DOUBLE FEATURE: Palestine Solidary Rallies at Lockheed Martin’s Esquimalt Office, BC Legislature in Victoria

Over a hundred Palestine supporters mobilised this Saturday for two different actions, one march to Lockheed Martin’s office in Esquimalt, in addition to the weekly parade through downtown Victoria, both to demand an end to Canada’s complicity in Israel’s war crimes abroad.

The first one rallied 90 marchers at the Wharf Street end of the Johnson Street bridge. The event was organised by Independent Jewish Voices Victoria, who invited Coast Salish Matriarch Grandma Losah to address the crowd. It was held in conjunction with a national day of action at suppliers of F-35 parts, which of course includes Lockheed Martin, a repeat target of such actions; the first one in November last year saw the whole facade of the building defaced with fake bloody palms while organisers read aloud names of Palestinian victims of genocide in Gaza, while the second one was a blockade of the facility which turned employees around for the day.

The demonstration started ominously with yet another angry old man barging in, accusing the whole crowd of being murderers, antisemitic, and outright Satanic—never mind that it was organised by Independent Jewish Voices Victoria. The boorish individual wedged through the crowd back and forth, and while the scuffle did get physical nobody got hurt and he walked away after a couple minutes of making an ass of himself.

The procession used the sidewalk to cross the bridge, but took to the streets from Esquimalt Road onward. As this was an unsanctioned march we were expecting the rapid intervention of the Victoria Police Department and BC Transit, but law enforcement did not intervene until an hour into the march, at the intersection with Lampson Street; until that point we all wondered where the catch was, especially since the march has been broadly announced a week in advance and organisers had been contacted by a police liaison officer. As usual the police officers contented themselves to serve as wardens until the march reached its destination.

The protesters then occupied the parking lot of Lockheed Martin’s office in Esquimalt, where speakers reiterated their demands for a robust arms embargo to Israel instead of one full of loopholes. Organisers took objection to symbolic measures that still honour existing arms exports licences, exclude nonlethal ordnances, and allow diversion via Israel’s allies, chiefly the Unites States. The Canadian government was sharply criticised earlier this year upon revelations that 20 billion dollars’ worth of arms were discreetly funnelled across the border through a contractor based in Quebec.

This time the attendance did no worse than shame Lockheed Martin with accusations of complicity with genocide written down with chalk on the pavement. As usual police officers watched the property being vandalised with barely a shrug, and somehow even looked sympathetic to the demonstrators’ cause. In any case, the rain is certain to wash away the messages before employees return to work on Monday.

The Community Action Bus, a frequent partner of protesters, drove most in attendance back in town, just in time for the weekly protest at the Legislature. The attendance this time was a paltry 110, predictably low given that many regulars had just attended an hours-long event and the weather turned sour.

Two people spoke at the Legislature. The first one was unexpectedly me. I’d been distributing leaflets calling for people to send a letter to Victoria city councillors denouncing their illegal displacement of unhoused community members, and was ushered before the mic, where I managed to blurt out my message along with an invite to some yet to be announced direct action I’m plotting by the end of the month—because forced displacement is a crime, from Turtle Island to Palestine. By the way, signatures are slow in coming, so scan that QR code already!

The second one is a lady from Palestine who sadly had to leave her family behind and is now desperately attempting to rescue them as they face social collapse, bombs, and starvation. The anguish afflicting her could be felt in her voice throughout her speech, although I guess it can only be understood by those who experienced it.

The parade proceeded in spite of the weather. While there were few bystanders to listen to the emcee’s call to end complicity in genocide abroad, public reception was even more cheerful than usual. Only one hostile spoiled the event, an indigenous lady who took offence to the protesters siding with Palestine even though a genocide unfolded for centuries on this very soil—never mind that Coast Salish Matriarch Grandma Losah attended both events today and emphasised that the plight of all indigenous peoples worldwide are interconnected. But hey, at least this lady didn’t call us Satanic, although she did give a protester both fingers right in his face.

As you can see, both events reveal that opposition to Palestinian liberation lies essentially in deeply rooted misconceptions spread by fools who need a verbal slap in the face, although at this point hostiles look beyond reasoning and may only be disgusted from fighting the rest of us. Let’s keep it up folks!