The Israeli war protests on university campuses raised a lot of discussion this week about who is in the right and who is wrong. To make that decision, it is necessary to draw a line between what is a protest and what is an illegal imposition of a group’s will upon the populace. Protesters who slide into the latter activity run afoul of the law and destroy their own public support.
Public/Private
If a group believes a law or government position is wrong, they have every right to bring their belief in front of the public. This is what freedom of expression is all about. People are allowed a certain latitude to cause discomfort to the rest of the population in order to make their point. Public roads and even public buildings are considered fair game. When they start moving onto private property, however, then we have to consider the rights of other citizens. And that includes universities and their students.
Objectives
The right to protest involves the use of demonstration as a public relations move. You bring your argument into the public eye and you get your fifteen minutes of media attention, as is your right. You run your flag up the pole and see if anyone salutes.
And that’s it. When the media attention fades, you must find other means to support your cause. For many causes, the “saluting” from the general public involves donations of money, so you can afford to take your case into the mainstream media.
Power: Use and Abuse
Those caught up in enthusiasm for their cause tend to forget that you are not allowed to use the power you have gained to force anyone to do anything, because then you are as wrong as those you protest against. The moment the university protesters state that they will disrupt the working of the university until the administration stops investing in another country, they have stepped over several boundaries. You cannot use the power of a protest to force an organization to disrupt a democratically accepted process. You have to be very careful about attempting to shut down the services provided to other people as a power move, because then you are stepping on their rights.
The trucker protests in Ottawa ran afoul of the law on both counts, because they wanted to force the government to resign, and they intimidated the population of downtown Ottawa with noise and personal abuse.
The Gaza Situation
My message for the pro-Palestinian side in the university protests is that they are messing up, big-time. The general feeling among the population of Canada and the rest of the world is that the hard-line Zionists in Israel have gone far beyond the boundaries of humane treatment of a civilian population. Palestinians came into this situation with a lot of support.
However, if their protest goes beyond the boundaries of what is considered morally defensible social activity, they lose their support in this country.
My Personal Opinion
This point is demonstrated by my personal feelings, which I believe echo the thoughts of many Canadians. The Netanyahu government is wrong in what they are doing in Gaza. Their actions will solve nothing and will lose Israel a great deal of face in international politics for decades to come. Likewise, the pro-Palestinian protesters in Canada are going beyond acceptable behaviour and are fostering anti-Semitism in our country. Thus they lose the good publicity they already had.
It is ironic that the Israelis had plenty of public sympathy because of their treatment by the Nazis, and are now losing it by acting like the Nazis. These Palestinian supporters seem to be following the same path by acting like the Israelis.
The Bottom Line
A protest is a public relations activity, and protesters who follow the rules can gain major support. Canadian protesters know this and use the tool often and well. The moment protesters start throwing their weight around, they start losing support in the court of law and in the court of public opinion. These pro-Palestinians sound like the kind of people who keep wars going, and risk being too closely associate with Hamas and the other radical anti-Jewish factions of the Middle East.
My advice to them: you are in Canada. If you want Canadian support, play by Canadian rules.
PS In Other News This Week:
– Interim report from committee investigating foreign intervention in Canadian elections
– Arrests made in case of Indian government murdering Sikh resistance leader in Canada
Is there a pattern?