STRATEGIES FOR SOLIDARITY WITH LEBANON IN MONTREAL
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WEDNESDAY, September 27th, 8pm
Frank Dawson Adams Auditorium
2nd Floor, 3450 University St.
[Corner: Milton & University; McGill metro]
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Presentations * Community Iftar Dinner * Poetry * Films * Free Child-care
Flyers can be downloaded here. Posters here. And a radio ad here.
A Panel Discussion Including Presentations from:
HASSAN EL AKHRAS: Surviving member of the El Akhras family, 11 of whom were killed on July 16th, 2006 in an Israeli air strike in Aitaroun in southern Lebanon. Addressing Israeli war crimes & strategies to challenge international impunity.
RAFEEF ZIADAH: Political activist from Toronto involved with the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid & Sumoud. ‘Making the Cut: Mobilizing an effective boycott of Israel’ in North America.
SAWSAN KALACHE: Member of Tadamon! Montreal & participant in the 2006 delegation to Lebanon who witnessed the first weeks of the Israeli military assault on the country & will address Israeli war crimes committed during the 2006 war.
STEFAN CHRISTOFF: Member of Tadamon! Montreal’s 2006 delegation to Lebanon who witnessed & reported on the Israeli military attack on Lebanon for the Daily Star, the Middle East’s largest English daily, & the Electronic Intifada.
Whisper translation into English, French & Arabic.
Film Screenings:
Solidarity with Lebanon: 5 short films by independent film-maker, SANTIAGO BERTOLINO who produced short films in Montreal on 2006 Lebanon solidarity actions for the Citizenshift Project of the National Film Board of Canada.
Video Report from Southern Lebanon: Produced by Ana Nogueria for Democracy Now!, which examines the realities of thousands of cluster bombs rained down on at least 170 villages in southern Lebanon during Israel’s month-long war against Hezbollah. The bomblets that failed to explode are now a deadly trap for civilians.
Community Iftar:
Iftar will take place with the Association des jeunes libanais musulmans:
Cafeteria, ground floor, McConnell Engineering Building
(building just north of and connected to the Frank Dawson Adams building)
3480 University Street (corner of Milton, McGill metro)
Buffet from 7:15pm to 8:00pm
Background Information on Event:
On July 12th, 2006, already in the midst of a major military offensive against Gaza, Israel launched a massive attack on Lebanon. Montreal responded with spontaneous mobilizations and emergency actions ranging from petitions, letter-writing campaigns, lobbying and public education to street protests, popular delegations & other actions.
With a U.N. brokered “ceasefire” in place, Israeli military & political leaders are not being brought to justice for their war crimes, nor are they paying reparations for their massive destruction of Lebanon. Israeli military bases once again dot southern Lebanon, while Israeli forces have conducted frequent breaches of the ceasefire. The siege of the Gaza Strip continues. Today it is clear that the U.N. “ceasefire” has not halted the war on the people of Palestine & Lebanon.
How to transform the emergency mobilizations in Montreal into strategic resistance to further aggression and destabilization of Lebanon and the region, through addressing some of the core issues: the occupation of Palestine, the Palestinians’ right of return, the use of Israel as a vehicle for North American economic interests in the region?
How to effectively challenge the Canadian government’s open alliance with Israeli terrorism?
This panel is being organised to discuss concrete strategies and to launch Tadamon’s four-point strategy for the coming months.
Organized by: Tadamon! Montreal (tadamon@resist.ca) & Association des jeunes libanais musulmans (info.ajlm@gmail.com).
Endorsed by: Al Hidaya Association, Block the Empire Montreal, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, International Solidarity Movement Montreal, Presence musulmane, No One Is Illegal-Montreal, QPIRG-Concordia, QPIRG-McGill, RAME, Solidarity Across Borders
J’ai beaucoup regretté cette guerre et je serai toujours contre les offensives mortelles sur les innocents…C’est ainsi que j’ai composé ces deux poèmes en contribution à mon soutien aux Libanais…
Artal
Aux âmes du Liban
Une goétie à la démarche d’un Levant
Et je fus de ceux à préserver le bois du feu
Alors que l’astre de l’exploit enflamme les camps
Et mes versets inféconds se meuvent par le lieu.
Elle ne sera plus cette cité somptueuse
Ville terrestre convertie commune des cieux
Quand le guerrier aura fuit sa patrie, l’âme preuse
Cœur et honneur au gonfalon, et le ventre creux.
Le ciel houleux crache sur les jardins de Beyrouth
Toute sa hargne de feu dans le tonnerre qui court
Et sa chute, si vous osiez l’observer, sans doute
Sentez-vous cet appel qui réclame au secours ?
Mon cœur triste se noie dans le nuage obscur
L’espérance n’y est plus, le supplice atroce.
Seigneur, Satan formule son credo des impurs
Mais ne sens-tu pas cet appel , prière à ta crosse ?
Les corps couverts de sang, nos larmes également
Invoquent de leurs beuglantes, la paix aux survivants
Au nombre des soldats dans leurs armures d’acier
Afin brider l’ailette et leurs armes au bûcher.
Artal (juillet 06)
Les armes feront-elles oublier la fraîcheur des jardins du Liban.
Les jardins du Liban..
Ô mon Dieu, pourrais-je encore composer la paix
تعليق Artal — 24 septembre 2006 @ 7:55Alors que nos frères meurtris, agonisent dans le sang.
A ceux qui reposent du sommeil sans rêve, les sacrifiés
Les armes ont-elles fait oublier la douceur des jardins du Liban ?
Sous les lauriers nous gardons nos cœurs inspirés
Campés sur la grâce assemblée des mots éternels
Quand leur absence nous pénètre d’âpreté
Une tendresse lénifiante dans un feu démentiel.
Ô mon Dieu, pourrais-je encore composer la paix
Alors que nos frères meurtris, sous les dents du caïman
Quand tous ceux qui reposent sans vie, les délivrés
Ont arrosé de leur sang les jardins du Liban.
Artal (juillet 06)