Our full list of events for IAW 2014 is out! You can click the schedule to download it in PDF.
A leaflet of the events is also available for download here.
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Retail Therapy
9 Brands to Boycott – Hold Israel Accountable!
Yves Engler on the JNF at electronicintifada.net
http://electronicintifada.net/content/internal-documents-show-canadian-tax-agency-protected-jewish-national-fund-scrutiny/12393
Will Canada tolerate illegal activities abroad by Jewish National Fund?
Coalition will fight ban on Students Against Israeli Apartheid
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Coalition will fight ban of Students Against Israeli Apartheid
U of M Students’ Union urged to support human rights and freedom of speech
WINNIPEG—The Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid is appalled by the University of Manitoba Students’ Union’s April 11 decision to end Students Against Israeli Apartheid’s student group status and ban it from operating in students’ union space.
The motion passed by UMSU Council equates criticism of the Israeli government to discrimination and harassment, and takes extraordinary measures against a student group, although it appears no evidence was presented to substantiate the accusations.
“We are shocked that UMSU would ban Students Against Israeli Apartheid without any evidence or basis for the accusations brought forward in the motion,” said Liz Carlyle, spokesperson for the Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. “It is clear that the architects of the motion aimed to silence opposition to the Israeli government’s Apartheid policies.”
Added Thiané Diop, a member of SAIA-UM: “By attempting to silence and obstruct SAIA, UMSU has voted to prop up the Israeli Apartheid government, its crushing military occupation and daily abuse of Palestinians’ human rights.”
Israeli Apartheid Week, a global event dedicated to education and debate on Israel’s military occupation of Palestine, has been running on Winnipeg campuses and in the community for 5 years, and SAIA groups have repeatedly shown they are seeking dialogue, while opposing racism and other human rights abuses. There were no incidents of harassment or discrimination by event organizers, speakers or participants at IAW 2013. WCAIA maintains that SAIA’s work embodies respectful and fair political comment, and believes that the UMSU motion constitutes slander, and repression of free speech and freedom of association. WCAIA is pursuing a legal opinion on the matter.
“Support has been flooding in from students and human rights and civil liberties advocates across the country,” added Diop. “We urge UMSU to reinstate Students Against Israeli Apartheid, and to speak up against Apartheid policies everywhere.”
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For information or interviews, please contact:
Liz Carlyle
ecarlyle
Students Against Israeli Apartheid saia.umanitoba
Des portes-paroles francophones sont disponibles.
“We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
– Nelson Mandela, 1997
www.wcaia.ca
MARCH 30, PALESTINIAN LAND DAY
Downloadable version of news release
NEWS RELEASE
Friday, March 29, 2013
Local groups wrap up picket at The Bay, plan further actions
Winnipeg—On March 30, Palestinian Land Day, several Winnipeg groups that joined together to protest a new product at The Bay are marking the occasion with the last of their 8-week info-picketing sessions.
The groups, united as the Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, focussed their efforts on the SodaStream home carbonation system because it is manufactured in Mishor Adumim, an illegally-established Israeli industrial area, part of the illegal Ma’aleh Adumim settlement. The settlement was built on land that used to be the Palestinian towns of Abu Dis, Azarya, A-Tur, Issauya, Han El Akhmar, Anata and Nebbi Mussa.
The groups organizing the initiative point out that the Fourth Geneva Convention, which Israel signed, prohibits colonization of any occupied territory. As one of the largest settlements in the occupied West Bank, the scale and location of Ma’aleh Adumim make it an obstacle to peace.
As it concludes the 8-week information picket, the Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (WCAIA) vows to continuing putting pressure on retailers to stop selling SodaStream.
“We handed out leaflets to more than 1000 people,” said Bassam Hozaima, a member of WCAIA. “There is a growing movement around the world that opposes the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and we will continue to encourage people to boycott Israeli settlement products like SodaStream.”
WCAIA notes that several large retailers now carry SodaStream, including The Bay, Canadian Tire, London Drugs, Sears, and Wal-Mart.
Added Hozaima, who was born in Gaza: “It is fitting that we are wrapping up our picket on March 30, Palestinian Land Day. This day marks the 1976 Palestinian resistance to land theft by the Israeli military regime. We will continue to put pressure on retailers to take SodaStream off their shelves. Selling SodaStream supports a system that oppresses of Palestinians.”
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email info@wcaia.ca to arrange an interview or request more information.
Portes-paroles francophones disponibles.
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Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
Thanks to everyone who supported Israeli Apartheid Week WInnipeg 2013!
Thanks to Lyrical Militant and Cousins for making the wrap-up event special!
