Advocating for Palestine in Canada: Histories, Movements, Action

by Emily Regan Wills (Editor), Jeremy Wildeman (Editor), Michael Bueckart (Editor)

Why is it so difficult to advocate for Palestine in Canada and what can we learn from the movement’s successes? This account of Palestine solidarity activism in Canada grapples with these questions through a wide-ranging exploration of the movement’s different actors, approaches and fields of engagement, along with its connections to different national and transnational struggles against racism, imperialism and colonialism. Led by a coalition of students, labour unions, church groups, left wing activists, progressive presses, human rights organizations, academic associations and Palestinian and Jewish community groups, Palestine
solidarity activism is on the rise in Canada and Canadians are more aware of the issues than ever before. Palestine solidarity activists are also under siege as never before. The movement advocating for Palestinian rights is forced to contend with relentless political condemnation, media blackouts, administrative roadblocks, coordinated smear campaigns, individual threats, legal intimidation and institutional silencing. Through this book and the experiences of the contributing authors in it, many seasoned veterans of the movement, Advocating for Palestine in Canada offers an indispensable and often first-hand view into the complex social and historical forces at work in one of our era’s most urgent debates, and one which could determine the course of what it means to be Canadian going forward.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Canada, Activism, Essays, Politics

224 pages, Paperback

Published July 19, 2022

Reviews

[Greis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favourite essay was the one highlighting how the current genocide Israel is commiting against the Palestinian people works to align them with whiteness and away from their historically marginalized identity. I have never before considered the perspective that a way to "become white" and reap the benefits of whiteness is through engaging in colonialism.

[Kaitlin Klak · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think that this is a great resource for those who want to learn a bit more about canada’s position when it comes to isreal and palestine, especially in regards to why we keep defending isreal over the years. as someone who has come into learning about this conflict with zero knowledge of the situation, i was shocked and appalled to learn that what is happening now has been repeating itself over and over again for years. i can’t believe that this isn’t talked about more in our schools and communities. the essays in this book made things easier to understand by comparing what is happening to palestine with the settler-colonialism that happened in canada and apartheid that happened in south africa. this made the situation a lot more clear to me and really a lot less complicated than how social media has been portraying things.

i also found it interesting that defences against isreal are made in the name of antisemitism. if anyone criticizes isreal in any way, it is considered antisemitic and the jewish people have gone through enough with the holocaust. there was one really good essay in here that spoke about how jewish people have “earned” themselves a place among white people and now serve mostly the same privileges. although antisemitism still occurs, it does not occur to the same extent as systemic racism does in other aspects. therefore. the “new” antisemitism talked about by politicians and the media is just a way to defend isreal’s human rights violations. there was also another essay that spoke about experiencing censorship in the media and the challenges that journalists face in canada when even breaching the topic of isreal. it doesn’t help that canwest was run by a zionist man and controls a huge chunk of our newspapers here.

also crazy: the guy who owns cinaplex and the woman who owns indigo are not only married, but run a HUGE zionist lobby group that tries to censor and control any sort of criticism about isreal. i knew heather was supplying military funds to isreal but she actually plays a major part in lobbying and political efforts as well.

i do have a few critiques on this book: i did find the last two essays quite boring and i wasn’t as interested in them. i also wouldn’t recommend this to someone without an academic background because some of the essays were super wordy and not the most accessible to the average reader. i also feel like i need to learn more about the historic background on this conflict, but this book did give me a good understanding of how canada fits into this. sounds like our politicians need to do much better, money, power and military are big big factors when it comes to defending isreal and a major chunk of jewish citizens in canada do not agree with what isreal is doing. i’m glad we do have some efforts in support of palestine here but we still need to do a lot better.

[Adam Arif-Pardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing introductory book to the issues, and successes of advocating for palestine in the diaspora (specifically canada). The only critique would be to the chapter which called the struggle a "human rights issue" which takes away from the fact that the question of palestine is a question of national liberation.

[Umar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insightful book on Palestine. Many will be surprised at what they read.

[maniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5
This series of essays accomplishes a lot in a relatively low number of pages. It brings together a variety of pro-Palestine perspectives that illuminate the issue from all angles, it connects the history of settler-colonialism on Turtle Island and in Palestine in a way that is enlightening and mobilizing, and it provides a lot of fascinating history on Palestinian activism and elaborates on the roots of Zionist activism and how it functions in Canada. The result is an accessible work for people who are interested in becoming more engaged in the movement today.

While I felt some of the essays were weaker than others, I still appreciated my reading experience and came out of it rather motivated to take action, which is exactly what this kind of work should be aiming to do.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was interesting but I found the last two chapters difficult to read, a bit boring. Of course the situation in Canada and around the world remains the same. No criticising Israel and the Palestinians deserve what's happening to them. Dispicable.

[Jason Motz · Rating 5 out of 5]

An invaluable resource for activists of all stripes united by the Palestinian cause.

[Care · Rating 3 out of 5]

content warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Islamophobia, War

Moderate: Child death, Police brutality, Colonisation, Pandemic/Epidemic

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an informative read that is incredibly valuable, especially for Canadian individuals. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting - this isn't a history of Palestine. Rather, this book is split into two parts: 1) A history of Canada's relationship with Palestine, and criticisms involving the same, and 2) Some suggestions as to how Canadians can more actively advocate for Palestine. What stood out most of me was the correlation between the treatment of Palestinians and the treatment of Indigenous folks, and the way this book encourages Canadians to use this perspective to back their advocacy efforts.

I highly suggest picking this up, especially if you are Canadian. While this didn't blow me away completely (hence the 4 star, and not the 5), it is extremely valuable. Also, don't be scared by how textbook-y this appears! I read most of this in one sitting - it was easily digestible.