Labour Against Apartheid Campaign
Free Palestine, End Israeli Apartheid
What is Labour Against Apartheid
The Labour Against Apartheid campaign is coordinated by Labour4Palestine to deepen Palestine solidarity in the Canadian labour movement. Our goals are to:
Empower the many unions in Canada that have expressed support for Palestine to move to concrete action by launching Palestine solidarity campaigns.
Support those unions that have not yet passed resolutions in support of Palestinian liberation to take those first steps.
Why is Palestine a labour issue
Like all workers, Palestinian workers are struggling for better wages, benefits, health and safety protections, and rights to collective bargaining. But their struggle is immeasurably more difficult because they are also struggling for their national liberation from decades of Israeli settler-colonization, apartheid and illegal occupation.. Palestinian workers must navigate mililtary checkpoints, work permits, segregated roads, and restrictions on freedom of movement and assembly - all of which is intertwined with their struggles for decent work and fair working conditions. They also continue to be subjected to ethnic cleansing, house demolitions, illegal detention, extra-judicial killings and wars of aggression.
In Palestine, the workers’ struggle and the struggle for national liberation cannot be separated. In Canada, the fight for workers’ rights must be connected to the fight for freedom of all workers in Palestine and around the world. None of us are free until all of us are free.
Free Palestine, End Israeli Apartheid
There is a growing global consensus that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. While Palestinians and international solidarity activists have known that Israel is an apartheid state for many years, recently organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem have also adopted the term to describe the system of racial segregation that Israel has imposed on the Palestinian people.
Apartheid, a crime under international law, is legally defined as systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another.
According to Independent Jewish Voices Canada, Israel is commiting apartheid by refusing to provide Palestinians with equal access to water, electricity, healthcare, education, housing, employment, freedom of movement and a range of rights and civil liberties enjoyed by Jewish citizens of the country.
Like all people of the world, Palestinians have fundamental rights to freedom, justice, and equality. As trade unionists, we are compelled to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation, just as we did in the struggle for freedom from apartheid in South Africa.
Educational Resources
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Is Israel an Apartheid State?
“We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid.”
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General
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Canada’s Complicity in Israeli Apartheid
“We are opposed to any initiative within the United Nations and other multilateral forums, that is specifically aimed at criticizing Israel.”
Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Liberal Government of Canada
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What is BDS and Why Should You Support It?
“There’s a very robust boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign all over the world that is capturing the political and moral imagination of the people, the NGO’s and civil society and is beginning to have an important impact on Israel’s way of acting and thinking.”
Richard Falk UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
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Why Supporting the Rights of Palestinians is NOT Antisemitic
5 Principles for Dismantling Antisemitism:
1. Do not isolate antisemitism from other forms of oppression.
2. Challenge political ideologies that foment racism, hate, and fear.
3. Create environments that affirm and celebrate all expressions of cultural and religious life.
4. Make undoing all forms of racism and bigotry both policy and daily practice.
5. Practice safety through solidarity, not law enforcement.
Ressources en français
Israël, un État d’apartheid?
« Nous avons conclu que les politiques cruelles de ségrégation, de dépossession et d’exclusion mises en œuvre par Israël dans tous les territoires sous son contrôle constituent clairement un apartheid. »
Agnes Callamard, Secrétaire générale d’Amnesty International
La campagne BDS
Le mouvement BDS réunit plus de 170 groupes de la société civile palestinienne, dont les principaux partis politiques ainsi que des associations de défense des droits des réfugié·es, des fédérations syndicales, des syndicats de femmes, des réseaux d’ONG et une multitude de groupes populaires. BDS appelle les organisations internationales et les gens de conscience à coordonner des boycotts à grande échelle et à mettre en œuvre des initiatives de désinvestissement contre Israël, à l’instar de la lutte menée en Afrique du Sud à l’époque de l’apartheid.
La complicité canadienne
« Notre gouvernement met en œuvre une série de mesures qui appuient Israël dans ses violations des droits palestiniens. »
Yves Engler, auteur, chercheur, militant
Soutenir les droits palestiniens
La définition de l’antisémitisme élaborée par l’IHRA représente une menace pour la justice et les droits de la personne en Israël et en Palestine, ainsi que pour la liberté académique, la liberté d’expression et le droit à la dissidence.