Tug-of-war over Palestinian flag at Algonquin College convocation
For her convocation ceremony last week, Algonquin College graduate Rama Al-Zu'bi wanted to walk across the stage at Canadian Tire Centre waving her Palestinian flag.
"When it's my time on stage, I'm celebrating me, and Palestinian is me," Al-Zu'bi told CBC.
Before she was able to wave the flag of her homeland, however, she first had to win a tug of-war with an Algonquin College staff member who tried to pull it away from her as her name was being called. The incident on June 19 was captured on video.
"I yelled, 'Let go!' and took the flag away from him," Al-Zu'bi recounted. "He was pulling very hard."
WATCH / The moment Al-Zu'bi describes, captured on video:
Al-Zu'bi, a graduate of the college's film and media production program, said she was not told of any policy that would prevent her from waving the Palestinian flag during the ceremony.
Other graduates crossed the stage with flags from their home countries including Ecuador, but did not experience pushback from security personnel, Al-Zu'bi said.
"I don't think it's the problem of a flag, I think it's a problem with the Palestinian flag," she told CBC.
In a statement to CBC, Algonquin College said graduates were informed in advance of the venue's policies, which included a ban on flags.
"In keeping with venue rules, flags were not permitted inside," the college said in a statement to CBC. "However, some flags were missed during security screening. As a result, various national flags — including Palestinian flags — were carried across the stage during 12 ceremonies held over four days in Ottawa."
The college said security personnel "including venue and College staff, worked to uphold the guidelines," but added it regrets "any distress the enforcement of these rules may have caused."
Another video posted on social media shows venue staff confronting a graduate with a Palestinian flag after she crossed the stage. That person declined to speak with CBC.
Al-Zu'bi said she feels like her alma mater tried to stifle her freedom of expression. She said her Palestinian flag, which normally hangs on her bedroom wall, was a gift from a sister and is an object that "feels the closest to home."
She said there has been no follow-up nor disciplinary action from the college since the ceremony.
João Velloso, an associate professor of law at the University of Ottawa, said he found the footage of the June 19 incident "troubling."
"It's not necessarily the flag, but how the staff tried to grab it aggressively instead of just managing it," said Velloso, who was part of the University of Ottawa's Senate and Board of Governors during the months-long encampment of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on campus last year.
Velloso argues convocations are inherently political events, and activism is going to happen despite institutions trying to prevent it.
"In the U.S., just receiving a degree in gender studies is a political statement," he said. "Graduations come with a political dimension."
Velloso said one way to manage it would be to allow flags and offer support to students who may be triggered by them – whether the flag is from Palestine, Israel, Russia, Ukraine or other conflict zones.
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