Turtle Island to Palestine: Free Political Prisoners Fundraiser

***Please distribute widely***

TURTLE ISLAND TO PALESTINE – FREE ALL POLITICAL
PRISONERS!!

COME OUT TO THE CAIA FUNDRAISER IN SUPPORT OF THE
ARDOCH ALGONQUIN FIRST NATION

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Date: Saturday April 12
Time: 7 pm - Door opens at 6:30
Place: Cervejaria – 842 College St. (W of Ossington)
Toronto Ontario Canada
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To coincide with Palestine Political Prisoners Day,
the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid ( CAIA), is
organising a fundraiser in support of the struggle of
the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN ) against
uranium mining on their land. All proceeds will go to
the AAFN.

On February 15 2008, in a travesty of justice, AAFN
Spokesperson Robert Lovelace was sentenced in the
Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Kingston to 6
months incarceration and crippling fines amounting to
$25,000 for refusing to comply with an injunction that
would prevent him from protesting against uranium
mining on land that is part of a 25-year-old Algonquin
land claim.

In addition, the community was fined $10,000 and Chief
Paula Sherman $15,000. The AAFN and the Shabot
Obaadjiwan First Nation started their blockade of the
uranium exploration in the area in June 2007.

The highly politicized nature of these sentences
further underscores the on-going criminalization of
indigenous people's basic rights to self-determination
and the free use of their lands and resources. Just as
Israel refuses to fulfill its obligations under
international law with respect to the basic rights of
the Palestinian people (including the incarceration of
over 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners), the
Canadian government has decisively rejected its
obligations under the 'UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples' and continues to incarcerate
indigenous leaders who defend the basic rights of
their peoples to self-determination. Such a right
includes the right of indigenous peoples to: "freely
determine their political status and freely pursue
their economic, social and cultural development"
(Article 3, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples).

The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) is a
grassroots Palestine-solidarity organization which
understands Israeli apartheid as one element of a
system of global apartheid and therefore stands in
solidarity with all oppressed groups around the world,
in particular, the indigenous peoples of North
America.

For more information on this fundraiser or to find out
more about CAIA please email endapartheid@riseup.net
or go to www.caiaweb.org