As Jason Kenney welcomes members of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA) to three days of closed-door meetings in Ottawa (at a cost of $450,000 to Canadians), and Stephen Harper stands up to equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) has released a new video detailing the threat to free speech posed by the Canadian wing of the organization, the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA).
The CPCCA and the New McCarthyism
November 8, 2010
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Posted by psnedmonton
Event: Budrus screening at GVFF 2010
October 28, 2010The 2010 Global Visions Film Festival, which runs from November 11 – 14 in downtown Edmonton, includes a screening of the incredible film Budrus, about the struggle of the Palestinian village of Budrus against the construction of the Apartheid Wall on its land.
Visit the GVFF site for full information.
Budrus
Saturday, November 13 at 9:00 pm
Metro Cinema (Zeidler Hall, Citadel Theatre)
9828-101A Avenue
Individual tickets are $10 / $8 (students, seniors and GVFF members)
Festival passes are available. Full ticket information is available here.
This thought-provoking film is an eye opener in the telling of a story of the West Bank Palestinian town of Budrus. The town’s future was very much in doubt when the Israelis began to construct their “wall” that was ostensibly built to prevent suicide bombers from entering. The livelihoods of the people of Budrus were threatened when Israeli bulldozers tore up the olive trees on which they depended. A former member of the Fatah named Ayed Morrar banded together with some Israeli liberals and international activists to non-violently protest the wall and its destructive impact on their community. Eventually the Israeli government would back down, but only at the cost of having some Palestinians grudgingly accept the wall as part of their lives.
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Gideon Levy Interview on Al Jazeera
September 13, 2010
Al Jazeera English’s Riz Khan interviews Gideon Levy, columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz on the Palestine-Israel “peace talks.”
Gideon Levy will be speaking in Edmonton as part of his cross-Canada tour sponsored by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East:
Friday, September 24 at 7:30 pm
Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) 1-001
(Off 116 Street, between 91st and 92nd Avenues)
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Event: Rachel Film Screening
July 6, 2010
Metro Cinema presents three screenings of the documentary Rachel.
July 8 and 10 at 9:00 pm
July 9 at 7:00 pm
Rice Theatre, Citadel Theatre, 9828 – 101A Ave
Tickets at the door: $10 Adults $8 Students/Seniors
Visit the Facebook event page.
Rachel is a documentary investigation into the death of Rachel Corrie, an American pacifist who was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer while she was protecting Palestinian homes from demolition in Gaza in 2003.
A riveting and remarkable film, Rachel, meticulously investigates the facts and presents the testimony of witnesses from all sides of the case: Palestinians, Rachel’s colleagues who witnessed her death, Israeli army officials and spokespersons, tank drivers, Palestinian and Israeli doctors who were involved in the case and Rachel’s parents.
Rachel Corrie was no ideologue. She was an idealistic and courageous human being whose activism on behalf of the people of Gaza was motivated by the injustices they endured. Her courage and the purity of her motives, as revealed in her diary entries and emails cited in the film, make her death all the more heartbreaking and intolerable. Absolutely essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand the true issues and dynamics of the Israel-Palestine crisis.
Directed by Simone Bitton.
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Evergreen State College Students Vote for Divestment
June 3, 2010
Students at Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, the alma mater of pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by the IDF in Gaza in 2003. Below is the press release announcing the results of the vote.
EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE STUDENTS VOTE TO DIVEST FROM ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE
On June 2, 2010, students at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, made history by passing two resolutions supporting human rights, upholding international law, and promoting a just peace in the Palestine/Israel conflict.
1. The first resolution calls for The Evergreen State College Foundation to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, as part of instituting a socially responsible investment policy.
2. The second resolution calls on the College to ban the use of Caterpillar, Inc. equipment from campus.
While other US colleges have passed similar divestment resolutions, these are the first of such resolutions passed by direct vote by an entire student body. Additionally, the student government unanimously passed its own resolution strongly supporting the measures.
Naomi Klein Speaking at Toronto Rally
June 2, 2010Our only course of action? Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions. Journalist Naomi Klein speaks at a Toronto rally in response to Israel’s attack on the humanitarian flotilla.
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Take Action: Israel Attacks Gaza Aid Convoy
May 31, 2010
This page will be updated throughout the day.
EMERGENCY RALLY AT THE ALBERTA LEGISLATURE
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Legislature Building, Edmonton
Emergency rally to support the Freedom Flotilla, which is the biggest convoy of humanitarian aid sent to Gaza in four years. They have been attacked by Israel, and according to some reports, over 20 are dead and over 60 injured. We NEED to speak out and inform the public of what is going on! And we need to let our government know that their silence will not be tolerated!!
Help us promote this event by inviting your friends to the Facebook event.
For more information and news these are excellent websites:
http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=288138
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/
http://palestinechronicle.com/
http://smpalestine.com/
http://gazafreedommarch.org/cms/en/flotilla.aspx
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Posted by psnedmonton
First International Israeli Apartheid Short Film Contest
May 8, 2010
Stop the Wall and itisapartheid.org are organizing the First International Israeli Apartheid Short Film Contest.
Please consider making and submitting a film to this contest by July 20, 2010.
The goal of this project is to raise awareness about Israeli apartheid in Palestine and create new tools to promote knowledge about the realities of Israeli colonialism, occupation and apartheid. These films should reflect the nature, realities, and/or consequences of the apartheid policy against the Palestinian people – whether in their homeland or in the diaspora. This film contest will showcase the creativity of the film producers in a way that will allow conversations around these issues to take place.
The video contest asks for submissions in any style: live-action, animated, stop-action, etc., and be no more than five minutes. First hand witnesses of apartheid, cinematographers and representatives of sponsoring groups will form different juries to judge the videos, while events organized in Palestine and abroad will act as popular juries for the videos. Four cash prizes of $300 to $500 will be awarded. We are further working to ensure that the overall winning video will not only have online exposure but will be shown in film festivals around the world.
For more information and full submissions guidelines, visit itisapartheid.tv.
http://www.itisapartheid.tv/
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The Future of Palestine: Righteous Jews vs. New Afrikaners
May 3, 2010
An interesting speech on the future prospects of Palestine/Israel delivered on April 29 by Professor John J. Mearsheimer for the Palestine Center‘s Hisham B. Sharabi Memorial Lecture.
The Future of Palestine: Righteous Jews vs. New Afrikaners
by John J. Mearsheimer
Hisham B. Sharabi Memorial Lecture, Palestine Center, Washington, D.C., 29 April 2010
It is a great honor to be here at the Palestine Center to give the Sharabi Memorial Lecture. I would like to thank Yousef Munnayer, the executive director of the Jerusalem Fund, for inviting me, and all of you for coming out to hear me speak this afternoon.
My topic is the future of Palestine, and by that I mean the future of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, or what was long ago called Mandatory Palestine. As you all know, that land is now broken into two parts: Israel proper or what is sometime called “Green Line” Israel and the Occupied Territories, which include the West Bank and Gaza. In essence, my talk is about the future relationship between Israel and the Occupied Territories.
Of course, I am not just talking about the fate of those lands; I am also talking about the future of the people who live there. I am talking about the future of the Jews and the Palestinians who are Israeli citizens, as well as the Palestinians who live in the Occupied Territories.
The story I will tell is straightforward. Contrary to the wishes of the Obama administration and most Americans — to include many American Jews — Israel is not going to allow the Palestinians to have a viable state of their own in Gaza and the West Bank. Regrettably, the two-state solution is now a fantasy. Instead, those territories will be incorporated into a “Greater Israel,” which will be an apartheid state bearing a marked resemblance to white-ruled South Africa. Nevertheless, a Jewish apartheid state is not politically viable over the long term. In the end, it will become a democratic bi-national state, whose politics will be dominated by its Palestinian citizens. In other words, it will cease being a Jewish state, which will mean the end of the Zionist dream.
Let me explain how I reached these conclusions.
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AJE Fault Lines: The Other Special Relationship
December 2, 2010Al Jazeera English’s program Fault Lines, hosted by Avi Lewis, takes a look at Canada’s increasingly biased position on Palestine-Israel.
In Canada, a high-stakes battle is being waged between a powerful pro-Israel lobby close to the conservative government, and a growing Palestinian solidarity movement that calls Israel an apartheid state that should be subject to boycott, divestment and sanctions.
But there is one point on which both sides agree: over the past five or six years, Canada has become one of Israel’s most fervent supporters on the world stage.
What are the implications for a country that has traditionally been seen as more of an honest-broker in the Israel-Palestinian conflict than the US, its more powerful neighbour to the south?
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