Previous events from our front page
Below is an archive of materials from our front page.
SAHRRA: Summer Party and Fundraiser for CAIA
* Please Post Widely * Fundraiser for the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) and the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. Join us on Wednesday, August 6. Doors open at 7 p.m. Party starts at 8 p.m. @ Cervejaria Lounge, 842 College Street , just west of Ossington. $10 sliding scale. Arabic DJ * Arabic Music * Dabka * fun * dancing * entertainment * silent auction * cash bar and food * and much more * [download 8.5X11 poster (.PDF) or 11X17 poster (.PDF)]
STOP THE WALL CAMPAIGN: LETTER OF SOLIDARITY FOR SHAWN BRANDT
Dear Shawn Brandt: We have heard of your arrest and the arrest of other members of the Tyendinga Mohawk community, and we write to extend our solidarity from the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall campaign. The struggle against colonization and land theft is global for Indigenous people, and the Mohawk nation and the First Nations people of North America have the unconditional support of all of us who are fighting for our rights for self-determination and against the colonial plans to strip us of our land and rights in Palestine. Canada continues to oppress the First Nations of that land, just as now it shows full support for the state of Israel and the oppression of the Indigenous people on this land. (full text).
TORONTO PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL INVITES YOU TO THE TORONTO PREMIERE OF "33 DAYS" BY MAI MASRI
COME OUT TO THIS PRE FESTIVAL FUNDRAISER SCREENING AND SUPPORT TORONTO'S FIRST PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL!! || Sat. July 12, 2008 at 7:00 pm || Bloor Cinema - 506 Bloor Street West (Bathurst Street Subway) || 416-516-2331 || Tickets $10 / $5 seniors students unwaged || "33 days"is a documentary on life in Lebanon under the Israeli bombardment of July - August 2006. Award winning Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri follows the efforts of several dedicated humanitarians to keep their communities strong in the midst of destruction: from a woman reporting from the rubble as rockets jet past her, to a young man who keeps his neighborhood's children entertained with improvised games in his local theatre while bombs fall in the distance.The film is full of compassion and humanity even as it records the devastation of war. Advance tickets available: online at http://www.tpff.ca/33-days.htm || Toronto Women's Bookstore: 73 Harbord Street || Palestine House: 3195 Erindale Station Rd Mississauga, 905.270.3622 (more information and website).
PICKET SHAREHOLDERS MEETING CHAPTERS/INDIGO – Wed. June 25 - CUT THE TIES WITH ISRAELI APARTHEID
When: Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 @ 9:30 a.m. || Where: MaRS Centre, 101 College St Toronto (College and University SE corner) || TTC: Queens Park Subway or College streetcar || Come out on Wednesday, June 25th - Indigo Books and Music Inc. will be holding its annual shareholders’ meeting at the MaRS Centre in downtown Toronto. The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) invites its friends, supporters and allies to join us in protest to send a clear message to majority shareholders Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz that their financial ties to HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers - which provides scholarships and other support to recruits from abroad who serve in Israel's Apartheid military - are unacceptable! CAIA will continue to build a growing nation-wide boycott campaign of Chapters/ Indigo until their majority shareholders publicly announce that they are cutting all financial ties to HESEG. We need your support to make sure that all Indigo Books and Music Inc. shareholders hear our message! For more information please see our research page or email us at endapartheid@riseup.net.
Workers Against Apartheid and Occupation: Kicking Off Brick by Brick Labour Conference
* Free Public Forum, All Welcome * When: 7pm, Friday 30th May, 2008 * Where: Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St Toronto (South of College, West of Spadina) * Join Manawell Abdul Al, member of the executive committee of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, and Paul Loulou Chery,Secretary of the Confederation of Haitian Workers, as they discuss the current situation of Palestinian and Haitian workers. These two prominent labour leaders will discuss the links between these struggles and the role of the Canadian government in perpetuating occupation and apartheid. The forum will also hear from representatives of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE Ontario) and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), two key unions that have adopted resolutions against Israeli Apartheid in the recent period. Sponsored by Labour for Palestine and the Toronto Haiti Action Committee. ** This public forum will launch Brick by Brick: Building Labour Solidarity with Palestine, to be held in Toronto 30 May - 1 June. To find out more about Brick By Brick, please click here **
GATHERING OF MOTHER EARTH PROTECTORS - ALL OUT!
On May 26th Indigenous communities and our supporters will gather at Queens Park to uphold our duty to protect the land, forest, water, and air and to promote respect for our Indigenous rights to say no to economic exploitation and environmental destruction. It is time to end the jailing and harassment of our people for protecting mother earth and traditional ways. Please come to our large rally on May 26th at the legislature. We are also inviting supporters to join us in four days of ceremony, speakers, workshops, music, and a three night sovereignty sleep-over directly on the front lawn of the legislature. (download pdf / jpg version of the poster).
Commemorating 60 Years of Al Nakba - Palestinian Refugees Will Return!
10 May 2008 - Join CAIA during the month of May to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. The following schedule of events is planned for May 2008 in commemoration of Al-Nakba. Events include a May 8th press conference with Nakba survivors (full audio), a May 10th rally at Queen's Park, the Canadian debut of Palestinian hip hop group DAM, as well as a number of film-screenings, workshops and public forums. For more information please view the full schedule and press release (including media contacts) or contact Palestine house at info@palestinehouse.com.
TORONTO, (April 23, 2008) Internationally-renown pioneers of Palestinian Hip Hop, DAM, will be performing live in Toronto on May 15, 2008. Featuring songs from their debut international album DEDICATION (Red Circle Music), Toronto will be the final stop on their first-ever North American tour, which opens in Austin on May 8, and includes shows in Houston, San Francisco, and New York City. Hailing from the slums of Lod, a mixed town of Palestinian and Jewish Israelis about 15 kilometers from Jerusalem, brothers Tamer and Suhell Nafar and Mahmoud Jreri have been performing together since the late 1990s. Drawing on musical influences as diverse as Tupac Shakur and the traditional Lebanese singer Fairuz, DAM's music is a unique East/West fusion, which combines rap with Middle Eastern influences and rhythms, to broadcast a powerful message of dignity and freedom. The Washington Post calls DAM "one of the most powerful and popular cultural voices for the global Palestinian diaspora." (Read the full press release).
16 April 2008 - CAIA extends its warm congratulations to the delegates of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers national convention held in Ottawa, Canada, April 13-17th 2008. At the convention, CUPW passed an historic resolution, Resolution 338/339, in support of the global campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israeli Apartheid. This resolution is an extremely significant landmark for the Palestinian solidarity movement in Canada. It represents the first time in North American history that a national union has passed a BDS resolution. The resolution recognizes Israel as an apartheid state and expresses CUPW’s support for boycott and divestment from Israel. It was passed almost unanimously after nearly one hour of discussion on the convention floor (read the full statement / sign solidarity petition / send message of support).
fUNDraIseR: Turtle Island to Palestine: Free All Political Prisoners!
Location: The Cervejaria Downtown Bar and Grill, 842 College Street (College and Ossington) || Time: 7pm - 2am ||To coincide with Palestine Political Prisoners Day, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), is organising a fundraiser in support of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN) in their struggle against uranium mining on their land.Join us for a night of live cultural performances, dancing, silent auction and great food! All funds raised will be forwarded to the AAFN community. The highly politicized nature of these sentences further underscores the on-going criminalization of indigenous people's basic rights to self-determination and the free use of their lands and resources. Just as Israel refuses to fulfill its obligations under international law with respect to the basic rights of the Palestinian people (including the incarceration of over 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners), the Canadian government has decisively rejected its obligations under the 'UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples' and continues to incarcerate indigenous leaders who defend the basic rights of their peoples to self-determination. Also be sure to read the solidarity statement with the AAFN and KI6 leadership recently issued by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign.
"My Name Is Rachel Corrie" premieres @ Toronto's Tarragon Extra Space
Location: * Please Post Widely * Limited number of seats available! In 2003 American activist, Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer. She was 23 years old. Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner edited Rachel's diaries and emails turning them into a play, "My Name Is Rachel Corrie". The play was produced by the Royal Court Theatre in London where it played to sold out audiences and wide acclaim. Subsequent attempts to mount the play have met with stiff resistance from supporters of Israeli apartheid - including a year ago when a scheduled production at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Performing Arts was pulled. "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" premiers @ Toronto's Tarragon Extra Space. Freedom of speech will not be silenced, and so it is that My Name Is Rachel Corrie has found a home at the Tarragon Extra Space. To learn more, click HERE.
Join the CAIA contingent for Women’s Day (March 8) and the Anti-War Rally (March 15) under the banner: "End the Siege on Gaza." People of conscience around the world are mobilizing against this war, which is not only against Palestinians but against the very values of popular struggles for freedom, justice and equality over the world. We are calling all movements and organizations to join the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli Apartheid and hold the Canadian government accountable for its diplomatic, financial and military support for Apartheid Israel. On Women’s Day, Saturday March 8, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid will march in solidarity with the people of Gaza in a larger contingent of migrant women, women of colour and our allies. Please come out and join us on March 8 under the banner: "End the Siege on Gaza - Women Fight for Palestine." Also, on Saturday March 15 join the CAIA contingent for the “World Against War" rally to demand “Troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, End the Siege on Gaza”(look for the Palestinian flags).
The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) calls on all supporters of Palestinian rights to defend the right to organize at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Last week, the McMaster Provost office, second in authority to that of the President's office, announced that student clubs were banned from using the term “Israeli Apartheid”. This is an unprecedented attack on the right to free speech, academic freedom, and the right to organize. This shocking decision came as students were attempting to organize events as part of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). CAIA firmly believes that this attempt to repress student organizing will fail. We call on student organizations, social justice groups and concerned individuals to support students at McMaster and the broader rights of Palestine organizers (full statement : info on action).
4th ANNUAL ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK DATES: 3RD - 10TH OF FEBRUARY 2008 
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) is proud to announce the 4th annual Israeli Apartheid Week under the banner "60 Years of Nakba: End Israeli Apartheid" (press release). It will be a week-long series of events held concurrently in Canada, the U.S, U.K, South Africa, and Palestine. In Toronto events will take place onthree campuses: University of Toronto, Ryerson University and York University, including the founding conference of High-Schoolers Against Israeli Apartheid (HAIA). The 2008 Israeli Apartheid Week takes place on the 60th Anniversary of Al-Nakba; 60 years of ethnic cleansing and exile for Palestinians. For the firsttime IAW will also be occurring at universities in the West Bank. Activities vary from campus to campus, consisting of guest lectures, demonstrations, cultural events and film nights. (See also February 9th demo in solidarity with the people of Gaza : poster - .PDF format; leaflets - .PDF format; factsheet 1 - .PDF format; factsheet 2 - .PDF format).
