Category Archives: International

Announcements, Canada, Events, International

Public Forum: Eyewitness report—Election in Venezuela and its aftermath

Socialist Action presents a public forum

Eyewitness report: Election in Venezuela and its aftermath

Speaker: Nety Maroquin, Guatemalan socialist just returned from one month stay in Caracas.  Her presentation will be in Spanish, with translation into English, plus a screening of her short videos of every day life in the Bolivarian Republic.

Introduction by Maria Paez Victor, a founding member and spokesperson of the Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle, and the Chair of the Board of the Canadian, Latin American and Caribbean Policy Centre.

Wednesday, June 20

7 p.m.

at OISE U of Toronto, room 5-160

252 Bloor St. West,above the St. George Subway Station

Everyone is welcome.  Donation $4, or PWYC.

For more information, e-mail:  socialistactioncanada@gmail. com

Visit the SA web site at: www.socialistaction.ca

or call 647-986-1917  or  647-728-9143 .

Canada, Events, International

Emergency Rally for Palestine

By Mitchell Shore

During the lunch hour on Friday, May 18th, Socialist Action members gathered with about 200 like-minded people at an emergency rally outside of the office of Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. We were there to urge the Canadian government to condemn Israel’s May 14th massacre of at least 60 people and the injury of 2,700 more, including the shooting of Palestinian-Canadian Dr. Tarek Loubani. The protests follow the decision by US President, Donald Trump, to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem. Trump’s move has been widely criticized by the international community.

After a few speeches, including the reading of a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, the group then marched from Freeland’s office to the Israeli consulate, where it staged a “die in” in the middle of the road. Throughout it all, we loudly chanted slogans including: “Hey Hey Trudeau – Occupation Has Got to Go!”; “Free Free Palestine – Zionism is a Crime”; “From Palestine to Mexico: Border Walls Have Got to Go”.

The Gaza border protests are actually part of a larger struggle which began on March 30 when more than 30,000 people demanding their rights for justice and the right of refugees to return to their home land. At that time, 23 people were murdered by Israeli Defence Forces and more than 1400 people were wounded. In over six weeks of mass protests, at least 115 protesters were killed and more than 9000 were wounded.

Since its founding 70 years ago, Israel has maintained a regime of of settler colonialism, apartheid and occupation over the Palestinian people. It is a racist regime which privileges Jews over non-Jews. On a daily basis, millions of Palestinians face indignities and institutionalized discrimination, including the denial of the the right for refugees to return to their homes from which they were violently removed. Since 1967, Israel has maintained an illegal military occupation over the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

The situation in Gaza has been particularly brutal. Over the past decade, Israel has murdered and injured thousands of Palestinians. Palestinians are forced to live in the world’s largest open-air prison–something that in a sick sense of irony resembles the very concentration camps which many Jews and others were forced to live in as prisoners during World War 2. According to various reports from the United Nations, Gaza today has become unlivable. Residents of Gaza are without access to food, education, health care, electricity, and work. Ninety-seven percent of drinking water is unfit for human consumption. So much so that it is slowly poisoning millions of innocent people, mostly children. Electricity is only available for a few hours a day, and the unemployment rate is the highest in the world.

Socialist Action Canada demands the Canadian government condemn Israel’s violations of international law, including its illegal occupation, building of illegal settlements, and imposition of a siege on Gaza. We also demand that the Canadian government denounce the opening of any embassies in Jerusalem, as this act is illegal under international law. Socialist Action calls on Canada to impose sanctions against Israel, similar to the sanctions that were imposed against apartheid South Africa. And we call for an immediate embargo on the sale of weapons to Israel.

We say:

  • Stop the violence against Gaza and end the blockade!
  • Free all Palestinian prisoners, including the more than 400 children!
  • We demand the right of Palestinians refugees to return!
  • End all military and economic aid to Israel!
  • Support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns!
Canada, Events, International

Protest in Toronto against the U.S. Attack on Syria

On what seemed like the first mild, sunny day in Toronto in months, about two hundred people gathered across the street from the U.S. Consulate on April 22 to protest the recent missile attack on Syria by the United States, Britain and France. The protesters, including over a hundred refugees waving Syrian flags and carrying placards with the slogan “Hands Off Syria”, disputed the claim by Washington, Ottawa and allied forces that the government in Damascus rained chemical weapons on its own people.  Speakers at the Toronto rally noted that the missile strike against Syria took place just hours before international inspectors were to enter Douma to investigate whether poison gas was employed, and if so, by whom.

Organizers of the rally, primarily the Communist Party of Canada, the Canadian Peace Congress and associated groups, limited speaking rights to their political friends.  Thus, Socialist Action, which days earlier endorsed the Sunday protest, and which anchored a similar rally at the U.S. Consulate eight days before, held an impromptu speak out at the conclusion of the CP-backed event.

Socialist Action speakers emphasized the criminal role of the Canadian state in imperialist military interventions in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Libya. It condemned Justin Trudeau’s decision to maintain the stationing of Canadian troops to back the right wing regime in Ukraine and police to occupy Haiti, selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, and now sending war helicopters and soldiers to Mali.

Through the SA megaphone campaigners spoke for boycott of apartheid Israel, and for international human rights.  The crowd chanted at the finale “Canada Out of NATO, NATO out of the Middle East”, “Imperialist Hands Off Syria” and “Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Trudeau, Trump have got to go.”

The SA statement and leaflet for the event can be found here.

Canada, Events, International

Rally: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!

When: Saturday, March 24 at 1 PM – 2 PM

Where: 360 University Ave, Toronto, ON M5G 1S4, Canada

  • Open the Prosecution Files – Release the Evidence!
  • Free Mumia! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!

Mumia Abu-Jamal, who spent almost 30 years on death row as the victim of a racist frame-up, has an important court hearing in Philadelphia on March 27, 2018. The former Black Panther and radical journalist is demanding the release of all evidence pertaining to the role of Ronald Castille, then Assistant District Attorney, in his case. Castille was later elevated to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, where he turned down Mumia’s appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court, in the “Williams decision” (also involving Castille), ruled it is unconstitutional for a judge who had previously been involved in a prosecution to subsequently hear an appeal of the same case.

If Mumia succeeds in getting the evidence released, he can have his appeal rights restored. That would open a legal path to overturning his bogus conviction. The demonstration planned to take place in Toronto on March 24 is part of an international day of protest to support Mumia in this important initiative. Mass protests stayed the hand of the executioner decades ago. Mass action now can win his freedom once and for all!

Sponsors:

  • International Bolshevik Tendency
  • Socialist Action

Endorsers (See Facebook Event for the Updated List)

  • A Different Booklist
  • Black Students’ Association (UofT)
  • Brock Socialists Club (BSC)
  • Independent Jewish Voices (Toronto)
  • International Workers Committee against War and Exploitation
  • NDP Socialist Caucus
  • Norman ‘Otis’ Richmond (Diasporic Music)
  • Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)
  • Parkdale Club (Communist Party of Canada)
  • Socialist Alternative
  • Solidarity Against Fascism Everywhere (SAFE)
  • Toronto IWW General Defence Committee (Local 28)
Events, International

Talk – Turkey’s Attack on Afrin: most Unjust War against Popular Sovereignty

Join us for an afternoon with special guest speaker

Kawa Jabari

Born in the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq. He was forced to flee political repression and went to Turkey. In 1997, he settled in Canada as a refugee. Jabary has a Masters in political science at Simon Fraser University, and has often presented at public forums and published academic papers in English and Kurdish.

When: Saturday, March 31  2:00 P.M.

Where: OISE room 5-280 –  252 Bloor St West

Everyone is welcome. $4 donation requested.

For more information call: 647-986-1917