Category: Featured

CPA 2021 Year in Review

2021 was a busy year for both Canada Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver, as the solidarity movement with Palestine grew in both depth and reach. The diverse base of support and unity for Palestinian rights was evidenced by the thousands of people who took to the streets in Vancouver in May/June to demand accountability from Israel and an end to Canadian complicity in Israeli war crimes. The theme of Canadian complicity ran through many of our 2021 campaigns, from demanding No Criminalization of Palestinian Advocacy by the Canadian government to exposing CBC’s outrageous “language guide” that censors the word Palestine to participating in the #IVotePalestine campaign holding Canadian politicians to account. Prisoner support and Boycott Israel actions were also a big part of our activities; boycott campaigns included Block the Boat rallies against the Israeli Zim shipping line, #BoycottPuma pickets and our signature Boycott Israeli Wines-Don’t Drink with Apartheid that has been calling out the BC government for over a decade on its war crimes profiteering.

We are strong believers in the principles of grassroots organizing and international solidarity, and 2021 showed that groups relying on activism are the heart and soul of the Palestinian solidarity movement. Together we march towards return and liberation!

Events and Campaigns:

  1. Free Mohammed El-Halabi!
    February 28, 2021 Twitter Storm
    #Justice4ElHalabi Social media action day #2 March 14, 2021
  2. Boycott TEVA, Defend the Right to Boycott
    March 25, 2021
  3. Tell Canadian Officials: Advocacy for Palestine is not ‘Terrorism’
    April 5, 2021
  4. Nakba73: Flash Picket for Palestine
    May 15, 2021
    Vancouver comes out for Palestine in massive rally!
    May 16, 2021
  5. Join us again to Stand with Palestine
    Vigil/Rally to be followed by March
    May 22, 2021
  6. Join us again to Stand with Palestine
    Car Rally
    May 24, 2021
  7. Block the Boat Vancouver
    June 8, 2021
  8. Vancouver Day of Rage: Defend Jerusalem
    June 15, 2021
  9. SAVE SILWAN: VANCOUVER
    July 3, 2021
  10. Boycott Tour, July 18, Vancouver
    July 18, 2021
  11. Palestine Solidarity: An Inter-Generational Dialogue
    August 3, 2021
  12. Aug. 14 Webinar: Canada’s Complicity in Palestinian Dispossession
    Canada’s Complicity in Palestinian Dispossession
    August 16, 2021
  13. #IVotePalestine
    August 28, 2021
  14. #BoycottPuma Picket in Vancouver
    September 17, 2021
  15. Write letter: Canadians calling on Puma to end its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association
    September 18, 2021
  16. Palestine Action Week in Vancouver
    Boycott Tour and March
    October, 6, 2021
  17. Free Georges Abdallah! Free Palestine Protest in Vancouver!
    October 16, 2021
  18. Boycott Israeli Wines: New Article and Video
    November 8, 2021
    Vancouver Calendar of Events: AllOut4Palestine:
  19. New Art Exhibit on Gaza coming to Vancouver
    November 24 – 27, 2021
  20. International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
    November 29, 2021
  21. Asian Labour: Local and Global Solidarity Building
    Dec.1, 2021
  22. Film showing of Fedayin: Georges Abdallah, postponed.
    UBC postpones film showing due to Zionist meddling
    December 2nd, 2021
  23. Liberation Cafe: Freedom for our Prisoners
    We Stand Together
    December 5, 2021
  24. International Day for Human Rights Action
    Dec. 10, 2021

CPA Statements:

  1. CBC still mulling over its anti-Palestinian bias
    January 6, 2021
  2. Anti-Arab racism has deep roots in Canada/Le racisme anti-arabe a des racines profondes au Canada
    January 16, 2021
  3. Indigenous activist Lee Maracle on CBC erasure of Palestine
    by: Lee Maracle, January 26
  4. Canada’s Hypocrisy on the ICC and Palestine
    February 9, 2021
  5. Canadian complicity: Is ICC serving justice or Western interests?
    February 16, 2021
  6. CBC Ombudsman says apology “unwise”, but anti-Palestinian language guide is “reasonable”
    March 8, 2021
  7. Political Advocacy and National Liberation are not “Terrorism”
    March 22, 2021
  8. #NoIHRA and the Hypocrisy of the Zionist Lobby
    April 13, 2021
  9. Open Letter : Time to respect NDP Policy, Don’t make B.C. complicit in Israeli war crimes!
    April 19, 2021
  10. Letter to Transport Minister Omar Alghabra: Israeli Apartheid Not Welcome in Canadian Ports #BlocktheBoat
    June 15, 2021
  11. In Memory of Betty Beeching
    August 12, 2021
  12. Canadian company financing Israel-UAE collaboration
    October 3, 2021
  13. In Memory of Lee Maracle
    November 11, 2021
  14. UAE Normalizing with Israeli War Crimes
    November 18, 2021
  15. In Solidarity with Indigenous Land Defenders
    November 20, 2021
  16. Don’t make us complicit in war crimes!
    December 13, 2021

Articles:

  1. CBC still reviewing why it deleted the word ‘Palestine’
    Mondoweiss, January 8, 2021
  2. Canada’s hypocrisy serves to shield Israeli war crimes
    Mondoweiss, February 11, 2021
  3. ‘Do not refer to Palestine or show a map with Palestine as a country’ — the CBC’s Orwellian rules
    Mondoweiss, March, 9, 2021
  4. Palestinian advocacy is not ‘terrorism’
    Mondoweiss, March, 23, 2021
  5. The fight continues after Israel lobby staves off IHRA debate at NDP convention
    Mondoweiss, April 14, 2021
  6. Continuing Nakba, continuing resistance
    Mondoweiss, May 20, 2021
  7. Message to Trudeau government: Honor human rights — block Zim from Canadian ports
    Mondoweiss, June 18, 2021
  8. UAE company cracks down on ‘Block the Boat’ picket line in Canada
    Mondoweiss, June 28, 2021
  9. Boycott beyond the Settlements!
    Mondoweiss, July 29, 2021
  10. Canadian Complicity in Israeli War Crimes: Electoral Politics
    Al Mayadeen English, September 7, 2021
  11. Canadian company financing Israel-UAE collaboration
    Mondoweiss, October 1, 2021
  12. Don’t Drink with Apartheid: From South Africa to Palestine!
    Al Mayadeen English, November 6, 2021
  13. UAE profiteering off Israeli war crimes
    Mondoweiss, November 17, 2021

Interviews & Webinars:

Social Media:

CPA Facebook pages:
(all likes are generated organically; on principle, we refuse to pay FB for ads or for posts promotions)

CPA Facebook groups:

In Solidarity with Indigenous Land Defenders

We, in the Canada Palestine Association, denounce the British Columbia (B.C.) and Canadian governments for their colonial violence and their callous disregard of indigenous rights. This past week, additional RCMP troops arrived in unceded Wet’suwet’en territory and have since engaged in violent raids on indigenous land defenders; we demand the immediate release of all those arrested, which included journalists and elders. We know that the struggles of the indigenous people of this land and the indigenous people of Palestine have always been against the supremacist settler colonialist project. We honour the brave resistance of our indigenous sisters and brothers all through their history and know that they believe, as we do, in defending their land to their last breath.

We tell Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Premier John Horgan that they are on the wrong side of history, and they will be only remembered for their supremacist and racist legacies.

#WetsuwetenStrong #AllOutForWedzinKwa

UAE Normalizing with Israeli War Crimes

Activists in Vancouver, who have worked for over a decade on the Boycott Israeli Wines campaign, were recently taken aback to discover that a new market for Israeli settlement wines had opened up in the United Arab Emirates UAE. This was apparently one of the dividends of the “normalization” agreements, or Abraham Accords, that are now over a year old and are fueling greater Israeli-UAE economic ties. Dividends of betraying the Palestinian people and profiting from their suffering.

Be it Dubai Ports World bidding to build ports in Haifa, or illegal Israeli settlement wines being imported into the Emirates, or members of the Dubai royal family visiting the Israel Aerospace Industries pavilion at Expo 2020, or the newly-launched Elbit Systems Emirates, these connections continue to surface. The Israeli Finance Ministry’s deputy chief economist, Lev Drucker, reportedly “sees a potential for more substantial trade levels between the countries, starting at $2 billion and building up to $6.5 billion once cooperation matures”, although financial analysts are more conservative in their estimates.[i]

And it is now evident that allowing this cooperation to “mature” means that there are no barriers to economic trade. Not violations of international law that forbid profiteering off the resources of an occupied people, and not the stained history of the Israeli military industry that literally has the blood of Palestinian and Arab civilians on its hands.

After the Abraham Accords were announced last year, Israeli media was abuzz with reports that Dubai based FAM Holdings had inked a deal with settler company representatives to import wine, tahina, olive oil and honey. Settler Council leader Yossi Dagan was centre stage at the signing ceremony in Dubai; his effusive comments at the time bragged about these new economic ties, repeatedly insisting on using the “Samaria” designation for the occupied West Bank:

“We are opening a new economic page between the best companies in Samaria and FAM. I am very excited and happy with their standing,” he said. “Samaria strives to lead in all areas, and also in export and business development,” Dagan said. “The Samaria area that I represent is located in the Israeli state’s heartland.”

According to the Times of Israel, the Tura Winery based in the illegal settlement of Rechelim, continued in the same vein with this announcement on social media:

“Now it can be revealed: We signed a special cooperation agreement on the distribution of Tura wines and [olive] oils across the UAE,” the company wrote on its Facebook page, together with several pictures of co-owner Vered Ben Sa’adon shaking hands with her new business partner at the signing ceremony in Dubai. “Straight from Rechelim in Israel to the UAE — history!”

Not to be outdone, the head of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce clarified that “the United Arab Emirates has no issue with importing Israeli products manufactured in the West Bank, as it will help boost the Palestinian economy (sic!)…We are an open market in every sense of the word”.

Reportedly, bottles from the Golan Heights Winery, in illegally occupied and annexed Syrian territory, were the first to hit store shelves in Dubai. Yair Shapira, CEO of the Golan Heights Winery, said a year ago that “we are excited to be the Israeli winery that will ‘open the gate’ and introduce the residents and guests of the UAE in Dubai to the Israeli wine industry.” Despite the recent visit of the UAE Foreign Minister to Damascus, it would seem legitimizing Israeli theft of Arab land is still very much “business as usual” for the Emirates.

Profiteering off Israeli war crimes and apartheid is morally wrong; activists should not even have to explain to these governments that they are aiding and abetting the pillage of Palestinian and Arab property and resources, which is expressly forbidden in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

However, the tide is turning; all those complicit, be they Arab despotic regimes or duplicitous Western governments and officials, will be held accountable for enabling Israel’s long and bloody history of dispossession of the Palestinians. The Palestinians, and their supporters, will never forget who stood on the wrong side of history and made a mockery of their human rights.

[i] . https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017d-0fdf-d3c9-a77d-0fdf36d30000 (page 40)

This article appeared in Mondoweiss: UAE profiteering off Israeli war crimes – Mondoweiss

In Memory of Lee Maracle

Earlier today, we lost Lee Maracle, an indigenous warrior, a writer, a poet, an activist and a revolutionary. She was strongly internationalist in her perspective and linked the indigenous struggles in Turtle Island to all oppressed peoples of the world. Her longstanding support for the Palestinian people’s struggle against Zionist settler colonialism was an example for all progressive people to follow.

She was a leading member of the Native Study (NSG) Group, that was also part of the Third World Peoples Coalition (TWPC). NSG issued a position paper on “Why the native people should support national liberation movements in the Third World” for the Vancouver meeting that commemorated the 11th Anniversary of the Palestinian revolution.

On June 5, 1976, Lee introduced the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish at a packed public meeting for the Palestinian delegation to the UN-Habitat Conference. He read several poems, and she presented the English translation of “Write Down, I am an Arab” for the audience. On more than one occasion, she reminisced fondly about this experience.

Some of her more memorable and principled moments in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle are as follows:

On Oct. 1985, Lee donated a hand-woven Cowichan wool blanket as a raffle prize in support of the Palestine Children’s Hospital in Cairo.

On Jan. 1, 2006, Lee issued a statement criticizing the AFN leadership visit to Israel stating that: “… this is tantamount to laying a wreath at Vorster’s grave in the interest of [honoring apartheid] or traveling to the U.S. to share the values of the Custer Committee celebrating the massacre at Wounded Knee. Just exactly what values is the AFN sharing with the Israeli’s?”

On Jan. 24, 2021, Lee issued a statement after learning of the attempts by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to erase Palestine and the Palestinian national identity.

Lee wrote many poems dedicated to the Palestinian struggle: I am a Palestinian Woman, Songs to a Palestinian Child, Free Palestindians, and Remembering Mahmoud 1976 among others.

Voice of Palestine radio show, based in Vancouver, interviewed Lee several times:

  1. March 11, 2008, a conversation with Lee honouring International Women’s’ Day. Lee spoke about how she had always felt close to the Palestinian people and their struggle and mentioned past solidarity actions that she and her children had participated in. The interview is 31 minutes into the audio.
  2. Feb. 7, 2012, an Interview with Lee about the Global Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier; she detailed the complicity of the Canadian courts in his deportation from Vancouver and the solidarity campaign that was waged at that time. There was discussion of indigenous rights, the similarities of settler colonialist projects including Israel and North America. The interview is 24 minutes into the audio.
  3. Mar. 27, 2012, a conversation and poetry readings with Lee Maracle who joined us over the weekend during a brief visit to Vancouver to talk about the apartheid nature of settler colonialism, both here in Turtle Island and Palestine. She also read several of her moving pieces of poetry, in particular “Remembering Mahmoud” which is dedicated to the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. The interview is 27 minutes into the audio.

Lee’s memory will always live in our hearts, and her tireless work for her people and the victims of settler colonialism will live on forever.

Note: This is just a first step in documenting her indigenous solidarity with the Palestinian people; if you find other solidarity activities for Lee, please let us know and we will add it to this post.

From Turtle Island to Palestine, Colonization is a Crime.

New Art Exhibit on Gaza coming to Vancouver

“On Borrowed Time in Gaza: Art in Confinement”
Drawings and Paintings by Palestinian, Gaza based artists: Majdal Nateel, Maisara Baroud, Maha Daya, Mohammed Alhaj, Rufida Sehwail, Ganem Alden

Mónica Reyes Gallery
602 East Hastings (at Princess), Vancouver
Wednesday November 24 to Saturday November 27, 2021.
Hours: 12 to 5pm
Closing reception and walkthrough: Saturday November 27 at 1:00pm
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/614336096368315

Art in Confinement evokes perseverance, humanism, and creativity in dark times. The exhibition represents expressions from life in Gaza by six Palestinian artists, whose works defy a brutal Israeli blockade imposed on over two million Palestinians. Crossing states’ boundaries and aerial spaces to reach Turtle Island, the works affirm Palestinian hope, persistence, endurance, and love of art and life. The two hundred drawings and paintings are a testament of the power of art, the power of imagination under bombardment, and aspiration for a just and peaceful life in a forsaken world.
Making art in Gaza is an act of survival, refusal, and resistance to unendurable conditions inflicted on Palestinians in the largest collective prison on earth. Deprivation of the Palestinian artists in Gaza from their right to freedom of movement, their right to connect with the rest of the art community and the public in colonized Palestine and beyond has not stopped them from making art. Despite Israel’s prohibition of art material and supplies from entering Gaza, or prohibiting art from exiting Gaza, artists continue to create engaging art, representing their experiences in confinement, isolation, and deprivation of basic human rights.

100% of the sales of the artworks, ranging in price from $50 to $1500 will be going to the artists and art therapy programs for children in Gaza. This exhibition is a call for support of Palestinian artists who live and work under extreme conditions in Gaza.