[antiwar-van] Vancouver Community Based Groups Campaign Launch: Resist the Racist

[Tony Tracy]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Montreal Muslim News <montreal at montrealmuslimnews.net>
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 06:46:27 -1000 (HST)
Subject: Vancouver Community Based Groups Campaign Launch: Resist the
Racist Attacks by the US & Canadian Governments

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Vancouver Community Based Groups Campaign Launch: Resist the Racist
Attacks by the US & Canadian Governments

January 7, 2003 Media Advisory from coalition of community based groups in
Vancouver  (sent via e-mail by Hanna Kawas of Canada Palestine
Association) <HANNAKAWAS at cs.com>

http://www.montrealmuslimnews.net/vancouverlaunch.htm

Vancouver, BC-On Wednesday Jan.8, 2003, community-based groups in
Vancouver will launch a campaign with the aim of organizing and mobilizing
communities to resist the stepped-up racist attacks growing in Canada and
the United States. The press conference will be held on Wednesday at 11:30
a.m. at the Kalayan Centre, 451 Powell St.

The organizations will speak strongly against the increased discrimination
against people born in certain named countries in the Middle-East, Africa
and South Asia who are being targeted by the Canadian and US governments
for discriminatory treatment, including arbitrary arrests, detainment and
deportation. Community groups will press for an immediate and urgent
response from the Canadian government and the broader population in Canada
to immediately halt the establishment of a form of apartheid whereby those
born in certain places are legally set apart from others and discriminated
against because of the colour of their skin, their religious faith, their
gender or their nationality.

Representatives from Adala (Arab Justice Committee), Arab Democratic
Assembly, Arab Palestine Association, Canada Palestine Association, and
Palestine Solidarity Group will discuss the concrete steps the Canadian
government can - and must - take if it is not to be held responsible for
the purposeful creation of inequalities, flagrant injustices and
widespread suffering for those grossly stereotyped as "terrorists."

They will be joined by Member of Parliament and Federal NDP Leadership
Candidate Joe Comartin who will add his voice to the call for justice.

Currently, in both Canada and the US, men and women born in Middle-Eastern
and South Asian countries are being legally denied the same rights and
entitlements available to other visitors, permanent residents and
citizens. Many have been illegally detained and deported. Others are
facing penalties for very minor infractions that are not proportionate to
a reasonable scale of justice. Still others are illegally harassed at
border crossings and other official sites.

Many have called these practices the emergence of a form of Global
Apartheid. Apartheid can be said to exist when two groups of people
living, working, paying taxes, raising children and dying within the same
space are accorded highly differential legal treatment. This certainly
describes many of the laws and policies enacted by both the Canadian and
US governments since September 11th, 2001.

Community-based groups will provide a list of agreed upon demands to the
Canadian and US governments and talk about how only by a concerted effort
to avoid repeating the sordid history of concentration camps, internment
and other forms of segregationary treatment, can Canada truly become part
of an effective anti-terrorism strategy.

For more information contact: Khalid Barakat 604 461 8409


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