The F.A.G.S.
CALL TO ACTION FOR THE
SEPTEMBER 20TH COUNTERPROTEST
Who are we?
The Faction Against Genocide, in Solidarity (F.A.G.S.) is a
collective of trannies, fags and dykes of conscience denouncing Fierté
Montreal’s pinkwashing.
We, queers of conscience, denounce Fierté Montréal’s pinkwashing.
In accepting dirty money from corporate and capitalist interests, Fierté signs off on the genocidal investments of its partners.
In allowing floats for Zionist organizations, banks, and corporations,
Fierté provides a platform and legitimacy to the racist rhetoric of its
partners.
We say: NOT IN OUR NAME!
None of us are free
until we are all free.
… ethnic cleansing, apartheid, collective punishment, chemical warfare, carpet bombing, targeting of civilian infrastructure, mass imprisonment, and international war crimes against Palestine and the Palestinian people.
In turn, they use racist and islamophobic stereotypes to broadly paint Palestinians as homophobic barbarians. This tactic, known as pinkwashing, is a cornerstone of the “Brand Israel” propaganda campaign.
More broadly, we denounce Fierté Montréal’s capitalist and colonialist co-optation of the struggle for our queer collective liberation.
The Stonewall Uprising was a series of riots led by broke trans people of colour, not a million-dollar parade led by rich white cis gay men and their corporate and state sponsors.
In the words of the late Sylvia Rivera, an instrumental participant in the Stonewall Uprising and lifelong trans revolutionary activist,
“this is no longer my pride.
I gave them their pride, but
they have not given me mine.”
We demand that Fierté Montréal
1. cut all ties with Zionist and colonialist corporations, banks, government branches, and community groups;
2. explicitly state its solidarity with Palestinian liberation;
3. take immediate action to right its wrongs;
4. stand in solidarity with all colonized peoples and all victims of state repression, from Turtle Island to Palestine.
Sponsors
The following sponsors of Fierté Montreal are complicit in Israeli apartheid in a variety of ways.
Toronto-Dominon Bank
– is investing in Elbit Systems Ltd, the Zionist entity’s largest privately-owned arms and security company which produces 85 percent of the drones and land-based equipment used by the Israeli Occupation Force.
– has 16 million $ directly invested and has directed tens of millions of dollars of investments into General Dynamics, the worlds fifth largest military company who actively supplies weapons to the Israeli Occupation Force and provides surveillance technology used along the so-called US-Mexico border.
– provided emergency financial support to United Jewish Appeal (UJA) on October 12th, 2023 to address the “recent and ongoing” conflict in the Middle East.
Loto Quebec
– has offered sports betting on Israeli Premiere League football. Betting money doesn’t go directly to the league but betting naturally increases viewership and advertising which directly increases profits. There are 31 teams in the league who mostly have ownership ties to Zionists and their businesses.
Bubly Sparkling Water
– is owned by PepsiCo and partnered with SodaStream which operates a factory in occupied Naqab (“Negev”) region of the Zionist entity.
– Pepsico and Absolut Vodka are also in partnership with Israeli company Tempo Beverages, the exclusive distributors of various beverage products to the Palestinian Authority, benefiting from access to a captive Palestinian market generated by the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
Société de Transport de Montreal
– went after comrades for wheat pasting pro-Palestine posters on metro station exits and urged the SPVM to investigate.
– metro entrances are a site of increased surveillance that target and displace people experiencing houselessness.
Société des alcools du Québec
– sells Israeli wines from occupied Golan Heights and other apartheid and occupied regions.
– promptly pulled all Russian products from shelves, in 2022, but won’t do the same for the Zionist entity.
Air Canada
– runs flights from Montreal and Toronto to Tel Aviv, service is currently suspended “due to the ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East.”
Rogers Wireless
– has strong financial ties with Scotiabank through its Rogers Control Trust. Scotiabank has invested 500 million in Elbit Systems Ltd, an Israeli military contractor.
Home Depot
– sells Israeli brands in its stores. Its largest Israeli supplier, Keter Plastics, is heavily invested in the Israeli colonies in the West Bank.
M.A.C. Cosmetics
– is owned by Estee Lauder, whose executives, especially Ronald Lauder, have extremist Zionist views and financially and politically support the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
Bud Light
– Budweiser’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, began operating in the Zionist entity in 2018 after its aquisition of Weissbeerger and opened an “Israeli cybersecurity unit” in 2019 to “protect itself from a growing number of attacks.”
Starbucks
– profits support the Zionist entity by being reinvested into companies that produce weapons for the Israeli Occupation Force. Vanguard Group and BlackRock hold a combined 174.8M shares of Starbucks. Both groups support the Israeli Occupation Force by holding shares in Elbit Systems (their weapons company) and Lockheed Martin (which produces fighter jets for the Israeli Occupation Force).
– has sued their workers union after they published a statement in solidarity with Palestine online.
Loblaws
– includes Loblaws, Provigo, No Name, Pharmaprix, Maxi and many others
– carry various apartheid products, and have in one way or another provided support to the Zionist entity such as sponsoring the annual “Walk with Israel” in Toronto.