Montreal Serai

Introduction:

When I left Montreal on February 15th I knew that this would not be a predictable trip.  From all that I’d heard, the border crossing from Egypt to Gaza (at Rafah) was unpredictable, at best.  Yet I did not hesitate to pack and go, backed by the support and endorsement of many groups and individuals.

The need to lay the ground for sending larger Canadian delegations, the show of support to the suffering people in Gaza and the importance of witnessing and reporting the reality in the besieged territory were the major reasons and motivations behind this trip.

It was also important for individuals and activist groups to challenge the brutal and unjust siege of Gaza, since countries worldwide, for the most part, were either participating in it or silent about it.

Map: The tiny Gaza strip measuring an average of 8km x 40 km. (from Google Earth)

  

Photo 1: Blocked at the border.

The trip was not an easy one.  My first two attempts to cross from Egypt to Gaza ended at the Rafah border crossing when the Egyptian authorities denied us exit announcing that, “the border is closed”.  International activists, including myself, held a picket in front of the gates.

 

Photo 2: Tunnel police.

Tunnels between Egypt and Gaza are the lifeline for the besieged population of the strip.  It is an industry that is flourishing and a few are making millions out of it.  The tunnel industry is not sustained by arms smuggling, although some weapons must be passing through.  The profits made through this trade are the reason the Egyptian government will never be able to crush the smuggling industry despite turning the border area into an army base.  The only way to crush the tunnel trade, and also curb the arms smuggling, is to lift the siege and allow legal exchange of goods between Gaza and the world.

Photo 3: International delegations.

I met many internationals at the border, both individuals and small delegations from Britain, France, Jordan, the US as well as Bosnia.  All were denied passage to Gaza.  But when larger delegations were on the horizon: Code Pink from the US and Canada and Viva Palestina from the UK, the Egyptian government succumbed to the pressure and opened the border.

Photo 4: Two borders.

The contrast between the inefficiency at the Egyptian side of the border and the simple but efficient setup on the other side is astonishing considering the lack of resources available to the Hamas government in Gaza.

Photo 5: Targeted assassination.

In the Jabalia refugee camp (one of the most populated and dense areas in Gaza) Israel assassinated Nizar Rayan, a Hamas leader, by bombing the apartment building he lived in, killing him and over 10 members of his family in addition to other neighbours. A tent now stands in place where the building used to be, between the heavily damaged neighbouring buildings.

Photo 6: I don’t want to make new friends.

How do you react when a 13 year old tells you that the death of his friends is so painful that he does not want to make friends anymore?

Photo 7:  This is what my factory looked like.

To remind the world how his factory was before Israel destroyed it, the owner placed a photo in front of the ruins. The destruction of this factory is not unique, Israel flattened anything that stood (houses, factories, schools, mosques and even plantations) in an area extending up to two kilometres from the border.

 

Photo 8: Tents again.

How many times will we have to build then move back to tents again?

Photo 9: We don’t want handouts …

We want our houses back and we want security, she told us.

Photo 10: “We don’t like your democracy.”

Israel also targeted the Palestinian Legislature in Gaza city.

Photo 11: Gaza is still beautiful.

Sunrise at the Gaza harbour is spectacular, despite the warning gunfire heard whenever a fishing boat leaves the harbour. The Israelis are always trying to intimidate. 

One thing was clear to me by then, my last morning in Gaza before heading back to Egypt: The Palestinians will not disappear.  Their persistence and determination to continue their lives as normally as they can, despite all difficulties, is the pinnacle of peaceful resistance.

Text: Maria Worton

This is a farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.

Here in Montreal, on December 20th, Block the Empire, a local collective working against occupation and exploitation, rallied local people, independent media and activists, to hurl shoes in support of Muntadar al-Zeidi’s right not to tolerate the intolerable:  the one million Iraqis, many of whom children, killed; the millions still suffering the illnesses, displacement, and violence caused by Western weapons and war; the daily plunder of Iraq’s resources. They threw too in protest at Canada’s part in all of this.

At the doors of the US Consulate and the Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre, shoes of all sizes, were thrown with two collective aims: to take apart a war criminal and to directly highlight the Harper government’s complicity in the war.

Current Western military operations in Afghanistan are part of the same war launched with Operation Enduring Freedom in the aftermath of September 11. Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan, under NATO and US command, must share some responsibility for the 11,000 Afghanis killed and the many maimed and made refugees in their own land.  The highly destructive nature of search and kill missions continue to drive villagers into the ranks of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, while Canada’s participation in the occupation of Afghanistan has made more US troops available for the war in Iraq. Now that the Obama administration plans to escalate the military occupation of Afghanistan, the situation for Afghanis hardly appears set to improve.

The war in Afghanistan is the same war in Iraq to secure and plunder resources.  Afghanistan is mineral rich and Canada is a miner in search of rich pickings.  Canada now ranks 6th among NATO’s member states for military spending and is a major military power, ready and able to throw its weight around.  In 2008 Canada’s war spending in Afghanistan amounts to $1.915 billion; only a minute fraction of which has gone to the reconstruction that the Canadian government has promised.

The shoe action of December 20th stood and threw in opposition to the terrible US occupation of Iraq and also to Canada’s participation in waging terror upon local folk in Afghanistan.

Here are photos by Darren Ell of Montreal’s Shoe Action:

All images: © Darren Ell 2008

Purchase  Prints: http://www.redbubble.com/people/elldarren/
Online Archive:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/darrenell/
Wedding Photography:  http://photooxygene.com/

DARREN ELL
T: 514-992-8908
E: elldarren@gmail.com

In the course of this year, Tamara Herman has documented impacts of and resistance to Canadian mining in the historic town of Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico.

Daily Life in Cerro de San Pedro

Canadian multinational New Gold Inc. is operating a heavily-contested open pit gold and silver mine in Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico. For over 10 years, the residents of Cerro de San Pedro and the surrounding area have been fighting the mine. Corporate officials have been working closely with the local government to ensure that the mine moves forward, using tactics such as bribery, the repression of dissent, political assassination and corruption. The anti-mine movement continues to grow and gain strength in Cerro de San Pedro. For more info: cerrodesanpedro.org or faomontreal.wordpress.com/

The Obama victory was jubilantly celebrated in Washington DC (sometimes referred to as Chocolate City). I was there for the Clinton victory over Bush1, but that was a quaint tea party compared to this wild bumping throw-down. I squeezed myself into the downtown Bohemian Caverns, an African American-run club. Throbbing with people packed on three floors grooving to the DJ’s funk/african tracks, they cheered watching the CNN visuals of Obama’s march across the nation. In the first floor restaurant that had a more sophisticated clientele than the college-age crowd in the nightclub, bartenders were leading call-response chants of “O!” “Bama!” When the media declared him the winner, the joint went bedlam. The bartenders jumped on the bar spraying us with champagne as people were simply deliriously euphoric.

Outside, U Street became the tribal gathering point as thousands jammed and danced in the streets in joy, accompanied by the honking of cars and their sound systems. Strangers come up to me high-fiving or hugging. It was still rocking when I left there at 2:30 am. The streets around the White House drew thousands more who gathered to celebrate and evict Bush. I’ve never seen this city so happy, nor so loud after midnight.

Why? Why were people crazy happy then? Something huge had happened. There was the joy that America could really elect a black man for president - the same America that enforced race laws until only a few years ago, and still practices race discrimination and hatred. Many had been scared that the Republicans would steal yet another election (Lord knows they tried). Ending eight years of Bush neo-fascism also primed the celebration. For blacks, it was more than just a transcendental moment in their 400 year American history shared with others, it was intensely personal in a collective sense. I/we had crossed a raging river.

Obama, for all his problems (like his current pick of Zionists and right wing democrats to shape foreign policy) is unquestionably an extremely charismatic superstar who speaks of us rather than I. His mass rallies and now his victory featured his message that the cynicism of yesterday must be replaced by the hope and possibilities of our shared future. (See his brilliant speech on race: “A More Perfect Union” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo ). This is a message that I find to be radical in these fearful and reactionary times. For progressives, the window of opportunity to mobilize others to push Obama from the right back to the center or the left-of-center is now. It might close soon.

Here’s a link to a video of people doing the Electric Slide on U Street from music pumped out of an SUV: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottmontreal/3096713361/

Here are some of the photos from that night of celebration: