Category: Action

Action

Sign the ‘Peace in Palestine’ parliamentary petition

Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East has launched the Peace in Palestine campaign in an effort to force Canada’s politicians to have an honest public discussion about Israel’s illegal settlements and how Canada must respond. The goal of the campaign is to have Parliament pass a motion condemning Israel’s illegal “settlements” (aka colonies), which are an ongoing obstacle to peace and violate Palestinians’ human rights.

The campaign includes a House of Commons Parliamentary ePetition open to all Canadian citizens or residents calling on the government to “demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.” The petition launched mirrors the wording of UN Security Council resolution 2334 (December 2016), and has the sponsorship of NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Helène Laverdière.

You can see organizations who have endorsed the initiative and read more about Israeli settlements and why they are an obstacle to peace.

Action

Call on Bryan Adams to cancel performances in Israel

Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams is scheduled to play three shows in Israel in December, 2017—two in Tel Aviv and one in Jerusalem, despite calls for him to respect the Palestinian-led call for a cultural boycott of Israel.

Add your voice to those calling on Bryan Adams to stand up for human rights by respecting the cultural boycott of Israel by signing the Canadian BDS Coalition’s online petition.

The shows come despite Adams public criticism of Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza:

 

Action, Events

Join the May 25 global hunger strike for Palestinian prisoners

International solidarity activists have issued a call for a global one-day hunger strike on Thursday, May 25 in support of more than 1,500 hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners who have been participating in the Strike for Dignity and Freedom for more than month.

The strikers’ demands are for basic human rights: an end to the denial of family visits, proper health care and medical treatment, the right to access distance higher education, and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial.

Pledge to take part on May 25

If you are in Canada, please make a pledge to join the Palestinian prisoners in a one-day solidarity hunger strike on May 25 (or another day). 

You can connect with other Canadian participating in the day of solidarity and share your story on the Canadians in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners Facebook page.

Other actions you can take

Stay up to date and share widely on social media the daily updates on the hunger strikers from the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (read the latest update from May 23, Day 37 of the hunger strike) and the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

If you are in Canada, use this online tool from Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York University to call on the Canadian government to support Palestinian prisoner demands

Sign the Americas-wide petition in support of the hunger strikers.

Update your social media profile pics to the image below:

Follow and share tweets with the hashtags #FreedomAndDignity, #DignityStrike, and #PalHunger.

Respond to the calls from Palestinian civil society to grow support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. (Read BNC support statements from April 17, May 9, and May 24).

Action

Join the Open Shuhada Street Campaign

The Hebron-based Youth Against Settlements has launched its 8th Annual Open Shuhada Street Campaign, which runs February 19-27, 2017.

Shuhada Street, once the main thoroughfare in Hebron has been almost entirely closed to Palestinians since 1994 when American-born Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire in the Ibrahimi mosque killing 29 in worship and wounding over 100 more.

While Israeli settlers roam freely on the streets and carry arms, Palestinians homes and shops are sealed shut and families must pass through checkpoints to reach their homes. Roads in Hebron are divided in half, one side for Jews, and one side for Muslims, and Palestinians face physical daily attacks by ideologically extreme and violent settlers and soldiers.

The Open Shuhada Street Campaign takes place in Hebron and around the world annually the week of February 25th in commemoration of the anniversary of the Ibrahimi massacre. In Hebron the campaign consists of a week of events culminating in a march that attempts to go down Shuhada Street. Internationally, the 2017 campaign will focus on stopping global financier Goldman Sachs from funneling money to the Hebron Fund.

What you can do to help Open Shuhada Street

Join the international Thunderclap taking place on Friday, February 24.

Sign and share the petition calling on Goldman Sachs to stop funding settlers in Hebron.

Sign and share the petition calling on UN Secretary General António Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad to pressure Israel to open Shuhada Street.

Like and share posts from the Youth Against Settlements Facebook page to let your social media networks know about what is happening in Hebron.

Follow Youth Against Settlements on Twitter and retweet their posts throughout the campaign using the hashtag #openshuhadast

Share information specifically about the baseless charges against Youth Against Settlements human rights defender Issa Amro. Read about Issa’s case from Amnesty International here and here, and on the Electronic Intifada. Tag @issaamro and use the hashtag #IssaAmro

Plan an action in your city! For campaign materials and additional information, visit the 8th Annual International Open Shuhada Street Campaign page

Additional background information

Read the Mondoweiss article, Why you should join the 8th annual International Open Shuhada Street Campaign

Read the New York Times op-ed, Who’s Afraid of Nonviolence?

Read the Electronic Intifada article, Israel indicts “Palestinian Gandhi” and view the photo essay, Israel’s war on nonviolent resistance in Hebron

Action

Boycott HP week of action

The International Boycott HP Network and the Palestinian BDS National Committee are calling for an international week of action against HP over its role in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. The Canadian BDS Coalition has endorsed the week of action, which will take place November 25 – December 3 (which includes the UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 29).

Why Boycott HP?

In Palestine, Hewlett Packard companies provide imaging for Israel’s apartheid checkpoints and ID cards system; enable Israel’s deadly blockade of the Gaza Strip; provide services to illegal Israeli settlements; and manage people for profit in Israeli prisons where torture is systematic. While claiming to uphold values of social responsibility, HP companies are notorious for involvement in oppressive practices worldwide, like providing technology to enable deportations, mass incarceration, and solitary confinement in the United States.

Listen to the voice of Palestinians on why it’s important to Boycott HP:

For more in-depth background on HP’s involvement in the occupation, visit the Boycott HP page on the BDS Movement website, read Technologies of Control: The Case of Hewlett Packard (HP) on whoprofits.net or the profile of HP on Investigate.

What you can do

Sign the international pledge to boycott HP launched by the BNC and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

Join the November 29 Thunderclap to amplify the on-the-ground actions through your social media networks.

RSVP to the HP Boycott Week of Action Facebook event for more updates.

Action, Events

Rally in Solidarity With Palestine

Rally in Solidarity With Palestine
Sunday, October 25 (1:00 pm)
Edmonton City Hall
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square

Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.

As Palestinians continue to rise up against the occupation, settlers, Israeli military, and mob violence against Palestinians continues across Gaza, the West Bank, and occupied East Jerusalem, join us in Edmonton to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people against the injustice of occupation, and to let our elected officials know that Canadians want peace and justice for the Palestinian people.

For background, you can read a BDS Movement Q&A on the uprising, read an IMEU Q&A on the current uprising in Palestine, Ramzy Baroud’s “Of Course, It is an Intifada: This is What You Must Know“or Ben White’s “Palestinian youth and the ‘force of disobedience’” and “A new intifada? You’re asking the wrong question.”

Action, Events

Emergency Rally for Gaza, August 9th

Emergency Rally for Gaza
Saturday, August 9 (1:00 pm)
Edmonton, Constable Ezio Faraone Park (11004 97 Ave, North side, West of entrance to High Level Bridge).

Help spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.

Join us as we rally in support of the Palestinian call for an August 9 Day of Rage, where activists and supporters of Palestine all over the world will take to the streets with a unified demand for sanctions against Israel.

The Palestinian call says:
“From Gaza under invasion, bombardment, and continuing siege, the horror is beyond words. Medical supplies are exhausted. The death toll has reached 1813 killed (398 children, 207 women, 74 elderly) and 9370 injured (2744 children, 1750 women, 343 elderly). Our hospitals, ambulances, and medical staff are all under attack while on duty. Doctors and paramedics are being killed while evacuating the dead. Our dead are not numbers and statistics to be recounted; they are loved ones, family and friends.

While we have to survive this onslaught, you certainly have the power to help end it the same way you helped overcome Apartheid and other crimes against humanity. Israel is only able to carry out this attack with the unwavering support of governments – this support must end.

This is our third massacre in six years. When not being slaughtered, we remain under siege, an illegal collective punishment of the entire population. Fishermen are shot and killed if they stray beyond a 3 km limit imposed unilaterally by Israel. Farmers are shot harvesting their crops within a border area imposed unilaterally by Israel. Gaza has become the largest open-air prison, a concentration camp since 2006. This time, we want an end to this unprecedented crime against humanity committed with the complicity and support of your own governments!

We are not asking for charity. We are demanding solidarity, because we know that until Israel is isolated and sanctioned, these horrors will be repeated.

Take action this Saturday

1. Make boycotts, divestments and sanctions the main message at every protest around the world. Take banners and placards calling for sanction on Israel to every protest. Tweet them using the hashtag #GazaDayofRage. Email us your pictures and action details to GazaDayofRage@gmail.com.
2. While news of all the mass protests outside Israel’s embassies around the world have given us hope, after weeks of protests, we urge you to intensify your actions. Occupy Israeli embassies, challenge Israeli officials (and others) supporting the current aggression against Gaza whenever they appear in public and stage sit-in in government buildings.
3. Boycott all Israeli products and take action against corporations profiting from Israel’s system of colonialism, occupation and apartheid. March to boycott targets in your city and educate the public about companies complicit in Israel’s ongoing military assault and illegal siege of Gaza.
4. Palestinian trade unions are calling on our brothers and sisters in the trade union movement internationally to stop handling goods imported from or exported to Israel. The trade union movement has a proud history of direct action against Apartheid in South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions has joined us in the call for direct action to end Israel’s impunity.

– See more at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/gaza-calling-all-out-on-saturday-9-august-day-of-rage-12423#sthash.dAsqZQDB.dpuf

Action, Events

Edmonton’s Fourth Rally and March for Palestine

Edmonton’s Fourth Rally and March for Palestine
Wednesday, July 30 (6:30 pm)
Churchill Square (9930 – 102 Street)
*** LOCATION CHANGE: MEET AT THE STEPS IN CHURCHILL SQUARE ***
(Click here for map)

Due to the warm weather, the fountain area by the Bell Tower is very crowded, so we’ll be rallying on the main steps in Churchill Square (just south of the Bell Tower).

Help spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.

With no end in sight for the misery of the Palestinian people, we will continue to march in the streets of Edmonton in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

We call on the Canadian public to pay attention to the massacre of innocent civilians occurring in the Palestinian territories at the hands of the Israeli regime, and support the Palestinian people for the sake of humanity.

We call on the Canadian government to immediately end its unconditional support for the murderous Israeli regime. Being silent about the issue (let alone condoning it), makes us complicit in the genocide that is going on in Palestine.

We call on the Canadian public to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement and pressure the Israeli government to reconsider the root causes of this conflict – namely: the brutal occupation, colonization of Palestinian land and then, segregation, oppression, and humiliation of the Palestinian people for over 50 years.

We believe that Israel’s best bet at self-defense is with ending the siege on Gaza, ending the occupation and withdrawal from Palestinian territories and compliance with International Law.

Organized by the Canada Palestine Cultural Association and Palestine Solidarity Network-Edmonton.

Action, Events

Action Against the Attack on Gaza

Against the Attack on Gaza
Saturday, July 26 (1:00 pm)
Canada Place
South Side, Jasper Avenue at 97 Street
(Click here for map)

Help us spread the word! Invite your friends to the Facebook event.

Please come this Saturday in front of Canada Place to partake in a peaceful action to protest the illegal and horrific attacks on Gaza by Israel and to lament and respect the Palestinians that have been killed.

We will be creating chalked body outlines to represent those that have been killed in these latest attacks and writing their names. The death toll is over 700. To see the most recent list of casualties, visit the International Middle East Media Center.

Please bring chalk if you can (we will also bring some) and tweet #yeg4gaza.

In the event that it rains, we will hold a die-in.

This action is in solidarity for the people of Palestine to their rights to land, livelihood, and life. Join Nobel peace laureates, academics, nation-state governments, and solidarity movements in Palestine and around the world to demand an end to Israel’s illegal war crimes and occupation, and immediately halt the killings and allow medical aid and basic services into Gaza.

Action

Call-in For Gaza

Want to do something to help stop the Israeli attack on Gaza? Take a minute on July 23 or 24 to participate in the cross-Canada Call-in For Gaza to flood the leaders of all four main Canadian political parties with phone calls demanding they call for an immediate arms embargo on Israel and an end to the assault on Gaza.

For updates and more, join the Call-in For Gaza Facebook event.

Call now! (and/or send an email or fax) to:

Stephen Harper: stephen.harper@parl.gc.ca
613-992-4211 (Ottawa office)
403-253-7990 (Calgary office)
Fax: 403-253-8203 or 613-941-6900

Justin Trudeau: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
613-995-8872 (Ottawa office)
514-277-6020 (Quebec office)
fax: 613-995-9926 or 514-277-3454

Thomas Mulcair: thomas.mulcair@parl.gc.ca
613-995-7224 (Ottawa office)
514-736-2727 (Montreal office)
fax: 613-995-4565 or 514-736-2726

Elizabeth May: Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca
613-996-1119 (Ottawa office)
1-800-667-9188 (Sidney office)
fax: 613-996-0850 or 250-657-2004