Abstract
After a century of a compounded erasure – from rights, from narratives, from maps,
Palestinians’ claim to self-determination does not only continue to be fought on the
grounds militarily, economically, socially and politically, though incremental genocide,
occupation and apartheid by Israel. It is also being disputed on moral grounds, thanks to
a campaign by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance based on a definition
of antisemitism that equates the righting of Israel’s wrongs with being anti-Semitic.
From obliteration to obfuscation, the way in which Palestinian voices have managed to
get heard have varied of course from context to context. Every time though, activist,
community and political engagement with Palestine in Western public spheres have
tested the censoring power of press conglomerates as well as the self-censoring of
diverse well-meaning social actors. How have these two forces been playing out in
Québec, a Province-Country with a past and present separatist agenda, sitting in the
midst of a North-American federal polity that happens to be one of the World’s most
obdurate ally of Israel? One of two provinces in Canada to have decreed the adoption of
the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, Québec is also the seat of a provincial parliament
in which a Palestinian Canadian member of Québec’s Parliament is able to raise her fist
and declare ‘Long Live Palestine, Independent and Free’ (ta’ish Filastin al-hurra al-
mustaqilla). The paper takes a retrospective look at how diverse Québec actors, from
NGOs to community organizations to Trade Unions to Faculty associations and political
parties have expressed or been hindered in expressing solidarity with Palestine, since
the liberal government of Justin Trudeau assumed power in 2015. Within the broader
Canadian context, it assesses the extent to which the muting of Palestinian rights has
been affecting consequential action even within the Solidarity movement. It focuses on
supporters of the noIHRA campaign, initiated by Independent Jewish Voices and
transposed to Academia by the Alliance Against Antisemitism, Racism, Colonialism and
Censorship in Canada (ARC). It explores the consequences of epistemic violence and
ignorance on activism as well the possibilities of resistance to it in Québec/Canada.
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