ACTIVISTS TURN THEIR BACKS TO DENIALIST SPEAKERS AT UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
15:56, 02 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
On Feb. 27, Armenian youth held a silent protest at a lecture, entitled
“WWI 100th Anniversary: Human Suffering in Eastern Anatolia,” that
featured genocide deniers Justin McCarthy and Bruce Fein.
Organized by the Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations, the
lecture was held at the University of Toronto (UofT), St. George
Campus, the Armenian Weekly reports.
The Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) of Canada, in collaboration
with the Armenian Students Association (ASA) of UofT St. George and
Scarborough campuses and the Armen Karo Student Association spearheaded
this protest action.
More than 70 human rights activists from the university community,
who made up the majority of those in attendance, held the silent
protest by standing in unison and turning their backs to the lecturers.
Protesters allowed the speakers to deliver their opening remarks.
However, when it became apparent that the speakers would deny and
misconstrue the facts of the Armenian Genocide, the group stood up
and turned their backs to the podium as a silent protest against
genocide denial.
Several racial slurs and discriminatory comments were directed at
the protesters as they stood in silence.
The lecture organizers briefly stopped the talk, but after campus
police made it clear that the form of protest did not interfere with
the event, they were asked to continue.
The protesters continued to stand with their backs to the podium as
Fein spoke, then marched out in an organized walk-out, leaving the
remaining 20 or so attendees to listen to the lecture.
The demonstrators then marched to UofT’s Anti-Racism and Cultural
Diversity Office to voice their concern regarding the event, and to
deliver a petition of over 2,000 signatures denouncing the talk and
demanding that the university distance itself from the organizers and
speakers. The group had previously sent to the university a letter
signed by academics, human rights groups, and student associations,
including the Hillel of Greater Toronto, the Greek Students Association
of UofT-Scarborough, and the Hellenic Students Association of Ryerson
University, demanding that the event be canceled.
McCarthy, who was turned away from the University of Melbourne and
Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2013, has long been regarded as a
mouthpiece of the Turkish state in spreading denial of the Armenian
Genocide. Fein is employed by the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA)
as a resident scholar, to similarly support and propagate the Turkish
denial policy of the Armenian Genocide, and has penned several articles
attacking the veracity of the genocide.
AYF-Canada Chairperson Daron Keskinian said it was “extremely
troubling” that such an event took place at UofT.
“The University of Toronto should distance itself from this event
immediately,” he said. “The lecture organizers have used the location
to bring legitimacy to their event, and have been given free rein to
present their denial propaganda at the expense of the university’s
reputation.”
The ASA of UofT released a statement stressing that the event should
be disconcerting to the university community at large.
“In the interest of maintaining its integrity and making amends
for this event taking place on campus, the University of Toronto’s
President’s Office should release a statement indicating that they
distance themselves from this event. The Armenian Genocide is taught
at this institution and the University of Toronto should not provide
podiums to those who are looking to legitimize their denial of the
first genocide of the 20th century,” read the statement.