Category: Racism

Environmental Racism and Climate Justice

A talk given to Ideas Left Outside August 1 2013

What is environmental racism?

There are disasters from natural causes, and then there are environmental catastrophes and tragedies imposed by the capitalist and imperialist systems which cause unimaginable hardship and suffering. We know that racism is part and parcel of these systems. Environmental racism has been termed “any policy that differentially disadvantages individuals, groups, of communities based on race or colour” such as by locating “hazardous waste sites, landfills, incinerators or polluting industries in areas inhabited mainly by [racialized] and low-income peoples.” (Gosine 2008 p. 4)

Let us take the example from Haiti. In [2011] Haiti was struck by a savage epidemic of cholera, an environmental disease. Cholera was introduced, in fact, by the massive UN military mission in Haiti, which dumped untreated sewage into a stream from which Haitians washed and bathed and from which they drank. More than 7,500 Haitians died. Continue reading Environmental Racism and Climate Justice

A Handbook for Defenders of Free Speech on Palestine

28 July 2010 – Michael Keefer has compiled a timely and effective handbook for all those resisting attacks on free speech regarding the Israeli government’s crimes against Palestine.

His 268-page book, Anti-Semitism Real and Imagined, contains contributions from eleven committed campaigners in the fight for freedom of expression, as well as position papers from seven well-respected Canadian social organizations.

The book reports on an extra-parliamentary committee named the Canadian Parliamentary Committee to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA), established in 2009 as a lobbying venture by 21 members of parliament hostile to criticisms of the Israeli government’s policies toward the Palestinians. Continue reading A Handbook for Defenders of Free Speech on Palestine

On the Holocaust memorial day why I support Palestinian rights

In Canada, Holocaust Memorial Day has been established by Heritage Canada to be on April 11. It is a good opportunity to review what we learn from the Holocaust experience and how we apply these lessons to the troubled situation in the Middle East.

This year, students in more than 60 cities took part in educational meetings on conditions in Palestine as part of Israeli Apartheid Week, held March 1–7.

It is a controversial event, not popular in Canadian government circles.

It is criticized for supposedly dishonouring the victims of Hitler’s holocaust.

I am a survivor of the Jewish Holocaust, the Nazis’ mass murder of Europe’s Jews.

The tragic experience of my family and community under Hitler makes me alert to the suffering of other peoples denied their human rights today – including the Palestinians. Continue reading On the Holocaust memorial day why I support Palestinian rights

How To Really Fight Anti-Semitism

This article is adapted from a talk given to 90 participants in a “train the trainers workshop” organized by Palestine Freedom of Expression on August 26.

We often hear the charge that taking a firm stand for Palestinian rights is somehow anti-Semitic. What is anti-Semitism? Here are some common definitions:

  • “Belief or behavior hostile toward Jews just because they are Jewish.” (Anti-Defamation League)
  • “Anti-Jewish racism,” which emphasizes the “innate hostility of Jews to the interests of non-Jews.” (Political Dictionary)
  • “Hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious group or ‘race.’” (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia)

Continue reading How To Really Fight Anti-Semitism

The Siege of Gaza: Israel Uses Hitler’s Methods Against Palestinians

The following is the text of a talk to a joint meeting of Muslim and Jewish supporters of Palestinian rights at the Taric Islamic Centre in Toronto, on June 14, 2008.

[This article is also available in Spanish. See Rebelión, August 17, 2008]

This inspiring meeting seeks to reach out to Jewish and Muslim communities, to build understanding of the conflict in the Middle East. Thank you for the honour of inviting me to participate.

My life has been shaped by the Jewish Holocaust under Hitler. My mother died in Auschwitz, and I barely escaped the same fate. Like many others, I have sought to resist the forces of war and oppression that we saw in Nazism and that still live on. We have won victories, such as the destruction of apartheid in South Africa. Continue reading The Siege of Gaza: Israel Uses Hitler’s Methods Against Palestinians

The Holocaust and Defense of the Palestinians

Forces responsible for slaughter of Jews now oppress the Palestinian people

This article is based on a talk given to a meeting of Muslim Unity of Toronto on December 23, 2006.

Sixty years ago, a mass slaughter – a holocaust – was carried out against European Jews. Today its memory is being misused to build support for Zionism and to oppress and murder the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says that Canada must not talk with Hezbollah or Hamas, organizations that defend the Palestinians, because they “advocate wiping Israel off the face of the Earth” — an objective that he says is “ultimately genocidal,” that is, another holocaust. (Globe & Mail, Dec. 21, 2006) He uses this excuse to justify punishing Palestinians for electing Hamas by cutting off aid to their government. Continue reading The Holocaust and Defense of the Palestinians

Anti-Jewish Prejudice Yesterday and Today

Editors’ note: “Anti-Semitism” is a much misused and much misunderstood concept. This epithet is often wrongly applied to opposition to the Israeli state’s apartheid-like policies—such as the statement in defense of Palestinians adopted by the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario convention in May. Yet anti-Jewish prejudice remains deeply rooted in capitalist society and continues to pose a deadly threat to all working people. Suzanne Weiss explained its origins and present character in a talk given to the Socialism 2006 conference, organized by Socialist Action in Toronto, on April 29, 2006. This article is based on that talk.

In 1919, V.I. Lenin, the great leader of the Russian Revolution, gave a brief talk on anti-Semitism that was recorded for use among the Russian peasantry. Continue reading Anti-Jewish Prejudice Yesterday and Today