CW (content warning): mentions of the ongoing violence being committed against Palestinian people.

Galley 101 affirms our support and solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine in their ongoing resistance against colonial violence and apartheid.  We believe that all individuals, no matter what nationality, gender, color, religion, or sexual orientation, have a right to live in dignity, freedom and self determination. We oppose all forms of colonialism and hierarchic systems that enable one group to suppress and dominate another, here on Turtle Island and around the world.

As a Canadian art organization driven by our awareness of current social and cultural movements and with a mandate to explore decolonizing counter-narratives, it’s important that G101’s community knows where and with whom we stand.  While biased mainstream media has distorted the recent events in East Jerusalem and Gaza as a religious conflict, we want to be clear that criticism of Israel’s state-sanctioned colonial violence on Palestinians is not a call for hateful rhetoric against any religious group.

We join Canadian artists and cultural workers in calling on the Canadian government to immediately impose economic sanctions and stop the sale of weapons to the Israeli regime. We support the goals of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice, and equality that urges global action to pressure Israel to comply with international law and end its systematic violations on Palestinian people.

We highlight that true freedom cannot be attained if a people are not free to express themselves, move freely, and affirm their culture. We call on Canadian media to fairly, transparently, and accurately cover these unfolding events, and to respect the labour and the risks of Palestinian voices in the telling of their stories.