I had the pleasure of interviewing Naomi Harris, who is the President of the Solidarity Group. She is an activist, does a lot of fascinating work on campus,and she exemplifies great leadership qualities.
1.What are you currently studying?
I’m in International Relations and Development with a minor in Spanish. I really enjoy it because IR is a concentration of Political Science, History, Spanish, Middle Eastern studies and whatever you choose to focus on. You have a lot of leeway and it’s not as regimented and strict as other programs so i like that there’s this element of choice.
2.Why did you decide to become the President of the Palestinian Solidarity Group?
It wasn’t so much a choice. I became involved last year. I learned a lot and became very passionate about both the situation in Palestine and the treatment of Palestinians internationally. The past President approached me and asked me if i’d be willing to take over for this school year and I was very hesitant to. I felt like I would get a lot of backlash because i’m not Palestinian and I’m not of Arab descent. Also it seemed daunting because it’s a very controversial issue. It’s viewed as a political or religious fight but for me it was very simple. It was a humanitarian issue.
3.What finally convinced you ?
I just said, “well, I’ll try it. I’ll give it a shot.”
4. What kind of work does the Palestinian Solidarity Group do on campus?
The PSG is mainly about student engagement and education. And we do that regularly through information booths in the CAW as well as culture nights such as Teach Me How to Dabke.
5.What is something you wish people knew about the Palestinian cause?
At the end of the day you don’t have to be Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Christian, or Jewish to care. You just need to be human.
6.What are some challenges you’ve faced as President?
Student engagement is an issue I faced because of the abundance of events on campus and the controversial nature. So me even speaking to people in the CAW would create a lot of backlash. We had a lot of people coming up to us saying we’re antisemitic and very intolerant. We counter that by saying we’re not speaking against any particular group, we’re speaking about a humanitarian issue. We’re speaking against oppression, segregation and racism.
7.What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as President?
Education. I feel like slowly but surely people are learning about Palestine. When we first started we had people coming to us asking: what is Palestine? where is it? what is it? People did not know it was a country in the Middle East.
8. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement is being implemented in many university campuses across Canada. What are your thoughts on that? Do you wish to see it on this campus one day?
BDS is tough. I’ve seen pass at other universities including our own and then be reversed. I think this speaks to the size of the issue and also the lack of education on it. And I also think this speaks to the fact that it’s not just an issue between Palestinians and Israelis. It affects the greater international community as well.
9. Why should more people become involved with the Palestinian Solidarity Group and how do they get more involved ?
As I’ve been reiterating, it’s a humanitarian issue. Although we enjoy freedom and access to human rights in Canada, there are those who don’t in other parts of the world and if we were to stay true to our Canadian values and uphold them then we can’t stand by and continue to let this happen internationally and specifically in Palestine. We have a Facebook page that people can like. People can message different members of the group about it, come out to our events, and come speak to us on campus.
10. Are you involved with any other groups outside of the Palestinian Solidarity Group ?
Yes, I’m also President of the Fair Trade team on campus and I’m Vice President of Students of UWindsor.
11. What kind of work do they do ?
The Fair Trade team is working to make the campus fair trade designated so that would mean more fair trade products available on campus as well a fair trade day.Students of UWindsor is our campus’ version of Humans of New York. Our goal with that is to increase the sense of community on campus.