Activating Collective Resistance: Film Screening & Panel Discussion

Event Description - Activating Collective Resistance: Panel Discussion & Film Screening

Join OPIRG Peterborough, Students 4 Palestine, and Faculty 4 Palestine Trent for a powerful evening of film and dialogue on student-led movements for Palestinian liberation.

The evening will begin with a screening of The Encampments, a documentary directed by Michael T Workman and Kei Pritsker which captures the Columbia University Gaza Solidarity Encampment through the voices of key student organizers, including Mahmoud Khalil, Sueda Polat, and Grant Miner. Their first-hand accounts highlight the courage, strategy, and collective power behind these impactful student movements across Turtle Island. 

The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Trent students and faculty who have been at the forefront of Palestinian activism and advocacy at Trent University and in the wider Nogojiwanong community.

Together, they will explore the dynamics of pro-Palestinian activism at Trent University, with a focus on themes such as Trent’s complicity and complacency throughout the ongoing genocide in Gaza, institutional barriers and censorship, supporting the global Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions movement, student-led movement building, and solidarity building.

This event is not only a chance to learn, but also to reflect, connect, and imagine pathways forward. We invite students, faculty, and community members to join us in building a shared space of solidarity and resistance during this urgent moment in the struggle for Palestinian liberation.

Light refreshments will be provided! Doors will open at 5:45 pm.

Masking

Given the increased transmissibility of COVID-19 during this time of year, we kindly encourage all attendees to wear masks to help keep the space safe.

Accessibility and Public Transit

The Events Space (room TSC 1.07) in the Trent Student Centre is an indoor venue that is wheelchair-accessible and easily reachable via Peterborough Transit, with bus stops just a short walk away.

If you have specific accessibility needs or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] or via our instagram DMs.

About DisOrientation Week

This event is a part of OPIRG PTBO's Dis- Orientation Week, a week long program which offers an alternative guide to Trent University and the greater Peterborough community. We aim to equip students and community members with transferable tools they can use to engage with activism, political organizing and social and environmental justice. During Dis-Orientation Week, OPIRG partners with community-based organizations, non-profits, student groups and activists to host accessible events for the Peterborough-Nogojiwanong community.

This year, our theme is ‘From Undercurrents to Rising Waves: Activating Collective Resistance’ and was inspired by the collective and transformative power of water. Our main objective is to facilitate alliances and coalitions between local movements and organizations. Water is constantly modifying its environment, taking on many forms but always existing as a powerful collective – an aggregate of smaller particles always acting in union.

It is our hope during DisOrientation Week 2025, as Leanne Betasamosake Simpson eloquently writes, that we “truly listen to water” and begin a dialogue on how relationality and intersectionality can augment co-resistance. We look forward to organizations, groups, clubs, students and Peterborough residents collaborating to dream and conspire, with the common intention of building a world rooted in interdependence, justice, and care.

To learn more about our theme and register for other Dis-O 2025 events please visit:

https://opirgptbo.ca/programs/dis-orientation-week-2025/

OPIRG Peterborough Contact Information

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @opirgptbo

Host or Publisher OPIRG Peterborough