by Jooneed Khan rabble.ca | October 29, 2010

Photo Palestinian flag at demonstration signed in solidarity with Gaza.

The worldwide campaign to boycott Israel as an apartheid state took a giant Canadian leap forward last weekend with a three-day BDS Conference in Montreal (boycott, divestment and sanctions) that saw the coming together of separate and diverse initiatives into what a South African trade union delegate called “an unstoppable movement.”

At a time when the old western-dominated colonialist-militarist world order is in decline, when the loot-and-run, slash-and-burn, bomb-and-rebuild capitalist model is in crisis, when western civil societies are clamoring for a more participative democracy to combat corruption, secrecy and the lies of their security-obsessed states, and mobilizing globally to save the planet, has the Palestinian cause become a symbol of the struggle for human values for a new generation and a new century?

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Audio recording opening Quebec Boycott Divestment & Sanctions BDS conference

Photo: Paul Di Stefano. Opening panel @ Quebec/Canada wide BDS conference.

This panel will present and assess the achievements and aims of the BDS movement internationally and in Palestine over the past 5 years, and speak to the challenges ahead for the BDS movement in Québec, Canada and around the world.

Featuring Omar Barghouti, Coordinator, Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the Boycott National Committee (BNC), Palestine Areej Ja’fari, Coordinator of the Palestine Freedom Project, West Bank Stephen Faulkner, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

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Why McGill & Concordia Universities must sever their links with Technion University

report updated April 2011download full document
Photo: window in Palestinian home smashed by Israeli military bullet.

McGill and Concordia universities maintain bi-lateral exchange programs with the Technion University in Israel. What does this mean in the broader context of the denial of justice for Palestinians, the systematic discrimination they face within Israel, and the occupation and forced exile they suffer outside? The following document outlines the various levels of militarization that are created by, and fostered at the Technion, through its complicity in the Israeli military-industrial complex, and perpetuation of systematic discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

In this research, we examine the importance of the Technion University in arms research and technology and the repressive use of this technology by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Through cooperative research programs with Israeli defense companies like Elbit and Rafael, McGill and Concordia are directly participating in the creation and development of technology for Israel’s ‘separation barrier’, parts for battle tanks, and various unmanned aircraft. Palestinian students who are citizens of Israel endure unjust treatment and inequality in all levels of state education, and Technion University is no exception. They are often denied access to programs, housing and funding, and denied the right to publicly demonstrate against these injustices.

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Quebec/Canada Conference on the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) Movement

Saturday October 23rd 9h -10h30
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)
Pavillon des Sciences de l’Éducation
1405 St-Denis (corner René-Lévesque)
Room N-M140 (pavilion N métro level)
Montreal, Quebec, metro Berri-UQAM

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BDS conference Montreal 2010

Friday October 22nd 7pm
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
Salle Marie-Gérin-Lajoie
405 st Catherine east
pavillion Judith-Jasmin
(metro Berri-UQAM)

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open social to build support for global BDS conference in Montreal October 2010

Friday October 15th
5 à 7 @ Casa del Popolo
4873 St. Laurent
donations welcome!
(métro Laurier or bus #55)
Montreal, Quebec

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Le Couac par Claire Hurtig & Freda Guttman.

Photo Drapeau palestinien lors d’une manifestation.

Boycott, Désinvestissement et Sanctions pour mettre fin à l’apartheid israélien

En juillet 2005, plus de 170 organismes de la société civile palestinienne, incluant des groupes de femmes, des syndicats, des groupes de réfugié(e)s et des groupes culturels, se sont assemblés pour faire un appel au Boycott, Désinvestissement et Sanctions (BDS) intégral contre l’apartheid israélien. Par cette demande, ces organismes veulent inciter la société civile internationale à boycotter les produits israéliens, désinvestir des compagnies israéliennes et encourager leurs gouvernements à imposer des sanctions sur l’État d’Israël, jusqu’à ce que celui-ci respecte le droit international et droits humains des Palestiniens.

Voilà pourquoi du 22 au 24 octobre prochain, des organisations solidaires avec la Palestine basées à Montréal animeront une conférence de 3 jours dont l’objectif est de faire avancer la campagne BDS contre l’apartheid israélien. Cette campagne est basée sur trois demandes concrètes :

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BDS Quebec concert co-presented by AfroLatin Soul, feat. Detroit MC Invincible.

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010
doors 20h30. $8-10
Le Consulat, 1442 Bleury 2nd floor
métro Place-des-Arts
Montreal, Quebec

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photo essay by Heri Rakotomalala

Photo Heri Rakotomalala. Kalmunity Jazz Project performs for World Education Forum.

Leading up to the World Education Forum, taking place in occupied Palestine this fall, over three-hundred people gathered in Montreal on Friday September 24th for a benefit concert to support the Quebec delegation to the global education forum and to strengthening grassroots support for the global gathering on popular and public education.

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solidarity concert for the World Education Forum in Palestine fall 2010

Friday September 24th 21h 2010
suggested donation: $10-20
download PDF poster
Cabaret Mile-End
5240 avenue du Parc
(close to Fairmount)
Montréal, Québec

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