Sunday, July 5, 2009

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid - 6

I was alone when members of "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid" swarmed me and used threatening tactics to get me to stop videotaping at the Gay Pride Parade in downtown Toronto on June 28, 2009.

When I moved farther away from their group, several of them went to great lengths (climbing a brick wall topped with an iron grating) to approach me in a manner designed to frighten and intimidate me.

They told me I was not welcome at the Pride Parade and said I had been "exposed" as a Zionist, as if that was a crime.

I was by myself and they were the ones who harassed me. They were the ones who made me feel unsafe in my own city.

My video is here. The only thing I cut out of it was approximately 5 seconds of full frontal nudity.

No one can have a reasonable expectation of privacy while marching in a parade that is known to draw a crowd of 1 million people. In addition, more than half a million people watched the parade live on TV.

No one can have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they are seen clearly on videotape having no problem being taped by Rabble.ca, friends and strangers.

No one can have a reasonable expectation of privacy when their full names are given on press releases issued by their organizations.

No one can have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they have posted their own photos and resume on the internet for anyone to see.

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid - 5

Go here to watch the video on YouTube in which members of "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid" march openly in front of an audience of 1 million people, at least 50% of whom had cameras, plus 600,000 television viewers, and call for the violent overthrow and destruction of a democratic country which just so happens to be one of Canada's allies.

They chanted: "Fist by fist, blow by blow, apartheid state has got to go."

At Toronto's Pride Parade 2009.

Update: According to a comment, the chant is: "Brick by brick, wall by wall..."