Community Statement: Together Against the Xenophobic Charter / Ensemble contre la Charte xénophobe

Community Statement: “Ensemble contre la Charte xénophobe”
(“Together Against the Xenophobic Charter”)
We are opposed to the proposed Quebec Charter of Values (now known as Bill 60).

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 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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This community statement is endorsed by:
– À Deux Mains / Head and Hands
– Artivistic
– Assemblée populaire autonome de Villeray (APAQ Villeray)
– Association facultaire étudiante des sciences humaines (AFESH-UQÀM)
– Centre communautaire des femmes sud-asiatiques / South Asian Women’s Community Center (SAWCC)
– Centre de lutte contre l’oppression des genres / Centre for Gender Advocacy
– Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble / L’Ensemble de l’insurrection chaotique
– Collectif anarchiste Emma Goldman (Saguenay)
– Collectif éducation sans frontières (CESF)
– Collectif oppose à la brutalité policière (COBP)
– Collectif Québécois – Musulmans Contre Intégrismes et Islamophobie
– Comité des Femmes de diverses origines / Women of Diverse Origins
– Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC)
– 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 McGill / QPIRG McGill
– Immigrant Workers Center / Centre des travailleurs et travailleuses immigrantEs (CTI)
– Montréal Nord Républik
– Montreal Serai
– No One Is Illegal / Personne n’est illégal-Montréal
– Palestiniens et juifs Unis (PAJU)
– People’s Potato
– Queer Between the Covers
– Réseau de la Commission Populaire de Montréal
– Solidarité sans frontières / Solidarity Across Borders
– Tadamon
– Voix juives indépendantes / Independent Jewish Voices
[To endorse this statement as an organization, please contact nooneisillegal@gmail.com]
– Report-back: Demonstration against the xenophobic Charter (October 20, 2013), with photos, videos and articles
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.ca/2013/10/report-back-demonstration-against.html