Municipal Socialist Alliance (MSA) Denounces Anti-Palestinian Racism
Municipal Socialist Alliance (MSA) hopes to endorse school board trustee candidates who oppose anti-Palestinian racism in our schools.
We continue to witness that the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) entrenches anti-Palestinian racism by equating anti-zionism with anti-semitism. We saw the TDSB attack Desmond Cole for proclaiming “Free Palestine” at a learning session for senior TDSB educators. We saw Javier Davila, a student equity program adviser for the TDSB, placed on home assignment for sharing resources critical of Israeli settler-colonialism. This pro-Palestinian material drew the ire of TDSB trustee Alexandra Lulka Rotman (Ward 5), who declared she would work “to ensure that none of these hateful materials ever see the inside of a TDSB classroom.” While the integrity commissioner found that Rotman’s statement “fell within the TDSB definition of being discriminatory,” TDSB trustees voted 10-7 to reject these findings. And more recently in July 2022, a joint delegation from the TDSB and the Toronto Police visited occupied Palestine as part of their partnership with Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre (FSWC). These attacks on supporters of Palestine stem from the TDSB’s quiet adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-semitism, which equates criticism of Israel with anti-semitism. It’s clear that there is a “Palestinian exception” to the TDSB’s position on anti-racism.
The blatant anti-Palestinian racism on display by the TDSB mirrors broader attacks on Palestinians and their allies in our communities. A wealthy donor blocked the University of Toronto from hiring Dr. Valentina Azarova because her research included a focus on the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The owner of the Foodbenders restaurant, Kimberly Hawkins, was defamed as anti-semitic for displaying pro-Palestinian signs, including by Toronto Mayor John Tory. And the University of Toronto froze funds earmarked for the Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions (BDS) caucus.
But we see people fighting back!
Students at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute walked out in November to protest anti-Palestine racism following the attack on Desmond Cole. Hundreds more walked out of a Catholic school in Ottawa for similar reasons. 300 students, staff, and parents wrote an open letter calling on the TDSB to “discard the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism and adopt one that does not dehumanize Palestinians, one that is more balanced and nuanced” among other demands. Kimberly Hawkins won her court case where she was accused of discrimination and antisemitism. The University of Toronto Student Union (UTSU), second largest in Canada, passed a BDS resolution early in 2022. The Palestinian Canadian Congress and Legal Centre for Palestine recently brought a human rights application against the Ford government and York Region District School Board (YRDSB) for suppressing a student’s video about the reality of Palestine under Israeli occupation. The Nakba and Land Day marches in Toronto continue to draw thousands of people in the streets in support of Palestine.
The tide is shifting against the unjust Israeli occupation of Palestine. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both released reports in the last two years detailing Israel as an apartheid state. The BDS movement continues to win victories. More and more, advocates for liberation speak out for Palestine.
With the role that school boards play in legitimizing Israeli occupation and apartheid, we see the necessity for the Palestinian cause to be brought to the fore of upcoming school board trustee elections.
In sol,
Municipal Socialist Alliance
