L19(a) - Discrimination, Settler Colonialism, and the Politics of Palestine in Canada
Date: Jun 4 | Time: 01:30pm to 03:00pm | Location:
Chair/Président/Présidente : Jeremy Wildeman (Carleton University)
Session Abstract: The political space to discuss the politics of Israel/Palestine is constrained in Canada, a situation that is not helped by the divergent frames that are used to discuss it. While the frame of settler colonialism has been productive for Canadians who want to advocate for Palestinian rights, pro-Israel advocates have used frames around discrimination, and the deployment of particular notions of anti-Semitism, to reinforce the pro-Israel hegemony within Canadian political discourse. In this panel, we aim to interrogate these discourses and their political consequences in dialogue with historical and legal precedent, normative principles, and the possibilities for decolonize action. Co-organized with the Socialist Studies Association.
Echoes of South Africa: Israel, the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism, and Accusations of Unfair Criticism: Michael Bueckert (Carleton University)
Abstract: In June 2019, the Trudeau government announced that it was implementing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a move that was praised by pro-Israel advocates. Under the IHRA, criticism of Israel can be considered antisemitic if it involves demonization, double standards, or delegitimization, which is consistent with Natan Sharansky's popular "3D test" for antisemitism. According to proponents of the IHRA, this means that boycotts of Israel as well as anti-Zionism will now be officially understood as antisemitic. However, social movement history reveals that the IHRA’s standards are remarkably similar to the rhetoric of supporters of South Africa in the 1970s and 80s, who consistently complained that the country was subject to unfair criticism from the anti-apartheid movement. Drawing upon archival research and interviews, this paper outlines the defensive approach adopted by the friends of South Africa, who believed that the country was being demonized, “singled out” for criticism, and held to a double standard, and who warned that South Africa's enemies posed an existential threat to the country itself. This suggests that the IHRA is not a sufficient or reliable tool to evaluate antisemitism, but merely codifies rhetoric commonly used by countries facing campaigns of economic isolation.
Hasbara and BDS: The Battle for Human Rights: Faisal Bhabha (Osgoode Hall Law School)
Abstract: Pro-Israel advocacy groups seek to use anti-discrimination laws not only to defend Zionist ideology and Israeli policy, but also to attack and thereby deter expressive activity in support of Palestinian claims. This aggressive approach has been described in the literature as ‘lawfare’ – an intentional strategy to use law instead of weapons to achieve a military or strategic objective. The object of pro-Israel lawfare is to chill Palestinian solidarity advocacy. This paper considers the use of discrimination litigation to suppress activism calling for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel. The attack on BDS raises a critical doctrinal question: Is advocacy for BDS discriminatory? The first part of this paper evaluates the competing arguments for establishing substantive discrimination with respect to BDS advocacy. The second part of the paper considers the legal and policy implications of constructing BDS advocacy as discrimination.
The Colonial Limits on anti-Racism and Framing of the Palestinian Struggle in Canada: Azeezah Kanji (Noor Cultural Centre)
Abstract: This paper will assess how the Palestinian struggle under occupation is framed in Canada. It does this starting with an analysis of the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate's refusal to include organisations critical of Zionism on its anti- Semitism subcommittee, and the Toronto City Council Motion to ban the Al-Quds Day Rally on the grounds that it is an exercise of hate. It does this as a way to illuminate the colonial horizons that put limits on the boundaries of multiculturalist anti-racism. It then explores how in this framework, the colonisation of Palestine is (mis)rendered as a bilateral conflict between Muslims and Jews, and Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are pitted against each other as commensurable, competing phenomena abstracted from the material conditions of white supremacist, settler colonial power.