Speech Against Renaming City Park After Jim Bradley, Regional Government Chair Who Unilaterally Sided With Israel But Said Cease-fire Too Divisive and One-sided

This is the speech I *would* have given to #StCatharines City Council against skipping their process and naming a park after #Niagara Region Chair Jim Bradley who unilaterally had the Regional govt side with Israel but said supporting ceasefire is too divisive and one-sided.

But the City's Zoom was down, blocking even at least one elected City Councillor. Also at least one letter opposing this ended up in the Clerk's junk mail and they didn't find it until the day after the meeting, long after it was too late.

Fortunately Thomas Dorricott was there in person and did a better job than I would have!

Hi mayor and Council I am Saleh Waziruddin, he/him.

If just asking for support for a cease-fire is one-sided and divisive, or could lead to divisiveness, then it’s got to be so much more on-sided and divisive to unilaterally take one side in a war, or what a lot of the world is calling a genocide. The Regional Chair unilaterally put the Regional government, which represents all of us or is supposed to, on one side when he chose to light the Region’s headquarters in Israel’s colours.

But then he made it worse when he doubled down in his public comments defending his action. When people, settlers, from one side were killed he called it terrorism, but when so many more from the other side, Indigenous, are killed he said it’s a war and suggested it’s justified – but he couldn’t even say killed for Palestinians, he said “affected.”

There are St. Catharines residents who have lost whole sections of their family, completely wiped out, all relatives from that part of the family killed, or “affected” as the Regional Chair put it, by the State the Regional Chair put the Region on the side of. Imagine the pain of having a park in the City named after an official who is supposed to represent all of us who took the side of the state that wiped out part of your family.

More than one St. Catharines Regional Councillor has told the Regional Chair he was wrong to take a side by lighting the Regional Headquarters in Israel’s colours. These are representatives elected by people of this city telling the Regional Chair this is wrong.

If you say the City can’t take a side because you have to work with people on both sides, then you can’t name a park after such a divisive person who has caused so much ongoing pain by unilaterally taking one side. The City would be obliviously continuing to take a side in its actions, while in its words saying taking a side would be too divisive. You can’t have it both ways, that is hypocrisy and racist.

The City has already been criticized for this in other areas.

You’ve received several written delegations and letters asking you not to do this.

Whatever the Regional Chair accomplished in the last 50 years, it’s muddied by what he did and has doubled down on in the last two years, on an issue that has the attention of the whole world, that make it so harmful to name a park after him.

Thank you.