Outside the multicultural: solidarity and the silencing of Palestinian narratives

"This dissertation examines a series of efforts by the Canadian state to silence and censor the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM), particularly activism engaged in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, in the years following the second Palestinian uprising (Intifada) of 2000. Following a delineation of the broad contours of Canada's official multicultural policy, the dissertation seeks to interrogate multicultural policy's inability to accommodate Palestinian narratives relating to the struggle for Palestinian self-determination. The analysis explores the central contradiction between the multicultural state's self-construction as accommodating and even celebrating cultural difference, and Canada's adoption and deployment of the discourse of clash of civilizations and the War on Terror.

Rooted in a critique of liberal theories of the state and an understanding of Canada as a racial state embedded in neoliberal global hierarchies as a second tier imperialist state, this study reveals the ways in which notions of ""tolerance"" may be used to establish boundaries and markers of belonging. Moments of erasure and silencing are analyzed as racializing moments, whereby the state reveals its class and racial character in both domestic and international spheres. Specifically, the manifestations of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim racism in Canada are interrogated.

The silencing campaign against the Palestine Solidarity Movement demonstrates the role official multicultural policy has played in obfuscating this racism. Multicultural rhetoric is used to enact the erasure and silencing of the Palestinian narrative; under the guise of ""respecting diversity,"" the Palestinian narrative is cast out as it makes some feel ""uncomfortable.""

Relying on a textual analysis of state records, parliament proceedings, public speeches, media reports, journalistic reports, op-eds, and documents obtained through freedom of information requests, three specific case studies are examined: the attack against Israeli Apartheid Week; the defunding of Arab/Palestinian ethnocultural organizations, as well as development organizations and research bodies deemed pro-Palestinian; and the campaign to ban Queers Against Israeli Apartheid from marching in Pride Toronto. Close attention is given to three interrelated silencing discourses that rely on historical forms of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism: the accusation of anti-Semitism, calls for balance and dialogue, and the distinction between extremists and moderates."