ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK 2017 AT LAURENTIAN AND THORNELOE UNIVERSITIES, MARCH 14- 20
The Greater Sudbury community is invited to Israeli Apartheid Week 2017 (IAW 2017). IAW 2017 events will take place in Sudbury at the campus of Laurentian and Thorneloe Universities March 14-20.
IAW 2017 takes place in the wake of a new survey showing two-thirds of Canadians believe sanctions on Israel are a reasonable means of ensuring its respect for international law, according to a poll conducted by Ekos Research and funded by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, among others.
IAW 2017 and its organizers oppose the rise of global Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. IAW organizers are focused on educational activism and are opposed to any form of race or ethnic hatred or bigotry, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
This is in keeping with survey results which found that among those with an opinion, 91% of Canadians accept the view that criticism of Israeli government policy is like criticism of any other country and is not necessarily anti-Semitic.
Organized locally by the Palestine Solidarity Working Group-Sudbury, IAW 2017 is comprised of a series of campus events, including lectures and film showings that take place in cities around the world.
The main objective of IAW 2017 is to educate the public about the Palestinian people’s struggle against the separate (apartheid) nature of Israeli state policies towards the Palestinian people. In addition to military occupation, this includes separate neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools, roads, and identity cards for Palestinians.
This year, we feature Montreal author and activist Yves Engler (see below for more information), who has published eight books, including “Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid” and “Canada in Africa — 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation.”
On March 15th at 2:30 in Room 260 at Thorneloe University Yves Engler will give a talk entitled “Canada and the Dispossession of Palestinians”
Later that day on March 15th at 7:30pm in room C-104 of Laurentian University’s Classroom Building, Engler will deliver a talk titled “Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid”
2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the ‘Balfour Declaration’ – the British promise to hand over Palestinian land to the Jewish people. But the eventual establishment of Israel in 1948 saw Palestinians dispossessed of their lands and livelihoods, where Israel’s 30-foot high ‘separation wall’ today restricts Palestinian freedom, and effectively annexes Palestinian land and water.
About Yves Engler:
Former Vice President of the Concordia Student Union, Yves Engler is a Montréal-based activist and author. He has published eight books: Canada in Africa — 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation, The Ugly Canadian — Stephen Harper’s Foreign Policy, Lester Pearson’s Peacekeeping — The Truth May Hurt, Stop Signs — Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social and Ecological Decay (with Bianca Mugyenyi), The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy (Shortlisted for the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non Fiction in the Quebec Writers’ Federation Literary Awards), Canada in Haiti: Waging War on The Poor Majority and Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid.
Praise for Yves Engler:”Yves became a foreign-policy expert by working as a night doorman in Montreal…He’s in the mould of I. F. Stone, who wasted no time with politicians, who all have an agenda, but went instead straight to the public record.”
– Rick Salutin, Globe and Mail“Truth is often a casualty in politics. Thankfully, there’s Yves Engler—Canada’s version of Noam Chomsky—to set the record straight when political spin morphs into historical fact.”
– Charlie Smith, Georgia StraightOther IAW 2017 events include the documentary film “The Occupation of the American Mind” on March 14th at 4:00 p.m. in room: L-516 of the Parker Building at the Laurentian campus.
On March 20th at 7:30 pm in the Ernie Checkeris Theatre at Thorneloe University, a film screening of “Pride Denied: Homonationalism & the Future of Queer Politics” which will be followed by guest speaker Gary Kinsman.
About the film:
Pride Denied: Homonationalism & the Future of Queer Politics
Directed by Kami Chisholm (2016) A documentary film on Pride parades and the tension between queer activism, corporate sponsorship, and solidarity across struggles.
Film screening followed by a discussion & talk with Gary Kinsman
Gary Kinsman is a longtime queer liberation, anti-oppression and anti-capitalist activist and Professor Emeritus in Sociology at Laurentian University. His talk will focus on the activism of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid and Black Lives Matter at Pride in Toronto.
Presented by:
Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Thorneloe University
Co-Sponsors: Pride@LU/Pride Week & Palestine Solidarity Working Group/IAW
An information table featuring educational materials outlining the ‘Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’ campaign, and the struggles of the Palestinian people, will be located in the campus ‘Bowling Alley’ between10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. from March 14-16th.
Despite a fall vote in the Ontario Legislature attempting to intimidate supporters of the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, organizers of IAW 2017 join many others around the world who remain committed to solidarity with the Palestinian people and the end of Israel’s brutal apartheid practices.
The site for the Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
The Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op was formed to create independent media in the North, to speak to our issues and outlooks on our communities as well as the world around us. Independent media provides an avenue for people who are wishing to gain critical perspective on the issues that matter most to us, and to give a voice to those people and stories that you won't find in the mainstream media.
The Sudbury working-group site is no longer being updated and has been archived.