by Barry Weisleder
Close to two hundred people, including many Palestinian youths from Mississauga, rallied in front of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation headquarters in downtown Toronto on June 9 to protest CBC bias in its reporting on the situation in the West Bank, Jerusalem, Gaza and inside Israel’s official borders.
The crowd chanted “CBC, you will see, Palestine will be free!” as the rally filled two lanes of Front Street West.
Organizer Aliya Hasan called on the CBC to “tell the truth about Palestine” and urged everyone to sign a petition demanding the same.
“Why is the CBC silent on the origins of the conflict?” asked Socialist Action spokesperson Barry Weisleder. “The partition of Palestine by the United Nations, bending to the will of the Western powers, led to the displacement of 750,000 Palestinians in 1948, and created more refugees with later annexations of territory by the Zionist state…. Israel demolishes Palestinian homes on the West Bank. It evicts Palestinian residents, destroys olive groves, obstructs travel, education and health care. When did Palestinians do any of these things to Israelis?”
“Why does CBC remain silent on Canadian complicity with Israeli Apartheid? Is it uncomfortable with comparisons to the theft of Indigenous lands in Canada?”
At the conclusion of the protest, participants taped copies of the petition to the glass front doors of the building.
(Thanks to Nety Marroquin for the photos below.)
