Welcome to the VanGran4Pal Newsletter! 🍉
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**Neighbours and Friends, **
We are so glad to have you with us for this week’s edition as we cover news, updates and our strategy going forwards. We’ll now be back to our biweekly schedule and hope you’ll be sticking with us!
Our small team had a coffee and catch up in the winter sun last week, using it as an opportunity to plan for how to keep this newsletter helpful, informative and engaging. You’ll now find in each edition one simple, free action we encourage you to take, along with one donation campaign - we want to make continued advocacy as easy as possible, wherever you live. Scroll down to check out these sections. As usual, we’ll continue to feature all the Vancouver-based events we can, along with sharing strategies to advocate for Palestine in local politics. We will continue our community spotlight. If you ever have anything you’d like to share, please don’t hesitate to reply to this email!
Onto the news, and this week we are reflecting on what a ceasefire deal means, and honouring the life of Hind Rajab. Wednesday marked the one year anniversary of her murder. There truly aren’t words for the sorrow we feel when we pay attention to the horrors of the war crimes that have been committed. Hind’s story is one of thousands, and pay attention we must. As a community, we hold Hind in our hearts as a child who deserves justice, like all children in Gaza. A recent interview from Al Jazeera with a UNICEF communications specialist describes what life is like for children in Gaza right now, how they responded to the ceasefire announcement and what lies ahead. The Hind Rajab Foundation has been doing incredible work to pursue justice and seek accountability for Israeli soldiers who committed war crimes - read more about their work here. On the theme of accountability, New Zealand is now requiring Israelis to disclose military service when applying for visas - this broadly positive move is a step in the right direction, and Canada should take similar steps (which organizations such as CJPME are advocating for), though there is much further to go.
Action Updates
One small action you can take!
This week we are encouraging each member of this lovely community to welcome in a friend. Cancel culture won’t get us where we need to go and neither will shutting folks out who haven’t known how to take action or what to do. This movement is about humanity; it is collective resistance against the acceptance of crimes against humanity. We welcome anyone on board with that. So, we encourage you to try one of the below:
- Forward someone this email, or ask them to subscribe by sharing this link
- Invite a friend along to attend an event you’re going to. Scroll down for upcoming events and actions!
Upcoming Events
March & Vigil - Sunday Feb 2nd
Sunday Feb 2nd
Vancouver Art Gallery 🕑 1:30PM
From @freepalestinebc: Rain, Shine or Snow we will be at VAG in solidarity with Palestine 🍉🇵🇸
This Lunar New Year, we honour the martyrs of zionist genocidal siege against Palestinians. We protest against the violent occupation. We rally in solidarity with all people oppressed by imperialism, from Turtle Island to Palestine.
The Lunar New Year is a time to gather our loved ones, to honour our ancestors, and to welcome new aspirations for the upcoming year. Let us unite in solidarity with the Palestinian people in our collective fight for liberation.
**Look out for folks wearing vangran4palestine pins or with vangran4palestine signs and come and say hello! **
NEW YEAR, SAME DEMAND: FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸
這個新年，我們緬懷巴勒斯坦烈士。 我們抗議暴力佔領。 從靈龜島到巴勒斯坦，我們聲援所有受帝國主義壓迫的人民。
新年是我們與親人團聚、紀念祖先、迎接來年新願望的時刻。 讓我們團結起來，聲援巴勒斯坦人民爭取解放的集體鬥爭。
抗議遊行 & 守夜活動
星期日, 2月2日 下午1點30分開始
溫哥華美術館
新年要求不變: 解放巴勒斯坦!!
福蛇迎解放 🇵🇸
Coquitlam Rally - Sunday Feb 2nd
Sunday Feb 2nd @ 3PM
Coquitlam City HallFrom @freepalestinetricities:
Today’s a good day to renew your commitment to the Palestinian cause. The indiscriminate bombing and killing OF OVER 150 humans during morning prayers by the US-backed IOF must be condemned!
Coquitlam City Hall - 3pm - Today we will link arms in solidarity during a portion of our rally, and we also plan to close with a short march. Please come out and show your support for humanity, we must not become desensitized to such brutal atrocities during this genocide of Gaza! ✊🏾🍉✌🏾
Valentine’s for Palestine - Weds Feb 5th
🗓 Date: Weds Feb 5th 2025
⏰ Time: 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM PST
📍 Location: 316 W. 5th AveFrom @mediumlondonfog:
are you in a steamy situationship with your landlord? crushing on your non binary barista? day dreaming of the prolonged eye contact you made with the bus driver before you got off on Hastings and Nanaimo?
come by @bsidedotradio FEB 5TH from 2-5:30PM to get a handwritten love poem from me and enjoy some sexy tunes by some of vancouver’s finest while you’re at it (@josephbondoc, @luckishay, @ninamendoza, @shmedlynrae, @etoh0, @shypervert, and @algerliang).
ALL proceeds go towards @mohammed._.badwan and his family in g@z@.
instructions:
- come as you are
- show me proof of your donation to @mohammed._.badwan’s gofundme (min. is $10 - link in my bio) or bring cash
- watch as i go off the dome ✍️😳
- get jiggy (if u want)
all poems will be handwritten on heavyweight, deckle-edged paper and wax sealed in its own envelope for your viewing pleasure.
love isn’t limited. come get something written for a friend, your mum, yourself.
see you soon. 🤎
poster by the lovely @brontetolentino
PS: if you're wanting a poem, please try to come earlier 💌 naturally more people filter in near the end, but we only get the space until 5:45PM - so if there's a queue of folks waiting for poems I may not be able to get to all of them!
Skill Share - Monday Feb 10th
** 🗓 Monday, February 10, 2025**
⏰ Door/light meal at 6 pm
📍IRL only. Location in East Vancouver provided to registrants
⭐️ Limited spots, Registration required, click here!
From @weaving.our.worlds: With constant state surveillance and repression across social movements, we invite you to a skill share: Solidarity Against State Repression.
Join us for a skill share on strengthening solidarity against repression: what to do when cops or csis come knocking, supporting arrested or jailed comrades; movement defense and our positionalities; crossing borders, protecting ourselves against surveillance + more. Solidarity is stronger than fear!
Given the nature of this event with limited spots, registration is required.
👶🏾 Childminding by registration, link in bio!
😷 Masks Required and Provided
Mutual aid is in effect! Bring cash, with all funds going to support Gitxsan resistance to PRGT pipeline, February 14 DTES MMIWG2s+ Memorial March, and to cover event costs. ❤️
Donation Campaign of the Week
Support our friend Mohammed and his family in Gaza
Mohammed has dedicated his life to helping others, he works for a charity that serves refugees in Canada, using his professional and lived experience to help refugee claimants develop new lives.
About Mohammed’s family in Gaza:
Mohammed’s mother, two young brothers, adult brother, and sister-in-law are in Gaza. They have lost everything. Their home was completely destroyed in an air strike in October 2023. They have lost all of their belongings, including valuables and some emergency savings. For over a year now they have been moving around, finding shelter where they can amidst the ongoing violence with no access to basic necessities like food, clean water, or medical care.
The funds will go directly to three critical areas:
- Sustaining life and evacuation of Mohammed's family in Gaza
- Medical care for Mohammed's father
- Mohammed’s family's reunification in Canada
To read more and donate, click here.
Community Spotlight
Building Community
In the community spotlight this week is YOU! You are an integral part of the movement for Palestinian solidarity in Vancouver. This week we want to encourage you to show up in your community for Palestine.
How can you strengthen solidarity with your neighbours and friends? Maybe you’re following our action suggestions and bringing a friend to an event or forwarding this email. Maybe you will be sharing information about BDS targets and alternatives next time you meet up to grab a coffee and shop. There are a million tiny ways to show up, build momentum, and foster solidarity. It should be completely normal to be against genocide and by staying steadfast as a community, united for Palestine, we are standing up for human rights everywhere.
So, this week we encourage you to reflect on what building community looks like for you. And if you have ideas to share, send them our way! We'd love to hear how you're reaching out and growing the movement in your communities, and potentially share your words in our next newsletter.
Contribute to the Newsletter
Do you have something you would like to share with your neighbours? We welcome submissions of all kinds — stories, poems, art, and event info. Simply reply to this email to send in your contribution.
Forward to a Friend
Feel free to share: click here** **to subscribe or share this edition as a webpage by clicking this link. Share using our QR code.
With gratitude and in solidarity,
Your Neighbours
Van Gran 4 Palestine
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