About 2,000 people marched in NYC after reading the names of children whom Israeli attacks have just killed in Gaza. A beautiful and incredibly sad march in solidarity with Palestine.
Here are early pictures from the march.
Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
At NYC Israel parade, QAIA challenges "gay rights" diversion from apartheid laws
6/3/12
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For immediate release
Date: June 3, 2010
"QUEERS AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID" PROTEST AT NYC ISRAEL PARADE
Protesters denounce Israeli government plan to use pro-gay messages to divert attention from apartheid laws; challenge Quinn to oppose anti-Muslim discrimination at LGBT Center
New York - LGBT activists protested at New York City's "Celebrate Israel" parade today, objecting to Israel's apartheid laws denying Palestinian human rights and its use of gay rights messaging to portray Israel as open and democratic. Signs reading "Support Palestinian Queers" and "Israel: Stop Pinkwashing Apartheid" dotted the sidelines of the Fifth Avenue parade. Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QAIA) organized the protest.
"Israel is trying to repair its horrible human rights profile by painting itself as a gay mecca," said Brad Taylor of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. "But having some gay clubs in Tel Aviv doesn't make Israel a democracy. Israel builds separate roads for Jews and Arabs, separate schools, separate neighborhoods. Your rights to work, travel, marry, etc. -- they all depend on whether or not you're Palestinian. It's apartheid, whether you're gay or straight."
The protesters also planned to challenge NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn as she marched in the parade, calling on her to take action to stop Muslim-baiting at NYC's LGBT Community Center and in NYC's Gay Pride parade. The community center ejected and banned groups meeting in support of Palestinian LGBT organizations last year, at the demand of pro-Israel individuals. Shortly afterward, pro-Israel marchers in NYC's 2011 Gay Pride parade beset and assaulted a Palestine human rights contingent.
"Speaker Quinn is constantly telling us how important Israel is to her. But she hasn't uttered a word about the Arab-baiting and Muslim-baiting that pro-Israel groups are fomenting in the LGBTQ community -- her own backyard. The LGBT community is in an uproar about this discrimination, and she's giving it the all-clear," said Leslie Cagan of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.
For more information: queersagainstisraeliapartheid.blogspot.com
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LGBT Center sit-in: weird success, failure & pix.
6/8/11
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The meeting went on for about 90 minutes and broke just about every rule the Center has ever enforced about the lobby: meeting attendees sat on the floor, blocked the flow of traffic (not on purpose, but because there were so many people), spoke and applauded loudly, etc. The Center made absolutely no response -- staff just let the meeting go on. And amazingly, the sky didn't fall as queers discussed controversial topics and organized action.
While the Center was arguably wise to just let the moment pass without escalating (remember that in March they panicked and hired private security goons, ostensibly to protect the Center from the queer protest outside), it doesn't necessarily add up to good news. Instead, it seems like the Center will just go along with whatever pressure it most currently feels.
The LGBTQ community urgently needs the Center actually to stand up for queer space, for openness, for community and accountability. That includes refusing to be bullied into pushing queers out of the Center, making its operations transparent and public, and explicitly affirming that the Center is open to all facets of the community -- not just whenever it's convenient. Nothing like that happened tonight, and the fight goes on.
Here are photos from the sit-in. More will be listed here as we see them posted.
https://picasaweb.google.com/117132485970294538173/QaiaSitInPix#
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150269586599859.376954.716419858
Gay City News:
Critics of Israeli Occupation Occupy Center Lobby
Queer group terming treatment of Palestinians “apartheid” defies ban on its meetings
Labels:
action/events by NYC queers,
Center actions,
media,
NYC-QAIA,
photos,
QFOLC,
Siegebusters
Center's response to queer protest -- Goons.
3/25/11
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In the lead-up to the protest, the Center did not respond to any of the letters it received from organizations that had signed on as sponsors. At the protest itself -- in the face of the clear message that the Center was becoming unwelcoming and/or unsafe for many queers -- the Center brought in private security (http://www.securityusainc.com) to keep queers out.
More photos of the demo and the security firm are here:
Read more »
More photos of the demo and the security firm are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/106832707371053465359/ProtestOfLGBTCenterSAttackOnQueerAntiRacistActivists3511#
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