Saturday, 22 April
1:30 pm
OISE STU
Room 4-414
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/178140356027878/
Speakers:
Sami al-Kilani, Palestinian former prisoner in Israel, writer and poet
Faith Nolan, longtime organizer with women prisoners and well-known musician
Dawit Domoz, former prisoner in both Eritrea and Israel
Tori Cress, Idle No More organizer
Stuart Schussler, an organizer with No One is Illegal
Sam Nithiananthan, longtime activist and organizer in the Tamil community
Lydia Colihue, an organizer with the Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Walmapu
In honour of Palestinian Prisoners Day, Actions4Palestine will host a panel discussion, Criminalizing Resistance: Joint Struggles of Land Defenders, Human Rights Activists and all who struggle for liberation. This is an opportunity for organizations and activists to share their perspectives on this subject, to develop and deepen existing networks of solidarity and to work towards joint struggle. Although this event is being held in recognition of Palestinian Prisoners Day, we are looking to honour and open a space to share and discuss the connected struggles of political prisoners in diverse contexts.
As of January 2017, there are 6500 Palestinians in Israeli jails. Over 300 prisoners are children. At least 530 are being held in Administrative Detention — without charge or trial. Palestinians are not the only people where mass incarceration is used as a tool of repression. In Canada over one quarter of the prison population is comprised of Indigenous peoples and another 10% are Black Canadians. In the U.S., of the 2.3 million people incarcerated over 1 million are Black. The rate of incarceration of Native Americans is 38% higher than the general population. In Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese government continues to target the Tamil community, imprisoning and torturing political dissidents. From Burma to the Philippines to Saudi Arabia to Germany to France to Peru to Australia, imprisonment has been used by the state to stifle dissent and punish resistance.
We invite you to come and share your stories, knowledge, and to talk about how incarceration has been used against your community, particularly imprisonment without charges. We hope that this can build on the work that has been done in the past and to help strengthen ties and build across movements.
*This event is wheelchair accessible*
Organized by Actions4Palestine, Christian Peacemaker Teams-Ontario, and Beit Zatoun
If you would like to endorse our event, please contact us at [email protected]
ENDORSEMENTS:
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), Toronto
Faculty for Palestine (F4P), Toronto
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-Canada
Stop the Jewish National Fund-Canada
Women in Solidarity with Palestine
