[IAW 2012 materials coming soon. For 2011, see below.]
Report on the 7th Israeli Apartheid Week in Montreal (March 8-15 2011)
Israeli Apartheid Week 2011 ends as another success in Montreal!
The annual Israeli Apartheid Week ran from March 8 to 15th in Montreal, and organizers are happy to announce that once again it was a huge success! Hundreds of people attended a wide range of events at McGill, Concordia, UQAM, and other cultural venues around the city. Some of the highlights included the keynote lecture at McGill from author Ali Abunimah, and the closing panel at Concordia entitled "Decolonization Begins At Home" featuring three powerful aboriginal activists. Many students left the events eager to find out more about getting involved in Palestine solidarity work.
Despite shameful and hypocritical statements from Michael Ignatieff and other politicians to attempt to silence the week of educational events, IAW grew again this year to include over 90 cities around the world. In 2011, IAW spread to new cities in Canada such as Regina, and importantly to other cities in the Arab world such as Amman, Jordan and Beirut, Lebanon. IAW was also marked with events in Palestine in Haifa, Bethlehem, Birzeit, and Gaza. It is clear that despite attempts to intimidate and censor, the global movement for Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid is only getting stronger.
In the wake of IAW this year, students at York University and the University of Toronto launched a comprehensive divestment campaign to get their campuses to cut ties to Israeli apartheid (http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/799). And on March 23, in another historic move, the University of Johannesburg in South Africa cut their ties with Ben-Gurion University in Israel (http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/uj-cuts-ties-with-israeli-university-1.1046158).
Here in Montreal, many attended workshops on Concordia and McGill's institutional ties with Israeli apartheid, and students have vowed to carry on the momentum locally as well. For more information:
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/8105
If you would like to get involved in IAW for 2012, or other BDS campaigns against Israeli apartheid, please get in touch with us at iaw-mtl@riseup.net. You can also follow us online:
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/eHZ8nn
Twitter: @SAI_Montreal
* Audio, Photos, and other media on IAW
* Audio - Ali Abunimah's lecture at McGill University, March 9, 2011
http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/audio/ali-abunimah-montreal/6768
* Audio - "Decolonization Begins at Home" panel with Clifton Nicholas, Ben Powless, and Audrey Redman, Concordia University, March 15, 2011
Introduction: http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/audio/introduction-decolonization-begins-home/6782
Clifton Nicholas: http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/audio/part-2-clifton-nicholas-decolonization-begins-home/6783
Ben Powless: http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/audio/part-3-ben-powless-decolonization-begins-home/6784
Audrey Redman:
http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/audio/part-3-audrey-redman-decolonization-begins-home/6785
* Photos - Artists Against Apartheid concert, Au Patro Vys, March 13
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/8800
* Le Devoir "Un exilé palestinien voit d'un bon oeil les changements dans le monde arabe"
http://bit.ly/fnBuKW
* Mcgill Daily "Israeli Apartheid Week's Keynote Address"
http://bit.ly/hWMVST
*The Link "Academia, Apartheid, and the Ties That Bind"
http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/1109
*The Link "Israeli Apartheid Week Kicks Off"
http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/1131
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7th annual Israeli Apartheid Week - Event calendar
March 8-15th, 2011
"BDS on Campus: From Education to Action"
www.iawmontreal.org
A week of conferences, workshops, film screenings, demonstrations, and cultural events to raise awareness around the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid.
Follow us online!
* Facebook
* Twitter
*Accessibility
-All speaking events and workshops will have whisper translation from English to French
-Entry to the events is by donation (pay what you can) unless otherwise noted
-All events are wheelchair accessible unless otherwise noted
-Childcare is available for most events. Please email us 48 hours in advace at iaw-mtl@riseup.net
* Tuesday, March 8
Demonstration: Solidarity with Palestinian Women! BDS contingent in the International Women’s Day march
6pm, Cabot Square (corner of Atwater and Ste-Catherine)
Look for the contingent with Palestinian flags and the BDS banner. Bring your own flags, signs, and noisemakers!
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* Ongoing, March 7-11
Exhibition: Dimensions of Apartheid
Concordia University, Library Building Atrium, 1400 de Maisonneuve west
An interactive exhibition demonstrating the obstacles Israeli apartheid policies pose to ongoing Palestinian efforts for equal rights, justice and self-determination.
Walk in the shoes of different Palestinian characters experiencing day-to-day life under apartheid. Your journey will begin by choosing one of several Palestinian characters you would like to follow. Throughout your journey, you will be exposed to recent Palestinian history, Palestinian efforts towards freedom from occupation, Israeli apartheid policies, Canadian and international complicity, and what you can do to achieve justice.
The exhibit will end with a FAQ's section as well as an area where various art works will be presented.
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* Wednesday, March 9
Keynote Speaker: Ali Abunimah (journalist and author, founder of Electronic Intifada)
“One Country: A Bold Proposal to end the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”
6:30pm
McGill University, Bronfman building, 1001 Sherbrooke west, room 151
"One Country: A Bold Proposal to end the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" will feature a presentation by Ali Abunimah, an activist, journalist and author who recently contributed to the newly-released book "The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict". He is a co-founder of the widely read online publication The Electronic Intifada, an award-winning online publication about Palestine and the Palestine conflict. He has written hundreds of articles on the question of Palestine for publications all over the world, including Al Jazeera. This lecture will be an opportunity for Montreal community members to hear directly from one of the key Palestinian grassroots thinkers on a global level, an activist who has been directly involved in the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign while relaying the Palestinian struggle as a journalist in publications around the world. http://electronicintifada.net/
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* Thursday, March 10
Panel discussion: From Revolt to Change: Are the cases of Egypt and Tunisia a first step towards justice and self-determination in the region?
Speakers: Rachad Antonius, Haroun Bouazzi
6:30pm
UQAM, 200 Sherbrooke west, room SH-2620 (Metro Place des Arts)
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* Sunday, March 13
Concert: Artists Against Apartheid
O Patro Vys, 356 Mont Royal (metro Mont Royal)
Doors 8pm, Show starts at 9pm
Tickets: $8-10 at the door (No one turned away for lack of funds)
Featuring:
Kaie Kellough (spoken-word/sound art)
The Narcicyst (spoken-word/solo hip-hop)
Remi Kanazi (spoken-word)
Jason 'Blackbird' Selman (spoken-word / trumpet)
Meryem Saci / Nantali Indongo (vocal/poetry duet)
(We regret that this venue is not wheelchair accessible)
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* Monday, March 14
Workshop: Structures of Oppression: Why McGill and Concordia should sever their links with the Technion
2:00pm
Concordia University, 2149 Mackay (in the basement)
Within the context of ongoing Israeli apartheid, McGill and Concordia universities maintain bi-lateral exchange programs with the Technion University in Israel. This workshop will examine these relationships, and the means through which they help to further normalize an institution that participates in military programs that are in flagrant violation of international law, maintains an oppressive campus atmosphere, and is an important tool in the systemic discrimination against Palestinians.
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* Monday, March 14
Workshop: Canadian Campaign Against the Racist Jewish National Fund (JNF)
Presented by Independent Jewish Voices - Montreal
4:00pm
Concordia University, 2149 Mackay (in the basement)
The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is Israel's major land agent, allocating the land for Jews only. It is the perfect example of Zionist racism and ethnic cleansing. It is also the perfect target. This year a global campaign against the JNF is being launched. This workshop will explore why a broad-based anti-JNF campaign is an exciting strategic project to fight Israeli apartheid. The Canadian JNF is a multi-million dollar tax-exempt charity, reaching into public schools as well as high-society. JNF forests and parks are built on the lands of destroyed Palestinian villages, land which belongs to the refugees. For instance, in the last few years, the "unrecognized" Beduin village of El-Arakib in the Negav has been destroyed ten times (and each time rebuilt) so the JNF can plant a forest over it.
Presented by Independent Jewish Voices
www.independentjewishvoices.ca
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* Monday, March 14
Film Screening with Cinema Politica: “This Palestinian Life” and “Israel vs. Israel”
Two documentary films focused on Palestinian and Israeli resistance to apartheid policies
7:00pm
Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve west, room H-110
http://www.cinemapolitica.org/node/2181
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* Tuesday, March 15
Closing Panel: “Decolonization Begins at Home - Indigenous Resistance to Colonialism in Canada and Palestine”
7:00pm
Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve west, room H-110
Speakers:
Clifton Nicholas - Mohawk activist from Kanehsatake involved in current anti-mining struggles
Audrey Redman - Journalist, writer, and residential school survivor
Ben Powless - Indigenous Environmental Network campaigner against the Alberta Tar Sands
Much as indigenous Palestinians have been resisting displacement from their lands since 1948 and even before, the original peoples of Turtle Island (“North America”) have been struggling against colonization since 1492. This panel discussion will bring together Native activists from different parts of the country to talk about their own communities’ struggles against colonialism and erasure. Links will be drawn between the current situation in Palestine and indigenous communities in Canada. Speakers will address various topics such as the impacts of the Alberta tar sands on native communities, residential schools, and anti-mining struggles on the Kanehsatake Mohawk territory.
Speaker bios:
Clifton Arihwakehte Nicholas is a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) from Kanehsatake. Clifton is active in his community as both an activist and as a defender of his people. Clifton was one of the people who defended the community of Kanehsatake in 1990, he has been a staunch advocate of Indigenous resistance throughout Canada and the Americas. Since 1990 Clifton has been an outspoken supporter of Palestinian human rights and a critic of Israeli abuses and occupation of Palestine.
Audrey Redman is a Dakota Cree now based in Toronto. She is the former host of “Honour the Earth” on CKLN community radio. These days she is a freelance writer, and continues to speak out about her experience as a residential school survivor.
Ben Powless is Mohawk from Six Nations in Ontario, currently living in Ottawa, Canada. He is currently studying Human Rights, Indigenous and Environmental Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa. He is heavily involved with IEN, focused on climate change and resource extraction in Indigenous territories. He has spent time working in Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua on human rights and development issues. He is also a founder of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition and on the national council for the Canadian Environmental Network.
Once again this year, Montreal will join over 40 cities worldwide to mark the 7th annual Israeli Apartheid Week. The theme of this year's IAW is "BDS on Campus: From Education to Action". While the BDS campaign has made incredible strides worldwide since the initial call to action in 2005, it is clear that the road ahead is a long one. Yet the incredible popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have shown the world that justice and freedom are well within reach if the people will it. As we strive for a free Palestine and social justice for all in the Middle-East, we will evaluate concretely what steps need to be taken to build more solidarity on our campuses.
Israeli Apartheid Week is organized by the following groups: Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (McGill and Concordia), Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG McGill and Concordia), Tadamon, 2110 Centre, and the Coalition for Justice in Palestine- UQAM
Free free Palestine!
IAW-Montreal
www.iawmontreal.org
iaw-mtl@riseup.net
514-848-7583
