A-Infos (en) Canada, anarchist journal, Linchpin #8 - Justice for Gaza: why we cry out by Andrew Loucks

The Israeli government strangles and plans an attack on Gaza for months, times its 
provocation for the biggest of US election days, then launches an audaciously brutal 
bombardment upon a people trapped in the most densely populated land in the world. It 
bombs infrastructure, schools, mosques, homes and aid depots, leaving hundreds of 
thousands without power, clean water, adequate food and access to medical care.
It calls its own cease fire on its own terms, content with battering a defenceless people 
until they submit, cognizant of the need to stop just before Obama’s inauguration. There 
is outrage all over the world, but in Canada the mainstream media largely laps up and 
regurgitates the propaganda of the powerful, and the federal government applauds 
enthusiastically.

It is easy to feel powerless in the antiwar movement, especially in these “war on terror”, 
“support ‘our’ troops”, “democratic states must have the right to defend themselves” days. 
We live in a country where we have next to no power between elections; and during these 
charades of democracy our collective pulse is taken several times a day to determine the 
best course of manipulation. Our cries in the streets against the bombing and strangling 
of Palestinians into submission seem irrelevant in this context. In some ways they are. 
But only if we are unrealistic about what they can accomplish, unwise about what these 
tactics can do.

Our demonstrations are not ways to pressure or convince Canadian politicians into changing 
their minds. Why would the administrators of a middle power state (Canada) that is fully 
integrated with a falling empire (the US) interested in supporting their bully (Israel) on 
the block (the Middle East) lose sleep over 1400 dead Palestinians and a few thousand 
muslims, peaceniks and radicals yelling in the streets? Let’s face it: our political 
system is pathetically unresponsive to demands for justice.

So why should we put parts of our lives on hold to ramp up political activities if they’re 
not going to save any lives on the ground? What are all the protests and marches and 
forums and other efforts for?

They are reactive displays of outrage we simply must let out – especially those of us who 
are connected to the bombings and ongoing seige through family and other experiences. They 
are refusals to follow the logic of isolation and self-interest inherent in media 
questions like “why are you steelworkers protesting?” They are tangible, active 
manifestations of opposition that mean far more than a poll. They are opportunities to 
connect our resistance with our communities directly. Most importantly, they are ways to 
build a more powerful movement.

It is becoming more powerful. It is more difficult now for far right ideologues like 
Benjamin Netanyahu to come to Canadian communities and spread hate. Major unions like the 
Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Ontario branch of the Canadian Union of Public 
Employees have signed on to the Palestinian call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions 
(BDS) and are holding fast against the usual stinging accusations of anti-semitism. We 
must support these and other efforts to resist, and we must work hard to counter 
propaganda for Israeli apartheid, especially when the spotlight is on.

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions:
http://www.bdsmovement.net
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