May 31, 2006
MCC thanks CUPE Ontario for resolution on Israel

Dear Mr. Ryan:
On behalf of the Muslim Canadian Congress I am writing to thank you for passing the resolution to support the campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

The MCC is a grassroots organization that supports the aspirations and dreams of the peoples of the developing countries throughout the world; a dream of dignity, democracy, freedom from poverty and political oppression, and a just and lasting peace. To achieve this and resist the steady re-colonization of the developing world, the MCC works closely with like-minded groups in building an anti-imperialist movement.

We now understand that CUPE is coming under pressure to reverse its decision, but we urge you not to compromise or backdown from a position that reflects character, integrity and solidarity with a disenfranchised people.

The CUPE resolution comes on the heels of other notable and courageous symbolic actions of solidarity from the various corners of world. As you may be aware, a lecturers' union in the United Kingdom voted this week to boycott Israeli academics and institutions that refuse to publicly condemn Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Members of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, Britain's largest university and college lecturers' union with 67,000 members, has decided not to submit articles to Israeli research papers and exchange programmes with Israeli academic institutions involved directly or indirectly in Israeli apartheid policies.

The CUPE resolution can be equated in its moral symbolism with the International Court of Justice in The Hague 2004 ruling that said the separation barrier Israel was illegal and ought to be dismantled.

The resolution represents the hope in a world that is becoming defined by occupation, oppression and force. But like other apartheid states in the past, for example, South Africa, Israel too will have to be subjected to intense international pressure before it recognizes Palestinians as people with the right to their own viable sovereign state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

As stated so eloquently by Desmond Tutu in The Guardian last year, "Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice. We condemn the violence of suicide bombers, and we condemn the corruption of young minds taught hatred; but we also condemn the violence of military incursions in the occupied lands, and the inhumanity that won't let ambulances reach the injured."

As you come under intense pressure from the pro-Israel lobby to back down on this principled stance, we don't need to remind you that it has historically been a role and a responsibility of the trade union movement to be on the side of the disenfranchised, the voiceless and the oppressed and to stand for justice, freedom, and self-determination.

We ask that you not heed to this pressure and remind you of the words of Archbishop Tutu:

In solidarity,
Niaz Salimi
President
Muslim Canadian Congress