Vancouver Stands with Palestine
On Sunday, July 12, student organizations in
Vancouver, including Solidarity for Palestinian
Human Rights at the University of British Columbia
(SPHR UBC), Independent Jewish Voices UBC and the
Arab Students Association, along with Vancouver
Allies, organized a demonstration outside the
Vancouver Art Gallery as part of the global "Day
of Rage" protests against Israeli annexation of
the occupied Palestinian West Bank. A number of
organizations participated in the protest,
including Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity
Network, Sulong UBC (a Filipino national
democratic student organization), the Canada
Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver.
Speakers highlighted the settler colonial nature
of the Israeli state and the Zionist project,
emphasizing the connections with settler
colonialism in Canada and the genocide of
Indigenous nations and the Canadian government's
decades of complicity with Zionist colonialism in
Palestine. Protesters emphasized that they were
part of a global movement against racism and
oppression. They demanded an end to Canadian
government support for Israeli occupation,
apartheid, settler colonialism and genocide.
 They joined in
spirited chants for justice and liberation in
Palestine, raising Palestinian flags and signs
denouncing annexation.
Speaking on behalf of Sulong UBC, Lara Maestro
expressed solidarity with Palestinian student
prisoners in Israeli jails, highlighting the cases
of Mays Abu Ghosh, Tareq Mattar and Layan Kayed.
She also noted the ongoing solidarity between
liberation movements in Palestine and the
Philippines, highlighting the similarities between
the Netanyahu regime in Israel and the Duterte
regime in the Philippines.
Speakers representing SPHR UBC discussed
Palestinian identity, organizing and resistance
inside and outside Palestine, even as Palestinians
have faced over 70 years of ongoing Nakba -- and
ongoing resistance. The speaker representing
Independent Jewish Voices emphasized that Israel
is a colonial project, emphasizing support for
Palestinian and Indigenous resistance.
Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator of
Samidoun, spoke at the protest, focusing on the
situation of Palestinian political prisoners,
including the widespread use of torture by Israeli
interrogators, the arrest and imprisonment of
Palestinian children and the targeting of
Palestinian students.
She emphasized the global, anti-imperialist
nature of the Palestinian struggle and the
importance of standing and struggling together
with all movements confronting racism, imperialism
and oppression. She closed with the chant, "from
the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!"
On behalf of the Canada Palestine Association and
BDS Vancouver, Alan Roberts emphasized the ongoing
complicity of the Canadian government in Israeli
crimes, expressed solidarity with the Black
liberation movement and Indigenous struggles and
called for the boycott of Israel and complicit
corporations.
The event concluded with several cultural
performances, highlighting ongoing Palestinian
cultural resistance. Malak Musik sang Palestinian
national songs, while poets Diana and Luay
highlighted Palestinian experience, identity and
ongoing struggle through their powerful concluding
words.
The protest followed an earlier street picket
organized on June 26 by the Canada Palestine
Association and BDS Vancouver. Protesters lined up
at the crowded rush-hour intersection of Broadway
and Clark in Vancouver with large signs, banners
and Palestinian flags, chanting loudly and
denouncing Israeli annexation while demanding
justice and liberation for Palestine.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
has called for Days of Resistance to continue
these actions between August 7-9 in cities and
communities around the world.
 
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 27 - July 25, 2020
Article Link:
Vancouver Stands with Palestine
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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