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IHRA, the “surge in Antisemitism” and the obfuscation of Palestine
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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