Thurs., Mar. 3rd, 5pm, UVic: Photoshoot: Hey, Trudeau Government, Make My Day, Condemn Me--I promote BDS to pressure Israel to respect international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people

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Published on Tuesday, 01 March 2016 08:45

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Subject: Thurs., Mar. 3rd, 5pm, UVic: Photoshoot: Hey, Trudeau Government, Make My Day, Condemn Me--I promote BDS to pressure Israel to respect international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people

Photoshoot: Hey, Trudeau Government, Make My Day, Condemn Me--I promote BDS to pressure Israel to respect international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people.

Please join us on Thursday, March 3rd, 5pm sharp, at the University of Victoria, to stand up publicly, in the face of the Trudeau Government's Feb. 22nd condemnation of any and all attempts to promote BDS, to challenge the Government to indeed "condemn" us for our words and actions that promote BDS. We are not going to cower in response to the Government's passage of this motion of condemnation, and we reserve our right to promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions... (BDS) as a means of pressuring Israel to respect international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people

You can take pride in yourself for making a public stand, in fellowship with others, and, of course, in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

As well as publicly challenging the Trudeau Government (and MPs of other parties who either voted for the motion or abstained from voting) to condemn us, we hope this event will create interest and discussion on campus and in the wider community. We would like to create a buzz on campus and to get as much publicity as possible. We encourage people to use the photo as one means of showing our Members of Parliament that Canadians are very disturbed about the passage of this motion, and that we are not going to be intimidated in the face of it. Additionally, we hope to inspire similar events throughout Canada.

Event details are as follows:

Event Name: Photoshoot: Hey, Trudeau Government, Make My Day, Condemn Me--I promote BDS to pressure Israel to respect international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people.

Date: Thursday, March 3rd, 2016

Time: 5pm sharp

Location: At the fountain, in front of the Mearns Learning Centre/McPherson Library, University of Victoria

Participants: Everyone welcome! Please spread the word--the more people in the photo, the bigger the impact.

Organisers: UVic Palestine Solidarity Action Group, CJPME-Victoria Chapter
Contacts:
UVic Palestine Solidarity Action Group via Facebook page https://goo.gl/PtS7IR;
CJPME-Victoria Chapter via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Facebook page https://goo.gl/lNh24M

Further Details of Event:
(1) The first order of business will be to take the group photo. Organisers have prepared special placards, which will be included in the photo.

(2) We will be telling attendees about CJPME's online petition "Hey, Trudeau Government, Make My Day, Condemn Me!, which we encourage you to sign here: http://cjpme.org/condemn_me. The government has committed to condemning all of us, for "any and all attempts" to promote BDS. Let's challenge the government to do it, to each of us, by signing this petition.

What's Behind This Event:
On Monday, Feb. 22nd, a motion was passed in the House of Commons condemning the BDS movement.

The wording of the motion is as follows: "That, given Canada and Israel share a long history of friendship as well as economic and diplomatic relations, the House reject the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which promotes the demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel, and call upon the government to condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both here at home and abroad."

With the motion having passed, it is now a fact that the Trudeau Government literally condemns all Canadians--be they individuals, groups or organisations--that promote the BDS movement, both here in Canada and elsewhere, as a means of pressuring Israel to respect international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people. As you know, Israel has, for many decades now, remained in defiance of international law and continues to violate the human rights of the Palestinian people.

We want to stand up and be counted, saying to the Trudeau Government, hey, go ahead, condemn me, we support and promote BDS, and we are going to continue to do so.

We are addressing our outrage to Prime Minister Trudeau and his government of the day, but it should be noted that some MPs from other parties also voted for this motion or abstained from voting. Here are the results of the vote in the House on Feb. 22nd:

• There are 338 sitting Members of Parliament in Canada's House of Commons.
• Only 280 MPs out of 338 voted on this motion.
• The remaining 58 MPs abstained from voting/did not vote. The MPs who abstained from voting would need to be contacted individually to find out why, exactly, they refrained from voting.
• Liberal Party Leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voted for the motion to condemn BDS
• Interim Conservative Party Leader Rona Ambrose voted for the motion to condemn BDS
• NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair voted against the motion to condemn BDS
• Interim Bloc Québecois Leader Rhéal Fortin voted against the motion to condemn BDS
• Green Party Leader Elizabeth May abstained from voting.
• Including party leaders, and broken down by party, here's how MPs voted:

• Out of 184 Liberal MPs, 137 voted for the motion, 3 voted against, and 44 abstained.
• Out of 99 Conservative MPs, 92 voted for the motion, 0 voted against, and 7 abstained.
• Out of 44 NDP MPs, 42 voted against the motion, 0 voted against, and 2 abstained.
• Out of 6 Bloc Québecois MPs, 6 voted against the motion, 0 voted against, and 4 abstained.
• Out of 1 Green Party MP, 1 abstained.

Hope to see you there. Please spread the word. The more people in the photo/in attendance, the more impact we will make.