Media Watch – Page 3 – Canada Palestine Association

CPA Condemns the Banning of Samidoun

The Canada Palestine Association condemns the Canadian government’s banning of Samidoun, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group. This move was done in conjunction with the US government and followed years of aggressive Zionist lobbying. It also represented “cheap politics” on the part of the current Liberal government, pandering to a right wing agenda and trying to score political points by literally squashing civil and democratic rights.

For over a year, the Canadian government has not taken any serious actions against the Israeli TERRORISM, war crimes and genocide being carried out against the Palestinian and Lebanese people. But instead of criminalizing those forces who are actually burning people alive in Gaza, this government chose to put yet another Palestinian group on its “terrorist list”. And this time, they are setting a dangerous precedent by banning an independent Palestinian political advocacy group with no organizational affiliations to any Palestinian resistance groups.

In 2002, the Liberal government of the day listed several Islamic Liberation Organizations on Canada’s so-called “Terrorist list” and then in 2003, they also added most Palestinian resistance groups to the same list.

The Israeli government and its array of lobby groups have clearly been behind these listings; their main objective is to supress any solidarity work for Palestinian liberation and supress criticism of the Zionist settler colonialist project (Israel).

Repression against advocates for Palestine is steadily increasing across Canada, from arrests by local police forces to unfounded smears by provincial and federal politicians. But as CPA Chair Hanna Kawas said in a recent interview: “We’re going to keep the solidarity work (alive) and the support work for Palestinian liberation and for Palestinian resistance organizations, whether they like it or not.”

We must continue to stand with the Palestinian people and not be intimidated with government edicts; lets show true internationalist solidarity with Palestinian advocacy and liberation and show that anti-Palestinian racism has no place in Canada or anywhere else.

Other resources: https://iclmg.ca/iclmg-calls-for-end-to-terror-list/
Tell the Canadian Government to Stop Criminalizing Palestinian Advocacy – Action Network

Why I Hate Zionism and its Backers More than Ever!

by Marion Kawas

Two months into the Gaza genocide, I wrote an article about why I hated the cruel ideology of Zionism and everything it had done to the Palestinian people. At that point, most activists could not imagine that this genocide would now be close to reaching its one-year anniversary. And that almost one year on, we would still be seeing the images of headless children, bodies draped off the edges of buildings, as well as humiliated and tortured prisoners proudly displayed by their captors.

Each new atrocity brought forth performative and useless expressions of concern from Western leaders and most Arab regimes, often coined as a “global outcry”. With the tent massacre in Rafah, we thought that surely the world would now intervene to stop this. And then again with the horrific revelations from Sde Teiman prison, and the defense of such by many Israeli legislators. But we were wrong and this new phase of openly dispossessing and crushing Palestinians continues unabated. Not only continues but brings new levels of destruction like this week’s al Mawasi massacre where two-ton US made bombs obliterated humble tents and everything and everyone in them.

And the grief and rage of Palestinians also grows, in ways that will impact generations to come. Whether in historic Palestine, in Arab countries or in the broader diaspora, the Palestinian national consensus going forward has been permanently altered by the carnage in Gaza and the lack of world response.

Here in the belly of the imperialist beast, not only have our governments slavishly promoted and defended the Israeli genocide, but they have also worked to silence pro-Palestine advocates on multiple fronts. From student protestors on campuses, to community organizers, to professors who dared to speak out – we have seen fraudulent lawsuits, attempts to level “hate crime” charges, firings and dismissals, as well as increased violence from local police forces. But despite this heavy-handed suppression, people from small communities and large cities are still out on the streets speaking up for Palestine and refusing to stand down.

We thought that the public postings on social media by Zionist soldiers revelling in their lewd and brutal acts in Gaza would be enough to sway anyone with a conscience. In fact, the phenomena and impunity of such social media stories is something that will be studied for years to come. To openly brag about committing war crimes and sharing them to the world like some sort of “trophy” is unfathomable. Either the Israeli military leaders had no control of their own soldiers, or they thought this kind of behaviour helped reinforce troop morale and would intimidate Palestinians. Either way, this is a sick society in decay.

We certainly knew the horrific history of Zionist brutality and knew that this was their legacy long before October 7, 2023. Recently, Canada Palestine Association unearthed some of its archival documents from1982, showing local actions around the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the Sabra/Shatila massacre. Some of their posters from that time carried images of Palestinian and Lebanese children that could have been taken today in Gaza. The slogans were almost identical – No More US Weapons, Stop Israeli Genocide! The parallels with the current Gaza genocide were both haunting and eerie.

How did we get from the Sabra/Shatila massacre to the repeated massacres in Gaza? What are the take-away lessons here?

If anyone needed further proof, it is clear that Western governments are not responsive to their constituents and only care about public opinion when, and if, they think it might impact their electoral agenda.

There was an assumption that at some point, the US-led empire would realize that “Israel” was damaging their national interests and would turn away from their unconditional support. Although this may still occur, the interdependency between the interests of Zionism and its imperial backers is now more solidified than ever. Both realize that the downfall of Zionism will contribute to greatly diminishing the power of the US and its allies in the region (and globally), and this is leverage that Israeli PM Netanyahu is exploiting to the fullest.

There is no international “rules-based” order to appeal to, no Western “morality” worth cultivating. Palestinians and all oppressed people must rely on their resistance, themselves and the support of genuine allies. They must never surrender their right to resist, to return, and to independently decide their own strategy and tactics.

Also published in Al Mayadeen English.

Cover photos: Michael YC Tseng, Social Media

We will never stop advocating for Palestine!!

Many Palestinians and their supporters are done with explanations. They have no words left. When a live-streamed genocide can be debated for over eight months as to whether it really qualifies as such, there are no words left.

From Deir Yassin to Jenin, from Kafr Qasem to Sabra and Shatila, from Tel Zaatar to Rafah and Nusseirat, we know what a massacre looks like. It is an insult to play word games with us over whether Palestinians are really being murdered en masse at the altar of Israeli-US hegemony and dominance.

From Ansar to Sde Teiman, for decades Palestinians have been taken hostage by Israel and held without charge or trial, and brutally tortured and abused. We know what that looks like as well, most Palestinians have at least one family member that has been through the prison mill of either Israel or the surrounding complicit countries.

And enough of this hyper-focus on anti-Semitism. Yes it exists, and the danger is coming mostly from white supremacist fascist forces. But the constant demand that Palestinians prove that they are not racist against Jewish people, when their struggle is clearly against the Zionist settler colonialist project, has become a way to distract attention from the cruelty and brutality of ongoing Israeli war crimes.

We also need to address the underlying and deeply entrenched racism that has helped facilitate this genocide. The longevity of the “mass rape” story, despite being debunked repeatedly, has drawn back the curtain on the depth of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab racism in Western societies.

The Zionist lobby seems to have decided from day one that this particular piece of “atrocity propaganda” would engage the most support and sympathy. This story keeps getting recycled and amplified in the West, partly because it taps into the centuries old Western distrust and stereotypes of “Arab men” – Arab men as bloodthirsty, violent, misogynistic and untrustworthy.

Professor Rudolph Ware has pointed out that this is an age-old tactic that was (and is still) used against the black community in the U.S., detailing how false rape allegations in the US often led to mass lynchings. He also talked about how the issue of “safety” is weaponized against people of colour, as we are now seeing on many university campuses.

So, please, do not watch Palestinian babies burn to death and then lecture those same people about how to resist and when to resist. Don’t wring your hands now about the Rafah and Nusseirat massacres if you are in any way complicit in allowing that trajectory to occur. Almost six months ago, Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac said during his Christmas message: “Your charity, your words of shock AFTER the genocide, won’t make a difference. Words of regret will not suffice for you. We will not accept your apology after the genocide…”.

Now is not the time (if one ever existed) for Western supporters to appoint themselves as the moral arbiters on what constitutes acceptable liberation tactics or to lecture Palestinians about “violence”. This can only serve to enable the current ongoing repression in Western countries against pro-Palestine advocates and their message.

In Canada, one example is the recent arrest and potential “hate charges” against Charlotte Kates from Samidoun, coupled with draconian restrictions on her freedom of expression. Many community groups including Canada Palestine Association, and other organizations like the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), have rallied to challenge this outrage. The BCCLA stated clearly that they are “concerned that the (Criminal) Code is being weaponized to silence particular political speech, namely statements in support of the Palestinian liberation movement including the right to resist Israel’s occupation”.

Such criminalization often rests heavily on alleged or fabricated connections to group(s) on Canada’s “terrorist list”. Due to pressure from the Zionist lobby over 20 years ago, this list currently includes all of the Palestinian resistance groups and Hezbollah, and that same lobby is now working overtime to have Samidoun included as well.

At eight and a half months of endless brutality and genocide, we have no energy left to engage in long conversations, in which we are forced to repeatedly justify why Palestinians must and should resist with all means necessary (including armed struggle). We are even expected to justify why they have a right to exist at all, historically and in the future.

We will no longer march on the path of endless words with little or no return, words that “won’t make a difference”. The hypocrisy and double standards of the international “rules-based” order has been laid bare for all to see, and we count on the Palestinian resistance struggle to lead us forward.

By Marion Kawas
Cover photo Michael YC Tseng

Published in Al Mayadeen English: We will never stop advocating for Palestine! | Al Mayadeen English

Edward Said: Special from Alternative Radio

Entitled Palestine: Memory, Inequality & Power, Alternative Radio has waived the fees for our supporters to download and listen to this show highlighting a 2003 lecture by Edward Said. This never-before-broadcast marks the 30th anniversary of Oslo and the 20th anniversary of Edward Said’s death on September 25, 2003.

As a Palestinian intellectual, Said brought his anti-colonial critique to bear on what he called “The Question of Palestine,” revealing Zionism as a colonial ideology and the Western liberal support of this as a part of its colonial heritage. He was one of the first to publicly criticize the Oslo Accords and said one month after the signing of Oslo in 1993 that it was “an instrument of Palestinian surrender, a Palestinian Versailles”.

Also, check out our coverage of Vancouver’s 2019 meeting honouring Edward Said. Book launch: “Culture and Resistance” by Edward Said and David Barsamian – Canada Palestine Association (cpavancouver.org)

PDF of Said’s lecture: SAIE036-MemoryInequalityPower (alternativeradio.org)

Palestine Solidarity Goes Back to its Roots

On April 28-30, the Liberation Conference was held in Ottawa, Canada to examine strategies for Palestine solidarity work going forward in North America. The conference was organized by Masar Badil, who has already held several conferences in Europe, Brazil and Lebanon and is working to harness the new energy amongst diaspora Palestinians.

The conference was attacked by Zionist lobby groups before the first speaker even stepped to the platform, based on a now familiar litany of fraudulent charges of “terrorism”. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs CIJA, along with the National Post newspaper, went on an inflammatory rampage, warning of some “shadowy terror-connected network devoted to Israel’s destruction”.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network was, and is, one of the main targets of these smear campaigns, and their international coordinator Charlotte Kates commented this way:

“Time and again, we see Zionist lobby organizations demanding the silencing, criminalization and persecution of those demanding justice for Palestine and refusing to allow Palestine to be excluded from discussions of social justice. We view the attacks on Samidoun as attacks primarily on the Palestinian prisoners themselves, attempting to isolate and extend their imprisonment through silencing and intimidation.”

The pro-Israel lobby is frantic about the clear anti-colonial and anti-Zionist basis of recent Palestine solidarity organizing, especially amongst students and youth. A clarity that often got lost after the signing of the Oslo accords but is now being revived.

Historically, Palestinian activists in Canada have always challenged the Zionist narrative. In October 1975, the leading pro-Israel paper in Vancouver at the time bemoaned the anti-Zionist organizing on UBC campus, due to the upcoming visit of war criminal Moshe Dayan. That visit involved two local meetings, both of which were met with noisy protests; the banner that was done up for the events showed the clarity of the support movement at that time – “Support the Palestinian People’s Struggle against Imperialist-Zionist Aggression”.
Read the full article by Marion Kawas here.

PAJU also carried the article in both English and French on its website.
https://paju.org/palestine-solidarity-goes-back-to-its-roots
https://paju.org/fr/la-solidarite-avec-la-palestine-revient-a-ses-racines/