I Won’t Cover the UVic Encampment Anymore

There’s going to be a rally at the People’s Park encampment at the University of Victoria tomorrow morning at 8AM, which is the deadline the administration gave the protesters to vacate the premises under threat of enforcement. By all means, I encourage you to join in:

But I won’t be there. I no longer support the encampment starting tonight.

I actually went tonight in a capacity of legal observer in its time of need. I meant to spend the night there to be sure I’d be within the walls at the deadline, unsure how Saanich Police and GVERT would to deploy in the morning—if they don’t strike during the night, that is. I even volunteered for a security shift, something the organisers keep clamouring for.

I usually don’t gossip about encampment activity; what happens there stays there. But after tonight I just don’t care anymore, so I’ll write about what happened anyway, and you be the judge of whether or not it’s appropriate.

Initially I was welcomed as usual, especially after I told them I came as a legal observer and I’d indeed take a security shift. I know just about every regular over there and I’ve earned their trust in the long run. Or so I thought.

Then one of them came and told me to leave, explaining in unequivocal terms that I was considered a security risk. She manifestly did so without consulting with the group, and her rationale turned out to be, well, bizarre. Even then I hardly argued and just left. But not without getting their perspective first, because I was really puzzled by the allegations she made: that the material I publish was being used by Zionists to doxx them. Which is odd because I’ve never published anything at the encampment that could be of use to a doxxer.

One other regular who pitched in precised their thought: they seemed to object to my publishing material captured at weekend Palestine solidarity rallies downtown, including remote crowd shots without the consent of everyone in the frame. He even asked me how I felt about Zionists using my footage to identify fellow protesters.

Oh God. Poor thing must have spent way too long offline isolated behind these walls if he thinks Zionists need my material to identify regulars at Saturday rallies.

For starters, weekend rallies are public events, where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. Recording is rampant. Organisers themselves, for starters, release lots of footage of their rallies—and far more revealing than mine. So do many regulars. And hundreds of bystanders, both locals and tourists. Other independent journalists and bloggers. Zionists themselves come to the rallies to record people. And of course Charles Bodi shows up every now and then with a camera almost large enough to pass for a telescope. Really, doxxers have all the material they need already, and it would be utterly unreasonable for anyone attending these rallies to expect otherwise.

Then there comes the issue of consent. It turns out many people I record actually ask me to do so, and even request the footage afterwards. Here’s one, which features a spokesperson for the UVic encampment, just to make my point:

Moreover, I’ve got more ethics than most. In principle, I avoid closeups of supporters’ faces (not that my zoomless cell phone camera is any good for this purpose anyway) and I have an official policy of honouring any reasonable takedown request without exception (which I have never failed to honour). Other media, even independent vloggers, aren’t nearly as accommodating, such that even if one requests to avoid being recorded, the answer may range from “I’ll try but I can’t promise anything…” to a blunter “Recording in public is legal, deal with it.”

From my Youtube channel: Official takedown policy: This channel may feature prejudicial content for people who risk retaliation for their political activism. My policy is therefore to honour every reasonable takedown request, no question asked; if you’re recognisable on a clip and want it taken down, that’s good enough for me. I can be reached for this purpose via email at martin.girard@rulebreakers.info. (Exclusions apply, such as police officers on duty or hostiles engaging in undignified behaviour.)

As far as the encampment goes, I’ve always complied with the terms I was given, even if I found them over the top. Besides, I’ve never captured someone’s face nor recorded any video within the walls. And I’ve never disclosed relevant information that was shared with me off the record, however tempting it might have been.

Besides, my recordings have been used before by allies to vindicate our own. For example, part of the clip below was once used in an Instagram post by the Tzedek Collective (which supports the encampment, by the way) and UVic4Palestine to compare against a short video captured by a Zionist who took a quote out of context and accused the speaker of being antisemitic; without it, the organisers might have been in trouble with the administration.

And then let me state this, even if I have to say so myself: there’s hardly anyone who’s supported the cause in town more than I did, including of course the encampment. For example, without my organising behind the scenes, this rally by Elders For Ancient Trees would have taken place downtown instead of at the Quad, because I am the one who acted as a liaison with the encampment:

You’d think after all this I would have earned everybody’s trust, but this isn’t how the world of activism goes. I’ve been doing this for two years, and let me tell you this: the number one reason initiatives fail is internal division. Usually it comes down to either ideological differences group members cannot look past for the sake of unity, or acute paranoia when they spend too long isolated in their own bubble. I’ve been shown the door before, and I’ve seen other activists being shown the door for either of these reasons, and every time the project collapsed shortly afterwards.

Sadly, the UVic encampment is going down that road, and I’ve got enough self-respect not to care when I’m feeling underappreciated, like every other time I’ve either slammed the door or been shown the door. I’m going to watch it collapse from afar and instead focus my efforts on endeavours for which fellow activists value my contribution. Don’t let that dissuade you from attending the rally tomorrow, by all means, but it will be without me from this point forth. Farewell, People’s Park.