Letter in reply to SGPS Executive Statement on BDS Israel Motion by CFS Ontario

We wish to state our strong disagreement with the “SGPS Statement on BDS Israel Motion Passed by CFS Ontario” released by the SGPS Executive on August 26, 2014.

We strongly disagree with the position stated by Kevin Weiner, President of the SGPS, that the “SGPS Executive does not support taking political positions on foreign policy issues that divide our membership.” In fact, the SGPS Executive did take a political stance by distancing themselves from and implying their opposition to the CFS Ontario motion.

If the SGPS Executive felt it inappropriate to comment on behalf of the SGPS membership on this matter due to its content then no “SGPS Statement” should have been issued. The SGPS Executive is comprised of only five persons and does not reflect the opinions of the more than three thousand graduate and professional students at Queen’s University.

Moreover, the notion that an association of Queen’s graduate and professional students should avoid addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict is deeply disturbing. The University should indeed be a place for conscientious democratic deliberation and dialogue, and the SGPS should not be any exception, even and especially in such cases where there are serious human rights and social justice concerns. International academic and financial relationships are fundamental to Queen’s University. All members of the Queen’s University community are implicated in these relationships, which are unavoidably political.

We condemn the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the collective punishment of the Palestinian people by the state of Israel.

We support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, and the CFS-Ontario resolution.

We urge that Queen’s graduate and professional students take action in support of the BDS Movement and utilize the mechanisms provided for in the SGPS Bylaws.

Patrick Alexander

Shahab Asoodeh

Pansee Atta

Burcu Baba

Jeff Barbeau

Nikolas Barry-Shaw

Bianca Beauchemin

Mansoor Behnam

Mikhail Bjorge

Terry Bridges

May Chew

Meagan Crane

Nicole Day

Yasmine Djerbal

Angie Fazekas

Lisa Figge

Christine Grossutti

Derya Güngör

Karl Hardy

Jane Kirby

Poyraz Kolluoglu

Will Langford

Adriana Lopez-Villalobos

Krystle Maki

Stephanie McColl

Kathryn McDonald

Robin McDonald

Barbara Meneley

Jeffrey Monaghan

Filza Naveed

Douglas Nesbitt

Shawn Newman

Midori Ogasawara

Dilan Okcuoglu

Karen Raddon

Lindsay Rodgers

John Rose

Adam Saifer

Alana Saulnier

Matthew Shultz

Stephen Sheps

Nicole Slipp

Erica Spink

Natasha Stirrett

David Thompson

Ayca Tomac

Özgün Topak

Mark Vardy

Dana Wesley

Deniz Zorlu

 

Background context to the statement and call for signatures

On August 17, 2014, CFS Ontario passed a motion to condemn Israel’s operations in Gaza and to endorse the BDS movement against the state of Israel. See “Ontario university students unions vote to join boycott against Israel”

On August 26, 2014, the SGPS Executive issued a statement to distance themselves from and to imply their opposition to the CFS Ontario motion http://www.sgps.ca/downloads/press-release-bds-cfs.pdf

The SGPS Executive did take a political stance by opposing to the CFS Ontario motion. Moreover, the “political neutrality” argument of the SGPS Executive does not match with the past practices of the SGPS. In the past, SGPS has taken stances on a number of global political issues, including Darfur where the SGPS called on the Queen’s University Board of Trustees to divest from firms operating in South Sudan.

If you wish to sign the statement, please indicate your full name and department and send an e-mail to: queensuforpalestine@gmail.com