In the News, June 12, 2021
Vancouver Action Blocks Israeli Cargo Ship
On the afternoon of June 8 in Vancouver several hundred people marched from Woodland Park to the entrance of Vancouver Harbour demanding that the harbour refuse to offload cargo of Israeli goods from any Zim cargo ships. The organizers in their call to “STAND WITH PALESTINE! BOYCOTT ZIM!” pointed out that “The Israeli Zim Shipping company profits from the military occupation of Palestinian communities and an apartheid system that treats Palestinian workers and families as second-class citizens, living under Jim Crow-type conditions. The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions has asked for our support to bring an end to Israeli apartheid and to hold apartheid-profiting businesses accountable.”
The Zim ship, the Volans, was scheduled to dock and unload in Oakland, California in May but that was prevented by massive demonstrations and the refusal of longshore workers to unload the ship. When news was received that the ship would try to dock and unload in Vancouver on June 8 activists issued a call for action to make sure that did not happen. In their call to action they said, “We are calling on the Port of Vancouver to reject Israeli Apartheid ships and shipping lines and stop enabling them to profiteer from the occupation and colonization of Palestinian land.”
Hundreds of people blocked the entrance to the port of Vancouver for over four hours while representatives of different organizations spoke, including the Canada Palestine Association, Samidoun Palestinian Solidarity Network and several Filipino anti-imperialist organizations. The procession to the port was led by a banner that read BLOCK THE BOAT: BOYCOTT ISRAELI APARTHEID! DEFEND PALESTINE! The participants included large contingents of youth from the South Asian, Filipino and Palestinian communities and organizations including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Youth for Palestine Vancouver, Independent Jewish Voices Vancouver, the Communist Party of Canada, BDS: Boycott, Divest, Sanction, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid-Vancouver, Sulong BC, BAYAN Canada, Falastiniyat, and the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist). Statements of different organizations were warmly received as they were distributed to passers-by and drivers that were stopped by the protesters and police barricades.
The action was a success, with the ship having to bypass Vancouver and head for Prince Rupert instead. The organizers pointed out that “Every hour that ZIM cargo ships remain undocked and unloaded is a huge victory, as it means that the apartheid state of Israel is losing enormous amounts of money.”