinian liberation.

6. Include lectures on Palestine in the department speaker series events as part of being able
to teach and speak on Palestinian liberation.

7. Publish an official Department statement, one that represents the faculty, categorically
condemning anti-Palestinian racism, endorsing academic boycott of Israeli institutions
and all Israeli and international companies engaged in violations of Palestinian human
rights, and supporting the struggle for Palestinian liberation. The statement should
include the definition of anti-Palestinian racism created by the Palestine Solidarity
Committee in the Department of Politics.

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Other Important Committee Concerns

Over the course of the writing of this report, this committee identified other concerns that need to
be addressed which were related to, and beyond the specific scope of, the committee mandate.
The below aims to start the discussion, given that we understand that these concerns require
separate discussions and motions.

Rethinking Hidden e-voting, push for open-votes in the department

This committee was founded on the department's principles of democracy, justice, and collegial
governance. The motion that created this committee and its two mandates were also voted on
with such ideas. Unfortunately, both the motion and the mandates that formed and informed this
committee were done via an anonymous e-vote. It is from this committee’s understanding, given
our first meeting which included the Chair of the Department of Politics, that e-voting was
instituted during COVID-19 shutdowns and became a mainstay of the department in order to
protect marginalized and non-tenured faculty during voting processes. One can surmise from
these conversations that hidden e-voting in the department was done to, again, reinforce the
department's commitment to democracy and an active attempt at confronting unequal power
dynamics during voting.

Nonetheless, during the motion voting period — which brought the creation of this committee
with a set mandate to the department council floor — hidden e-voting, especially as it regards
anti-racist beliefs in the department, was identified by racialized and non-tenured faculty (and
graduate students) as allowing anti-Palestinian views to influence decision-making without
having to be made public, transparent, and contestable. This committee and its two mandates,
while being voted in favor of by the overwhelming majority in the department, were not
unanimously voted on. Open-voting in this instance would have put the scholarly and collegial
onus on those opposed to the committee’s formation and two mandates to defend their position,
including whether it was in direct opposition to departmental commitments to DEDI and
anti-racism.

Open and transparent voting plays a crucial role in collegial governance. It is used throughout the
various levels of decision-making at the University, including in other departments, as well as
throughout the not-for-profit sector in Ontario. Live voting during meetings attests to the
importance of participation in deliberation before voting, and open voting indicates the
importance of accountability in decision-making. Closed e-voting denies the importance of
providing and exchanging reasons for Department decisions, and allows for the abdication of
responsibility for Department decisions. As the Palestine Solidarity Committee, we emphasize in
the strongest possible terms that the recommendations in this document be held as an open vote.

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We propose that votes held in council, as a general rule and practice, should be held as an open
vote during the meeting. Open voting requires people to be in attendance at the meeting and their
vote counted by a show of hands. Those wanting secret votes should provide a public rationale in
council that must be discussed and agreed upon by majority consensus.

Reporting and dealing with racism and harassment cases in the department

In light of the growing anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and harassment cases, as prevalent
in data collected by PSC York and REC, more students have expressed or reported feeling that
the university has become an unsafe environment. At the department level, we have witnessed
cases where people were blatantly expressing violent remarks towards Palestinians, or Marxist
activists joining the strike, or racialized folks.

The committee believes that cases of violence or harassment are often interconnected and
directed at marginalized groups, or folks who stand in solidarity with them. We believe there is a
need for mechanisms for reporting on these cases, and a clear sense of what disciplinary and/or
reparatory actions would be taken and the timelines for that.

Our committee believes that safety measures need to go beyond involving campus police or
security officers, but instead need to involve clear mechanisms for addressing the safety
concerns, centering the voices and experiences of those who are impacted, holding members of
the community accountable for their actions and implementing necessary disciplinary measures.

The department should provide students with support throughout the process of addressing clear
code of conduct violations, which includes helping students seek out appropriate sanctions to
effectively address racism and harassment cases in order to preserve collective and individual
safety of our department members.

We propose that the department advocate for a more transparent and effective University process
for handling complaints and violations of the code of conduct, including reparatory justice
and/or grounds for suspension or removal for individuals who violate the code of conduct and
community safety standards.