Propalestinian activists held a silent demonstration in the Maison de Radio-Canada in Montreal on Thursday to denounce the role of the public diffuser in what they describe as “the manufacture of an incomprehension of the genocide in progress in Gaza”.
Around 4:30 p.m., fifteen demonstrators entered the entrance hall of the Maison de Radio-Canada and sat on the ground in a silent protest.
They came out about thirty minutes later chanting slogans and brandishing banners, under the gaze of the police, almost as numerous as they were, who were posted in front of the building.
“We are there to denounce the lack of representation that we give to the massacres of journalists in Gaza, while these are war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Salma Aresky, co-spokesperson for the demonstration, organized by a collective of organizations including the Disinvesting group for Palestine.
The mobilization arrives three days after six Palestinian journalists were killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza, at the same time when the Israeli army is about to take control of the city. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned “murder”, which he described as a “serious violation of international humanitarian law”.
Protesters also accuse Radio-Canada/CBC of “making editorial decisions that dilute the truth, marginalize Palestinian voices, and amplify the Israeli military prospects”, in a press release released Thursday afternoon.
The demonstrators denounce what they consider to be a “double standard” in the way in which traditional media cover the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, explained Yan Lanciault, co-spokesperson for the demonstration. The activist believes that traditional media tend the microphone more to Proisraélian interlocutors than to Propalestinian voices.
According to Salma Aresky, it is time for the media to use the term “genocide” rather than “conflict”, to describe what happens in Palestinian territory.
According to the integrated framework of food security classification (IPC), the “worst famine scenario” is currently taking place in the Gaza Strip, since Israel has placed a humanitarian blockade on the enclave.
The United Nations Special Council determined in November that the war waged by the Hebrew State in Gaza has elements characteristic of a genocide “by its seat of Gaza, the obstruction of humanitarian aid, targeted attacks and the murder of civilians and humanitarian workers,” read a statement.