Activists tell Zim - Israeli ships not welcome in Vancouver

August 24, 2010

Vancouver – Locally-based activists, called out by the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Coalition (BIAC), are mounting a picket line at the Port of Vancouver's Delta Port facility at Roberts Bank, south of Vancouver, as part of a mounting international campaign to put pressure on the government of Israel.

The Israeli ship Djibouti, owned by Zim, one of the ten largest shipping companies in the world, is scheduled to land at Delta Port at 7:00 a.m. this morning.

“The behaviour of the Israeli government has been going from bad to worse,” explained BIAC spokesperson Gordon Murray. “We are going to be out there today to tell Zim and other Israeli companies that their business won't be allowed to continue normally as long as Israel's blockade on Gaza continues,” he said.

“Israel has been behaving as a rogue government,” said Mike Krebs, the other BIAC spokesperson for the demonstration. “People from Vancouver are coming out to emulate actions that have already been taken in South Africa, Scandinavia, India and Oakland, California, where Israeli ships have been prevented from unloading their cargo in a normal manner.”

“Israel has been violating international law and acting with impunity for far too long,” Murray said. “It's obvious to us that they won't change their behaviour unless their forced to,” he concluded.


For more information contact:
Gordon Murray
Phone: 604-727-3542 (cell)

Mike Krebs
Phone: 604-779-7430 (cell)

http://www.sources.com/Releases/NR959.htm

On a rainy day in Vancouver, BC, pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protests tried to out-yell each other outside of the USA Embassy.

My friend Kris Krug went down to document the event and came back rather moved by the experience by seeing friends yelling at each other with no resolve and also the fact that we as humans haven't developed a method to resolve these absurd conflicts predicated by race, religion, and territory.

Personally, I think we can do better. Respect, forgiveness, kindness, friendliness and ecumenicality for starters.

Here are Kris' remarks:

It makes me sad that in 2008 there is a such an immovable mountain of a conflict whose central tenants seem to be based on racism and religious intolerance. On both sides. All sides.

I feel sad and my head hangs a lil lower every time I hear about an escalation of the violence in the middle east. I like to be positive and optimistic in general and am frustrated not only in the terrible things that are taking place in terms of violence, but also that we don’t seem to even have the institutions in which we can seek forgiveness and resolution. I’m disappointed in all of us.

Here's KK's post: Anti-Israel Protest @ US Embassy in Vancouver and video of the protests. The reaction from Sean Orr and Jonthan Narvey suggest a microcosm of how to resolve conflicts - ergo: have a chat and a beverage and start find finding things in common.

Narvey says:

Sean Orr and I trading accusations of supporting fascists, until we realized who each other were. Afterwards, deciding to grab a coffee sometime to discuss our political ideas and things webby. I’ve got quite a bit of respect for the guy since his and Krug’s bit of genuine heroism the other day in the dark side-streets of Gastown. I must confess I find Orr’s alignment with the pro-Hamas crowd disconcerting and not particularly consistent with his standing up for justice on the streets of Vancouver. Perhaps I’ll end up winning him over to my side some day.

Orr says:

And this is why, despite my constant disappointment with our leaders and the tyranny of our economic system, I am proud to be Canadian. I completely and fundamentally think Jonathan's support of Israel is racist, imperialistic, and in opposition to world law; but as I stuttered to him in the pounding hail, I'd fight for his right to speak them. We talked a little bit about the fight and about art, then I crossed back over and joined in a chant or two of "End the Occupation Now" before returning home.

This podcast interview between travel writer and activist Rick Steves and Lord Alderdice called "Road Maps to Peace" provides some practical methods of resolving conflicts between cultures who have harmed each other for generations. Here's the description:

Rick speaks with Lord Alderdice from Belfast, one of the key political figures who helped resolve Northern Ireland's long-standing "troubles" between its Catholic and Protestant citizens. He shares his approach for addressing the tensions facing the United States and its allies today in overcoming terrorism and in designing road maps for peace.