Month: January 2021

Indigenous activist Lee Maracle on CBC erasure of Palestine

Lee Maracle, author, poet and indigenous activist issued the following statement after learning of the attempts by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to erase Palestine and the Palestinian national identity.
Lee is also a longtime supporter of the Palestinian people’s struggle.

“Indigenous people in Canada know about erasure as a means of eradicating the plight of indigenous nations for nationhood. Palestine has been in this boat for sometime now along side of us.  The manifestation may be different, but erasure (terra nullius) is always the result.  Indigenous people in Canada are referred to as First Nations as though a village were a nation.  In fact, the application of this term to each reserve, serves to fracture the original nations.  Tkaranto, has a treaty that dates back to the colonial era between The Anishinabek and their allies and the Haudenausaunee (please google, Canadians should know this).  It is the treaty of the dish with one spoon, which is a sharing arrangement between two giant confederacies, covering southern Ontario and Quebec and respected by the Anishinaabe people of northern Ontario, Manitoba, Illinois and Minnesota and the Haudenausaunee of Quebec, Ontario and New York, a territory about the size of Europe.   Palestine is small, but it has been Palestine for thousands of years.  We all know this.  We respect this.  Another cannot give away another nation’s territory.   We do not acknowledge this erasure of Palestine and we do not respect the attempt to eliminate the Palestinians and the right to their nation.”

Si’Yam Lee Maracle OC

Anti-Arab racism has deep roots in Canada/Le racisme anti-arabe a des racines profondes au Canada

(Photo: On the right is the late Rezeq Faraj, a former president of CAF, at one of their conventions with Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish./Photo: à droite, feu Rezeq Faraj, ancien président de la CAF, à l’une de leurs conventions avec le poète palestinien Mahmoud Darwish.)

(le français suit)

It is important to set the record straight in response to recent distortions, defamations and attacks on CAF, the Arab community and Palestinian advocacy.

According to the Canadian press, the Bloc Québécois suggested that the new Canadian Transport Minister, Omar Alghabra, is associated with “the political Islamic movement.”
Leader Yves-François Blanchet said in a release that “questions arise” due to the minister’s former role as head of the Canadian Arab Federation.
“It’s really questions about his past and also the separation of church and state, which is a profound value for the Bloc,” said spokesman Julien Coulombe-Bonnafous. “We don’t want to raise any accusations, because I don’t think there’s that much.”

What prompted the Bloc and its leader to make such unfounded and false statements? It is very clear to us that it is politically motivated and also smacks of anti-Arab racism. This alleged association with the so-called “political Islamic movement”, especially without proof, is reprehensible and immoral.

Further, to insinuate that the Canadian Arab Federation is a hub for such a movement is ignorant, and slanderous to CAF and its objectives. For most of its 53-year history, CAF stood for secularism, universal human and national rights with the main emphasis on Palestinian and Arab liberation. CAF was led by many capable secular leaders such as the late Palestinian Quebecer Rezeq Faraj, and these slanders are a disgrace to the memory of Rezeq.

Some media reports mentioned Jason Kenney, the former citizenship and immigration Minister, who cut funding for the Canadian Arab Federation. However, it is worth noting that Mr. Kenney’s main grudge was against the secular Christian president of CAF at that time, Khaled Moammar. CPA issued a statement “Jason Kenney Is Promoting Racism” where we concluded “This intervention in the internal affairs of the Arab community being conducted by the Canadian government’s vast economic and intelligence machinery smacks of the “regime change” tactics used globally by the U.S. and other western governments…”.
For more background on Jason Kenney’s and Canadian government racism against Palestinian advocacy, the Arab community and one of its main organizations CAF, check out “Freedom of Expression and Palestine Advocacy”.

However, in condemning the blatant racism of Mr. Blanchet and the BQ, we do not need to whitewash the history of Omar Alghabra and what he has stood for during his political career.

Sadly, Alghabra has spent most of his time in Canada in service of the Canadian establishment and its multinational corporations; this is how and why he became a minister and previously the Parliament Secretary to the Prime Minister. Even when he was (briefly) the president of CAF, he hijacked the agenda of the original goals of the Federation. Canada Palestine Association (CPA), then a long-time member of CAF, issued an open letter in 2005 where it stated that “CAF policy is sinking further into a policy of collaboration and subjugation to the Canadian establishment.”

In 2016, Mr. Alghabra recommended “that all members of the House should support” the anti BDS motion in the Canadian Parliament, alongside the other Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms. Pam Goldsmith-Jones, who stated:
“Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be sharing my time with the Hon. Member for Mississauga Centre (Omar Alghabra).
Let me reiterate that we believe that all members of the House should support the motion. The Government of Canada unequivocally opposes the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement.”

Mr. Alghabra also considers Palestinian resistance organizations as terrorists: “Our government put Hamas on a terrorist list. We believe Hamas is a terrorist organization.” For his information, the “terrorist list” was drafted by the Zionist lobby that imposed it on the government. And if any establishment fits the terrorist description, it is the government of which he is now a minister, that at every term has supported the US-sponsored wars of TERROR on Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Haiti, Bolivia and Venezuela. Not to mention its support for Israeli war crimes and terrorism.

We condemn all forms of racism and all racist attacks in Canada; these are increasing daily and it is the marginalized people in our communities who bear the brunt of such harassment, intimidation and racial profiling and who need our urgent support and protection.

Hanna Kawas,
Chair, Canada Palestine Association

(This statement was published in The Canada Files.)
_______________________________

Le racisme anti-arabe a des racines profondes au Canada

En réponse aux récentes distorsions, diffamations et attaques contre la CAF, contre la communauté arabe et contre la défense des droits palestiniens au Canada, il est important de rétablir les faits.

D’après la presse canadienne, le Bloc québécois a laissé entendre que le nouveau ministre canadien des Transports, Omar Alghabra, était associé au « mouvement politique islamique ».

Dans un communiqué, le chef du Bloc, Yves-François Blanchet, a déclaré que « des questions se posent » en raison de l’ancien rôle du ministre à la tête de la Fédération canado-arabe.

« Ce ne sont rien d’autres que des questions sur son passé et sur la séparation de l’Église et de l’État – une valeur profonde pour le Bloc », a déclaré le porte-parole Julien Coulombe-Bonnafous. « Nous ne voulons pas porter d’accusations, car je ne pense pas qu’il y en ait autant.»

Qu’est-ce qui a poussé le Bloc et son chef à faire des déclarations aussi infondées et fausses ? Politiquement motivée, à l’évidence, ces déclarations sentent le racisme anti-arabe. Cette prétendue association avec un soi-disant « mouvement politique islamique », assénée sans preuve, est répréhensible et immorale.

Insinuer, de plus, que la Fédération canado-arabe constitue la plaque tournante d’un tel mouvement, voilà qui est ignorant et calomnieux envers la CAF et ses objectifs. Tout au long de ses 53 ans d’histoire, la CAF a défendu la laïcité, les droits humains et nationaux universels, l’accent étant mis principalement sur la libération palestinienne et arabe. La CAF a été dirigée par de nombreux dirigeants, laïcs et compétents, tels que feu Rezeq Faraj, un Québécois palestinien, et ces calomnies déshonorent sa mémoire.

Certains reportages ont évoqué Jason Kenney, l’ancien ministre de la Citoyenneté et de l’Immigration, qui avait réduit le financement de la Fédération canado-arabe. Il convient cependant de rappeler que la principale rancune de M. Kenney était à l’encontre du président de l’époque – le chrétien et laïc Khaled Moammar. L’Association Canada Palestine (CPA) a publié une déclaration intitulée « Jason Kenney fait la promotion du racisme » dans laquelle nous concluions : « Cette intervention dans les affaires internes de la communauté arabe menée par le vaste appareil économique et de renseignement du gouvernement canadien ressemble aux tactiques de « changement de régime » utilisées à l’échelle mondiale par les États-Unis et d’autres gouvernements occidentaux… ».

Pour plus d’informations sur le racisme de Jason Kenney et du gouvernement canadien contre la défense des droits palestiniens, la communauté arabe et l’une de ses principales organisations (la CAF), consultez « Liberté d’expression et défense de la Palestine ».

En condamnant le racisme flagrant de M. Blanchet et du BQ, nous n’avons pas besoin d’aller jusqu’à blanchir l’histoire d’Omar Alghabra et ce qu’il a défendu au cours de sa carrière politique.

Malheureusement, en effet, Alghabra a passé la plupart de son temps au Canada au service de l’establishment canadien et de ses sociétés multinationales; voilà comment et pourquoi il est devenu ministre et, auparavant, secrétaire parlementaire du premier ministre. Lorsqu’il a été (brièvement) président de la CAF, il a détourné l’ordre du jour de la Fédération de ses objectifs initiaux. La CPA, alors membre de longue date de la CAF, a publié une lettre ouverte en 2005 dans laquelle elle déclarait que « la politique de la CAF s’enfonce davantage dans une politique de collaboration et d’assujettissement à l’establishment canadien.  »

En 2016, M. Alghabra a recommandé «que tous les députés de la Chambre appuient » la motion anti-BDS au Parlement canadien, aux côtés de l’autre secrétaire parlementaire du ministre des Affaires étrangères, Mme Pam Goldsmith-Jones, qui a déclaré:

« Monsieur le Président, je suis heureuse de partager mon temps avec l’hon. Député de Mississauga-Centre (Omar Alghabra). Permettez-moi de réitérer que nous croyons que tous les députés de la Chambre devraient appuyer la motion. Le gouvernement du Canada s’oppose sans équivoque au mouvement de boycott, de désinvestissement et de sanctions. »

M. Alghabra considère également les organisations de résistance palestiniennes comme des terroristes : « Notre gouvernement a placé le Hamas sur une liste terroriste. Nous pensons que le Hamas est une organisation terroriste. » Pour son information, la « liste des terroristes » a été rédigée par le lobby sioniste qui l’a imposée au gouvernement. Et si un établissement correspond bien à la description de terroriste, c’est le gouvernement dont il est maintenant ministre, et qui, à chaque mandat, a soutenu les guerres de TERREUR parrainées par les États-Unis contre l’Irak, la Syrie, le Yémen, la Libye, Haïti, la Bolivie et le Venezuela. Sans parler de son soutien aux crimes de guerre et au terrorisme israéliens.

Nous condamnons toutes les formes de racisme et toutes les attaques racistes au Canada ; ceux-ci augmentent chaque jour et ce sont les personnes marginalisées de nos communautés qui portent le poids de ce harcèlement, de l’intimidation et du profilage racial et qui ont besoin de notre soutien et de notre protection d’urgence.

Hanna Kawas,
Président, Canada Palestine Association

CBC still mulling over its anti-Palestinian bias

Last summer’s fiasco at Canada’s national broadcaster CBC over its censure of the word Palestine has brought new focus to the debate over why there is such pro-Israel bias in most media in North America.

Some brief background: The CBC show “The Current” had an interview with Joe Sacco where the host used the word Palestine. This was deleted in the later online version and apologized for the next day. In the subsequent uproar from listeners about this action, it was learnt that CBC’s language guide actually embeds this kind of anti-Palestinian discourse. The relevant clause in their language guide was more extreme than some “hasbara” handbooks, basically “NO” to all things Palestine.

Four months later, the case is still under review at the CBC’s Ombudsman office; but the results of his investigation are by no means guaranteed to overturn their archaic policies, either in respecting universal human rights or even common journalistic practice. We hope this will not be a case of “the mountain laboured and brought forth a mouse”, as happened with a previous complaint involving biased coverage at CBC.

Which begs the question – why is anti-Palestinianism so entrenched at Western media outlets like CBC? Is it simply because of the influence of the Zionist lobby or are there other factors at play? Is it because Canada also shares a settler colonialist past? Or is it because of Canada’s subservience to U.S. foreign policy?

An article written in July 2020 titled “Uncovering Canadian Media’s Devastating pro-Israel Bias” by journalist Davide Mastracci offered a glimpse into the reality of how media has become so dangerously biased.

The “blunt force trauma” approach described so accurately in Mastracci’s article that was prevalent in the Israel Asper/CanWest era in Canada lives on in a more covert legacy like CBC’s language guide. Following are excerpts from that convoluted language guide on Palestine vs. Palestinian territories, as detailed in an official response by Paul Hambleton, Director of Journalistic Standards.

“Palestine vs. Palestinian territories — There is no modern country of Palestine, although there’s a movement to establish one as part of a two-state peace agreement with Israel. So do not refer to Palestine or show a map with Palestine as a country. Use the term “pro-Palestinian” instead of “pro-Palestine” when referring in generic ways to Palestinian supporters. Areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority are considered Palestinian territories: Fatah-run West Bank and Hamas-run Gaza Strip…But the UN does not grant nationhood, and it remains premature to call Palestinian territories the country of Palestine. When making references to historical Palestine, use clear language (e.g., “British Palestine” is the accepted term for the British Mandate of Palestine, which administered the region between 1920 and the birth of Israel in 1948).”

Multiple inaccuracies in this policy were already highlighted in Canada Palestine Association’s request to the Ombudsman Office for a review, from the colonialist nature of so-called “British Palestine” to the extreme and petty refusal to even allow pro-Palestine as a generic term. But another point that needs addressing: what is this “Fateh-run West Bank and Hamas-run Gaza”? Does CBC talk about Likud-run Israel? Or Saud Royal Family-run Saudi Arabia? And this particular phrase also stands out: “But the UN does not grant nationhood”. But hold on a minute, didn’t the UN already do precisely that in 1947 with Israel, by passing the Partition Plan and Resolution 181?? This level of arrogance and condescension, coupled with a conscious refusal to portray the Palestinians as a national unit and entity, runs deep.

This approach is also prevalent in the Canadian government’s stated policy, which CBC refers to as backup for its flawed language guide. At first blush, Canada’s official position might appear somewhat fair-minded, although of course always favouring Israel’s security as the first criteria to consider. But a closer look reveals that, with the exception of using proper names like Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestine National Council, there is also no use of the word Palestine throughout the entire document (exactly like CBC). Any logical mention of the state of Palestine or just Palestine is replaced by the more ambiguous “Palestinian state”.  For example, the Canadian government is supposedly committed at some undetermined point in the future to a “Palestinian state living side by side…with Israel”.

Is this accidental or is there a coordinated effort here as well to undermine any references to the national identity of Palestine? Is this done intentionally to bolster the Israeli narrative, a narrative guaranteed to never result in a genuinely sovereign and independent state of Palestine?

Words are important weapons in the hands of Israel and its international supporters, and Zionist ideologues have worked for decades to sanitize language to better favour their goals and objectives. This is why they refuse to speak of Palestinians in Israel, instead they must be called Arab Israelis (another policy favoured by CBC although they seem confused if it should be Arab Israelis or Israeli Arabs). That’s why they talk of agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, not Israel and Palestine. And that’s why the Canadian government’s voting record at the UN, despite its more recent claims to recognize Palestinian self-determination, ends up overwhelmingly supporting the “Greater Israel” settler colonialist project.

CBC’s mishandling of this issue has had the unintended result of shining a spotlight on the decades-old erasure of Palestinian national identity in both the Canadian media and government. Be it interference in university hiring, or appointing notorious pro-Israel advocates to police free speech, or CBC’s outrageously biased language guide, it seems the attempt to eviscerate all things Palestine is moving forward with an increasing intensity and ruthlessness.

Denying the existence and culture of indigenous peoples, and denying the humanity of the colonized, are all shared traits in the supremacist mentality of settler colonialists. But such fabrications, negation of Palestinian identity and racist pronouncements will not halt the Palestinian march towards equality, liberation and return.

by Marion Kawas 

Another version of this article was carried in Mondoweiss.