IJV-Victoria@ijvcanada.org

Shaw bans video of Our Way to Fight reading!

VICTORIA BC, Feb 4th, 2012 — The Program Our Way to Fight, the record of an evening with author Michael Riordon recently hosted by the Victoria Chapter of IJV Canada, is being censored by Shaw Cable in Vancouver.

Pasifik.ca has received an email saying that Shaw TV cannot broadcast the video of Our Way to Fight: Peace-work Under Siege in Israel-Palestine by Michael Riordon, as it is too ‘unbalanced’ and ‘controversial.’

Shaw Cable is the community cable arm of Shaw Communications, one of Canada’s largest telecommunications corporations. Based in Calgary, Alberta it controls telephone, Internet and television networks, including digital satellite, and broadcasting stations from Hamilton, Ontario, to Victoria. As a federally licensed community cable network, Shaw Cable is required to air locally created programming.

Read Michael’s reaction on his blog

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Author Michael Riordon reads from his book Our Way To Fight

VICTORIA — Author Michael Riordon presented the effects of the Israeli occupation of Palestine from the point of view of Palestinian activists, who must live with the repression of their speech and actions every day.

Riordon’s book, Our Way To Fight came about as the result of his meeting Palestinian and Israeli peace and social justice activists during a visit to Palestine/Israel. His book illuminates the personal difficulties faced by these brave people through a series of personal interviews.

Our Way To Fight does not ring with angry voices. Rather, it reflects the gentle tone of its author, who has written other books on the situation of activists in countries throughout the world. It is recommended reading from anyone seeking a balance from the strident tone of the fundamentalists in a bloody struggle that seems to have no end.

Watch Pasifik.ca’s video of the evening

Daphna Levit and Zalman Amit speak on Israeli Rejectionism

daphna levit photo: peter rockwell

VICTORIA – Daphna Levit and Zalman Amit proved to be a very ‘dynamic duo’ indeed when they spoke to an enthralled audience on October 4th at the University of Victoria.

Despite having to follow on the heels of a well-attended lecture by Israeli journalist Amin Hass, over 50 interested people turned out less than a week later to hear them talk.

The duo spoke about Israel’s long history of rejecting all Arab peace proposals, which is the central thesis of their new book Israeli Rejectionism published recently by Pluto Press.

Their book lays out the history of Zionism since its inception. It reveals the hidden Israeli resistance to the Middle East “peace process,” and explains why so little progress has been made on this vital issue, which affects all Israelis and Palestinians.

zalman amit photo: peter rockwell

The talk followed a similar lecture in Vancouver on October 2nd. The two authors left Victoria the next day to lecture in Seattle on October 6th, before returning to Nova Scotia where they both now live.

Zalman Amit was born in Palestine. He grew up in the newly-created Jewish state and is now a distinguished professor emeritus at Concordia University, Québec. Zalman is the author of many books and articles on Israeli-Palestinian relations.

Daphna Levit was born in Israel. She has taught finance and economics at Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion universities in Israel. Daphna has contributed to numerous books on Israeli and Middle Eastern politics.

Sponsors

Their lecture in Victoria was sponsored by the University of Victoria Centre for Social Justice; Canadians Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA); the Victoria Peace Coalition; and IJV-Victoria. It was introduced and moderated by Professor Bill Carroll of the UVic Centre for Social Justice.

This lecture was the first of what IJV-Victoria members hope will become a series of exposés of the situation in the Middle East and the social conditions in the occupied territories.

photo: peter rockwell

Listen to the entire lecture and questions

Watch the edited Pasifik.ca video edition