(October 20) Demonstration & March: Ensemble contre la charte xénophobe

ENSEMBLE CONTRE LA CHARTE XÉNOPHOBE
DEMONSTRATION AND MARCH
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 at 1pm
Gathering Point: Bethune Square (métro Guy-Concordia)
(Boulevard de Maisonneuve West at rue Guy)
This is a family-friendly demonstration. Welcome to all!
We will be marching east along Ste-Catherine Street to Berri Square.
Please get in touch about any accessibility needs.
Organized by the Ensemble contre les chartes xénophobes Coalition. This demonstration is endorsed by:
– À Deux Mains / Head & Hands
– Association facultaire étudiante des sciences humaines (AFESH-UQÀM)
– B`Nai Or Community Shul
– Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble / L’Ensemble de l’insurrection chaotique
– Collectif Québécois – Musulmans Contre Intégrismes et Islamophobie
-Geograds (Geography, Planning and Environment Graduates Association at Concordia)
-Groupe de recherche d’intérêt public à Concordia / QPIRG Concordia
-Groupe de recherche d’intérêt public à Concordia / QPIRG McGill
– Immigrant Workers Center / Centre des travailleurs et travailleuses immigrantEs (CTI)
– Montréal Nord Républik
– No One Is Illegal / Personne n’est illégal-Montréal
– Réseau de la Commission Populaire de Montréal
– Solidarité sans frontières / Solidarity Across Borders
– Tadamon
and more …
If your organization (collective, union, association, network, neighborhood assembly, faith group, etc) agrees with this basis of unity, we encourage you to endorse this demonstration and mobilize your members, friends and allies to attend. Please send endorsements to nooneisillegal@gmail.com
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Our Basis of Unity:
We are opposed to the proposed Quebec Charter of Values.
From the outset, the proposed Charter and related debate fails to recognize that Quebec and Canada are built on stolen Indigenous land, and constituted through the dispossession and genocide of Indigenous peoples. We assert our solidarity and support with Indigenous struggles for self-determination and cultural integrity.
We are for legal equality between all genders but we also assert our support for struggles against patriarchy, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, racism and all forms of oppression.
We oppose those aspects of the Charter that attack the personal dignity and self-determination of our fellow Quebec residents, including their ability to work and survive in major sectors of the economy.
We assert that the introduction of the Charter of Values is both hypocritical and xenophobic. It is hypocritical because ostentatious symbols of one religion will remain untouched (specifically the Duplessis crucifix in the National Assembly as well as the cross on Mont-Royal). It is xenophobic because Charter supporters are appealing to sensationalized and false fears of other cultures and traditions, as part of an electoral calculation to win the votes of bigots.
We reject the monolithic portrayal of our communities and we assert the diversity of our cultures and traditions as well as our multiple identities.
We also reject the Charter as sexist as it is based on stereotypes of women who choose to wear the hijab. We reject the notion that women of faith need to be saved, and instead we support the women who are on the frontlines of their own struggles for liberation, as subjects, not objects or victims, of their own transformation.
We support struggles against poverty, precarity, social exclusion, assimilation, borders, racial profiling, sexism and gender violence. We unite to build across differences and struggle against all forms of oppression, whatever their source.
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-> If your organization (collective, union, association, network, neighborhood assembly, faith group, etc) agrees with this basis of unity, we encourage you to ENDORSE this demonstration and mobilize your members, friends and allies to attend.  By endorsing, you will share this callout widely within your networks (by e-mail, facebook, web, phone and other means). Please send endorsements to nooneisillegal@gmail.com
-> If you can help POSTER AND FLYER, please e-mail nooneisillegal@gmail.com. Posters and flyers will be available for pick-up shortly.
-> If you can help SUPPORT this demonstration in other ways (banner-making, placards, logistics, fundraising), please get in touch via nooneisillegal@gmail.com.
-> We encourage groups to organize anti-Charter neighborhood CONTINGENTS to join our march. Let us know if you’re organizing something.
-> We also encourage the participation of people from OUTSIDE MONTREAL to join the march. We encourage the organization of buses and transport to Montreal. Get in touch if you need any support organizing a contingent from your city, town or region.
INFO:
web: www.nooneisillegal.org
e-mail: nooneisillegal@gmail.com
tel: 438-933-7654 (via Solidarity Across Borders)
facebook: www.facebook.com/NoOneIsIllegalMontreal
twitter: @SolidariteMTL