Today is a day to watch history unfold before our eyes. But today is also a day to think about the ongoing struggle to make history, to achieve social and global justice, and to put an end to empire.
Two days ago, the same day we discussed violence, the ineffable Condoleezza Rice, a US official, declared that what was happening in Gaza was the Palestinians’ fault, due to their violent nature.
The underground rivers that crisscross the world can change their geography, but they sing the same song. And the one we hear now is one of war and pain.
Not far from here, in a place called Gaza, in Palestine, in the Middle East, right here next to us, the Israeli government’s heavily trained and armed military continues its march of death and destruction.
Cinema Politica launch for winter/spring 2009 program. co-presented by Tadamon!
It’s an old adage in the film business that timing is everything, but the coincidence involving the Palestinian Perspectives documentary film series showing in the next couple of weeks at the Cinémathèque is truly odd.
The series, which features several different docs on issues facing Palestinians, screens on the next two consecutive Fridays at the Cinémathèque québécoise. The films were chosen and programmed last year, long before the current Gaza offensive by the Israeli military. “Now it’s become a crisis,” says Mary Ellen Davis, a filmmaker and co-programmer of the event. “But even before this, every day, the Palestinians have been under siege. They’ve been dealing with checkpoints, new settlements and the wall for some time now.”
On the twentieth day of Israel’s attack on Gaza, a group of Montrealers occupied the office of Quebec’s Economic Development Minister Raymond Bachand, calling on the Charest government to immediately end ties with Israel, and specifically withdraw from the Quebec-Israel accord.
“The accord, signed this fall, establishes unconditional economic ties between the two countries,” said Marc-André Faucher, spokesperson for ASSÉ, representing over 40,000 Quebec students. “The accord does not include measures to force Israel to respect international law, but provides economic backing and diplomatic cover for current war crimes in Gaza.”
The Canadian Left has taken a major step forward in its opposition to Zionism. On Saturday, Montréal held probably the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration in Canadian history. Despite some ridiculous media reports, I estimate that there were between 12,000 and 17,000 (possibly as many as 25,000) people marching through the streets of downtown. “Jews, Christians, Muslims, anglos, francos, grandmothers and children walked together yesterday in the bitter cold to call for an immediate ceasefire in [Gaza],” noted the Montréal Gazette. The march was endorsed and organized by all three major Québec unions and most of the province’s social groups.
Quebec inked an economic partnership agreement with Israel this fall in Jerusalem. Attracting little attention from major media outlets, Quebec’s bilateral accord was signed during a government-led delegation to Israel that included high-level state officials and corporate representatives this past September, amidst Israel’s ongoing siege of Gaza.
Photo: Wissam Nassar. Smoke rises over Gaza City during Israeli bombardment.
Concerns about Israel’s use of non-conventional and experimental weapons in the Gaza Strip are growing, with evasive comments from spokesmen and reluctance to allow independent journalists inside the tiny enclave only fueling speculation.
The most prominent controversy is over the use of shells containing white phosphorus, which causes horrific burns when it comes into contact with skin. Under international law, phosphorus is allowed as a smokescreen to protect soldiers but treated as a chemical weapon when used against civilians.
