SATURDAY, 22 JANUARY 2022 at 2 PM Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat: Protest and Postering for Palestine Commercial–Broadway station, Vancouver Facebook Event
And join us for our Feb. 5 Day of Action to Boycott Israeli Wines and tell the BC NDP government to stop profiting off Israeli war crimes! Feb. 5, 3 pm, BC Liquor Store, Alberni & Bute, Vancouver Boycott Israeli Wines Picket – Day of Action | Facebook
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!
BC Government: Stop Profiting off Israeli War Crimes
The British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch is complicit in violations of Palestinian human rights. Despite calls from multiple local organizations for a boycott of Israeli wines, many produced in occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, they continue to be sold in publicly owned BC Liquor Stores. Repeated appeals to the provincial cabinet ministers responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch have seen no action and little response.
The Israeli wines carried in BC stores have consistently been linked to the Israeli settlement enterprise. The wines in question are either from the Golan Heights Winery and its joint venture the Galil Winery; or from the Israeli Teperberg Winery, which proudly displays a map on its website showing vineyards in occupied Palestinian territory. According to the progressive Israeli research group “Who Profits”, Teperberg Winery “owns and sources from vineyards in the occupied West Bank, including in the Ezion Bloc settlement and in Mevo Horon.”
Israeli settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law. They are part and parcel of the systematic targeting of the Palestinian people for dispossession, occupation and apartheid for over 73 years. Consecutive BC governments have also been aiding and abetting the pillage of Palestinian and Arab property and resources, expressly forbidden in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Earlier this year, the New Democratic Party NDP of Canada passed a resolution that committed in part to end “all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine”. As noted in our April 19, 2021 letter to the Finance Minister in BC’s NDP provincial government (which has received no response to date): “The sale of wines from illegal Israeli settlements in BC and Canadian liquor stores has been an ongoing travesty for over a decade; there is no better place for the NDP to implement its new policy (and for)… action to finally be taken on this issue. In September 2018, thirty-one organizations already told the BC government: ‘We do not wish to be made complicit in these violations of international law’.“
Human rights violations are not a valid “consumer choice” – but they are the choice being made every day by the BC Liquor Distribution Branch. These are our publicly funded stores and should reflect a commitment to human rights, including justice for the Palestinian people.
We are calling on B.C. Finance Minister Selina Robinson and the Liquor Distribution Branch to immediately halt this complicity in Israeli war crimes. The current BC government has recently shown its disregard for the rights of indigenous people, with its violent raids on Wet’suwet’en territory. They need to make a change and respect international law rather than violating it.
From Turtle Island to Palestine, profiting off colonization is a crime!
Signed by: BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish Territories Canada Palestine Association
Endorsed by: Association of Palestinian Students UTM Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation of Victoria Canadian BDS Coalition Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights Coalition against Israeli Apartheid Victoria Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle – CST Greater Toronto 4 BDS Human Rights for All HR4A, Saskatchewan Independent Jewish Voices Vancouver Justice for Palestinians, Calgary Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine Israel Oakville Palestinian Rights Association OPRA PCCC-Palestine House Palestine Solidarity, St. John’s Palestinian And Jewish Unity Palestinian Youth Movement Vancouver Peace Alliance Winnipeg Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network SANSAD South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy Socialist Action Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC Students Against Israeli Apartheid – U of T Sulong UBC Vancouver & District Labour Council Vancouver Peace Council Victoria Friends of Cuba West Coast Coalition Against Racism Society
(Group endorsements can be sent to cpavancouver@gmail.com; we will be updating the endorsers list on a regular basis. Please join us in saying: From Turtle Island to Palestine, Profiting off Colonization is a Crime!)
Vancouver was a living example of international solidarity in the 1970s and early 80s. Two formations, the Third World Peoples Coalition and then later the Coalition for National Liberation Movements, ensured a clear focus on the voices and leadership representing struggles across the globe. Local groups supported each others’ work and campaigns in a way that was both inspiring and enhanced practical effectiveness.
It was heartening to see that spirit in action again in Vancouver at the Liberation Café on December 5, 2021. Many of the struggles represented in the work over 4 decades ago have coalesced again into a working relationship that makes them all stronger. From Turtle Island to Palestine to the Philippines to Venezuela to India to Chile and beyond, The People United will never be Defeated!!
Cohosts for the eventFree Alex Saab
Facebook video of the great music at the Liberation Cafe!
Joint statement by organizers of Fedayin film showing at UBC:
“The Palestinian Youth Movement-Vancouver, SPHR UBC, and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Network – Vancouver planned a film showing of Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight for Thursday, December 2nd, but it was postponed by the university administration on Wednesday, December 1 after a complaint was made about the film by an external, national right-wing Zionist organization.
While the university says that it is conducting a “risk assessment” for “security and safety” on campus, the reality is that its actions mean that a film presenting the Palestinian narrative, and the life and struggle of Georges Abdallah, is not being shown tonight on campus because an official of a Zionist organization sent an email opposing the political content of a film. This film has been screened in multiple venues and university campuses across Canada and around the world and has been selected by multiple prestigious film festivals for screening. UBC is the only venue where such an incident of silencing and suppression has occurred.
During the May 2021 uprisings in Palestine and abroad, academics, labour unions, artists, musicians, journalists, and the international community published statements in support of Palestinian liberation and against the Israeli settler colonial regime. For too long, institutions have been succumbing to Zionist pressure and censoring Palestinian speech. No external Zionist pressure should take importance over the community and Palestinian organizers.
This is a clear threat to academic freedom and an example of discrimination and anti-Palestinian racism. External pressure from a national lobby organization is treated as if it is a higher priority than the well-being of students on campus, particularly Palestinian students and allies of Palestine. University officials did not reach out to Palestinian students and inquire about their well-being or need for support after being targeted by a national right-wing lobby group. Instead, they postponed the film screening to “determine risk.”
We expect that the University of British Columbia will expeditiously complete its risk assessment review and that we will soon announce a new date for the screening. We further expect the university to live up to its obligations to its students and as a centre for higher learning by appropriately dismissing these complaints made by a lobby organization that does not want the Palestinian histories to be told at UBC.
In addition, we expect that the administration provide support to Palestinian students on campus and facilitate the screening of “Fedayin” rather than allowing anti-Palestinian racism to delay, suppress and silence our expression. We will announce the new date for the film at UBC as soon as possible, and we will not stop organizing.
We encourage organizations to screen the film in your local areas, campuses and communities in order to hear the narrative that Zionist lobby groups want to silence: that is, the narrative of the Palestinian people – denied their humanity for over 73 years of ethnic cleansing, yet continuing to struggle for justice, freedom and liberation.
The university taking 30 days to complete a risk assessment is a statement in itself. They chose to listen to Zionist pressure instead of allowing the film screening to proceed and discuss it with the organizers involved.”
