March 5, 2008
Dear Jack,
As your federally nominated candidate in Scarborough-Agincourt, I write you to tell you about the deep feelings of concern and regret I have over the NDP's support of the recent decision to pull out of the United Nations' sanctioned Durban Conference on Anti-Racism in South Africa. As I'm sure you are aware, this past week Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai publicly announced that the Gaza strip could face a 'holocaust' if homemade rocket fire continues to be used as resistance. Living up to his racist claim, this week has seen the deadliest day of terrorist attacks on Palestinians by Israeli forces since the First Intifada. The time to be having serious and sophisticated conversations about racism, colonialism and apartheid in Israel is now.
It has been particularly hard to ignore the escalating tactics of Israeli forces since when in 2004 the international Court of Justice declared Israel's currently erected 'security barrier' to be a violation of international law and to have it dismantled. Four years later, the 640km long apartheid wall, complete with barbed wire and heavily policed checkpoints, still stands. This is of course not to mention the atrocious state of schools, libraries and other public facilities in Gaza and the West Bank as a result of missile fire and funding stoppages, all on behalf of the Israeli state. The events of this past week are testament to the escalation of the violent strategies employed by the state of Israel against its Palestinian citizens.
What is particularly shocking for me about the NDP's decision is the relative silence from the party, its leaders and its members about our disturbing indifference for human lives in Palestine. Although each have their locally specific nuances, it has become clear that there are striking similarities between the case of apartheid South Africa and the apartheid state of Israel. It is to be noted is that while SA still lives with deeply entrenched legacies of racism, the apartheid regime was largely defeated as a result of international boycotts and sanctions, as well as the resistance of thousands of South Africans who struggled to get their message out. People around the world organizing to end apartheid in South Africa, attended conferences and lectures to educate themselves on the conditions of apartheid long before it was overthrown.
Now is the time for global leaders to sit down together to discuss strategies to end the human rights violations of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel and around the world. Especially, it is time to begin having conversations about how Canada and other countries of the West are implicated in the rising death toll of Palestinians the world over. Although some are concerned that by attending the conference they will be branded as anti-semitic, let us please be rational and continue to articulate that Judaism is NOT synonymous with Zionism. This is about investigating various countries' roles in propping up apartheid state practices - including our own.
Please take leadership on this issue and endorse the need for Canada to be a part of this important conference. I fear that the NDP's ignorant indifference to this situation will have severely damaging affects on the future of the party.
Yours truly,
Stacy Douglas
Federal Candidate
3 comments:
the NDP also let Bill C-484, the sneakily but blatant anti-choice bill pass last week...
what is up with that?
the one call "unborn victims of crime act"...
they def have a handle on clever wordage.
they also voted in favour of the security bill C-10 that had that little addendum that stripped filmmakers and tv producers of their tax breaks if their work is considered 'offensive'.
all of this, along with mandatory minimum sentencing, leads to a growing concern about our 'left of centre' federal party...
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