This Thursday, July 25, the Collectif Désinvestir pour la Palestine and its allies, including Palestinian and Jewish Unity, invited the public to a day of activities aimed at informing and mobilizing on the investments of the Caisse de dépôts et placement du Québec (CDPQ). These investments are estimated at $14.5 billion in companies complicit in the genocide in Palestine.
In light of the recent July 18 report of the International Court of Justice finding illegal Israel’s growing occupation of Palestinian territories, it becomes urgent to intensify efforts to divest public funds implicated in the erasure of the Palestinian people.
The need to mobilize the population is all the more pressing following the publication of a research report by medical journal The Lancet stating a minimum estimate of 186,000 deaths in Gaza since October 2023 , far ahead of the 40,000 deaths previously put forward.
Ongoing genocide : proportions as big as the city of Sherbrooke
“The ongoing genocide in Gaza is taking on unprecedented proportions right now. You have to imagine what 186,000 people killed means. It’s as if the entire population of the city of Sherbrooke and surrounding areas were liquidated,” says Chadi Marouf, co-president of Palestinians and Jewish Unity. “It’s very serious, and public institutions like the CDPQ must immediately take measures to get Quebecers’ money out of this genocidal war machine.”
The day began with speeches and a festive gathering. It continued with a workshop-discussion on the “Situation of homelessness and mobilization” led by the Collectif Refus Local.
“It is deplorable to see that the CDPQ prefers to invest billions in Israel’s genocidal regime rather than placing public capital in means of fighting against multiple social crises, particularly the housing crisis that is raging throughout Quebec,” said Chadi Marouf. “The CDPQ has the means and the responsibility to manage taxpayers’ money in an ethical and moral manner.”
The Collectif Désinvestir pour la Palestine also held popular training workshops on CDPQ investments to further examine the links between CDPQ and the genocide in Palestine.
CIJA goons show up
The Centre for Israel Affairs (CIJA), one of the most notorious zionist organisations in Canada sent their goons to intimidate jewish activists from protesting the ongoing genocide in Palestine by stating that Israel is justified in killing children because they are ‘’terrorist children’’. Watch the video here:
The SPVM on high alert
The Montreal Police Department was on high alert all day with its team of riot police in their cars. They intervened with families and children who used chalk on the sidewalk who were drawing illustrations and slogans in solidarity with Palestine.
“The city talks about being more environmentally friendly, but they let the police run their cars all day to ‘monitor’ the activities of the collective and its allies. It was absolutely ridiculous,” Marouf said.
According to Niall Clapham Ricardo, protester and member of Independent Jewish Voices, told CityNews that Quebecers should know where their money is going.
“When the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec was created, it was to give Quebec autonomy as a people, as a nation, to be able to decide what we want to do with our own money and carry out projects that we want. Promoting the war machine is not part of our collective values,” he said.
During the summer, the collective plans to continue the work of mobilization and education to launch even more possible avenues of citizen action to counter the genocide in Palestine.
