This week, Community Peacemaker Teams celebrates the fact that charges have been dropped against our Canada Coordinator, Rachelle Friesen. Last September, Friesen was arrested for participating in nonviolent direct action against the genocide in Gaza. Toronto Police Services detained Friesen at Pearson International Airport while she was en route to visit a friend in the US. Now, after a year under threat of criminal proceedings, the Crown has dropped all charges against her.
While we welcome the news, we are clear: this is not proof that the criminal justice system works. The charges against Friesen occurred in a broader context in which 135 people have been arrested for their Palestine solidarity work since October 2023. Police tactics have included the over-arrest of large numbers of people, dragging them through lengthy criminal proceedings, only for charges to be ultimately dropped. Of 135 such arrests, the Crown has dropped charges against 64 people, while 10 were found or pled guilty but received discharges. To date, nobody has been convicted. Instead, the constant delays and postponements are an attempt to harass and inhibit protesters.
At the time of her arrest, police and the press framed Friesen as as “fleeing the country”, a false and defamatory claim. In reality, she was targeted for participating in a protest the previous November against the Giller Prize for fiction. The Prize was sponsored by Scotiabank, which held a $500 million stake in Elbit systems – a company that directly supplies the Israeli military’s genocide against the Palestinian people. According to reports, organizers of the Giller Prize “berated police into charging the protesters”, while members of the production team supplied police with footage and photographs to identify those involved. It is alarming that a literary prize would advocate for the criminalization of people enacting their right to free speech and condemning war.
Scotiabank continues to invest in Elbit systems, though it has since reduced its stake by almost half. The Giller Prize, meanwhile, dropped Scotiabank as a sponsor after writers and publishers launched a boycott campaign and announced their support for the protesters. This demonstrates the power of collective, direct action in securing a major culture-sector divestment. However, the Giller Prize still retains sponsorship from the Azrieli Foundation and Indigo Books, which have links to West Bank settlement building and the IDF, respectively. Authors have pledged to continue their boycott until the Giller Prize cuts ties with them as well.
The clampdown on Palestine solidarity continues the world over. In the UK, police have arrested at least 1,601 people for expressing support for Palestine Action, a non-violent direct action group which the government has incredulously proscribed as a terrorist organization. In the US, the Trump administration has revoked hundreds of visas for activities deemed “counter to national interest and foreign policy” – in other words, participating in pro-Palestine protest.
Despite experiencing criminalization for supporting Palestine, Friesen continues to encourage people to take action. She says:
“Since 1948, Israel’s settler colonial project has been committing genocide against the Palestinian people. In the last two years, this genocide has intensified into undefinable brutality in Gaza. Despite this violence, too many people in the West have returned to business as usual. Too many have shied away from taking the necessary risks in order to make a material difference to stop the genocide. We have been drawn into comfort, while yelling ‘Free Palestine’ on various social media platforms. This is simply not enough. Omar El-Akkad, one of the authors who boycotted the Giller wrote, ‘One day everyone will have always been against this.’ And while many people hold out hope that in the future this genocide will be condemned, I caution. In order for this to be true, we have a responsibility to make it happen now. Hope is rooted in action, and if we are to hope that someday this genocide is condemned we must take action now for the liberation of Palestine. Fear is normal, but fear cannot hold us back. With Palestine as our compass, let us work together, taking action for a free Palestine.”
