Dear friends of the UMIH, Happy New Year! As we come back to the university, we are very happy to present our first event for what will be another exciting semester of UMIH activities:

"Fighting Islamophobia, Colonizing Palestine: Canada's Instrumentalization of Anti-Racism Strategies after October 7th, 2023"

Youcef Soufi (UMIH Research Affiliate)

Tuesday, January 13th at 2:30 pm, 335 Isbister

This presentation will explore how, in the wake of Hamas' October 7th attacks in South-West Israel, the Trudeau government instrumentalized its recently adopted policy of fighting Islamophobia to shield its foreign policy from critique and uphold a status quo-characterized by Canada's support for Israel's destruction of Gaza. It was a discursive shift that would soon be embraced among centrist politicians, media, and public institutions like universities across Canada. In exploring this shift, the presentation raises questions regarding Canadian foreign and domestic policies in relation to the cooptation of progressive policies and discourses and the governmental use of anti-Islamophobia to silence criticism.

Jorge A. Nállim Director, Institute for the Humanities Acting Head and Professor, Department of History 405 Fletcher Argue Bldg. University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V5 jorge.nallim@umanitoba.camailto:jorge.nallim@umanitoba.ca https://umanitoba.ca/arts/jorge-nallim

Sanda McGee Deutsch and Jorge A. Nállim (eds.), Antifascism(s) in Latin America and the Caribbean: From the Margins to the Center (Cambridge University Press, 2025). For more information, visit our blog, https://cambridgeblog.org/2025/08/antifascisms-in-latin-america-and-the-cari...