Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
Encyclopedia
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) is a Toronto
-based grassroots LGBT
group involved in the movement against what the organization see as Israeli apartheid and is a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. The group has been involved in Israeli Apartheid Week
as well as Pride Week
. QuAIA formed shortly after the 2008 iteration of Israeli Apartheid Week at which queer activists had a discussion about "the use of gay rights as a propaganda tool to justify Israel’s apartheid policies." The group went on to form contingents for the 2008-2010 Pride parades, as well as holding forums, discussion panels and cultural events in Toronto.
However, following a backlash from the local queer community,
Pride Toronto reversed their decision to ban the words "Israeli Apartheid" as of June 23, 2010.
Yakov M. Rabkin
, professor of history at the Université de Montréal
, spoke out in favor of QuAIA's message and their right to march in the parade in the pages of the National Post, saying,
Gil Troy
, Professor of History at McGill University
, has criticized Queers against Israeli Apartheid:
QuAIA marched in the parade on July 4, 2010, along with their allies in the Pride Coalition for Free Speech, largely without incident.
Speaking to the Toronto Star, QuAIA spokesperson Tim McCaskell stated that the city manager and staff had “obviously done their homework, and talked to lawyers, and not made this a political decision but one that’s based on a reasonable look at the facts of the matter and of Canadian law... It basically vindicates everything we’ve been saying for the last two years.” Toronto mayor Rob Ford
indicated that he plans to defund the parade regardless of the City Manager report.
campaign.
The announcement was generally considered a surprise, even by media that had been following the story closely. According to the Toronto Star, "QuAIA’s decision [not to march] represents a significant tactical shift for the group, which fought intensely last year for the right to participate in Pride."
At a May 24, 2011 meeting of the executive committee, City Hall voted unanimously to accept the city manager's report, which makes it likely that Pride Toronto will receive funding Deputations were given on the issue by over 50 speakers, which included QuAIA itself that had made a short video specifically for the purpose. The video can be seen here.
speaking in favor of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign from an LGBT perspective.
The event was held June 22, 2011 at Toronto's historic Gladstone Hotel.
The following evening, June 23, a second event was held that featured Sarah Schulman speaking on her history of fighting homophobia and AIDS activism in the ACT UP!
organization in New York City
. The second event was cosponsored with numerous queer and AIDS activist organizations.
During her visit, Schulman was also interviewed by local queer media Xtra!
, primarily focusing on how she came to support the BDS campaign as a queer activist.
In lieu of participation in the actual Parade, QuAIA dropped a 40 foot banner from above Toronto's Wellesley subway station
promoting a campaign to boycott LGBT leisure tourism to Israel. The banner drop occurred on July 3, the day of the 2011 Pride Parade, in the heart of Toronto's historic LGBT district
. The banner read "Support Palestinian Queers, Boycott Israeli Tourism."
This campaign was prominently promoted in a banner drop
at the 2011 Pride Parade.
has been listed as one of the participants in the 2011 Freedom Flotilla II
. Greyson is reported to be a passenger aboard the Canadian boat "Tahrir." Greyson's participation in the Flotilla came to the public spotlight in the aftermath of a hoax video in which an Israeli actor claimed that gays weren't welcome to participate in the flotilla.
LGBT film festival QuAIA jointly sponsored a program consisting of film shorts produced by artists in Lebanon, Palestine and their diasporas. The program was titled "With Love from Le(z)Banon and Pa(lez)tine" and was followed by a talk by Professor Samar Habib on queer representation in Egyptian cinema. QuAIA co-sponsored the program with Queer Ontario.
Local Toronto alternative media company Deviant Productions conducted an interview with Professor Habib after the event, in which she further discussed queer representation in Arab cinema.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-based grassroots LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
group involved in the movement against what the organization see as Israeli apartheid and is a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. The group has been involved in Israeli Apartheid Week
Israeli Apartheid Week
Israeli Apartheid Week is an annual series of university lectures and rallies held in February or March. According to the organisation "[t]he aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns as part of a...
as well as Pride Week
Pride Week (Toronto)
Pride Week is a ten-day event held in Toronto, Canada, during the end of June each year. It is a celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area. It is one of the largest organized gay pride festivals in the world, featuring several stages with live performers and...
. QuAIA formed shortly after the 2008 iteration of Israeli Apartheid Week at which queer activists had a discussion about "the use of gay rights as a propaganda tool to justify Israel’s apartheid policies." The group went on to form contingents for the 2008-2010 Pride parades, as well as holding forums, discussion panels and cultural events in Toronto.
Pride 2010: Banning from Parade and Fallout
In 2010, the group was initially banned from marching in the Pride Toronto Parade, despite receiving statements of support from queer organizations within and outside Canada, including the three major Palestinian queer rights organizations.However, following a backlash from the local queer community,
Pride Toronto reversed their decision to ban the words "Israeli Apartheid" as of June 23, 2010.
Yakov M. Rabkin
Yakov M. Rabkin
Yakov M. Rabkin is a professor of history at the Université de Montréal, author and critic of Zionism. His book A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism was nominated for best French to English translation for "an important and timely work" at the 2006 Governor General's...
, professor of history at the Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
, spoke out in favor of QuAIA's message and their right to march in the parade in the pages of the National Post, saying,
Gil Troy
Gil Troy
Gil Troy is an American academic. Troy is Professor of History at McGill University in Montreal and a Visiting Scholar affiliated with the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington....
, Professor of History at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, has criticized Queers against Israeli Apartheid:
QuAIA marched in the parade on July 4, 2010, along with their allies in the Pride Coalition for Free Speech, largely without incident.
City Manager's report
On April 13, 2011 the non-partisan Toronto City Manager released a report for the City Council Executive Committee concluding that "the participation of QUAIA in the Pride Parade based solely on the phrase 'Israeli Apartheid' does not violate the City’s Anti-Discrimination Policy. The City also cannot therefore conclude that the use of term on signs or banners to identify QuAIA constitutes the promotion of hatred or seeks to incite discrimination contrary to the Code."Speaking to the Toronto Star, QuAIA spokesperson Tim McCaskell stated that the city manager and staff had “obviously done their homework, and talked to lawyers, and not made this a political decision but one that’s based on a reasonable look at the facts of the matter and of Canadian law... It basically vindicates everything we’ve been saying for the last two years.” Toronto mayor Rob Ford
Rob Ford
Robert Bruce "Rob" Ford is the 64th and current Mayor of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was first elected to city council in the 2000 Toronto municipal election, and was re-elected to his council seat in 2003 and again in 2006...
indicated that he plans to defund the parade regardless of the City Manager report.
Pride funding battle
Two days later on April 15, 2011, citing the City Manager's report QuAIA announced that it will not march in the 2011 Toronto Pride Parade for the stated purpose of "pos[ing] a challenge for Mayor Rob Ford." QuAIA spokesperson Elle Flanders elaborated by stating "Rob Ford wants to use us as an excuse to cut Pride funding, even though he has always opposed funding the parade, long before we showed up. By holding our Pride events outside of the parade, we are forcing him to make a choice: fund Pride or have your real homophobic, right-wing agenda exposed." QuAIA's press release further stated that the organization would instead host a community event in support of the Boycott, Divestment and SanctionsBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
campaign.
The announcement was generally considered a surprise, even by media that had been following the story closely. According to the Toronto Star, "QuAIA’s decision [not to march] represents a significant tactical shift for the group, which fought intensely last year for the right to participate in Pride."
At a May 24, 2011 meeting of the executive committee, City Hall voted unanimously to accept the city manager's report, which makes it likely that Pride Toronto will receive funding Deputations were given on the issue by over 50 speakers, which included QuAIA itself that had made a short video specifically for the purpose. The video can be seen here.
Alternative plans to parade
In mid June it was revealed that the community event QuAIA planned to host would feature prominent writer and anti-AIDS activist Sarah SchulmanSarah Schulman
Sarah Miriam Schulman is an American novelist, historian and playwright. An early chronicler of the AIDS crisis, she wrote on AIDS and social issues, publishing in The Village Voice in the early 1980s, and writing the first piece on AIDS and the homeless, which appeared in The Nation...
speaking in favor of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign from an LGBT perspective.
The event was held June 22, 2011 at Toronto's historic Gladstone Hotel.
The following evening, June 23, a second event was held that featured Sarah Schulman speaking on her history of fighting homophobia and AIDS activism in the ACT UP!
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives of people with AIDS and the AIDS pandemic to bring about legislation, medical research and treatment and policies to ultimately bring an end to the disease by mitigating loss of health and...
organization in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The second event was cosponsored with numerous queer and AIDS activist organizations.
During her visit, Schulman was also interviewed by local queer media Xtra!
Xtra!
Xtra! is a gay magazine, on newsprint in tabloid format, published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-History and content :...
, primarily focusing on how she came to support the BDS campaign as a queer activist.
In lieu of participation in the actual Parade, QuAIA dropped a 40 foot banner from above Toronto's Wellesley subway station
Wellesley (TTC)
Wellesley is a station on the Yonge–University–Spadina line of the Toronto, Ontario, Canada subway. It is located at 551 Yonge Street at Wellesley Street East.Wellesley is the only downtown TTC subway station with only one street entrance.-History:...
promoting a campaign to boycott LGBT leisure tourism to Israel. The banner drop occurred on July 3, the day of the 2011 Pride Parade, in the heart of Toronto's historic LGBT district
Church and Wellesley
Church and Wellesley is an LGBT-oriented community located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is roughly bounded by Gerrard Street to the south, Yonge Street to the west, Charles Street to the north, and Jarvis Street to the east, with the core commercial strip located along Church Street from...
. The banner read "Support Palestinian Queers, Boycott Israeli Tourism."
LGBT tourism boycott
In September 2009, a statement was released on the QuAIA website calling for a boycott of LGBT leisure tourism to Israel.This campaign was prominently promoted in a banner drop
Banner drop
A banner drop is the act of putting a banner in place as a protest tactic. The banner usually targets a specific corporation, law, political campaign, etc. The banner may itself be dropped on an activists' target, or in conjunction with the beginning of a campaign...
at the 2011 Pride Parade.
Freedom Flotilla
Filmmaker and QuAIA member John GreysonJohn Greyson
John Greyson is a Canadian filmmaker, whose work frequently deals with gay themes. Greyson is also a video artist, writer and activist; he is currently a professor at York University, where he teaches film and video theory and film production and editing.-Background:Greyson was born the son of...
has been listed as one of the participants in the 2011 Freedom Flotilla II
Freedom Flotilla II
"Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human" was a flotilla that planned to break the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel by sailing to Gaza on 5 July 2011. Ultimately, the sailing did not take place....
. Greyson is reported to be a passenger aboard the Canadian boat "Tahrir." Greyson's participation in the Flotilla came to the public spotlight in the aftermath of a hoax video in which an Israeli actor claimed that gays weren't welcome to participate in the flotilla.
Cultural Events
At the 2011 Inside OutInside Out
Inside Out was a hardcore punk band from Orange County, California. It was fronted by Zack de la Rocha, later of Rage Against the Machine.-Biography:...
LGBT film festival QuAIA jointly sponsored a program consisting of film shorts produced by artists in Lebanon, Palestine and their diasporas. The program was titled "With Love from Le(z)Banon and Pa(lez)tine" and was followed by a talk by Professor Samar Habib on queer representation in Egyptian cinema. QuAIA co-sponsored the program with Queer Ontario.
Local Toronto alternative media company Deviant Productions conducted an interview with Professor Habib after the event, in which she further discussed queer representation in Arab cinema.