Victoria Marches for Palestine, Take Fifty

I'm back from a four-week overwork break! If you've been missing out on Palestine protests in town like me, come catch up on the latest developments.

160 Palestine supporters rallied at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in Victoria, for the fiftieth weekend in a row, to call upon the Canadian government to end its complicity in the genocide in Gaza and beyond.

Nice turnout, but crowds used to be more than twice this size. Where is everyone else?

We had a mock coffin this week, just like VANDU’s.

Last I attended one month ago, I had predicted a rebound of student turnout in September as the protest season resumes; sadly it remained the same as throughout the summer. While Palestine fatigue may finally have set in after the collapse of the encampment, it may also be that UVic students are busy with the student strike instead, which is getting organised in earnest, with an official Substack account and Discord server and actively looking for volunteers for its campaign.

The message for this iteration of the event shifted with the situation on the ground, as Israel has shifted its attention to Lebanon. Of course the attendance was appalled by its detonating over three thousand pagers, killing thirty-two people and maiming many more, overwhelmingly civilians. Public consternation contrasts with apathy from world leaders, leading many to wonder what the Zionist state must do to be condemned for terrorism. This may be the prelude to an full-scale invasion of Lebanon, as the Israeli military also ordered Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank closed for forty-five days, the raid broadcast live on TV.

The Israeli don’t watch Al Jazeera, but the rest of us do.

In the meantime, the UN General Assembly just voted overwhelmingly to demand Israel end its occupation of occupied Palestinian territories. Predictably, the US and its satellite states voted against it, while Canada abstained. And of course Israel will violate the nonbinding resolution just like the dozens it already has, earning it a reputation of pariah under international law.

So what did you miss if you didn’t attend for the past several weeks? More of the same, I must say, down to the Zionists blockheads heckling the crowd, one of which waved his Zionist flag like a five-year-old would show off a new toy. There may be interesting developments as we approach the first year ‘anniversary’ of the war though, and while it’s been suggested a special event would help participation rebound, someone in attendance expressed concern a rally too close to October 7 could be interpreted as praise for Hamas. In any case we won’t stop protesting, and neither should you.