02) QUEBEC POSTAL WORKER JOINS FREEDOM FLOTILLA III

            Christian Martel, a recently retired letter-carrier from the Quebec City area, left on June 17 to join the Freedom Flotilla III that is headed to Gaza. He is one of over fifty citizens from different countries, and he is joined by three other Canadians: Robert Lovelace, member of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, Kevin Neish, an activist from Victoria, BC, who is already on board the Marianne, which left Sweden several weeks ago, and Ehab Lotayef, an engineer and poet from Montreal, member of the steering committee for the Canadian Boat to Gaza and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

            Martel, an retired member of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and for many years head of the Quebec section and international solidarity issues, as well as being a member of the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ) executive, is engaging in an act of courage and solidarity toward the Palestinian people.

            The population of Gaza lives in an open-air prison, or, as Lovelace puts it, “in the world’s largest Indian reservation”. The blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel since 2007, is illegal and immoral. It violates international law, specifically the fourth Geneva Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 1), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 13), and the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. This blockade is killing the population little by little.

            All of this is happening in front of our eyes, with the complicity of the international community and in particular that of the Canada’s Harper government, whose unconditional and obsessive support for Israel essentially constitutes a “declaration of war” on the Palestinian people. As Martel says: “when we witness this kind of situation, we need to assume our responsibilities.”

            The gathering of supporters that saw Christian Martel off at the airport included a Québec Solidaire representative, who delivered a statement of support from his party. A number of Québec organizations support Martel and what he is doing, including the Ligue des droits et libertés, the Québec Federation of Labour, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, the Greater Montréal Central Council of the CSN, the Centre Internationale de Solidarité Ouvrière, the Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale, Fédération des femmes du Québec, Palestinians and Jews United, Independent Jewish Voices, the Justice and Faith Centre, BDS-Québec Coalition, and the Trois-Rivières Solidarity Committee.

            The Freedom Flotilla III sets its course on Gaza to call for an immediate end to this inhumane blockade This peaceful international initiative bears witness to the fact that Israel’s treatment of Gaza Palestinians is not done “in our name”, that to the contrary, Israel’s position is increasingly rejected across the globe. “It’s time for the criminal blockade of Gaza to end. Until human rights are respected and Palestinians are given control of their own destiny, peace in the region will remain a distant dream,” commented Mike Palecek, CUPW National President.

            Canadian Boat to Gaza, http://www.tahrir.ca/content/donate, https://www.facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza, and Twitter: @CanadaBoatGaza

(The above article is from the July 1-31, 2015, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)