Ruba Ghazal on Palestine = Quebec
Ruba Ghazal is to run a Quebec solidaire campaign to enthuse youngsters for Quebec sovereignty, starting by comparing the oppression of the French language to the situation of Palestinians.
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Kate
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MarcG 10:16 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
If anyone has the original quote I’d like to read it, I did a quick search and came up empty.
Kate 10:26 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
It’s a CP story, although CTV may have extracted the most clickbaity aspect. I’ll post if I find it on other platforms.
Joey 10:56 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
For how many years did young, Anglo lefties discount QS’s pro-sovereignty stance as not really relevant or germane to their identity. Suddenly the PQ is soaring in the polls, support for sovereignty is hovering at 40% and QS wants in on the action.
Kate 10:58 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
Indeed. I always hoped QS’s lefty principles were what they found most important, and they only kept the sovereignist label as a formality. Obviously not.
GC 11:00 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
I’d also be curious to see the original quote, when someone finds it. “Uprooted” is an odd way to describe Quebecois francophones, but maybe that’s not exactly what Ghazal said.
MarcG 11:50 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
Found this. Pretty wild if a single tweet is CP’s source. https://twitter.com/EtienneFG/status/1755943511432605706
Ian 11:58 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
Kate when GND got on board with QS they switched gear to ethnonationalism quite quickly.
MarcG 12:01 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
Actually that tweet seems to have been published after the newspaper articles so he took a paraphrase and turned it into a quote?
Joey 12:19 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
I am not sure that POC would be better off in an independent Quebec, especially given everything we’ve seen re: minority rights in the last couple of years. I guess Ruba Ghazal is fine with an independent Quebec led by a CAQ premier?
And while I certainly understand how one could see a connection between linguistic minorities in North America (Quebecois) and oppressed people around the world (e.g., Palestinians), I’m not sure this is a recipe for electoral success. Sooner or later QS is going to have to expand its appeal beyond its base. It’s disappointing that they seem to be going down the ethnonationalism role. The ‘modern economy stacks the deck against you’ lane is right there, team!
Blork 15:05 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
Any “oppression” of the French language in Canada/Quebec in recent times is entirely due to simple demographics. There are more English speakers in North America than French speakers, so of course English is dominant outside of Quebec. I’d like to see her point to a single law anywhere in Canada that oppresses or even limits French today.
Comparing the situation of French in Canada to Palestine is like saying that (1) Arabic is a required language to work in the Israel government, (2) Arabic is just short of “required” to hold any cabinet position in the Israel government, (3) Israel requires Arabic to appear on all product packaging, (4) Israelis mythologize Palestine for it’s “joie de vivre” and has Arab-immersion classes all over Israel so that young Israelis can fully participate in a bilingual Israel, (5) Israel actively funds Arabic cultural creatives all over Israel and Palestine, etc. Obviously none of that is real. Now flip it and see if you can find any real comparisons. Betcha can’t.
How out of touch reality is anyone who seriously makes such a comparison?
SMD 22:49 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
Original quote, from an email I received in her name from QS:
SMD 22:52 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
Link for quote above: https://mailchi.mp/quebecsolidaire/dcouvrez-notre-nouvelle-campagne
GC 11:09 on 2024-02-10 Permalink
Thanks, SMD.
Uatu 13:27 on 2024-02-10 Permalink
Yeah I don’t know but is there a Palestinian representation in the Knesset? Because there’s a francophone one in Parliament. Most PMs have ties to QC and there’s a party, the BQ, that’s been there for over 20yrs. The BQ even advocated to break up Canada, something that other countries might consider treason yet they’re still an influential presence in Ottawa. So I don’t see francophone QC as being powerless.
Ian 18:17 on 2024-02-10 Permalink
It’s a pretty spurious connection but to be fair she just means in the sense of yearning for nationhood, I suspect.