The Sir George Williams University Protests as Embodied Politics of Traversal of the Fantasy

Abstract

The Sir George Williams University protests occurred in Montreal, Canada between January-February 1969. The uprising was one flashpoint in a networked anti-colonial revolt comprising Quebec nationalist, Black Power, and pan-Caribbean elements. But were the acts of choreographed and impromptu solidarity performed during the protest enough to break through ideological partisanship and emotionally embedded identifications to produce a multi-racial left-wing bloc? The answer to this question is pressing for contemporary political theory debates over the models and capabilities of transnational left-wing politics. This paper draws on archival research to read the protests for their embodied political practices that sustained a cross-identification coalition. The paper turns to psychoanalytic political theory to explain how the political logic articulated by the protests is characterized as a ‘traversal of fantasy’. In this final sense, the paper aims to develop case-analysis of how the political practices of traversal of the fantasy enable cross-ideological left-wing coalitions.