Since 2005’s historic call from Palestine for a comprehensive, international movement for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, we have seen many important victories for this movement in both Canada and Québec.
photo essay on Artists Against Apartheid by Heri Rakotomalala & Khalil Allioui
Photo Kalmunity Jazz collective performs at Artists Against Apartheid, La Sala Rossa.
Artists in Montreal are uniting in unprecedented ways in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation, last winter 500 artists from Montreal signed a collective declaration to support the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israeli apartheid.
Artists Against Apartheid concert series has featured many groundbreaking artists from Montreal and the thirteenth edition at La Sala Rossa on July 22nd featured Algonquin hip-hop artist Samian (featuring Nomadic Massive), Kalmunity Jazz collective and Amérythmes. Featured in this photo essay are images captured at Artists Against Apartheid by Heri Rakotomalala, Khalil Allioui and Anthony Cote.
Photo Palestine Remembered Palestinian refugees fleeing ‘Imwas village in 1967 turned into Canada Park by the Jewish National Fund (JNF)
For anyone taking a road trip along the highways of the part of Palestine that became Israel in 1948, one is bound to spot a blue and green structure in the shape of a bird marked with the Hebrew letters KKL, which stands for Keren Kayemeth L’Yisrael, the Hebrew name of the Israeli branch of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). All around the bird one will see expanses of forests planted sometime in the past few decades. A walk through one of these forests will take the visitor past fruit trees, cactus plants, terraced hillsides and the ruins of buildings. In some cases, these ruins are explained in a JNF brochure pointing to their ancient history; in other cases, one is left to the devices of one’s imagination. In all cases, these sites are what remains of some of the more than 500 villages depopulated and destroyed through the course of Israel’s establishment, the homes of millions of Palestinian refugees struggling to return to them for more than 60 years. By walking through a JNF park or forest, one inhales the fresh smell of the greenwashing of Palestine’s Nakba.
On 30 June an Israeli military prosecutor demanded two years’ imprisonment for grassroots activist Adeeb Abu Rahmah, at a military court hearing at the Ofer Military Complex in the occupied West Bank. Abu Rahmah has already spent 11 months behind bars and his arrest and detention is part of Israel’s repressive efforts to criminalize the grassroots popular resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Celebrating 5 yrs since the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions!
Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel PACBI June 2010
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), established in April 2004 by a small group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals and widely supported by leading civil society associations, unions and networks, [1] has not witnessed a sustained surge in cultural boycott of Israel such as has occurred in the last year and a half, since the Israeli war of aggression on Gaza.
Today there are campaigns for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel in the US, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Australia, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Norway, among others.
Canada’s politicians are wary of criticizing Israel. So is much of Canada’s media. As a fringe group called Queers Against Israeli Apartheid found when they were banned from using their name in Toronto’s annual Gay Pride parade, the established order has little patience for those deemed overly critical of the Jewish state.
That’s why My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play about an American pro-Palestinian activist killed by Israeli troops, was cancelled in Toronto three years ago (another theatre troupe eventually staged it).
Israel’s bloody attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on 31 May killing at least nine and injuring dozens of activists carrying humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, has already intensified global actions for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it respects international law and human rights, including endorsement by major trade unions in several countries.
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was on an honorable, peaceful mission in solidarity with the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, challenging the Israeli-imposed blockade that has deprived them of basic necessities and the ability to travel outside their densely populated enclave for four years.
Photo: Alaa Badarneh Palestinian woman clashing with Israeli soldier in 2004 during a demonstration against the controversial security barrier near the West Bank village of Al-Zawiya, north west of Qalqilya city.
Dear Ms. Conradi, Montreal Middle East solidarity collective Tadamon would like to extend its warm congratulations to the members of the Fédération des Femmes du Québec (FFQ) (Québec Federation of Women). At its most recent convention on May 29 and 30, 2010 in Québec City, the Federation’s members voted unanimously in favour of a historic resolution in support of the global campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid.
