A Report from the Vigil in Solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese Journalists and Media Workers
Amidst the suffering of the people in Gaza, members of the broader GTA community group came together on Friday October 11th in a touching Vigil to pay homage and remember the fallen press and media workers who have been murdered by the IOF. The event which was organized by Mississauga Streetsville 4 Palestine and Ontario Palestinian Rights Association took place beside the headquarters of the CBC in downtown Toronto.
Despite the chill of October, activists, considered citizens, local journalists and media workers came together in a moment of shared pain and humanity to honour and remember those who gave their lives trying to share the truth from Gaza, Palestine, and Lebanon with the outside world. It was a fitting moment in which to grieve, reflect and remind each other of the hope for calls of peace, justice and an end to the horrors of violence and brutality that Israel continues to carry out in the name of self-defence.
Equally, the vigil served as an opportunity to call-out the complicity of the Canadian mainstream media in the latest phase of the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. Mainstream media outlets, such as the CBC, CTV, CP24, National Post, Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, etc., continue to play a crucial role in downplaying the genocide, ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people by Israel. For over a year, the mainstream media has chosen to side with occupiers and genocidaires by parroting IOF talking points uncritically, using dehumanizing language to describe Palestinians, labelling their resistance against occupation and colonization as “terrorism”, and not amplifying the dire warns of various UN organizations in regards to the dismantling of International Law by Israel and its sponsors/supporters United States, Germany, and Canada. All the while, Isreali war crimes continue to be committed on a daily basis and the International Criminal Court’s investigation into plausibility of genocide being committed by Israel continues.
During the vigil, speeches were given, poems were shared and songs were sung along with a moment of silence. 178 seconds of silence in honour of the 178+ media workers whom have been murdered by IOF. Coming together the communities represented at the vigil sent a message to the Western world and its media conglomerates that they have the blood of innocents on their hands.
