May 30, 2024 | by Barry Weisleder
“Our job is to put our bodies in between you and whatever the administration brings to you.” JP Hornick, president of the 180,000 member Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU), told the rally of nearly one thousand student protesters and their allies on May 27 outside the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Toronto.
“If the police come, we will be your human shields. We will be your line of defense. And I promise you that we will be here for as long as it takes to make sure that you are safe.”
Hornick was joined at the microphone by Laura Walton, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour, Sid Ryan, past President of the OFL, Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario, several leaders of unions on the U of T campus, and Jamie West, MPP for Sudbury, the Labour Critic for the New Democratic Party in the Ontario Legislature.
Towards the end of remarks by Jamie West, as rain pelted the crowd, Socialist Action initiated a chant that quickly was voiced by the throng: “Re-instate Sarah Jama! Re-instate Sarah Jama!” It was a message to Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles who banished Jama, the MPP for Hamilton Center, from the provincial NDP caucus of MPPs for demanding a ceasefire in Gaza last Autumn without denouncing the Palestinian resistance to 76 years of Zionist Occupation.
The court injunction sought by the U of T administration against the ongoing encampment, which demands an end to U of T investment in, and ties to Israeli universities and war industries, is not granted, as of May 30. The so-called Israel Defense Force has destroyed or heavily damaged all 12 universities in the Gaza Strip by means of air strikes or bombs, in the process killing dozens of professors and students, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
