Re: "Opting out of QPIRG" by Brendan Steven (26.01.10)In his article "Opting out of QPIRG," Brendan Steven claims that "controversial groups" should go directly to students for their funding, instead of receiving it through the McGill chapter of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group. However, a fee levy, like a referendum, is a form of direct democracy. McGill students vote to renew QPIRG's funding, and thus the support of its numerous working groups, through a referendum every five years. Furthermore, students can choose to opt-out of the fee. QPIRG has passed three referenda votes in the last three years, re-affirming support for its work on campus.
Students support a wide variety of organizations that they cannot opt-out of, regardless of whether they take advantage of the services or agree with their mandates. We believe that QPIRG McGill's working groups contribute to campus life in a variety of valuable ways: they strengthen ties between the McGill campus and the wider Montreal community, foster debate about society and political life, and encourage a broader understanding of the role of education.
Tadamon's work in supporting the growing international movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions to end Israeli Apartheid comes in response to a call issued by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations in 2005. While Steven attempts to dismiss the characterization of Israel as an apartheid state as "a parallel [with South African Apartheid] that is inappropriate at best," we would like to point out the growing global consensus that Israel is indeed an Apartheid state. From South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, to South African law professor and UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur John Dugard, increasing numbers of people recognize Israel's policies of separate roads in the West Bank for Jewish and Palestinian citizens, colour-coded identification cards based on ethno-racial designations, checkpoints throughout the West Bank, the brutal blockade of Gaza, and the discrimination in jobs, housing, property ownership, and other aspects of life faced by Palestinians within Israel as elements of a complex system of Apartheid. As Archbishop Tutu stated in 2002, "I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about."
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Anna Rebecca
posted 2/16/10 @ 5:40 PM EST
A measured and articulate response. Thanks. The health of a community depends on much more than the desire of the mainstream majority; I support things I never use, like subsidized daycare and social assistance, not out of charity but because it makes my community stronger. (Continued…)
Keely Evans
posted 2/18/10 @ 3:53 PM EST
Sorry, Anna Rebecca...
This commentary is far from a "measured response", unless euphemism, hypocrisy and obuscation are now to be considered "measured". (Continued…)
Sloopy
posted 2/19/10 @ 4:48 PM EST
I've read about this storied "call issued by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations in 2005."
Here is the call and the signatories: http://bit. (Continued…)
Keely Evans
posted 2/20/10 @ 9:30 AM EST
Exactly, Sloopy. It reminds me of the time (circa 1999) when I participated in a meeting to organize a petition in favour of Palestinian statehood. Of the dozen or so people at the meeting only one was even remotely "Palestinian". (Continued…)
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