Calls to action against state violence in occupied Palestine
Membership of CUPE 2278 approved the following motion in a general membership meeting on November 22, 2023:
We, the members of CUPE 2278, are horrified by the ongoing violence in occupied Palestine. In response to the appalling October 7th Hamas attacks, the State of Israel has engaged in an unrelenting siege on Gaza and the Palestinian people. This recent campaign of ethnic cleansing and dispossession is a continuation of the decades-long settler colonial occupation of the Palestinian territories.
As a collective of workers on unceded and colonized lands, we recognize the cycles of violence that settler colonialism perpetuates in Canada and abroad. Many of the underlying forces of oppression and dispossession that target Indigenous communities in Canada are present in the ongoing systems of apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing faced by Palestinians. It is our responsibility to understand, criticize, and work to transform these systems wherever they occur.
We are therefore appalled by the University of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia, and the Canadian government’s support for the State of Israel’s historical and ongoing violence against the Palestinian people. We unequivocally denounce anti-Muslim hatred and antisemitism in all their forms. Both in Canada and abroad, the precondition for peace, safety, and security for all is not only an end to Israel’s current siege on Gaza, but also an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the apartheid system. Israelis, Palestinians, Muslims, and Jews across the world will not be safe so long as the violence against Palestinians persists.
To this end,
CUPE 2278 demands that the government of Canada:
Demand an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Occupied Palestine and facilitate a de-escalation of violence
Demand that Israel immediately lift the siege on Gaza so that civilians can obtain fuel, food, water, medicine and electricity, and call for a permanent end to the 16-year-long blockade
End the sale of arms to Israel
Facilitate the return of all Israeli hostages and Palestinian political prisoners
CUPE 2278 demands that UNBC:
Immediately divest all funds from financial interests that perpetuate settler colonialism here in Canada and abroad
CUPE 2278 demands that UBC:
Immediately divest all funds from financial interests that perpetuate settler colonialism here in Canada and abroad
Immediately divest funds from all the nine companies listed in the UBC AMS divestment motion from April 2022: Motorola Solutions Inc, General Mills Inc, Partner Communications Ltd, Bezeq the Israeli Telecommunications Corporation, Cellcom Israel Ltd, Bank Hapoalim BM, Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Lockheed Martin.
Address all the demands made in an open letter signed by 180 faculty and 1,360 students. This includes, but is not limited to, the need for UBC to condemn Israeli state violence and violations of humanitarian law.
CUPE 2278 will:
Conduct member education about the history of Israel’s occupation and colonization of Palestine, Canada’s complicity and what trade unions can do to support a just peace
Support and publicise member-led and campus community-led education on histories of genocide, antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred, colonialism, and trainings on bystander intervention
Stand with campus and community groups advocating an end to the occupation of Palestine