MONTREAL–Demonstrators converged outside of Indigo bookstore in the heart of downtown Montreal last Saturday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1982 massacre of Sabra and Chatila that claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Waving banners that read “Boycott Israeli Apartheid, Boycott Indigo”, picketers called on the largest bookstore chain in Canada to cut its ties to Israeli Apartheid.
Picketers outside Indigo’s downtown bookstore last Saturday urged shoppers not to enter because the Chapters-Indigo’s CEO heads a foundation that supports foreign soldiers who fight in the Israeli army.
The demonstration was set to coincide with the 20th anniversary of massacres that took place at the Sabra and Chatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
JERUSALEM: The United Nations agency in charge of Palestinian refugees on Friday called on Israel to open crossings into the Gaza Strip and warned of a humanitarian crisis if further restrictions are imposed.
“We don’t believe that just having humanitarian goods coming in is enough, we need other supplies to come in. People need other things besides food and medicine,” UNRWA Commissioner General Karen Abu Zayd told reporters.
Statement Prepared by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid & Tadamon! Montreal.
MONTREAL: This week is the 25th anniversary of the massacres at the Sabra & Chatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Today we commemorate the lives of those who were murdered or ‘disappeared’, as well as the thousands of others who died in Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the Lebanese civil war.
Montreal, September 18th 2007: The Montreal network of the Coalition against Israeli Apartheid welcomed former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney during a launch of his autobiography at Indigo bookstore by unfurling a banner denouncing the apartheid situation under which Palestinians are living.
Activists demanding a better fate for Palestinians have chosen a potent accusation—the new apartheid—to rally support for the growing anti-Israel boycott. Their belief: what forced change in South Africa can provoke change in the Middle East. But it may not be that easy-or that simple
Imagination. Creativity. Inspiration. Three words to stir the soul crown the towering windows of Toronto’s flagship Indigo bookstore. At ground level, shoppers pass in and out of wood-framed glass doors, navigating planters and benches intended to create a friendly, front-porch sort of welcome. They take little notice as, on the sidewalk beyond, two women unfurl an off-white canvas banner. Printed on one side are another three words, less poetic perhaps than the store’s motto, but the intended effect is just as moving: Boycott Chapters/ Indigo.
This edition of Radio Tadamon! brings you to the streets, from the ongoing demonstrations throughout Canada calling for a boycott of Indigo/Chapters bookstores due to their support for Israel, to the major demonstrations in Montabello, Quebec surrounding the North American trilateral summit in August 2007.
Join us on Saturday, 28 July to remember the second Qana massacre in 2006, and to support the growing boycott against Israeli apartheid.
Britain’s Transport and General Workers’ Union has called upon its 800,000 members to boycott Israeli-made products based on what they term Israel’s “criminal policies in Palestinian territories.”
