Gaza/Palestine actions summer 2014
In Montréal, a demo today starting at the corner of Jarry Park (métro Castelnau) , in front of the headquarters of G4S a security firm that makes detection devices used at over 500 posts at the WALL.
rue Gary Carter is the new name of the western section of rue Faillon (two streets north of Jean-Talon).
2 pm, but it should last a while.
And in your town or city?
Upcoming action: a vigil outside the Israeli Consulate at Westmount Square, 5:30 pm
JOURNÉE PAN-CANADIENNE DE MANIFESTATION
CONTRE L’AGRESSION ISRAÉLIENNE
ET DE SOLIDARITÉ AVEC LE PEUPLE PALESTINIEN
SAMEDI 19 JUILLET 14h00
Parc Jarry au coin de la rue Gary Carter et St-Laurent
devant le siège social de la Cie G4S une entreprise de sécurité qui fabrique le matériel de détection utilisé dans plus de 500 postes de contrôle du MUR entravant la liberté de circulation des Palestiniens et Palestiniennes
Nous affirmons que les causes fondamentales de la situation actuelle résident dans les violations systématiques par Israël du droit international et des résolutions de l’ONU : • droit de retour des réfugiés palestiniens (résolution 194) • occupation qui dure depuis 1967 (résolution 242) • colonisation continue des terres palestiniennes (art 49 IVe Convention de Genève) • blocus illégal et inhumain de Gaza depuis 7 ans (Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme, Conventions de Genève, Pactes internationaux relatifs aux droits civils et politiques, économiques, sociaux et culturels )
• érection illégale du MUR d’apartheid depuis 10 ans (Jugement de la Cour internationale de Justice du 7 juillet 2004) • politiques d’apartheid (Convention internationale sur l’élimination et la répression du crime d’apartheid 1973)
Nous appuyons le droit du peuple palestinien à la résistance selon les moyens qu’il choisit lui-même et dans le respect des conventions internationales qui régissent les conflits armés dont entre autres la protection des civils.
• HALTE A L'AGRESSION CONTRE GAZA
• HALTE AU BLOCUS DE GAZA.
• FIN DE L’OCCUPATION, DE LA COLONISATION
• FIN DES POLITIQUES D’APARTHEID
• LIBERTÉ POUR LES PRISONNIERS ET PRISONNIÈRES POLITIQUES
Nous soulignons le 10e anniversaire du Jugement de la Cour internationale de justice déclarant illégal ce mur d’apartheid qui est un outil d’annexion de terres palestiniennes, de pillage de ressources naturelles et de déplacement de populations. CE MUR DOIT ÊTRE DÉTRUIT
Nous appelons la population québécoise :
• À SOUTENIR ACTIVEMENT LA CAMPAGNE DE BOYCOTT, DE DÉSINVESTISSEMENT ET DE SANCTIONS (BDS) CONTRE ISRAËL
• À DÉNONCER LES POSITIONS HONTEUSES DU GOUVERNEMENT HARPER ET DES PARTIS D’OPPOSITION
• À EXIGER LE RESPECT INTÉGRAL PAR ISRAËL DU DROIT INTERNATIONAL
Prochaine action : VIGILE VENDREDI LE 25 JUILLET À 17h30
DEVANT LE CONSULAT ISRAÉLIEN 1 Westmount Square
Apportez vos casseroles !
FNEEQ-CSN •Conseil régional FTQ du Montréal métropolitain • Conseil central du Montréal Métropolitain CSN • PAJU • Tadamon • Coalition pour la Justice et la Paix en Palestine et autres groupes à venir
Haven't seen much MSM coverage of it - but major cities across Europe (and Twitter) have been humming with huge street protests today, - including an "illegal" protest in Paris.
I have not seen notice of anything here in the National Capital area related to teh conflict. Not since the Baird / Garneau pro-Israel rally earlier in the week, that is.
I'd say there were probably at least 1000 people at the demo here - it started off at the southeastern corner of Jarry Park - with a HUGE Palestinian flag carried by many - and wound its way down St-Laurent, over to Jean-Talon (where it passed a Moroccan grocery where I often shop, and some of the staff recognized me and gave me a big thumbs up) then turned south onto St-Denis, and west onto Mozart (the street directly south of Jean-Talon market. Then it turned again onto St-Dominique, and took over that street. Some of the Petite-Italie restauranteurs seemed nervous, expecially Stefano Faita and Michele Forgione who were on the verge of opening a new pizzeria across the street from their popular restaurant Impasto, but it really wasn't the kind of crowd that would have attacked neighbourhood businesses.
I left before the end, as I was very tired, due to the heat and the slow march. All in all a success.
And where you live?
noon Tuesday at Wellington and Elgin
https://www.facebook.com/events/699207926818047/
..imho and estimate here in van was around 1500. lots of young people, lots of women, lots of young women. early in the speeches it was said that the libs and cons have joined in their support for israel. and that it was the ground swell that influenced the ndp not to send a member as well. it was also said that mulcair was muzzling the mp's. libby davies and don davies used to come and speak at these gatherings..was remembered. and then we walked. it was all very positive and upbeat. very vocal and colourful as we encountered the sat crowds plus tourists. i saw curiosity and thoughtful looks on many people’s faces as we passed. i heard bus drivers honk their horns displaying support. i saw many people recording us. very successful here as well.
ODAnvils wrote: [For Ottawa] noon Tuesday at Wellington and Elgin https://www.facebook.com/events/699207926818047/
Thanks! Not great timing (middle of a working day) but nice location - the Prime Minister's Office. We will see what we can arrange! (Last time I was there - as part of a delegation to deliver a national anti-poverty petition, there was an earthquake!)
sherpa-finn, perhaps not all civil servants can stay out for long, but University of Ottawa isn't far. It is probably important to have some things during the working day, although they will probably be smaller.
We also had friendly bus drivers and the cops, who are fighting for their pensions, were unusually cool, but as we know too well, that can change in a flash. I suspect things will be much tenser in front of the Israeli consulate at Westmount Square, with a likelihood of Zionist counterdemonstrators.
Friends in Paris were at the demo there yesterday, which was much tenser because all demonstrations on the topic had been made illegal.
There were different political groups, trade unions, associations. Evidently there were some confrontations between police and certain demonstrators. I suspect the usual bad blood between young men of Maghrebi origin and racist cops, but want more info about that.
Free Palestine! World Marches to Protest Gaza
http://youtu.be/kKewT6af-rI
Live Cam: Israel's Ground Operation in Gaza
http://rt.com/on-air/israel-military-operation-gaza/
#Gaza
https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash
March to save Gaza
Halifax protesters demand better media coverage of Israeli attacks
K'JIPUKTUK, HALIFAX - It was a plea for peace said in four powerful words: stop killing our children.
The message, written on signs and chanted by a group of close to 300 protesters, was carried through the streets of downtown Halifax yesterday as a part of a march to raise awareness of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza city....
http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/story/halifax-march-save-gaza/31217
eta:
Starting in the fall, the student group plans to start a boycott, divestment and sanction campaign. It will ask Dalhousie’s students, faculty, and alumni to stop all investments and purchases of products that support Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Looks like things got out of hand in Calgary...
http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/07/19/rally-in-support-of-palestinians-in...
Zeina Agha watched as the two sides exchanged words and then shoves.
“The side supporting Palestine walked over to the other side where the Israelis were and they started chanting things at each other, they started pushing and shoving each other,” she said.
“Me, being Palestinian and in support of Palestine, I don’t like that it happened. We’re all here because we want peace.”
Zakiyya Karbani said they came for a peaceful protest.
“I get that emotions get in the way but that wasn’t what we were trying to portray. Both sides were aggravating each other, but we obviously had a lot more people and it took a bad turn,” she said.
“One of the men was very emotional because I think he has family there.”
Police said there were no reports of injuries, but Samantha Hamilton, who was across the street with her family to show their solidarity with Israel, had to take a trip to the hospital with bruises, concussions, and broken noses after they say they were assaulted in an unprovoked attack.
“They saw us and crossed over with their Palestinian flags,” she said.
“I looked over and my brother was on the ground with six to seven men on top of him, they were beating up my brother.
“I ran over there, I was screaming, ‘Don’t hurt my brother,’ and I got punched in the cheek.”
They are considering pressing charges.
Anyone coming out to cheer in support of 500 plus and counting dead Gazans, including children, are merely interested in piling on to the existing provocations in order to depict the other side as violent extremists when the provocations are confronted. This is what occurs on a daily basis in the occupied Palestianian territories, just as we see it here being organized and played out on a much lower scale by supporters of the apartheid regime in Israel.
If you can't defend the rights of Palestinians without resorting to violence or hatred of Jews, you're not on the side of justice...
http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2014/07/anti-semitism-france
"On a hot Saturday in the predominantly Muslim neighbourhood of Barbès, not far from the Gare du Nord, a big railway station in Paris, a crowd that swelled to around 3,000 ignored an official ban on demonstrating. They set fire to an Israeli flag, burnt a kosher shop (also, freakishly, the target of a grenade in 2012), bashed in others and threw stones at serried ranks of riot police, 15 of whom retired wounded.
On Sunday afternoon the violence spilled over into Sarcelles, a suburb with a large Sephardic Jewish population. A Molotov cocktail was launched at the main synagogue. Shop windows were smashed; several stores were looted; flames flared fitfully. Tear gas hung heavy in the air as riot police scattered the thugs, firing rubber bullets. Four policemen ended up in hospital. Permitted pro-Palestinian demonstrations elsewhere passed off peacefully, prompting some to say that banning the demonstrations in Paris was provocative as well as contravening the right to free speech. But a week earlier several Paris synagogues had been targeted by protesters shouting “Death to the Jews”.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/germany-france-italy-condemn-rise-of-anti-se...
Since the outbreak of violence between Israel and Hamas, participants at anti-Israel demonstrations across Germany have frequently used anti-Semitic slogans and also called for Jews to be gassed -- a reference to the killing of Jews by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/germany-france-italy-condemn-rise-of-anti-semitic-protests-1.1925535#ixzz38DbGAziy
I hate having neighbourhoods described as "predominantly Muslim". Indeed, there are many Maghrebi businesses there; some Muslim, some Jewish. Also significant subsaharan African populations, especially in Château-Rouge (the northern part of the neighbourhood). Some Muslim, some Christian, and ... all animist, as a Congolese friend jokes.
Yes, Israel's actions are raising some ugly responses. While such responses must be condemned, so must be Israel's extreme violence against the people in Gaza.
Fine, but I'm really starting to wonder just how much of these protests are really about Gaza. If you choose to protest at a synagogue instead of, say, the Israeli consulate, that's anti-Semitism pure and simple and not about Gaza. If your chant is not "Free Palestine!" but "Death to the Jews!", again, you may be many things but a defender of the Palestinian people is not one of them.
If you ignore the massacres in Syria, the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and the numerous other conflicts around the globe that DON'T involve the one Jewish state, I start to question what the true motivation is.
And if your anger at Israel inspires you to firebomb synagogues or Jewish-owned businesses, you're a thug plain and simple and I would have to presume are motivated primarily by base hatred of Jews, with concerns for what's happening in Gaza just being a fig leaf to mask your true intentions.
So do you find many people disagree with you about yelling "Death to the Jews" or firebombing Jewish-owned businesses, Mr. Tea?
What about when you tell them about the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian civilians on the part of theIsraeli state?
It is perfectly legitimate to protest at a synagogue if there is a meeting organised by thugs like the JDL inside, which I've heard was the case at at least one of these targets (without confirmation; I'm trying to find out more from friends in the UJFP, but they are very busy these days). http://ujfp.org/ I've certainly protested at churches when anti-woman "pro-life" groups were holding events there.
http://www.ujfp.org/spip.php?article2707&lang=en
There were huge protests against the war on Iraq, throughout the world. The problem with Syria is its complexity in that there is a brutal dictatorship, but also some rebels with a Jihadist, fundamentalist agenda - which by the way targets religious minorities, as well as women and secular people, as usual.
The JDL was there defending the synagogue from people trying to attack it.
The two issues have nothing to do with each other. One can object to bombing Gaza and not destory Jewish businesses or attack Jews in the streets or target their places of worship.
Do many people "disagree" with me objection to yelling "Death to the Jews" or firebombing Jewish-owned businesses? Evidently so, since it seems to be happening with increased frequency all over the world...
The JDL are thugs and terrorists. They persecute progressive Jews. I know people here and in France who have received death threats from them.
I agree. THey're generally assholes. But if I were trapped inside a synagogue surrounded by an angry mob hurling projectiles and attempting to set the building on fire, I'm sure I'd be relieved that there were some people outside confronting them, even if it was just a couple hundred of them vs. thousands of thugs on the other side.
A good crowd in Ottawa today - by Ottawa standards for such events. I would say about 750 in attendance. A nice mix of young Palestinians waving Canadian flags, young Canadians waving Palestinian flags, a few families, clutches of students, a few labour reps, a cabal of old lefties, a smattering of Orthodox Jews, a handful of under-cover cops mixed in ... in other words, the usual sort of demo crowd. No obvious black flags or attempts to incitement - at least before the crowd started to disband.
The event itself comprised an initial rally outside the PM Office, then a short march past Parliament Hill to the Israeli Embassy (hidden high in an anonymous office highrise downtown).
Along the march a handful of Israel supporters waved the Star of David and shouted ... another small group did likewise at the Embassy. But they were harmless and apart from prompting shouts of "Shame!" from the marchers were generally ignored.
Glad to hear that. I hope things go as smoothly at the demo here outside the Israeli consulate, in Westmount Square, on Friday the 25th at 5:30 pm. That time does give the Orthodox Jewish demonstrators (not all of whom are the more visible Hassidim) time to get home before Sabbath.
I'm sure there will be Zionist counterdemonstrators, but we got used to that during the years' long vigil organised by Palestinians and Jews United outside the former downtown Israeli consulate, at the corner of René-Lévesque and Peel. God, that was a windy corner in the wintertime.
Sadly,the NDP is as complacent as the Cons and Libs with Israel's continued assaults,crimes and Apartheid.
If you're looking for an official political party which sympathizes with the oppressed Palestinians,look to Québec Solidaire..Don't expect anything from the NDP.
A friend sent me this video from Hamilton: Hamilton stands up for Gaza: http://vimeo.com/101437397 Good turnout.
I can't get the sound on this vimeo video, by the way, so if there is anything objectionable on it, please tell me and I'll delete it. But I imagine that it is the usual demo chants.
US Jews occupy Israeli army support office in NY in civil disobedience action
Update: Police have arrested at least eight Jewish demonstrators who were occupying the offices of the Friends of the Israeli army in New York.
quote:
Here is the press release from Jews Say No:
Deeply concerned Jews in New York City, as well as Jews across the country, are engaging in acts of civil disobedience to stand against Israel’s current massacre against the Palestinians of Gaza–and to demand that the truth be told about the horrendous violence being perpetrated by the Israeli government and army against 1.8 million Palestinian people in Gaza and the underlying causes of that violence...
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/israeli-support-disobedience.html
.......
eta:
..here's a video report of the action
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/23/not_in_our_name_jewish_activists
Bravo! I remember Jewish women (including our friend Judy Rebick) occupying the Israeli consulates in Toronto and Montréal.
Pro-Palestinian protesters criticize Canada’s support for Israel
Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair are all being criticized by pro-Palestinian protesters for being too supportive of Israel as the number of dead in the most recent conflict tops 600, the vast majority of them in Gaza.
A crowd of nearly 1,000 people gathered outside the Langevin Block office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper at noon on Tuesday to shout “Shame, shame Harper” and “Canada, choose a side, human rights or Apartheid” before marching off to the Israeli embassy and then on to the headquarters of the Liberals and the NDP....
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/pro-palestinian-protesters-...
Next Ottawa demo is scheduled for Saturday, July 26, 1:00pm at the Human Rights Monument (Elgin and Lisgar).
https://www.facebook.com/events/745107448881049/
Pots and pans for Palestine - Vancouver, BC
Tyler Levitan: Conservative Party staffers counter-protest at Gaza solidarity rally in Ottawa
Quds Day Demo Against Israeli War
https://www.facebook.com/events/910802972279851/
Saturday, July 26, 2:00 PM
Queen's Park Legislative Grounds
Show your support!