On June 9th, 2021, Sulong UBC along with other BAYAN organizations joined Palestinian and solidarity groups to block a ZIM boat from unloading its cargo at the Port of Vancouver. ZIM is Israel’s oldest and largest international cargo shipping company.
The action was successful in blocking cargo from being unloaded for one shift. This significantly impacted Israeli profits and sent a clear message to the Port of Vancouver that we demand an end to profit-making in complicity with Israeli apartheid.
Read and watch our solidarity statement below:
Warm and militant greetings from Sulong UBC and all BAYAN organizations, on behalf of the Filipino people!
We stand with the Palestinian people in solidarity in your struggle against Israeli apartheid and against US-backed and Canadian-backed Israeli war crimes. In the Philippines, we know well the terror of a US-backed military. Filipino youth defending their rights have faced political imprisonment, harassment, and extrajudicial killings. Indigenous Filipino youth defending their homelands from corporate invasion and resource extraction face development aggression and militarized terror. This has intensified since the 2020 passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which legalizes the targeted harassment of activists. Similar laws have enshrined and legalized the terrorist-tagging of anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian organizations, a targeting which we condemn wholeheartedly.
Our experience is tied to the experience of Palestinian youth who have faced displacement and killings at the hands of the Israeli military with the complicity of the colonial and imperialist Canadian government and US imperialism. Yet we also know that Palestinian youth and students are key forces in the struggle for Palestinian liberation, and we take heart from your example as youth and students organizing for the liberation of our people. As we struggle against the US-Philippine dictatorial regime in our homeland, which is the root cause of our migration to these occupied Indigenous lands, we struggle with you against US-Israeli apartheid.
From Palestine to the Philippines, stop the US War Machine!
Long Live International Solidarity!
Free Free Palestine!