Yves Engler testing the measure of Canadian law and quality of its carceral system; Hanna Kawas and defending those that risk opposing the forces of oppression in the second half.
Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Yves Engler, Hanna Kawas March 5, 2025
Full interview here:
Protecting our Rights, Defending our Voices
Over the last year, the Canada Palestine Association has been supporting activists targeted by institutional and police repression across BC. We have seen multiple cases of intimidation and harassment, especially by the Vancouver Police. CPA has already donated over $10,000 from funds previously collected to help people gain legal representation and fight back.
Stand up for our rights, defend our voices and donate today.
Please donate by e-transfer to cpavancouver@gmail.com
(Note: donations are not tax-deductible.)
We know that all systems of oppression are inherently linked. The fight for Palestinian liberation is closely tied to imperialism and the role our government plays in the ongoing oppression, ethnic cleansing and displacement of the Palestinian people. As the Palestinian movement advocates within our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we are seeing our civil liberties tested by our own government. All levels of government are attempting to silence the movement with frivolous charges to deter our voices. We are seeking to combat these charges with a legal fund designed to defend our voices of expression and civil liberties, now and into the future.
Hanna Kawas, CPA Chair:
“Due to the generosity of members and long-time supporters, CPA hasn’t needed to make a public appeal for operating funds. However, this is a special circumstance; we are facing the combined ferocity of the Zionist/Israel lobby and the US-led empire as they attempt to erase Palestinian identity and voices. We need your support now to ensure that we continue the fight until return and liberation!”
“We, as prisoners, bow to the people of Gaza.” – Wael Samara, freed prisoner from Al-Am’ari refugee camp in Ramallah, to the people of the Gaza Strip after his release from the Israeli occupation’s dungeons.
The joy of the released Palestinian prisoners and their families is a testament to the strength of the Palestinian people and nation. It also represents everything “Israel” has tried so desperately to stamp out.
Many of these prisoners were abused and tortured in Israeli jails and some of the long-term detainees never imagined they would ever see freedom again. Each has a personal story, love frozen in time, growing children they never got to know, parents and grandparents that passed away during their incarceration.
In April 2020, I wrote an article entitled Ansar: A Testament to the Ugly Brutality of the Israeli Jailer and noted the following:
Palestinian prisoners have long played a unique role in the fabric of Palestinian society and its collective resistance. They cross all factional and social barriers, and in many cases, represent the best of several generations of leaders. When some in the Western world repeatedly ask “Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?”, we can confidently say that he or she has most likely been imprisoned (or assassinated) by the Israeli state.
Nearly every Palestinian family has a story of at least one member that has been imprisoned either by Israel or a neighbouring complicit regime in the region. As such, the issue of prisoners has historically been a unifying bond for the Palestinian people. Each prisoner is a microcosm of the Palestinian reality, be they arrested while under occupation, in a refugee camp in exile or under the thumb of the apartheid regime in the Galilee or Naqab.
Today, the political prisoners in Israeli jails comprise members of the legislature, children, and women; they also include over 430 administrative detainees. These are prisoners held without charge or trial for renewable periods of 6 months, who are often then re-arrested after being released. Not only is administrative detention void of due process, it is also profoundly cruel; these prisoners know that upon their eventual release, they can be (and often are) picked up at any moment in the future on the whim of Israeli security officials.
How can we not declare that Oct. 7 was indeed a victory for the Palestinian people and their resistance? When these long-term prisoners were set to rot forever or die in Israeli jails until this new round of releases, that was only achieved through the incredible Sumoud and bravery of the fighting organizations in Gaza? When prisoners like Mohammed Al Halabi from World Vision have now been released (a skeleton of his former self), even though a strong international campaign waged on his behalf achieved nothing?
The late Irish republican hero Bobby Sands wrote in his prison diary: Our revenge will be the laughter of our children. In the same vein, Palestinians can say that their revenge will be their joy in reuniting families and loved ones despite all efforts by the Zionist enemy to tear their society apart and render it dysfunctional.
by Marion Kawas
A session by the Canadian BDS Coalition and International BDS Allies. Speakers: Hanna Kawas, Canada Palestine Association, Bram Hanekom, Africa for Palestine, Bana Abu Zuluf, Good Shepherd Collective, Karen Rodman, Just Peace Advocates
Moderator: Sara Farhan, PhD
BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish was formed 10 years ago, and has worked consistently since then to demand “No Business as Usual” with Israel and all those complicit in enabling Zionist oppression.
The group has launched and participated in many campaigns, from Stop G4S, to Boycott Air Canada, to calling out PUMA for sponsoring Israeli teams, to Boycott Israeli Wines and most recently calling on Scotiabank to divest from Elbit Systems.
