Abousfian Abdelrazik: Project Fly Home

winter morning blues

Listen to:
* winter morning blues
for Abdelrazik

saxophone — Matana Roberts
piano — Stefan Christoff
recorded by Thierry Amar @ Hotel 2 Tango

Statement from Abousfian

Listen to an audio statement from Abousfian Abdelrazik on April 1st, 2009 by clicking the play button below. You can download the MP3 here.

Day Of Action

Day Of Action

in solidarity with Abdelrazik & against the UN 1267 regime!

10-11 December 2010

Download a handbill to help mobilize for the 11 December march here!

Project Fly Home is calling for a day of action around international human rights day in solidarity with Abousfian Abdelrazik and against the UN 1267 Regime. Join us!

The 1267 List is an international tool which imposes a travel ban and an asset freeze on listed individuals and organizations. The list is managed by the United Nations Security Council but implemented by each UN member nation, such as Canada. It represents a new global regime of political control, in which states cooperate across borders to impose politically-motivated sanctions on individuals or organizations.

If you are in Montreal:

Saturday, 11 December 2010 at 1pm

Come join us in a march to various institutions in Montreal complicit in the 1267 Regime. Meeting point:

International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),
999 University St.

(McGill metro or Square Victoria metro)

Outside Montreal: join us on December 10th or 11th!

We are calling on allies everywhere to organize a delegation of people or protest to hand-deliver a letter of support for Abdelrazik to a government office near you, demanding that Canada act immediately to lift sanctions from Abdelrazik.

If you are interested in participating, please get in touch! We can provide you with:

  • background materials on Abdelrazik's case as well as materials on the 1267 List in general;
  • generic poster and flyer design to use for promotion of public events;
  • model letter to deliver to Canadian government office; and
  • model press release / event announcement.

We encourage our allies to think creatively while planning their actions.

Western Canada Speaking Tour

Western Canada Speaking Tour

Between 17 and 23 November 2010, Abousfian Abdelrazik will be speaking at public events organized in five cities across Western Canada. This tour follows the Breaking the Silence tour which brought Mr.Abdelrazik from Halifax to Winnipeg one year ago.

Schedule

Saskatoon
Wednesday, 17 November, 7:30pm
Augustana Church Hall, 7th Street and Broadway
Sponsored by: Amnesty International (U of S Chapter) and CUPE Saskatchewan
More info: tel. 306 382 8262 x 24

Regina
Thursday, 18 November, 7:30pm
University of Regina, Classroom Building, Room 130
Sponsored by: Amnesty Saskatchewan, Briarpatch, Making Peace Vigil, CCPA.
More info: tel. 306 209 2205

Edmonton
Saturday, 20 November, 7pm
University of Alberta, Law Centre 207A
Sponsored by: Palestine Solidarity Network - (University of Alberta); Department of Political Science (University of Alberta)

Calgary
Sunday, 21 November, 7pm
The Unitarian Church, 1703 1st St NW
(just off 16th Ave; enter from 1st St)
Sponsored by: The Abdelrazik Support Committee in Calgary
More info: tel. 403 246 8246

Vancouver
Tuesday, 23 November, 6pm
Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph Street
(south of Powell Street, west of Victoria Drive; Bus #20, 10 or 16)
Sponsored by: BC Federation of Labour; Canadian Labour Congress (Pacific Region); Center for Race Autobiography Gender and Age (RAGA-UBC); Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace and Social Movements (SFU); No One Is Illegal-Vancouver; Vancouver District Labour Council.
More info: noii-van@resist.ca

Sponsors

The tour is sponsored by:

  • Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)
  • Candian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Sasketchewan
  • Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)
  • Canadian Auto Workers (CAW)

Telethon and Spaghetti Dinner!

SANCTIONS-BUSTING TELETHON on APRIL 28th!

Build the pressure! Break the Sanctions!

Tune in to rabble.ca to watch the telethon broadcast live or listen to live updates on CKUT 90.3 FM

Click here for the radio announcement for the telethon (CKUT 90.3 FM).

  • Everywhere in Canada (and internationally):

    Call in! We will take calls from 7pm to 9pm (Montreal time).

  • In Montreal:

    Join us for a Spaghetti Dinner at 6pm and the Telethon from 7pm to 9pm at the Georges Vanier Cultural Centre, 2450, Rue Workman (two minutes from metro Lionel Groulx). Wheelchair accessible!

Project Fly Home is organizing the first ever "Sanctions-busting Telethon and Spaghetti Dinner" on April 28th to publicly celebrate our open defiance of the 1267 sanctions regime, challenging the fear, racism and isolation it creates and feeds on. The evening will include dinner and a host of poets, performers, speakers and actors who will join us for this truly unique evening.

On April 28th, 2008, Abousfian Abdelrazik went public with his story of detention, torture and exile and claimed refuge in the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum. He lived in the Embassy for more than a year, unable to leave the grounds, until the government was forced to bring him back to Montreal. Two years later, he is home but still not free.

Phone in or donate in person on April 28th. All contributions are welcome and very appreciated, not only for their practical value, but also for their important symbolic value in challenging the 1267 "prison" and in ensuring that Mr. Abdelrazik knows he is not alone in his struggle for justice.

TIME TO BREAK THE SANCTIONS

According to the 1267 sanctions regime and under federal law, anyone who contributes money to Mr. Abdelrazik risks federal prosecution. Canadian regulations state that no Canadian shall "provide or collect by any means, directly or indirectly, funds with the intention that the funds be used" by a listed person.

We did it before! In early 2009, a group stretching from Vancouver to Halifax, including people from all walks of life - farmers, law professors, labour union representatives, artists, film-makers, lawyers, workers, former Cabinet ministers, grandmothers, students and more - banded together to buy Abdelrazik a plane ticket home for April 3rd, despite federal government insistence that financially supporting Mr. Abdelrazik could violate the law (see list here). This powerful act of solidarity reflected a groundswell of support for Mr. Abdelrazik as well as growing outrage at the government's abusive treatment of him.

Since Abousfian Abdelrazik came home last June after years of imprisonment, torture and exile, he has remained under sanctions that prevent him from earning a salary, receiving any money, or maintaining a bank account. This makes rebuilding his life impossible. It's like "living in a prison without walls." Yet he has no real recourse. As the Federal Court of Canada acknowledged in June 2009, "There is nothing in the listing or de-listing procedure [of the 1267 regime] that recognizes the principles of natural justice or that provides for basic procedural fairness." (More on 1267)

Despite its official position that Mr. Abdelrazik should be removed from the 1267 list, the Canadian government has made no serious attempt to have his name removed nor made any move to lift sanctions from Mr. Abdelrazik - although it could do so immediately.

As the Canadian state continues to show utter contempt for the lives of immigrants like Mr. Abdelrazik, we are calling on you to do it again! Restate your solidarity or join the long list of people who have defied the 1267 regime by contributing money to Mr. Abdelrazik as an act of solidarity. If we don't stand up for each other now, who will be left to stand up for us? Your donations will support Mr. Abdelrazik personally, and the very act of donating will help challenge the oppressive "national security" logic.

The People's Commission Network is a working group of QPIRG-Concordia qpirgconcordia.org 514.848.7585 info@qpirgconcordia.org

Contact the People's Commission Network: QPIRG Concordia - Peoples's Commission Network c/o Concordia University 1455 de Maisonneuve Ouest Montreal, QC, H3G 1M8 commissionpopulaire@gmail.com

This website is based on the Fluid 960 Grid System