Tadamon! Montreal statement, Feb. 2015.

A protester carrying a banner addressed to Mubarak: “The people want you to fall”. Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy

Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising, against Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian rule, is now being systematically overturned by the military-backed regime of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, with the open complicity of western powers, including Canada’s Conservative government.

The spirit of Egypt’s globally celebrated revolution, defined by popular demands for “Bread, Freedom, and Social Justice,” chanted out by countless thousands on the streets braving police bullets just over four years ago, is under attack by an empowered army state, shaped by militarized neo-liberalism.

This political reality was made most evident in late January, with the deaths of multiple civilian demonstrators, shot by state police forces in broad daylight, killed during marches commemorating the martyrs of the January 25th “Day of Revolt” protests in 2011 that sparked the broader uprising that winter.

Thousands of political prisoners in Egypt remain behind bars without access to due process, many who are in critical health due to hunger strikes, all while Egyptian authorities continue to pass draconian legislation that violates fundamental human rights. And yet, Canada’s Conservative government provides ongoing political and economic complicity with al-Sisi’s military-backed regime.

This support must be challenged!

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Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) Condemns Memorandum of Understanding Between Israel and Canada

Canada and Israel signed a series of cooperation agreements recently, one of which included an unprecedented commitment to work jointly to counter the continued growth of BDS.

On January 22, Canadian public safety minister Steven Blaney gave a speech at a meeting on anti-semitism at the United Nations General Assembly, convened in the wake of the Paris criminal attacks, that smeared the BDS movement as “anti-semitic.”

Rafeef Ziadah, a secretariat member of the the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the broad coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations that leads the BDS movement, said:

“Rather than seeking to hold Israel to account for its war crimes during the recent military assault on Gaza and its intensified colonization of the occupied West Bank, particularly in Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, the Canadian government is further deepening its collaboration with Israel’s occupation and launching a shameful, propagandistic attack on free speech in the process.”

“The Canadian government’s continued unconditional support for Israel’s colonial policies and its smear campaign against BDS highlight the deeply ideological and reactionary character of this government. Canada is sending Israel the message that it can act with total impunity in violating human rights and international law.”

“Sadly, while claiming to defend free speech the current Canadian government is among the most repressive in the west; it has gone farther than most in suppressing free speech and infringing the rights of its own civil society, including trade unions, community and faith groups, to participate in human rights campaigning, as in boycotts against Israel’s injustices.”

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Saturday, Nov. 22
1pm métro Guy-Concordia
Norman Bethune square
Montréal, Québec
facebook event

As health care, education, unemployment insurance, equity programs and the arts are cut in the name of austerity, military spending (at $22.6 billion in 2012) has increased every year since 1998 and is projected to continue. Since 2004, Canada has invaded or bombed Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq and Libya, leaving a trail of destruction followed by corrupt client regimes and neoliberal austerity policies.

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members of the Legal Community Condemn Assault on Gaza

A group of law students studying at the Faculty of Law at McGill University drafted a statement, in English and French, on behalf of themselves, and the broader legal community to condemn the continued violence against Gaza by Israeli forces. Specifically, the statement condemns the civilian causalities, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the violations of international law. The statement was written in response to the lack of vocal opposition, and in an effort to create a network of people united against such injustice.

The statement, entitled, “Members of the Legal Community Against the Israeli Assault on Gaza,” was circulated among law students, law professors, and legal organizations alike over the past weeks. It has gained support from over 50 people and organizations, including the Association des juristes progressistes in Quebec.
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popular education on the Palestinian solidarity movement

Wednesday, August, 20th 2014
17h30 métro Mont-Royal
facebook event
Montréal, Québec

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August 10, 2014
midi @ Place Émilie-Gamelin
facebook event
Montréal, Québec

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Wednesday, August 6, 2014
5:30pm métro Mont-Royal
Montréal, Québec
facebook event

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la communauté s’exprime / solidarité avec la Palestine !

photo par Thien V. — 16 juillet 2014.

Over 60 Quebec and Canadian trade unionists, artists, journalists, professors, reverends call on Israel to respect International law 10 years after the International Cour of Justice ruling

Time for Canada to honor its UN obligations towards Palestine

Ten years ago today, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled illegal Israel’s massive separation wall that runs alongside and inside the Palestinian territories.

On July 9, 2004, at the behest of the UN General Assembly, the ICJ, legal arm of the United Nations, indeed issued an Advisory opinion saying “the construction of the wall (by occupying power Israel), and its associated régime (imposed on the Palestinians), are contrary to international law”.

The ICJ Advisory deemed that “Israel cannot rely on a right of self-defense or on a state of necessity to preclude the wrongfulness of the construction of the wall”.

Its ruling called for the barrier to be removed, for residents to be compensated, and for UN member States, including Canada, to act to obtain Israel’s compliance with the Fourth Geneva Convention (GCIV) – of which Canada is a signatory.

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Closing panel- Israeli apartheid week

Presentations by Arthur Manuel and Monira Kitmitto

Wednesday, 13 March, 7pm
Location: Moot Court, New Chancellor Day Hall
McGill University 3644 Peel (metro Peel)

This closing panel will highlight Indigenous land struggles and resistance on Turtle Island and will make links with the Palestinian struggle of defending the land and resisting Israeli occupation. Land defense as a way of resisting ongoing occupation and colonialism is integral to Indigenous decolonizing movements both in Turtle Island and Palestine.

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