My Name is Rachel Corrie: Controversial Play makes debut in Canada's Capital

'The scariest thing for non-Jewish Americans in talking about Palestinian self-determination is the fear of being or sounding anti-Semitic.' - Rachel Corrie

Vision Theatre presents to the Ottawa stage for the first time a play which has become a hot-topic debate in regards to opposing views about the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian land.

My Name is Rachel Corrie premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London, England during the spring of 2005, to sell-out houses and rave reviews. Despite the success and accolades, theatres in New York, Florida and Toronto cancelled productions or declined to produce it after publicly announcing their intentions to do so.

My Name is Rachel Corrie is a play without a playwright, edited from he emails and journals of Rachel Corrie, a young peace activist. An American who went to aid Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Rachel died at the age of 23, killed by an Israeli bulldozer while attempting to stop the demolition of a Palestinian home. Following her journey from a young girl with big ideas in Olympia, Washington, to joining a group of international peace activists in Rafah, to her untimely death it is a deeply moving personal testimony that exposes us to the inner thoughts of a young woman driven by boundless curiosity and a keen sense of justice. Rachel's writings are woven together by the actor Alan Rickman and Guardian journalist Katherine Viner to share with us her perspective on the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, and her observations of the people caught in this political conflict. It's scary. It's beautiful. It's controversial. This timely and powerful piece of theatre is sure to inspire discussion and debate. Come and see it for yourself...

My Name is Rachel Corrie, taken from the writings of Rachel Corrie and edited by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner, features Sarah McVie as Rachel Corrie and is directed by Paul Griffin. Set & Lighting Designer is Lynn Cox, Sound Designer is Jon Carter and Stage Manager is Natalie Giselle.

My Name is Rachel Corrie runs September 10 - 20, 2008 at the Arts Court Theatre at 8pm. No performances on Sundays & Mondays. Tickets are $25 for Adults and $20 for Students & Seniors at the Arts Court Box Office, 613-564-7240.

Special panels organized by Independent Jewish Voices in association with Vision Theatre will take place following the performance on September 10, 11, 16, 17.

'Here is a play where the real dialogue begins when the curtain comes down. MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE is theater that not only stirs our hearts but sticks in our heads.' - Newsweek

www.visiontheatre.ca

Post Performance Panels organized by
Independent Jewish Voices
in association with Vision Theatre

September 10
'Those who dare to put themselves on the line for justice in Palestine'
(Colin Stuart, Ehab Lotayuf, Maxime Brunet)

September 11
'Conditions on the ground in the Occupied Territories'
(Bill Skidmore, Samah Sabawi, Corey Balsam)

September 16
'Jews woriking for justice in solidarity with Palestinians'
(Arthur Milner, Diana Ralph)

September 17
'Working for Peace: What you can do'
(Ben Saifer, Marjorie Robertson, Bahija Reghai)

Eyewitness to Occupation

This summer, NION member Ben Saifer travelled to Israel and Palestine. His blog of what he experienced there first hand speaks volumes about the reality of the occupation. Several of his posts are highlighted here, and can be read in full by clicking on the excerpts. In The absurdity of it all, the inherent systemic racism of the occupation comes into sharp focus:

The checkpoint compound itself was enclosed on either side by the Israeli "Separation Wall" which has been deemed illegal by the highest court in the world, the International Court of Justice. It is simultaneously a concrete manifestation and symbolic reminder of Israel's ongoing colonization of Palestine. Even as a Canadian who does not need to fear the Wall annexing my home, preventing me from attending school, or separating me from my community, I found it to be immensely intimidating.

In my short stay here, I have witnessed a great deal of absurdity: The settler roads that cut through the heart of illegally occupied Palestinian territory which Palestinians are not allowed to drive on...The illegal wall which cuts through Palestinian villages, splitting families in two, separating child from classroom, community from hospital, farmer from land...The settlers who immigrate to Israel from countries around the world and colonize Palestinian land to create Jewish only ‘settlements’

“You know about Israel’s occupation of Palestine?”

His response was striking for for its utter lack of irony…

In a compelling view of how time is stolen from Palestinians - especially children - by the occupation, The occupation of time provides a glimpse into the impact of the checkpoints on daily life in Palestine:

our bus stopped outside of the checkpoint separating Ramallah from Jeruslaem. The thought that these smiling children were about to enter this frightening structure just didn’t seem right.

“Internationals” like myself are given the option to stay on the bus and avoid the ugliness of the checkpoint, as it appears that only Palestinians should be humiliated when traveling throughout their own land.

I had been told that its best to pretend to know nothing of Palestine or Palestinians as such ideas are considered subversive. If the soldiers rifled through my bag and found the booklets I just received from Palestinian University students describing the “Right to Education” campaign, what would I say?

How frightening would this feeling be if I did not have my international privilege? If I was Palestinian?

I found myself unable to concentrate. I kept looking at these three children and wondering what they were thinking as they joined the frustrated mass behind these turnstiles? Or when they passed through the turnstile, only to have it abruptly stop before their father could do the same?

A couple of months ago a friend of mine told me that the occupation steals time from Palestinian society. As I experience the apartheid system of transportation here, albeit with the privilege of an ‘international’, I’m beginning to understand what she was referring to…

In Finding one's humanity in Nablus the need for solidarity with Palestinians becomes even clearer with the unjust humiliation they face in the context of military impunity:

They seemed to find some common humanity in me. They were smiling and joking, machine guns slung to their side, asking me where I was from.

"Weren't you scared of what would happen if they caught you" the cute young soldier with the big brown eyes said with a smile, a sly knowing smile, a smile that seemed to say we're on the same side.

I was leaving the Huwara checkpoint, outside of Nablus. This was the same checkpoint where a Palestinian university student had his arm broken by an angry soldier the day before. Before leaving, I met the student, his arm in a cast.

I had just spent much of the week in Nablus, a city overseen by a military base on a mountaintop, adjacent to the largest refugee camp in the West Bank, surrounded by checkpoints and settlements, where a foreign army enters every night to imprison, intimidate and kill (two were killed in a dorm room on my second night there).

Yet for me this overwhelming structure of violence was punctuated by the stories, the deeply personal tragedies which I heard every day from new friends, the stories which so deeply color the lives of this embattled community, the stories of the nameless and faceless 'collateral damage' here.

While in Nablus, I spend a lot of time with Professor Sa'ed Abu-Hijleh. When I ask Sa'ed how his father coped with his mother's murder by the Occupation Forces in 2002, he has few words:

"They met in a love story. The soldiers ended their love story. Right there"

With these words, Sa'ed points to the spot on the door where the broken glass is taped up. The shattered glass that has still not been replaced is the result of the fifteen bullets fired at his mother without warning while she was embroidering on the porch of her house. Being home at the time, Sa'ed was injured in the neck from the glass debris and his father from a ricochet bullet that grazed his skull

While in Nablus, I spend a lot of time with Professor Sa'ed Abu-Hijleh. When I ask Sa'ed how his father coped with his mother's murder by the Occupation Forces in 2002, he has few words:

"They met in a love story. The soldiers ended their love story. Right there"

With these words, Sa'ed points to the spot on the door where the broken glass is taped up. The shattered glass that has still not been replaced is the result of the fifteen bullets fired at his mother without warning while she was embroidering on the porch of her house. Being home at the time, Sa'ed was injured in the neck from the glass debris and his father from a ricochet bullet that grazed his skull

These are just a glimpse of the Apartheid system Palestinians are subjected to every day. To get involved in opposing the injustices of the occupation contact NION today.

The Battle for the Jewish Voice and the Jewish Soul Heats Up

There have been two great articles by NION members in Culture Magazine recently. In Waking Up Jewish, Lia Tarachansky recounts how she and other Jewish Canadians have had their eyes opened to the realities of Israeli Apartheid.

"Ben, Corey and I have woken up and learned to separate Judaism from Zionism, history from propaganda, and defence from offence ... Much effort is expended to ensure that Jewish people around the world are oblivious to the resolvable issues of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict ... But a growing number of us are awakening
to the nightmare endured by the Palestinians."

In Heating Up: The Battle for the Jewish voice and the Jewish soul, David Mandelzys writes a moving open letter to his parents:

"Remember last Passover? Remember when we sat around the Seder table and listened to you rant about Israel`s victimhood? About how ethnic cleansing really isn’t that bad? And about how if they try to kill the Jews this time, we will at least take them all with us? ... You see, our generation is different. We are not blind Zionist ideologues. We did not take the lesson of kill or be killed from the stories our
grandparents told us about the Holocaust or the anti-Semitism they faced.
Alongside our lessons about Zionism and about why the Holocaust meant that Jews
need a Jewish state for themselves, we couldn't help but absorb the need to
oppose racism, to fight oppression and to not justify the subjugation of one
‘people’ for the benefit of another."

Both articles highlight the rapidly growing resistance to Israeli Apartheid from within the Jewish community, and shed light on some of the discussions happening around the kitchen tables of the worldwide Jewish diaspora. Despite the triumphalism leading up to the worldwide Israel at 60 "celebrations" last month, such celebrations were challenged by Jewish dissent around the world, including newspaper ads saying that Israel's 60th anniversary is nothing to celebrate, vigils, protests, political theatre, and civil disobedience. All of these initiatives and more are being led by Jewish activists and organizations like Not In Our Name alongside Palestinian allies. The times, they are a changin', indeed.

Jew and Arabs Unite Against Israeli Apartheid

On May 20, Jews and Arabs in Ottawa united to condemn a celebration of Israel @ 60 as nothing to celebrate. The Israel @ 60 event, which featured Alan Baker, Israeli Ambassador to Canada, was protested by 70 people, including NION and allies, who set up a mock checkpoint to highlight the daily repression Palestinians experience. There is a great photo-essay of the event at Yaya Canada here.

Naomi Klein: Israel, Don't Act Normal

On March 28, 2008, Naomi Klein gave the keynote address to Canada's first Independent Canadian Jewish Conference, attended by over 100 Jews against the occupation of Palestine from over a dozen organizations in over 20 cities across Canada, including NION and many others.

NION Says Israel At 60 is No Time to Celebrate

Thank you for everyone who came out to the series of actions and events organized by NION (Not In Our Name) and the Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network this May to commemorate the Nakba (catastrophe) that through a massive propaganda campaign is being "celebrated" as Israel @ 60. The reality of Israel at 60 is a history and ongoing process of ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinians in the region.

On May 8, over 100 people gathered in protest of an Israel @ 60 event at the Ottawa civic centre. See the photos here.

The May 18 Teach-in on Israel at 60 brought 80 people together to learn more about 60 years of dispossession and repression of Palestinians from Jewish and Palestinian speakers.

On May 20, approximately 70 people held a vigil outside of the Israel@60 Celebrations at the N.A.C. (National Arts Centre). Palestinians and Jews united to say that THIS IS NO TIME TO CELEBRATE. For the A Channel coverage of this action click here.

Let's keep building on this momentum!

In solidarity,

NION

Workers Against Apartheid and Occupation: Palestinian and Haitian Labour Leaders to Speak in Toronto

Free Public Forum, All Welcome

When: 7pm, Friday 30th May, 2008
Where: Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St Toronto (South of College, West of Spadina)

Join Manawell Abdul Al, member of the executive committee of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, and Paul Loulou Chery, Secretary of the Confederation of Haitian Workers, as they discuss the current situation of Palestinian and Haitian workers. These two prominent labour leaders will discuss the links between these struggles and the role of the Canadian government in perpetuating occupation and apartheid.

The forum will also hear from representatives of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE Ontario) and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), two key unions that have adopted resolutions against Israeli Apartheid in the recent period.

Sponsored by Labour for Palestine and the Toronto Haiti Action Committee.

** This public forum will launch Brick by Brick: Building Labour Solidarity with Palestine, to be held in Toronto 30 May - 1 June. To find out more about Brick By Brick, please see www.caiaweb.org/labourcommittee **

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Labour for Palestine Organizing Conference

We Need Your Financial Support & Solidarity


Sisters/Brothers:


Labour for Palestine, a cross-union network of labour activists working in solidarity with Palestine, is holding an organizing conference in Toronto (May 30th-June 1st 2008) immediately after the Canadian Labour Congress convention.

We are writing to appeal for your financial support for this important gathering of union activists that aims to strengthen labour solidarity with Palestinians at a critical time when violence and conflict in the Middle-East has reached unprecedented levels.

This is a conference for activists involved in Palestine solidarity already organizing in their workplaces and unions or who are interested in beginning this work. As organizers, we take our lead from the global call made by over 170 Palestinian civil society and labour organizations in July 2005* to support a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign until Israel ends in occupation of Arab lands, the Palestinian refugees return and Palestinian citizens of Israel have full equality.

Since the 2005 call, many unions across the world have passed resolutions supporting the call for BDS. In Canada, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario’s Resolution# 50 in support of BDS was an important milestone.

Just recently, in April 2008, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) became the first national union in North America to pass a similar resolution supporting BDS. Our challenge now is to build on these significant advances and broaden the BDS movement into other unions and to strengthen our organizing efforts nationally and internationally.

The aim of the organizers is to put together a conference that is accessible to activists (i.e., registration $20 including meals) and offering affordable accommodation close to conference location. To date union activists have registered to attend from the U.S., Palestine and across Canada. Since this is a grassroots effort by union activists, we are in urgent need of funds to ensure the conference’s logistical success.

Your donation will go towards supporting the following:

• Travel subsidies for Palestinian and out-of-town guests.

• Subsidizing accommodation costs for out-of-town guests at New College, University of Toronto (only $30/night plus tax).

• Food/refreshment costs (including Halal, vegetarian & vegan options).

• Venue rental, sound system c& interpretation costs.

• Child-care costs.

• Production of BDS education materials kit (including new edition of “Labour for Palestine” booklet).


Your support making this conference a success and building labour solidarity is appreciated!


Please send Cheques made out to the ‘peace and justice committee’ to

P.O. Box 494, Stn 'P' Toronto ON M5S 2T1 Canada


In Solidarity,

Labour for Palestine

For more information e-mail: labour@caiaweb.org


* This call is available at http://www.bds-palestine.net