How it works:
You can fast as per your tradition (some
people refrain from eating sun-up to sun-down, others do it for 24 hours. Some
people will drink water or other fluids, others not). You sign up for a day (or
more) by emailing tasc@web.ca with suggested dates, which will be publicly
posted at the Homes not Bombs blog site (http://homesnotbombs.blogspot.ca/2015/04/join-chain-fast-against-canadian.html).
The key thing is to do this publicly: while the roots of racism are deep in our
culture, they receive a huge boost when the racist messages comes from on high.
TEXT
I am joining the Chain Fast To End Canadian
Government Racism
because:
Members of the Harper government are
contributing in word and deed to an increased climate of racist tension with
comments that equate Islam with violence and abuse the term jihad. Such
comments include telling Muslim women to
"stay the hell where they came from", declaring that Muslims are
connected to a "culture that is anti-women," and tweets like " Niqab, hejab,
burqa, wedding veil -- face coverings have no place in cit oath-taking."
This is part of a broader attack on racialized communities, including the comment that it makes no sense
to pay "whities" to stay home while companies bring in "brown
people" as temporary foreign workers, and an incendiary Conservative-sponsored petition insulting First Nations governments.
The Harper government is rushing through
legislation (C-51) that will likely increase the targetting, surveillance,
harassment, and potential detention and torture of members of Canada's Muslim
communities, while also criminalizing/terrorizing
First Nations, Inuit and Métis, as well as all racialized communities.
The Harper government has repeatedly refused
to answer calls for an
inquiry into the over 1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women, and done
nothing to address the shockingly high rates of suicide in aboriginal
communities, nor to end the hundreds of devastating boil
water alerts in First Nations communities, some lasting for well over a
decade. Instead, this government has targeted First Nations leaders and treated
them as security threats.
The Harper government is refusing to act on
a motion passed by a majority of the House of Commons in December, 2009, to
apologize to, provide compensation for, and clear the names of three Muslim
Canadian men – Abdullah Almalki, Ahmed El-Maati, and Muayyed Nureddin – who
were found to have been falsely labelled as security threats and tortured with
Canadian complicity. All cases were motivated in part by racist/religious
profiling.
The Harper government has refused to
apologize to, provide compensation for, and clear the name of Canadian Muslim Abousfian Abdelrazik,
in whose overseas torture the Canadian government was found to be complicit by
a Canadian court.
The Harper government has continued to
demonize and block any efforts seeking justice for detained Canadian Muslim
Omar Khadr, who was tortured with Canadian complicity at Bagram Air Force Base
(Afghanistan) and the U.S. torture camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and remains
behind bars in Alberta based on a fundamentally flawed process.
The Harper government continues pursuing
secret trial
security certificates against a number of Muslim men (all of which were
signed by previous Liberal governments).
The Harper government plays a racist
double standard when it refuses to categorize the actions of white
supremacists and gun fanatics (such as the targetted murders of RCMP officers
in Alberta and New Brunswick and the planned Valentine's Day masscare in a
Halifax mall) as terrorist threats, preferring to dismiss them with terms such
as "murderous misfits".
Canada's state security agencies (RCMP and
CSIS) are pressuring and threatening young Canadian Muslims to spy on
their communities and self-censor opinions on social injustice, while those
same agencies continue treating First Nations as surveillance targets because
of the false connection to "threats
to national security and criminal extremism or terrorism".
The Harper government has falsely,
slanderously accused the reputable National Council of Canadian Muslims as
connected to terrorism, with one MP openly attacking the group's executive
director at a recent Parliamentary hearing.
Recognizing that the latest attacks are part
of a long, unfortunate Canadian tradition of provoking fear and hatred by targetting specific groups
and spreading racist lies, we believe standing up and speaking out is an
obligation.
Beginning April 15 and lasting until the
beginning of Ramadan, June 18, 2015, we pledge to join the chain fast for one
full day (or more throughout the time period), explaining to friends,
colleagues, and neighbours, as well as local media, why we have undertaken this
fast, and educating our fellow residents about the need to reject the dangerous
discourse of racism infecting public life and emanating from the highest levels
of the Canadian government.
The day after our fasting, as the chain fast
passes on to a new member, we will continue to raise these issues in our
communities and refuse to stay silent.
Signed
TO JOIN: Email tasc@web.ca with your name, city, and dates you would like to fast
Chain
Fast Participants
Thursday,
April 16: Michele Schmidt, Toronto, Sadia Jama, Kingston, ON
Friday,
April 17: David Heap, London, ON, Tenzin Tharchen, Owen Sound, ON
Saturday,
April 18: Tanya M. Gulliver-Garcia, Toronto
Sunday,
April 19: Matthew Behrens, Perth, ON
Monday,
April 20: Gary Connolly, Brampton, ON, Sadia Jama, , Kingston, ON
Tuesday,
April 21: Sue Breeze, Barrière, BC, Jamie Page, Toronto, ON
Wednesday,
April 22: Murray Lumley, Toronto, ON
Thursday,
April 23: Michele Schmidt, Toronto, Sadia Jama, Kingston, ON
Friday,
April 24: Mary Cowper-Smith, Charlottetown, PEI, Judy Deutsch,
Toronto, ON, Helga Mankovitz, Kingston, ON
Saturday,
April 25: James Campbell, Toronto, ON
Sunday,
April 26: Genevieve Gallant,
Ottawa, Ontario
Monday,
April 27: Gary Connolly, Brampton, ON, Ria Heynen, Ottawa, ON, Deka Omar,
Ottawa, ON, Jamie Page, Regina, SK
Tuesday,
April 28: Louise Slobodian, Kingston, ON, Nino Pagliccia, Vancouver, BC, Deka Omar,
Ottawa, ON
Wednesday,
April 29: Murray Lumley, Toronto, ON, Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Thursday,
April 30: Michele Schmidt, Toronto, Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Friday,
May 1: Donna Loft and Ed File, Priceville, ON, Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Saturday,
May 2: Nino Pagliccia,
Vancouver, BC, Angelina Martz, Saint John, NB, Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Sunday,
May 3: Jozef Konyari, Toronto, ON, Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON, Jamie Page, Regina,
SK
Monday,
May 4: Gary Connolly, Brampton, ON, Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Tuesday,
May 5: Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Wednesday,
May 6: Murray Lumley, Toronto, ON, Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Thursday,
May 7: Michele Schmidt, Toronto, Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Friday,
May 8: Genevieve Gallant,
Ottawa, ON, Deka
Omar, Ottawa, ON
Saturday,
May 9: Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON, Jamie Page, Regina, SK
Sunday,
May 10: Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Monday,
May 11: Gary Connolly, Brampton, ON, Deka Omar, Ottawa, ON
Tuesday,
May 12: Barbara Gordon, Toronto, ON
Wednesday,
May 13: Murray Lumley, Toronto, ON
Thursday,
May 14: Michele Schmidt, Toronto
Friday,
May 15: Jamie Page, Regina, SK
Saturday,
May 16: David Heap, London, ON
Sunday,
May 17: Matthew Behrens, Perth, ON
Monday,
May 18: Gary Connolly, Brampton, ON
Tuesday,
May 19: Luke Stocking, Toronto, ON, Ria Heynen, Ottawa, ON
Wednesday,
May 20: Jamie Page, Regina, SK, Helga Mankovitz, Kingston,
ON
Thursday,
May 21: Michele Schmidt, Toronto
Friday,
May 22: Jennifer Deguire,
Grimsby, ON
Saturday,
May 23: David Janzen, London, ON, Dunia Hamou, London, ON
Sunday,
May 24: Marisa Conte, Rome,
Italy, Dunia
Hamou, London, ON
Monday,
May 25: Gary Connolly, Brampton, ON, Dunia Hamou, London, ON
Tuesday,
May 26: Jamie Page, Regina, SK, Dunia Hamou, London, ON
Wednesday,
May 27: James Campbell, Toronto, ON, Tina Stevens, London, ON
Thursday,
May 28: Michele Schmidt, Toronto, Nusaiba Al-Azem, London,
ON
Friday,
May 29: Juan Davis, Victoria, BC
Saturday,
May 30: Chris Stroud, London, ON, Elaine Stewart, Toronto, ON
Sunday,
May 31: Marie Lloyd, Kingston, ON
Monday,
June 1: Gary Connolly, Brampton, ON
Tuesday,
June 2: Jamie Page, Regina, SK
Wednesday,
June 3: Paula Marcotte, London, ON
Thursday,
June 4: Michele Schmidt, Toronto, Nusaiba Al-Azem,
London, ON, Leila Almawy, London, ON (note
that a community discussion event on C-51 takes place in conjunction with the
chain fast, https://www.facebook.com/events/1515109218750054/
Friday,
June 5: Sâkihitowin Awâsis, London, ON
Saturday,
June 6: Sâkihitowin Awâsis, London, ON Sâkihitowin Awâsis, London, ON
Sunday,
June 7: Jamie Page, Regina, SK
Monday,
June 8: Gary Connolly, Brampton, ON
Tuesday,
June 9: Matthew Behrens, Perth, ON
Wednesday,
June 10: Nusaiba Al-Azem, London, ON
Thursday,
June 11: Michele Schmidt, Toronto
Friday,
June 12: Elaine McIlwraith, London, ON
Saturday,
June 13:
Sunday,
June 14: Jozef Konyari, Toronto, ON
Monday,
June 15: Gary Connolly, Brampton, ON
Tuesday,
June 16: Jamie Page, Regina, SK, Barb Campbell, Ottawa,
ON
Wednesday,
June 17:
Thursday,
June 18: Michele Schmidt, Toronto
No comments:
Post a Comment