[Bloquez l'empire!] Saturday 1pm: Anti-Israeli Apartheid Bloc :: Solidarity with Gaza (Montreal)

Thu Jan 8 21:32:31 PST 2009

[version française: http://www.saimontreal.org/
 please post and forward widely;
to endorse the contingent, please e-mail blocktheempire at gmail.com]

*ANTI-ISRAELI APARTHEID BLOC
part of the "Quebec in solidarity with Gaza" demonstration
SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1PM
Dorchester Square
Corner Peel and René-Lévesque (métro Peel*)

*--> The Anti-Apartheid Bloc will gather together on Peel Street, between
Ste-Catherine and René-Levesque. Look for the multi-colored flags and join
us. Please arrive on time. Bring your own noisemakers, placards, banners …
and shoes! <--*

Montreal-area social justice and Palestine solidarity groups and individuals
will be marching together as an Anti-Apartheid & Anti-Imperialist Bloc this
coming Saturday. We march in support of the "Quebec in solidarity with Gaza"
demonstration, which builds on previous mobilizations in Montreal including
last week's 10,000-strong protest downtown.

We march autonomously as a bloc, in support of messages and demands that are
uniting protesters worldwide.

We denounce the continued Israeli ground, air and sea assault on the
civilian population of Gaza. We again take to the streets and stand in
solidarity with the people of Gaza, and to demand an end to Israel's siege.

We condemn American support for Israel (the #1 recipient of US military aid)
and their direct complicity with war crimes. It is US-made weapons, missiles
and bombs that are being used to terrorize and massacre the civilian
population of Gaza.

We also join, with demonstrators across the Middle East, to denounce the
role of the Egyptian regime (the #2 recipient of US military aid), in
providing political cover to the Israeli attack on Gaza, as well as refusing
to open the Rafah crossing to Palestinians.

We demand free movement and open borders, and are inspired by the actions of
ordinary Gazans who last year, with their own hands, broke the Israeli siege
and temporarily tore down the wall at the Gaza-Egypt border.

We denounce the complicity of the Canadian government, including Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, who have
consistently defended Israel's war crimes, whether against civilians in
Lebanon or Palestine.

Importantly, while we march as part of a "Quebec in solidarity with Gaza"
demonstration, we note the complicity of the Quebec government with Israeli
apartheid, via the Quebec-Israel bilateral trade accord that was signed in
the fall of 2008. In contrast, we support the calls by Palestinian civil
society for a comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign
against apartheid Israel.

*Organized and endorsed by: Block the Empire-Montreal, Q-Team, Solidarity
Across Borders, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Tadamon and
others.*

To endorse the contingent, please e-mail: blocktheempire at gmail.com
Contact: 514-848-7583 - www.iawmontreal.org

*::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::*

*[The following is the text of the flyer to be distributed at the
demonstration on Saturday in Montreal.]*

*Solidarity with the people of Gaza! Oppose the war crimes of Israel!

Denounce the complicity of Canada, the United States & Egypt*

Our anti-apartheid bloc today joins with voices throughout the world -- from
Sydney to Cairo, from Beirut to Montreal -- in screaming our solidarity with
the people of the Gaza Ghetto, and denouncing the war crimes of the Israeli
state against a civilian population.

But, we also demonstrate to denounce the complicity of both Western and Arab
governments in allowing this attack to happen and continue. Israel's crimes
against the people of Gaza, and ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine, has
been enabled by the active support and complicity of the United States
government, as well as the political complicity of countries like Canada and
the European Union. The United States, Canada, Egypt and others, through
word and deed, are essentially partners to Israel's attacks.

Today, in addition to denouncing *Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak* and
the other Israeli politicians and officers who are the perpetrators of war
crimes, we will also throw shoes against other political leaders who are
complicit in the ongoing carnage in the Gaza Ghetto, including:

*-- George Bush, Barack Obama and the US Government:* Both men are
unapologetic supporters of Israel. While George Bush has already justly had
shoes thrown at him (and deserves more), Barack Obama's silence in the face
of hundreds of civilian deaths is nothing short of moral cowardice. Obama's
presidential campaign actually took him to Sderot, Israel, where his speech
mimicked the political justifications used today for Israel's attack. Obama
and the Democractic Party (including his incoming Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton) are extreme apologists for Israel, and might arguably be more
pro-Israel than George Bush.

*-- Stephen Harper, Lawrence Cannon and the Canadian government:* The Harper
government again, as with their support of the Israeli attack on Lebanon in
2006, is shameless in its groveling support for Israel. Prime Minister
Harper and Foreign Minister Cannon have openly justified Israel's attacks.
As with the previous attack on Lebanese civilians, the Harper government
considers Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians to be justified and
measured. There is not even a minimum of nuance in their support of Israel.
The Quebec government is also complicit with Israeli apartheid, in signing
the recent Quebec-Israel bilateral trade agreement.

*-- Hosni Mubarak, Abu al-Gheit and the Egyptian regime:* As protests
throughout the Middle East have emphasized, the Egyptian dictatorship (the
#2 recipient of American military aid after Israel) has played a crucial
role in providing political cover for the Israeli attack. Foreign Ministers
Abu al-Gheit and Tzipi Livni met in Cairo less than 48 hours before the
attacks began, and the Mubarak regime provided a seeming green light for the
attack. The Egyptian regime's refusal to open the Gaza-Egypt border and to
allow free movement for Gaza's residents means they are actively
contributing to the destruction in Gaza.

In contrast to the criminality and complicity of so-called leaders from
Israel to Canada, from the United States to Egypt, we stand in solidarity
with grassroots Palestinians who resist to survive, and to assert their
basic dignity. We also re-iterate our support for a comprehensive boycott,
divestment and sanctions campaign against the apartheid Israeli state.

*Viva Viva Intifada!*
*
Endorsed by: Block the Empire-Montreal, Q-Team, Solidarity Across Borders,
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Tadamon and others.
INFO: www.iawmontreal.org*

blocktheempire at gmail.com
514-848-7583
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