Thursday, March 31, 2011

END Statement on the BDS Global Day of Action

March 30, 2011 – Education Not Deportation (END), a campaign of No One is Illegal Toronto, stands in solidarity with Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) in fighting for an end to Israeli Apartheid.

Taking inspiration from the recent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, we must remember the immense impact that can result from a collective and united struggle against exploitation and subordination. Today marks both a global day of action for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the state of Israel and Land Day, a commemoration of the events of 35 years ago when Israeli security forces shot and killed six young Palestinian citizens and injured many. END honours and supports the courage, dignity and self-determination of the Palestinian people as they resist the illegal occupation of their homeland by the Israeli state and its allies.

As a result of over 65 arbitrary permanent checkpoints, an Israeli constructed wall that has been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice, a series of illegal naval blockades of Gaza, and 235 UN Resolution-violating settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Palestinian people have been forced to live in conditions of abject poverty and humiliation. As a result, the ability of Palestinians to access work, education, medical care, and other basic services is severely hampered, since the fundamental right to free movement is so heavily repressed by Israeli authorities.

From Palestine to Turtle Island - we stand in solidarity with all peoples opposing policies of occupation.

The Palestinian people have been forcibly displaced by illegal Israeli settlements that have been built on agricultural land and key water resources. By denying them basic human needs like water, food and shelter, Israeli apartheid is directly responsible for making Palestinians the world’s largest refugee population.

From Palestine to Turtle Island – we stand in solidarity with all peoples opposing policies of exploitation and displacement.

Since the 1967 annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, there has been a sustained exercise of violence by the Israeli state and its allies against Palestinian civilians. Through illegal incursions, kidnapping, detainment and torture of civilians, and through deliberate acts of collective punishment, the state of Israel is responsible for the death and misery of thousands of Palestinians.

From Palestine to Turtle Island - we stand in solidarity with all peoples opposing policies of violence.

We call on all Canadian post-secondary institutions to take action today by ending their complicity in the continued marginalization, displacement and murder of Palestinian civilians, which occurs through the investment of tuition monies in companies that enable Israeli apartheid. We specifically demand that the University of Toronto and York University immediately divest from BAE systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Hewlett Packard; companies that are all directly responsible for killing and displacing Palestinians, and many other vulnerable populations, through their development of weaponry manufacturing, military technology and information technology infrastructure for the state of Israel and other occupying forces.

Boycott- Divest-Sanction!

End All Occupations Now!

Justice, Freedom, and Status for All!


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No One Is Illegal-Toronto is an all volunteer, unfunded, grassroots migrant justice organization that fights for a decent livelihood, food, education, healthcare, childcare, shelter, accessible services, freedom of movement, justice and dignity for all people, particularly undocumented and migrant worker communities in Toronto. We also act in solidarity with Indigenous movements for self-determination and organize against wars, economic and environmental attacks that push people out of their homes in the first place

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