Encampments, Amazon, PSPP, oh my! with Savanna Craig

For Hello Goodbye Line's return, host Kalden Dhatsenpa interviewed CUTV's lead journalist and producer Savanna Craig.

Craig discussed the various Gaza solidarity encampments that have been set up on the different campuses of universities across Montreal. Since the end of April, Craig has been covering and reporting from the McGill encampment, which was opened on April 27. She has recently started covering the Universite de Quebec a Montreal encampment, which opened two weeks later, on May 12.

Through her time spent at both encampments, Craig talked with students at both encampments about their demands. For HGBL, Craig showed some of her first interviews at the encampments.

Craig was able to talk with two students from Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights Concordia, Zeyad Abisaab and Ali Salman, who are organizers of the McGill encampment, and representatives from Concordia University. 

"This encampment is a show of solidarity with our people in Gaza. They are being genocided. Actively. As we speak. By demanding for the boycott, divestment and sanctions, and demanding they cut ties with the Zionist entity, economic ties, we're applying economic pressure on the army, on the government," emphasized Abisaab while discussing the need for protesting in the form of the McGill encampment. Salman echoed Abisaab's words, bringing attention to how McGill and Concordia's administrations should divest from agreements and deals that fund the bombardment of Gaza and the Palestinian people.

Craig said that students were essentially asking for all universities across Montreal to disclose their ties with Israel, to divest from Israeli companies and to impose an academic boycott on Israeli institutions.

Craig also discussed the media's focus on the McGill encampment, following the university's filing for an injunction to have the encampment dismantled. While McGill has made statements on the situation, universities like Concordia have remained silent on the matter of encampments.

McGill University is said to have approximately $7 million invested in companies such as Safran, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin. These companies manufacture arms and technology for the Israeli military, which contributes to violence in Gaza and the West Bank. 

Concordia University has not disclosed its investments like McGill. However, students and others have been able to identify Concordia's ties to companies, which are connected to Israel. Concordia University also has ties with Lockheed Martin, like McGill, and engineering students can intern with the company. Concordia University has also developed a partnership with BMO, which is the third investor in Elbit Systems, an Israeli defence contractor.

After McGill's provisional injunction failed, McGill has been looking to carry out an interlocutory injunction. The process would take months. McGill stated that they have met with campers and students six times between May 3 and May 10 and that they continue to seek conversations, in good faith, with the campers. However, organizers have said they cannot have conversations with the administration in good faith, as the university is legally seeking to dismantle the encampment and have previously called police to dismantle it.

The Service de Police de la Ville de Montreal has said it will not dismantle the encampment, despite the various requests from McGill. However, there has been an increasing presence of police at the UQAM encampment in the past weeks. 

Despite the policing, students continue to host teach-ins and organize their university system for Montrealers to learn more about the Palestinian struggles, and other forms of violence happening across the world.