Victoria Commemorates Land Day
It felt a bit odd today to rally on the anniversary of a massacre in which only six Palestinians were killed, compared to hundreds every day for the past six months. But the outrage doesn’t come down to numbers.
About 350 Palestine supporters rallied for the twenty-fifth weekend in a row at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in Victoria, on the grim anniversary of a massacre in which six Palestinians were killed by the Israel Defence Forces.
Indeed, every year on March 30th since 1976, Palestinians commemorate Land Day, marking their connection to the land in remembrance of this one incident, like so many others in which Israel “confiscated” land from Palestinians. And while its death toll may seem puny in hindsight, outrage over loss of human life isn’t to be reduced to numbers.
This weekend’s rally at the Legislature was likewise routine, although the crowd came back emboldened by recent developments. If nothing else, the crowd was outraged rather than relieved at the news of a UN Security Council temporary ceasefire resolution, even though the US abstained rather than vetoing it, because everybody knew Israel would flout it. Indeed, the US may be the only country with the means to enforce it, and its abstention speaks otherwise.
In fact, Annelle Sheline, a State Department official on human rights, since resigned in dismay over her government’s response to the crisis, lamenting its continued complicity in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond.
If governments expect protesters to be complacent or mollified by such overtures, they should brace themselves for disappointment. For example, today Starbucks on Government and Yates felt like testing the waters by keeping its location open during the march for the first time since last November, and it unfolded just like you imagine, an angry mob of hundreds shaming its customers with renewed calls for boycott, just like for the past twenty-five weeks, ready to keep at it for twenty-five more weeks if need be.
Next weekend’s rally won’t be routine though; it’s scheduled for next Saturday at 6PM (yeah, that six o’clock in the evening) to celebrate the end of Ramadan with some kind of potluck, participants being encouraged to bring their own dish. UPDATE 2024/03/31: To be specific, the meal in question is called iftar, the second, fast-breaking meal of the day for Muslims during Ramadan. Holding an interfaith iftar is a common way to reach out to Muslim communities; in the US and Canada, even political elites have been hosting them, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau having attended one this year.
