Victoria Marches for Palestine, Take Fifty-Three

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135 Palestine supporters rallied at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in Victoria, for the fifty-third weekend in a row, as Israel has for weeks been escalating the crisis in the Middle East from the genocide in Gaza to an all-out regional conflict.

This turnout may be among the lowest I’ve recorded in the past year, the enthusiasm among the attendance was still there, fuelled by every little victory in a counter torrent of disappointment. For example, the emcee opened with an announcement that the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE) had just voted for a motion to divest from the Zionist regime in response to its extensive record of war crimes in the region; such a statement has yet to be published at the time of this writing.

The emcee also disclosed the predictable outcome of multiple encounters at election forums in town in the past week, during which advocates would ask candidates about their stance on divestment and sanctions against Israel: all replied in an evasive manner—except one, whose identity and riding has been withheld in order to avoid disclosure by impertinent reporters such as me. By the way, there will be another election forum at the James Bay Community School Centre, on October 16 at 7PM, hosted by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Greater Victoria Teachers Association (GVTA), at which concerned citizens plan to rally.

The protesters once again took to the streets to exhort the masses to reach out to their elected representatives in order to have them commit to divestment from Israel’s war crimes. While public reception was positive as usual, there were lots of close encounters of the hostile kind, including arch troll Charles Bodi, a freedom convoyer recycled into Zionism, a rabid pack animal cheering for Israel like a football fan for his favourite team, a preacher who stood with Jesus, and… Shawn Shirazi dressed in his Gays Against Groomers attire; none of these could properly articulate their opposition to the protest’s message. In contrast, notorious stalker Donald Smith was nowhere to be seen even though his social media footprint suggested he would show up.

This event was to be followed by a solidarity dinner for Gaza, to raise funds for the International Development and Relief Foundation, a Canadian Muslim-run, CRA-registered charity. The attendance was also invited to a screening of Israelism, a movie about indoctrination into radical Zionism, at the Broad View United Church on October 20 at 6:30PM.