Tadamon! call to support the World Social Forum Free Palestine, August 2012.

Photo : Palestinian flag flying at protest against Israeli apartheid policies.

Tadamon! collective is calling on Palestine solidarity activists in Québec and Canada to support the upcoming World Social Forum Free Palestine, taking place in Fall 2012, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

A global expression of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, supported by social movements in Brazil, is essential at this critical moment in history and will build constructive organizational support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid.

“Occupied Palestine is part of every free heartbeat in this world and her cause continues to inspire solidarity across the globe,” states the International Coordination Committee for The World Social Forum Free Palestine, describing the event as “an expression of the human instinct to unite for justice and an echo of the World Social Forum’s opposition to neo-liberal hegemony, colonialism, and racism through struggles for social, political and economic alternatives to promote justice, equality, and the sovereignty of peoples.”

In occupied Palestine, activists are calling on Palestine solidarity organizations around the world to join and support the 2012 World Social Forum Free Palestine.

“Exactly sixty-five years after Brazil presided over the UN General Assembly session that agreed upon the partition of Palestine, Brazil will host a different type of global forum: a historic opportunity for people from all over the world to stand up where governments have failed,” writes the Palestinian BDS National Committee, a representative body on BDS organizing in occupied Palestine. “The worlds people will come together to discuss new visions and effective actions to contribute to justice and peace in the region.”

As the global Palestine solidarity campaign of BDS against Israeli apartheid policies continues to take root around the world, now is a critical moment for social justice activists from around the world to gather to solidify and build collective strategies.

While the Israeli government unabashedly continues the colonization of Palestinian lands, sustains an illegal siege on the Gaza Strip, enforces apartheid policies on the Palestinian people and denies Palestinian refugees their right to return, now is the time to continue to push the BDS campaign forward.

Building on important political steps forward in Quebec to support the global BDS movement in solidarity with Palestine, Tadamon! is responding to this global call by urging activists to engage with this important World Social Forum event, the first global WSF convergence focused specifically on Palestine.

Tadamon!’s support for the World Social Forum Free Palestine extends from a growing network of progressive social forces in Quebec supporting the BDS movement, from the Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain-CSN, to Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and the Fédération des Femmes du Québec (FFQ), along with 500 artists in Montreal who signed a collectively declaration in support of the global boycott movement against Israeli apartheid. In this context, linking our local BDS organizing efforts to build concrete support for the Palestinian struggle for freedom in Quebec with the World Social Forum-Free Palestine is potentially an important step forward.

Despite the pressing realities of Israeli apartheid, the Palestine solidarity movement has succeeded in attaining many important victories in recent years, as major student and workers unions internationally voice support for BDS, and as artists from around the world increasingly support the BDS call by refusing to play in Israel.

Tadamon! Montreal is joining the global process of building toward this World Social Forum on Palestine and will work with individuals, groups and organizations in Quebec and throughout Canada who are working on the BDS campaign, to secure their participation in this important global event.

Please get in touch if you have any questions, or are interested in supporting the World Social Forum Free Palestine, view an already existing list (PDF document) of supporting groups and organizations from around the world.

Tadamon! Montreal
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