My speech to #Niagara Regional Council on March 21, 2024 on why it's anti-Palestinian #racism to not follow their own policy to honour requests by over 96 residents from across the region to light the "Niagara everyone welcome" sign in the colours of #Palestine as they did for Israel
Part of my YouTube playlist on this issue
My name is Saleh Waziruddin.
At your Corporate Services Committee meeting staff said the reason the Niagara sign could not be lit in the colours of the Palestinian flag is because the Palestinian flag could not be raised under the current policy. But one thing has nothing to do with the other. The “Flag Raising and Niagara Sign Lighting Policy” has a completely different section for requirements for lighting the Niagara sign and the rule about flags needing to be from countries recognized by the Government of Canada is only in the flag raising section, completely different. This is like asking “how can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?”
So your current policy allows you to do this. It can be done administratively from the Chair, as was done earlier for the colours of the Israeli flag, you don't even need a motion. The Chair can just as easily ask tonight for the Niagara sign to be lit in the Palestinian colours for tomorrow night. If it can be speedily done for one set of colours it can be just as speedily done for the other colours.
You can't say it's divisive to light in the colours of one side of a conflcit but it's not divisive to light in the colours of Israel. But it's not only lighting the Niagara sign. One of the councillors here, as mayor of the City I live in, already has my City, St. Catharines, take a clear side, when he sent my own ward councillor from City Council, on October 11, to speak in the name of my City as standing with Israel.
So if you don't want to light the Niagara sign in the colours of the Palestinian flag because it would take a side, it's too late for that. The Region has already stepped deep into taking one side. It would be one-sided not to do the same for the other side.
There is only one reason for the reluctance to light the Niagara sign in the colours of Palestine. It is because some see Palestinians as dangerous, and see Palestinian resistance to occupation, something recognized as a legitimate right implicitly in the Geneva Conventions, as terrorism in one-sided war propaganda that has been widely debunked. This is seen even in radio comments on CKTB 610 made by one of you comparing by allusion people like me to the January 6 capitol rioters, that's how much unreasonable fear there is here of anything to do with support for Palestine.
This is racism. It's a specific kind of racism, anti-Palestinian racism. This isn't just something I'm saying or making up, it was recognized in a featured piece on CBC radio. It's not the same as Islamophobia or anti-Arab racism in general, and it is expressed in the general crackdown and vilification of Palestine solidarity we are seeing across the country and right here in Niagara.
If it's seen as divisive to even discuss a request that is perfectly allowed under the current policy discussed in the minutes, then that is truly ironic because look at the division that's been created by not allowing delegates to speak in January and to even pull the discussion from the agenda and then double down by killing any discussion on pulling it from the agenda. Look at the division caused by people who are equally residents of this community being shut out. You can't alienate us in the name of not alienating people, because we are people too!, saying you have to get along with both sides when not only has the Region and at least one municipality taken a side but it won't even listen to the other side.
The request to light the Niagara sign in the colours of Palestine, fully in accordance with the current lighting policy, comes from a wide range of residents. Ninety six people have sent all 32 of you letters by email from nine of the twelve municipalities in the Region, so people directly represented by the majority of you are asking for this. We do not feel heard or supported.
It's not even something that would make Niagara an outlier or out of step. Edmonton lit their symbol in the colours of the Palestinian flag months ago. Niagara should catch up.
To show that you value human life as human life, when you have shown this for lives lost on one side of the conflict, but not to show you value the many more human lives that have been lost by Palestinians, when your own policy allows it, and when the Chair's actions have demonstrated that this can be swiftly done without the need for a motion, will leave people no choice but to see your decision as an unfair and unequal implementation of your own lighting policy, as just a little bit racist. It's the opposite of what the Region's policy calls for, celebrating diversity and inclusivity.
With reference to what was said just before I started speaking, everyone does not feel heard or supported.
Thank you.
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