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Personal reflections on Gaza, one year later
The other day, I attended a candlelight vigil to commemorate the first anniversary of the massacre in Gaza. The vigil was a solemn affair, memorializing the victims of the massacre. The vigil itself and the mood surrounding it reminded me of the old labour slogan “Mourn for the dead, fight for the living”. It was a time to honour the dead, but I also found myself musing on how much more has to be done in order to make “Never again” a reality. While we were listening to speeches at the Manitoba legislature, the Gaza Freedom March was being denied entry into Gaza by the Egyptian government. The march includes over 1300 participants from 43 countries, united to try to break the siege of Gaza through peaceful protest.
Standing in the cold outside the legislature, I was reminded of the rallies and vigils last year to try to stop the massacre. Hundreds of people gathered in the cold at the leg’ and the Grain Exchange to try to do our part to stop the massacre. Several dozen participated in a candlelight vigil outside the Asper Jewish Community Center to remind those inside at their “Stand with Israel” event about the victims of the massacre.
I remember upon hearing of the first bombs falling, I was overwhelmed with a profound feeling of sadness, mixed in with powerlessness as well. It is a saddening feeling, to see the brutal images produced by the Israeli invasion and then being able to do nothing but attend rallies and vigils to remember the victims and try to apply pressure to get the killing machine to stop.
While the massacre eventually ended more or less of its own accord after 1400 Palestinians were killed, the killing machine has not stopped. In addition to the 1400 dead, thousands of people were injured and heavy damage was done to schools, hospitals, universities, property, and any sort of economic driver. The siege of Gaza has continued with the complicity of the Egyptian government, essentially making the Gaza Strip, an area smaller than Winnipeg with over 1.5 million people crammed inside, a large open-air prison.
I remember the action (and inaction) of our so-called leaders – without exception, all of our local politicians were either silent or supported the massacre through their comments and their attendance at pro-war and pro-Israel events. Of course, this was not in the least bit surprising given the fundamental nature of our parliamentary system and the track record of the NDP in Manitoba on issues of war and imperialism.
In the year since then, the Harper government has continued its petty, vindictive campaign against Palestinian solidarity activists. On March 3rd, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (also known as Minister of Censorship and Deportation) Jason Kenney and another Conservative MP slandered organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week as well as the Canadian Arab Federation as “anti-semites” in the House of Commons. Later that month, Kenney barred British MP George Galloway from entry to Canada supposedly based on national security concerns – a weak excuse, made absurd by the fact that this supposed national security threat has been sitting in the British Parliament for over 21 years. And in a speech in Jerusalem recently, Kenney has boasted that his government had cut funding for KAIROS due to their leadership in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign – despite the little technicality that KAIROS does not and has never supported BDS. Truth apparently does not matter in an age of “new anti-semitism”, as the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (a neo-McCarthyite witch hunt) as well as prominent politicians and media outlets like to define it.
While an extensive list of Canadian politicians who supported the massacre or who slander Palestinian solidarity activists at the behest of global apartheid would be too long to include, Jason Kenney is notorious only for his ability to stand out from the crowd in terms of absurdity, a crowd which includes MPs from all of the major parties. As just one example, instead of speaking out against the massacre, Michael Ignatieff pretty much got into a dick-waving contest with the Conservatives over who supports Israel more – a dick-waving contest which continues to this day, with the latest salvo being the recent hullabaloo about Conservative flyers mailed out to urban ridings with large Jewish populations accusing the Liberals of not being supportive enough of Israel.
Thankfully, people across the country are standing up to the bully tactics of politicians and two-bit university administrators power-tripping in their little fiefdoms. Israeli Apartheid Week will celebrate its sixth year, and after beating back campus repression last year, is looking stronger than ever. It’s now time for civil society organizations to step up and do their part, by signing on to campaigns such as the BDS campaign or the Palestinian Right to Education campaign. Labour unions, student unions, churches, social justice organizations, any organization representing a section of civil society should be out in opposition to the continuing oppression of the people of Palestine. While some have, we need to add to the voices in opposition to Israeli apartheid, and remind people that in times of injustice, silence is complicity.
Brian Latour is a student, activist, and student activist living in Winnipeg. Read more by Brian Latour.
