Through extensive research undertaken with UBC Graduate Students for Palestine, we found that UBC’s 2023 endowment investments in Israeli apartheid, settler-colonial occupation, and genocide of Palestinians totalled over $113.8 million across 88 firms 🧵
@elikowaz
@UBC
These stickers were not created or distributed by our centre. We have never, and would never, condone or promote such messages. We are working with the
@AMS_UBC
to ensure that whoever is spreading these messages and falsely attributing them to us will be held accountable.
THE PEOPLE’S UNIVERSITY FOR GAZA:
An autonomous encampment has been set up on UBC campus, adding to a growing student movement in solidarity with Palestine. Come to the field in front of the AMS Nest to support!!
This disturbing echo of settler-colonial “terra nullius” rhetoric is only the most recent example of the anti-Palestinian racism
@SelinaRobinson
has pushed since the genocide in Gaza began. She has proven herself unfit for her position and needs to resign.
Israeli students in the Hebrew university of Jerusalem chanting “go go to Gaza” and “may your village burn” in front of Palestinian students protesting to stop the genocide in Gaza. How vile.
Snapshots from day 1 of the UBC encampment. This is a space of refusal, where we resoundingly reject the university’s investment in genocide. It is a space of imagination, where we work with one another to build emancipatory futures. From
@peoplesuniversityubc
on Instagram.
@LindaFrum
These stickers were not created or distributed by our centre. We have never, and would never, condone or promote such messages. We are working with the
@AMS_UBC
to ensure that whoever is spreading these messages and falsely attributing them to us will be held accountable.
This is misleading. There was no investigation of the sticker incident,
@UBC
is refusing to do its due diligence on this matter.
@ubcprez
cancelled his meeting with concerned students. There was no condemnation, there was no action. Our students are still looking for justice.
Thank you to our Musqueam and Salish hosts who delivered the most beautiful welcome ceremony to the encampment on Monday. We are so grateful to be able to gather on Musqueam land, to protest contemporary colonial land theft sponsored by our settler University.
Providing every member of our university's community (students, staff, faculty) with free (K)95 masks, rapid tests, drug checking strips, etc. is easy and would be a relatively small expense for UBC. Just saying.
Make no mistake—this was itself a violent, hateful demonstration. Ken Sim is *celebrating* the expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians to establish an ethnostate that is currently committing genocide. It's hard to overstate how depraved this is.
Today, Vancouver City Hall and Burrard Bridge will be illuminated for Israel's 76th Independence Day.
We recognize and uphold fundamental freedoms of speech and the ability to peacefully protest whether at City Hall, or across Vancouver. That being said, it’s equally important
Motion to decriminalize poverty and support community-led safety initiatives just passed unanimously, thanks to a record-breaking 395 speakers, hundreds of letters, and the work of Black- and Indigenous-led organizations.
This is a first step, but it’s an important one.
UBC invested almost $111 million of its endowment into Israeli apartheid in 2023, up by $44 million from 2022. It also maintains exchange programs with three Israeli universities that are deeply complicit in the occupation. UBC MUST DIVEST!
Y'all we, a coalition of 20 student groups, got the AMS to pass a motion to denounce Israeli Apartheid, and call on UBC to divest from companies complicit in Israeli Apartheid.
Overwhelming support for the Divestment Motion coming to council RIGHT NOW! There are over 170 people showing their support and an overflow room as not everyone fit in the council meeting 🇵🇸
@angeloisidorou
These stickers were not created or distributed by our centre. We have never, and would never, condone or promote such messages. We are working with the
@AMS_UBC
to ensure that whoever is spreading these messages and falsely attributing them to us will be held accountable.
With a majority government, the NDP must:
✅Implement vacancy control
✅End all subsidies to the fossil fuel industry
✅Respect Indigenous sovereignty
✅End homelessness
✅Create a safe supply of drugs
A majority mandate means no excuses.
Hey
@UBC
, here are some great ways to affirm your "commitments to addressing Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination:" ⬇️
1. Call for a police investigation of Hillel BC for the fraudulent stickers that resulted in an Islamophobic hate campaign against your students.
January 29: National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City Mosque Attack and Action against Islamophobia. Today is an opportunity to honour the survivors and victims and reaffirm our commitments to addressing Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination.
Overwhelming support for the Divestment Motion coming to council RIGHT NOW! There are over 170 people showing their support and an overflow room as not everyone fit in the council meeting 🇵🇸
The
@NDP
's
@theJagmeetSingh
has published a list of 13 demands in support of Palestinian human rights which are aligned with international law and reflect the priorities of civil society. CJPME deeply appreciates this principled commitment to oppose injustice.
#NDP
#cdnpoli
1/ Even though the vast majority of speakers were against the adoption of the
#IHRA
definition of antisemitism, the motion passed regardless because 7/10 of the councillors are conservative ABC members.
#vanpoli
Let us be clear:
Thank you
@MatthewGreenNDP
@LMathys
@DesjarlaisBlake
for your support as we continue to fight for the bare minimum from
@UBC
— a transparent investigation and public accountability. We remain disappointed and baffled that even federal MPs have spoken up before our own university.
As
@NDP
MPs, we stand with the Social Justice Centre at UBC Vancouver. The recent defamation incident is deeply troubling. We urge
@UBC
to prioritize student safety and conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.
"The biggest concern is the safety of the children."
140 units of supportive housing for the homeless is being planned on
#Vancouver
’s West Side, but neighbours are concerned it's across from an elementary school, playground and daycare.
@CityNewsVAN
@NEWS1130
Across North America, students are realizing that the norm in our universities is to invest in war and apartheid. This will not be the norm for much longer. A future where centres of teaching and learning are not simultaneously sponsors of genocide is on the horizon. 4/7
@UBC
has treated the concerns of its Muslim& racialized students with little care and no urgency. It’s almost been a month since the defamatory incident, but UBC has yet to conduct an investigation or even obtain the name of the contractor that defamed the SJC. We demand answers.
Hillel UBC admitted that one of its own plastered campus w “I ❤️Hamas” stickers, made it look like SJC_UBC did it.
A Zionist group behind framing & endangering progressive students.
Silence from
@UBC
.
No condemnation. No investigation.
@selinarobinson
@ubcprez
for shame.
It would be nice if UBC's COVID-19 communications weren't delivered through a series of fragmented and conflicting statements from individual faculties and faculty members
Vacancy Control in Vancouver: A form of rent control that is linked to a unit rather than a tenant. This means that the landlord will be restricted in the amount they can raise the rent between tenancies, and can decrease their desire to evict tenants on illegitimate grounds.
Here, Melissa De Genova, who routinely subverts democratic processes by wasting time through points of information, points of personal privilege, etc., claims peaceful protests are anti-democratic.
We must defeat her in 2022. This is disgraceful.
In a
#democracy
, storming in and shutting down a Congress, Legislature or even a City Council is never the right thing to do--in Washington or Vancouver.
#cdnpoli
#bcpoli
#vanpoli
BREAKING:
5 brave youth are facing arrest at Attorney General
@Dave_Eby
's constituency office, demanding justice for
#Wetsuweten
and respect for
#UNDRIP
.
Please amplify and send them messages of support.
#WetsuwetenStrong
The
@BCNDP
just included a rent freeze in their election platform, so today we're thinking about Jean Swanson's continuing and tireless advocacy for social justice and commitment to a working-class movement in this province.
#RentFreeze
Among them are 16 companies on the UN OHCHR list of firms operating in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank and Syrian Golan, as well as 16 defence contractors directly enabling and profiting off of the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. 1/7
UBC Campus Security recently issued a series of obvious and dangerous lies in a PUBLIC STATEMENT on the student occupation of the bookstore. This sets a disturbing precedent for how free expression is treated on campus. From
@peoplesuniversityubc
on Instagram. 🧵
Whether you're voting NDP or Green, please always remember that our work doesn't end at the ballot box. The real work - of building communities that are just and humane - happens outside of elections.
First photo, December 2020 motion to cut the VPD budget.
Second photo, December 2021, after a global uprising against police violence.
Only 2 of our city councillors are on our side.
1. Zionism is racism. Zionism is settler colonialism. Israel is a racist, settler colonial and apartheid state built on the dispossession of Palestinians. No amount of suppression of Palestinian voices will ever stifle these facts.
Divestment is not infeasible, will not contradict UBC’s fiduciary obligation to its donors, and is not unprecedented. In 2019, the university committed to divest $144 million of its portfolio from fossil fuels by 2030. 5/7
Endless respect for the incredible organizers at Columbia. Despite operating in an environment of horrific repression—facing chemical attacks, evictions, and professors who doxx them with impunity—they remain steadfast and refuse to back down. An inspiration to us everywhere.
SAY IT LOUD, SAY IT CLEAR, LIBERATION IS ALMOST HERE!! ❤️🔥
We stand with all Columbia University students in the encampment and with Palestine!!
#cu4palestine
Divestment by index rebalancing via a more robust style of responsible investment that precludes holding shares in companies that consistently and knowingly violate human rights and commit crimes against humanity is not only doable but has never been more urgent. 7/7
At the height of the Defund the Police movement, the BC Government called an election. Let’s make sure the Defund the Police movement is part of the election conversation.
Join us on Sunday, Nov. 6th @ 11AM to march for dignified, safe, affordable housing for all.
Our unhoused neighbours and allies have organized this city-wide rally to show David Eby, Ken Sim & the new ABC-majority council that we refuse to abandon the fight for housing justice!!
In The City of Vancouver's public engagement for the budget, a large group of people wanted the police budget cut, with the average in the budget simulator being around $72 million.
The proposal from the city is to have the police budget go up from $341 to $343 million.
More than 170 students are attending AMS council tonight, calling on the AMS to endorse divestment from companies complicit in Israeli Apartheid.
This is incredible.
In fact, 2022 and 2023, the UBC Board of Governors approved a 0.23% increase in investments in Boeing and BAE systems—two of the worlds largest weapons manufacturers—by four and five times respectively. 2/7
We're on CBC! "Fellow UBC student Emma Gunn wants the federal NDP to learn from the Sanders campaign for future elections. 'They need to learn that they can just move farther left because that's where the young people are,' she said."
#NotMeUS
4. At council today, many Jewish people spoke up against this motion. We are disgusted by attacks on our Jewish allies who Zionists accused of being “token” or “fringe Jews”. We thank
@IndJewishVoices
for their principled commitment to stand for Palestinian human rights.
Last July, council unanimously passed a motion to support community-led safety initiatives, thanks to a record-breaking 395 speakers, hundreds of letters from constituents, and the work of Black- and Indigenous-led organizations
Make them follow through:
2. You cannot claim to be “progressive” while supporting the Zionist project, which has dispossessed & oppressed Palestinians. Zionism and progressivism are inherently opposed. We stand against antisemitism in all of its forms. Targeting Palestinians is not fighting antisemitism.
3. As the Union of BC Indian Chefs’ (
@UBCIC
) letter to the Vancouver council states, “adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism is in direct contravention of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration)”.
When constituents call on
@MelissaDeGenova
and
@sarahkirby_yung
to recuse themselves from VPD-related matters, that INCLUDES deciding when/how to hear VPD-related motions.
Because of their blatant obstruction of yday's council meeting, motions B4 and B2 have been delayed again.
UBC Investment Management Trust—the private company UBC that contracts to assemble its annual index fund portfolio—has made this commitment a key principle of its responsible investment strategy. 6/7
📍 URGENT CALL TO ACTION 📍
We have written a letter template to pressure Canadian MPs to stop selling arms to Israel and support Palestinian liberation:
Please use the template to send an email to your MPs and demand they condemn Israeli apartheid.
Hello! We're here live-tweeting the Vancouver City Council meeting on
@JeanSwanson_
's motion: Decriminalizing Poverty and Supporting Community-led Safety Initiatives.
CAPS 390 (biology) professors have been removing posts by students (on Piazza) about moving exams online.
"this course also has 10 instructors and not a single one has answered course content-related questions on Piazza all day today"
.
@UBC
is a world-class university that is innovating to protect Canadians from COVID-19, including through the development of key vaccine components. I spoke with
@ubcprez
on how our government can continue to invest in their important work.
📸 k.adeir - IG
The BC government has the ability to requisition enough hotels to end homelessness in less than a week.
Calling for BASIC rights for all people during a PANDEMIC is not utopian.
To clarify: we are ABSOLUTELY trying to interfere in the US
#Election2020
.
Because healthcare is a human right.
Because we need bold climate action.
Because kids in every corner of this planet deserve to live in peace.
And because donating time is 100% legal ;)
#NotMeUs
5. We are grateful for the Palestinian speakers who courageously shared their experiences. We are also grateful for all the wonderful anti-racist speakers who spoke in opposition to this dangerous definition.
Imagine a society:
🧩Without cops
🧩Without incarceration
🧩Built on human need, not corporate greed
🧩That values all human life
Step 1 to achieving this is defunding the VPD.
Well, we are a socialist group, and we understand full well that the slogan "socialism or extinction" is true.
Climate justice hinges on the demolition of capitalism, and we understand that this struggle is inherently political.
Just to be clear we are not a socialist movement. We do not trust any single ideology, we trust the people, chosen by sortition (like jury service) to find the best future for us all through a
#CitizensAssembly
A banner saying ‘socialism or extinction’ does not represent us 🙏🏽🙏
7. We cannot let the passing of this motion stifle our fight for a free Palestine. If anything, this should embolden us to fight even harder for Palestinian human rights. From the river to the sea,
Palestine will be free❤️
Opposing settler-colonialism means opposing it in all of its forms, whether here in Turtle Island or in Palestine. It is inconsistent to deny Palestinians’ rights to their land while claiming to support the land back efforts of Indigenous people on Turtle island.
.
@JeanSwanson_
's motion B4, to decriminalize poverty and take responsibility away from the VPD is an important step towards
#DefundVPD
.
✅Write to council in support, following these instructions: .
✅Consider speaking to council:
Solidarity with our American comrades, friends, and family.
Today will be a tough day regardless of the results. Take care of yourselves. Our struggle for a better future is a marathon.
Yesterday, we spent the day cooking chili con carne, beef pasta, chicken stew, rice, and stir fry for our neighbours at Oppenheimer Park.
We need homes for all. Now.
#vanpoli
To Affleck and MDG, the worst thing about what happened at the Capitol was that protestors entered govt chambers and disrupted decorum, not the pernicious ideas motivating the event.
To them, demonstrations for social housing are as bad as those for fascism and white supremacy
That day in 2017 when
@CityofVancouver
City Hall Chamber was taken by protestors and democratic process was halted. Among those who took our seats was Order of Canada recipient and now
#Vancouver
City Councillor Jean Swanson.
#vanpoli
#cdnpoli
UBC SJC stands in solidarity with
@ColumbiaSJP
and urges
@Columbia
to hold the perpetrators of this criminal act accountable. Across North America the fundamental rights to safety and to free expression of students advocating for Palestine must be upheld.
Two Columbia University students, both IOF soldiers, sprayed a chemical weapon on peaceful protesters. Skunk spray is used on Palestinians in the West Bank by the Israeli occupation. It is known to cause nausea, abdominal pain, and vomiting.
@Columbia
must take action.
We support
@JeanSwanson_
’s motion to urge the province to acquire hotel rooms to house ALL homeless people in Vancouver.
Let’s emerge out of this pandemic without homelessness!
Send an email using this template BY WEDNESDAY MORNING to voice your support:
Moreover, HUJ is deeply complicit in land theft and has a horrific track record of discrimination against its Palestinian students that goes far beyond what is shown in this video. This is unacceptable. We demand academic boycott—
@UBC
, cut ties with HUJ!
6. We are disappointed by the weak opposition presented by our progressive councillors.
There is a difference between voting no and actively advocating for Palestinian rights. Similarly, abstaining makes you just as complicit as those who voted yes.
@christineeboyle
@PtFry
We’re so excited to endorse
@eshanabhangu
for
@AMS_UBC
president.
We can’t think of a more committed, progressive, and effective student leader in recent memory. Under Eshana’s leadership as VP Academic this year, the AMS
@UBC
truly resembled a student union this year.
Given that we have 4 years ahead of us with an ABC dominated council, we hope the progressives we have on council will more actively demonstrate principle in fighting for basic human rights.
For School Board, we are asking students to vote for candidates that are fighting to protect students from COVID-19 while making our school system more fair for all.
This is absolutely shameful. The
@NDP
is not a party of progressives - masks completely off, you are no real “opposition” party. How dare you remove the only person in your caucus to speak clearly on the genocide of Palestinians? This is a complete show of cowardice.
@OntarioNDP
One year ago today UBC made history at the biggest protest our campus has ever seen!
Last year we stood in solidarity with people across the world to demand climate justice from our government.
This year, although we are physically distant, we continue to the fight for justice