International Solidarity Movement April 15, 2011

Photo: Bird flying over Palestine.

Tadamon! commemorates the beloved activist Vittorio Arrigoni who was murdered in Gaza one day ago. We affirm our solidarity with the Palestinians, and we grieve with them. Vittorio devoted many years in struggle with the Palestinians for their liberation. Arrigoni is an exemplary face of the International Solidarity Movement, the people who come from all over the world to Palestine, sometimes giving their lives such as Rachel Corrie and Vittorio Arrigoni.

In these moments let us remember and reflect on the courage and determination of the Palestinian people in their struggle against Israeli apartheid and our collective recognition of the devotion and bravery of activists who join them. Rest in peace Vittorio Arrigoni.

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Israeli Apartheid Week 2011 ends as another success in Montreal!

Photo: Painting on Israeli apartheid wall.

The annual Israeli Apartheid Week ran from March 8 to 15th in Montreal, and organizers are happy to announce that once again it was a huge success! Hundreds of people attended a wide range of events at McGill, Concordia, UQAM, and other cultural venues around the city. Some of the highlights included the keynote lecture at McGill from author Ali Abunimah, and the closing panel at Concordia entitled “Decolonization Begins At Home” featuring three powerful aboriginal activists. Many students left the events eager to find out more about getting involved in Palestine solidarity work.

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photography via Omar.

Photo: Omar. IamBlackGirl & Meryem Saci perform for Palestine in Montreal.

Photography via Omar from the fifteenth edition of Artists Against Apartheid in Montreal within Israeli Apartheid Week 2011, featuring groundbreaking Montreal poets, hip-hop artists, musicians and artists. An inspiring concert series occurring in Montreal within the context of the growing international solidarity movement with Palestine and for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli government.

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Palestine bloc @ protest against Canada military role in Libya via Échec à la guerre

Saturday April 9th 12h30
corner Président-Kennedy & Bleury
metro Place-des-Arts
Montreal, Quebec

bring your Palestinian flags, solidarity banners & signs !

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commemorate Palestinian Land Day & Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions global action

A call to end 62 years of Israeli occupation, colonization, & apartheid.

Saturday April 2nd, 12h00
metro Mont-Royal
Montreal, Quebec
Canada

Freedom for Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Oman, Algeria & occupied Palestine!

BDS Quebec, a coalition of several trade unions, community organizations, and solidarity groups, is calling people in Quebec to commemorate Palestinian land day in joining a global day of action for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign in support of the Palestinian peoples right to self-determination, freedom and dignity.

Palestinian Land Day commemorates March 30th, 1976 when Israeli military forces shot and killed six young Palestinian citizens of Israel. These brave youth were among thousands protesting the Israeli government’s expropriation of Palestinian land to build new Jewish-only colonies and expand existing ones. Today, Land Day symbolizes Palestinian resistance to Israel’s ongoing land expropriation, colonization, occupation and apartheid.

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photo essay via Mariel Rosenbluth, Alain Mercier & Mickey Boston

Photo: Mickey Boston. IamBlackGirl, Waahli & Meryem Saci via Nomadic Massive.

Montreal’s ongoing Artists Against Apartheid concert series in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation continued for Israeli Apartheid Week 2011 on Sunday, March 13th at O Patro Vys in the Plateau district of Montreal.

Celebrated poets, musicians & hip-hop artists performed to a capacity crowd in Montreal gathering for an concert series taking place as part of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting the Israeli state due to the systematic human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.

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March 14, 2011, Palestinian activist Abdallah Abu Rahmah released from Israeli prison.

Photo: Iyas Abu Rahmah. Palestinian community activist Abdallah Abu Rahmah upon release from Israeli prison.

Palestinian community activist Abdallah Abu Rahmah, from Bil’in, Palestine, has been released from Israeli prison after being jailed for sixteen month as a political prisoner. Abu Rahmah visited Canada in 2009 to speak in Montreal on a lawsuit launched by Bil’in village against two companies registered in Quebec, Green Mount International and Green Park International, due their involvement in constructing Israeli settlements on agricultural lands belonging to Bil’in, which had been confiscated previously by the Israeli state.

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Tadamon letter: Hudson’s Bay Company/Canada Israel Committee AHAVA release

Photo: Israeli apartheid wall cutting through Palestinian territories.

Bonnie Brooks
President and CEO, the Bay
Hudson’s Bay Company
hbc.communications@hbc.com
11 March 2011

Dear Ms. Brooks,

The purpose of this letter is to take issue with the content of a statement that you issued on 13 January 2011 referring to the decision of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) to withdraw AHAVA brand skincare products temporarily from its store shelves. Available documentation indicates that the statement was “jointly issued” by you, the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the Canada Israel Committee (CIC). [1]

We are a grassroots collective based in Montreal working to advance social justice and improved conditions (economic, social, political) for the peoples of the Middle East. We give particular attention to the condition of Palestinians living in Israel/Palestine. In supporting Palestinians in their struggle for liberation and justice, we also support the call from Palestinian civil society organizations to advance a strategy of boycott, divestment and sanctions against the state of Israel until it complies with international law. We take issue with your “jointly issued” statement because it indicates that on the matter in question – the sale of AHAVA brand products at Bay stores – HBC chose to act with disregard for international law and principles of human rights. Further, in openly aligning itself with two organizations that engage in political advocacy in the interests of Israel, HBC is being blatantly one-sided on the Palestine-Israel question and, troublingly, choosing the side of apologetics for apartheid. We urge HBC to issue a retraction.

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08-03-2011 | Dexia in Israel announcement via Triodos Bank

Photo Israeli occupation soldiers arrest Palestinian youth at protest in West Bank.

Belgian bank Dexia has been excluded from the Triodos sustainable investment universe because of its ongoing financing of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Dexia Israel Bank (DIB), a subsidiary of Dexia, has financed Israeli settlements in the past. In response to shareholder and stakeholder pressure, DIB stopped new loans to Israeli settlements in June 2008. There are also indications that current loans are being withdrawn, although the longest maturity loan in the portfolio will not end until 2017. DIB’s actions have caused uproar in Israel and a regional council major in southern Israel called for a DIB boycott.

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McGill Daily by Jon Booth, March 10, 2011

Photo: Palestine solidarity protest in San Francisco.

This year, Israeli Apartheid Week is taking place in more than forty cities around the world, from Ottawa to Johannesburg. Even after seven years, the event remains controversial, not least because of its name. This controversy makes Israeli Apartheid Week even more important because it focuses attention on Israel’s actions and policies. With this in mind, we have put together a week of powerful, informative, and even fun events, to educate people about Palestine, and hopefully stir them into action.

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