At Toronto’s Israel Apartheid Week hate event this year, Chadni Desai, speaking on behalf of the organizers, announced:
“We as the organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week in Toronto believe that we cannot speak meaningfully about Israeli apartheid without speaking first about the realities of apartheid here in Canada. Canada’s reservation system and the treatment of indigenous peoples is (sic) closely studied by the planners of apartheid in South Africa, although this is a hidden chapter of our history. From its very foundations, Canada has been based on the theft of indigenous land and the genocide and displacement of indigenous peoples. In crucial ways, the Canadian state’s treatment of indigenous peoples, historically and currently, can be described as an apartheid system.
.. As non-natives, we have a role within our communities to further the process of decolonizing Canada. If you are with us in opposition to Israeli Apartheid, we encourage your consistent opposition to apartheid right here in Canada. .. From Palestine to Turtle Island* there is no justice on stolen land.”
So there you have it. They have proclaimed that ‘Canadian apartheid’ was the inspiration for South African apartheid, except our version is still going on.
It’s possible the supporters of IAW think that formally declaring Canada an “apartheid” country absolves them of charges of hypocrisy. Actually, it makes it worse. Not only are they hypocrites and irrational anti-Semites, but they also establish themselves as willing contributors to apartheid.
Virtually every country in the world has had prior occupants with some sort of land grievances. But if contemporary Canada is the living spirit of apartheid, what are these self-declared “anti-apartheid” activists doing here, continuing to colonize, settle and steal native land? If they honestly believe the foolishness they put forward, why don’t they live up to their commitment of “decolonizing Canada” by packing up their bags and taking Helen Thomas’ advice to Israelis to ”go back where they came from”?
Ironically, these are the same people who as a group want to make immigration (i.e. the increased and ongoing theft of Native land) easier. Yet each new immigrant simply increases the crime against Canada’s original occupants, adding to “apartheid”. And far from supporting the ideals of IAW, most immigrants likely have less sympathy for Canadian natives than those of us who were born here and raised on the awareness of the wrongs perpetrated on aboriginals.
Have these hypocrites in the “Israeli Apartheid” movement actually done anything substantive to end “Canadian apartheid”? There’s no evidence of it. Are they calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Canada, as they do against Israel? No. That would be inconvenient for them, as it would expose the foolishness of their position. Instead, they utter meaningless platitudes and then go after the Jews.
Unless they act on their statement, it proves that “Israeli Apartheid Week” is just a trendy pretense put on by bigots and marginalized radicals. If they’re sincere, you can expect a “Boycott Canada” movement and “Canadian Apartheid Week” coming soon to a campus near you. But don’t count on it.
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/03/14/richard-klagsbrun-anti-israel-group-denounces-canada-as-apartheid-state/
