On July 9, Conservative MP of Kitchener Centre Kelly DeRidder sent a message to her mailing list decrying the KW Palestine Festival, to be held in Kitchener on July 12, and calling on the mayor and police to take action. She claimed that the event is “spreading division and hate here in Canada and dragging conflicts from other countries into our neighbourhoods. That is not acceptable in our communities.” She claims she sent a personal letter to Mayor Berry Vrbanovic and police chief Mark Crowell, and linked to a letter MP Roman Baber for York Centre sent to Mayor Vrabonovic. In his letter, Baber claims that the event will include “wilful promotion of terrorism” and “wilful promotion of hatred.”
Both of their arguments are based on promotional materials that state the Festival will honour Palestinian culture and resistance, names Zionism as as a cancer, and labels Israel’s actions as genocidal. These claims from DeRidder and Baber are clear examples of anti-Palestinian racism (APR).
“Anti-Palestinian racism is a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. Anti-Palestinian racism takes various forms including: denying the Nakba and justifying violence against Palestinians; failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity, belonging and rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine; erasing the human rights and equal dignity and worth of Palestinians; excluding or pressuring others to exclude Palestinian perspectives, Palestinians and their allies; defaming Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being inherently antisemitic, a terrorist threat/sympathizer or opposed to democratic values.”
— Arab Canadian Lawyers Association
These attempts by DeRidder, Baber, and their supporters to defame Palestinian organizers, equate honoouring Palestinian culture and resistance to genocide as antisemitism / terrorism / hate, dehumanizing Palestinians, refusing to recognize Palestinians suffering, and perssuring others to exclude Palestinian perspectives are the exact definition of APR. They’ve also directly invited violence by encouraging the police to involve themselves.
These tactics are not new, just like zionist violence is not new. The colonization of Palestine has been ongoing for 125+ years. Israel’s Crimes are not limited to the last 2+ years, but to its efforts to Judaize the entire Levant prior to and since the creation of the nation-state of Israel. This includes mass displacement and ethnic cleansing, settler paramilitary violence, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and creation of settler-colonial infrastructure. This also includes actions against Palestinians as well as Syrians in the occupied Syrian Golan and Lebanese communities throughout Lebanon. Since Israel declared itself a nation-state in 1948, Israel’s Crimes have included all of these features as well as mass incarceration, apartheid-level discrimination and control of Palestinian movement, and repeated military assault, all of which not only constitute illegal occupation but also genocide and apartheid.
DeRidder claims that the Festival is “dragging conflicts from other countries into our neighbourhoods.” In fact, “conflicts [in] other countries” are not distant or unrelated to our own neighbourhoods. In Waterloo Region alone, there are at least 9 companies that provide weapons or military support to Israel. At least 16 organizations have accepted money, totalling over $2 million, from charities that are part of just one aspect of the Canada to Israel Charity pipeline. This includes organizations like Food4Kids Waterloo Region, St. Mary’s General Hospital Foundation, Food Bank of Waterloo Region, House of Friendship, and the Huntington Society of Canada. Approximately 13.5% of the University of Waterloo’s endowment fund is invested in companies complicit in Israel’s Crimes. They have also received over $8.7 million dollars from pro-Israel donors including from the Gerald Schwartz & Heather Reisman Foundation and the Azrieli Foundation.
Canada is and always has been complicit in Israel’s Crimes. This is not a surprise when considering Canada’s own existence as a settler colonial state that is committing an ongoing genocide against Indigenous Peoples here on Turtle Island.
Finally, it is important to note that the Palestinian people have the right to resist, to return, and to self-determination. These rights exist whether or not imperial and settler colonial powers recognize them. They are enshrined in international law. In contrast, Israel’s occupation is illegal. This has been determined by the International Court of Justice. Further Canada, as a signatory of the Fourth Geneva Convention, under Article 1 must ensure that violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention do not occur under any circumstance. When Canada or other signatories fail to do so, they themselves are complicit with war crimes. Canada has also incorporated international law into Canadian law through the Geneva Conventions Act and the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. Members of Parliament should be well aware of this.
We support the Palestinian people in their fight for liberation and against the occupation of Palestine.
