Not surprisingly, it did not take long for Western colonial powers and settler colonial institutions to show their true colonial selves. Nor was it surprising to see the systemic violence against any attempt to call out state colonialism or institutional complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The regurgitating statements of “unequivocal support” to the active genocide of the Israeli settler colonial apartheid "state" against Palestinian people, following the October 7th, 2023 attack against Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestine, were sickening. 

The statements of support from Western colonial powers are active participation in colonial genocide against Palestinian people; they are also acts of violence against their citizens meant to silence any attempt to resist settler colonialism and call out its institutional violence that is now actively promoting the continuation of genocide against Palestinian people on live TV. The Arab and Muslim diaspora in Canada and the West, together with all activists voicing their rejection of the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Palestine felt this silencing strategy. 

The Canadian position showed us again the deep roots of Canadian colonial heritage. All political parties and institutions in Canada made similar statements that support the Israeli rights to self-defense and the vast condemnation of Hamas. Even worse, Canadian politicians maintained their support after watching the butchering of Palestinian children on live TV. All Canadian political parties, mainstream media, and institutions, including university administrations, are complicit in the ongoing genocide. Nothing you do will ever clear the path for peace, human rights, and dignity of all people as long as you continue to demonstrate double standards to support a racist settler colonial apartheid regime.

Is it hard for political leaders and elected officials in Canada to call for an immediate ceasefire? Watching the Israeli army slaughter children on live TV does not move them? Didn’t the Israeli leaders and war criminals' depiction of the Palestinians as “human animals” and “children of darkness” remind them of anything? What about the active ethnic cleansing and collective punishment of 2.3 million people who have already been under extreme conditions of a brutal siege that cut food, water, medicine, fuel, and any hope for survival? The Canadian politicians' rhetoric of human rights, equality, and respect for international laws is a smoke screen that hides their active complicity with genocide and colonial interests. Their record of protecting their colonial interest has never been more evident, all thanks to the Palestinian resistance and "Israel's" brutality.

The Canadian colonial system continues being a colonial warmonger against what most citizens hope for. For a country to play an active role at the global level, it must decide whether to be a colonial power serving its colonial agenda or a country to stand with the marginalized and oppressed; Canada has chosen! The rhetoric of equity, diversity, and inclusion that politicians vocalize contradicts their colonial practices, rendering their position very clear: keep Canada a settler colonial state that exploits international laws and human rights for its colonial agenda.

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Canadian mainstream media is not innocent either; they have had many opportunities to represent what is going on in Gaza within the context of settler colonial struggle. Yet, not surprisingly, they chose to parrot propaganda that led to the ongoing genocide against Palestinian children and civilians. Even after the systematic Israeli massacres against Palestinians have been crowding TV and social media sources, Canadian mainstream media chose to support Israeli settler colonialism in Palestine and ignore international laws, international human rights agencies calling out Israeli apartheid, and the many UN declarations that support Palestinian self-determination and rights to independence. Ironically, Canadian and mainstream Western media continually lecture us about their commitments to truth and respect for Human rights and international laws. Yet, we have seen blatant propaganda that fosters Muslim and Arab dehumanization and rhetorical discourses that promote genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine.

In a recent rally in Canada supporting the Palestinian struggle, a speaker said: “If Israelis stop fighting, we may have peace, but if Palestinians stop resisting, we will have no Palestinians left.” Let this statement sink in! As we reflect, let’s remember all the people who have been lost to colonial genocide and all those who struggle with colonial violence and erasure. 

Amid the ongoing racist colonial Israeli genocide against Palestinians, we bear witness to the blood that has been shed. We bear witness to all the pain and suffering of every mother who lost a child, every sister who lost a brother, and every child who lost their parents. We bear witness to every land stolen, every broken bone, and every fetus killed in anticipation before birth to prevent the emergence of a new generation of Palestinian resistance. We bear witness to all the crimes against humanity that the Israeli colonial state and its allies justified in the name of self-defense. We bear witness to the dehumanization that justifies cultural cleansing and crimes against humanity.

We bear witness to all this and more to stand and fight together. We will not be silenced; we will not cave to threats and we will not fear the colonial violence that seeks to silence and erase us. We bear witness to the hope we see in people on the streets calling out “not in our names”; we see that hope materializing in the face of Western colonial systems.

In this messed up world, we bear witness to reject hate and colonial violence and stand up against genocide. We bear witness to ensure we leave future generations a just world. We witness the hope in all the resistance movements standing up against genocide, colonial violence, and systemic eraser. 

To our people in Palestine, to our people in Gaza: defenders of human rights worldwide are united so that you live, resist, and fight for your freedom and dignity.