Category: Anti-Racism
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Condemning the Ontario Government’s Adoption of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism
We, the signing organizations, condemn in the strongest possible terms the Ontario government’s adoption of the misleading International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. Bill 168, the Combating Antisemitism Act, was scheduled to go through public consultations and receive public submissions by October 30. Instead, on October 26, the Ford government circumvented the … Keep reading »
Ontario’s Adoption of IHRA Definition Weakens Our Collective Fight Against Discrimination
On October 25, Doug Ford’s Conservative government, through an order-in-council, adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) “working definition of anti-Semitism.” Not only is this unilateral move in keeping with the Ford government’s anti-democratic tendencies, the flawed IHRA definition poses a direct threat to freedom of expression. It also fails, as David Feldman has written … Keep reading »
Policing the Poor and Minorities as Counter-Insurgency
The Minneapolis City Council’s attempt to defund police may have fizzled out for the moment, but the problem of police violence across the United States is unresolved – and much of it stems from the institution’s colonial, counterinsurgency roots. Here are seven counterinsurgency features of policing and the inequities in the criminal justice system. 1. … Keep reading »
Book Launch: Canada in the World /w Tyler Shipley
Launch of Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination (Fernwood Books, 2020), with author Tyler Shipley, as well as Cassandra Kislenko, Sara Jaffri, and Veldon Coburn. Watch video »
Where is the ‘Recovery Fund’ to Save the Lives of Migrants?
While the “recovery fund” marks a qualitative leap in the process of European integration, battles of fundamental importance are being waged in the Mediterranean for the definition of the borders of the Europe that is to be redeveloped. Keep reading »
The Scarlet Standard: Episode 1 – The Christie Pits Riot
In this inaugural episode we discuss the legacy of the Christie Pits Riot of August 1933. As the largest riot in Toronto’s history, this event stands as a watershed moment in Canadian-Jewish history, and should be regarded as a great act of anti-fascist resistance. Today, echoes of this history can be seen in rising tides of fascist violence, the bizarre relationship between Canadian police and Nazism, and the courageous efforts of protesters in the Black Lives Matter Movement. Listen to audio »
Racism, Palestine and the IHRA: Letter to Barrie City Council
Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) applauds Barrie, Ontario, Mayor Jeff Lehman for withdrawing a motion to adopt the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism on August 10, 2020. Motion 8.2, Adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism was due to be voted on by Barrie City Council … Keep reading »
Systemic Racism in the US and Israel: Analogies and Differences
A most relevant analogy between the US and Israel lies in the principal rationale for the force of their establishment as settler-colonial states. Imperialism, which is the driving force of the settler colonial project, is inherently racist and racializing. With the establishment of the state, racialized capital becomes structural and institutional; it becomes systemic. The … Keep reading »
Debating the IHRA and Anti-Semitism: Why the CIJA Lost
For more than five years, and on numerous occasions, the Jewish anti-racist social justice organization Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) invited the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) – Canada’s pro-Israel advocacy group – to a public debate. But the latter rebuffed each of IJV’s overtures. In recoiling consistently before the prospect of a … Keep reading »
Racism, COVID-19, and the Fight for Economic Justice
While the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests sweeping the United States were triggered by recent police murders of unarmed African Americans, they are also helping to encourage popular recognition that racism has a long history of punishing consequences for black people that extend beyond policing. Among these are the enormous disparities between black and white … Keep reading »
The Real Masters of ‘Cancel Culture’ – The Pro-Israel Lobby
When hockey broadcaster Sportsnet fired Canadian media personality Don Cherry in November 2019 for his bigoted remarks on “Coach’s Corner,” we heard the usual right-wing complaint chorus about the suppression of free speech by the liberal/left. A favoured method of censor/censure nowadays is said to be “de-platforming,” i.e., denying those you disagree with a platform … Keep reading »
Next Steps in the Anti-Racist Struggle?
We have the good fortune to be living in one of those moments when we have a chance to accelerate history. The uncertainty is whether we can actually make it happen. The culture of protest that has taken such a firm hold among the racialized, young people, and women especially, over the last five years … Keep reading »