Get to know Fredericton’s six active Palestine solidarity groups
Published in The NB Media Co-op
(*artwork: ‘Can I unravel it?’ by Incé Husain)
Since the brink of the genocide in Gaza in fall 2023, the small city of Fredericton has become home to six active Palestine solidarity groups.
Collectively, these groups organize protests, fundraisers, and educational events about Palestine; talk with local politicians demanding that Canada abide by international law; and hold vigils for the martyred Palestinian people.
As Israel’s violence in Gaza continues and graphically floods news and social media outlets, the following of these groups grows. In total, the groups have over 3000 Instagram followers.
Three of these groups are run by a diverse set of community members. The other three groups are student-led.
Fredericton Palestine Solidarity (FPS), initially formed in 2006, reawakened in October 2023. They hold weekly rallies at City Hall lush with human rights slogans and Palestinian flags, and offer an open mic that has birthed speeches on justice, grief, and resilience.
Fredericton’s Friends of Palestine and The Atlantic Canada Palestinian Society of Fredericton (ACPS Fredericton) emerged in December 2023. Fredericton’s Friends of Palestine hold educational booths at City Hall that emanate Palestinian music, openhearted smiles, and brochures about Palestinian history. ACPS Fredericton creates social media posts about Palestinian culture, and fundraises for families in Gaza through donations and craft sales.
All student groups were established in November 2023. Brandishing posters, UNB Palestine Solidarity - the same group as STU Palestine Solidarity - and FHS Palestine Solidarity lead impassioned walkouts for Palestine open to all. NBCCD Palestine Solidarity maintain a strong social media presence promoting Palestine solidarity actions across Fredericton.
The groups share their ideologies, events, and establishment. They are unwavering in their commitment to human rights, and encourage all to join their social media followings and actions.
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FPS formed in 2006 alongside the Fredericton Peace Coalition. The founding members were a group of “long-time anti-war” activists, students, professors, postal workers, and Jews for a Just Peace. Today, the group is managed by seventeen organizers from diverse backgrounds.
The group’s actions are multifaceted. Through film nights and art shows, they educate the community on Palestinian culture and the illegal Israeli occupation. They talk with local politicians about how Canada is violating international law in its policies on Palestine. They launch boycott, divestment, and sanctions actions (BDS) targeting businesses complicit in funding the genocide. Every week, they hold protests at City Hall; every few months, they hold candlelit vigils at the Legislature Building, honoring the martyred Palestinian people and giving the Fredericton community a safe place to mourn.
This year, the group organized actions throughout Israeli Apartheid Week. The week, from March 16th to March 21st, annually raises awareness of the illegal Israeli occupation and gathers momentum for BDS. FPS organized tatreez workshops that taught Palestinian embroidery; a webinar on BDS by local political science professor Shaun Narine; a child-friendly rock-painting event that had rocks coated with watermelons, Palestinian flags, keys, and other resistance symbols; and a “BDS inbox flood” that called out Costco’s selling of Israeli products, which helps sustain illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.
“I really enjoy working with folks in FPS. They’re dedicated, genuine, kind and hardworking,” says Angus Fletcher, an organizer for Fredericton Palestine Solidarity. “It’s hard to feel like any individual act or development is a win, but I hope we see a ceasefire, end to the occupation, and a free Palestine.”
All are welcome to join the FPS organizers and participate in their actions, which are posted regularly on their Instagram and Facebook.
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Fredericton’s Friends of Palestine was established in December 2023 by a “group of friends living in Fredericton”.
Their goal is to educate the public about Palestinian history and raise awareness about the genocide in Gaza. Often seen in a tent at City Hall that blares Palestinian music and shares hot tea on cold mornings, they engage passersby in conversations and hand out informational brochures about Palestinian history.
In December, they launched the “1 Minute from Gaza” action, where they invited community members to put on headphones that played a one-minute audio of current life in Gaza. As community members listened to a full minute of screaming, running, bombardments, and sobs, they closed their eyes or put a hand against their mouth. Some cried.
“What we focus on is the results of our activity, how people reacted and participated,” says Marwan El Jamal, an organizer for Fredericton’s Friends of Palestine. “The goal is to educate the public about Palestine and the full story of what’s happening there from day one.”
The group’s actions are open for all to attend, with all updates posted on their Instagram.
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ACPS formed in Halifax in 2019 and in Saint John in 2022. The Fredericton branch was established in December 2023 by Rana El Hassan with the goal to educate and fundraise for Gaza.
The group’s early social media posts describe life in Palestine before occupation. There are intricate Palestinian thobes; thriving Palestinian universities, pharmacies, ports, airports, architecture, and olive-centric agriculture; stories from elderly Palestinians about Palestinian traditions, love, and resilience; and explanations of Palestinian resistance symbols, like the patterns in the keffiyeh, the rise of the watermelon, and the meaning of Handala.
“What I love the most about Palestine - everything about it,” says a Palestinian man in one of ACPS’ videos. “The air. The trees. Its smell. Its cemeteries. Its soil and roads. Everything has a special flavour. Oranges taste different - the oranges of Palestine, the figs of Palestine, dates, guava, mangos, everything. It’s extraordinary. Also, the sea of Palestine is the most beautiful in the world. Its soil… I am made from the soil of Palestine. I have to come back.”
The group has also run tatreez workshops at the Fredericton Public Library, and sells tatreez bookmarks, crocheted watermelons, and silver Gaza Strip pendants dangling from keychains. All proceeds go to families in Gaza.
This Ramadan, ACPS launched a “Ramadan Campaign” that acquired donations for Gaza by e-transfer. The campaign was open to the community, and the group’s Instagram reels show the donations’ impact: displaced Palestinians hold envelopes of cash and grocery bags. They are barefoot, outside dusty tents, beneath a blazing sun, faces digitally masked for anonymity.
“We get the pictures through trusted individuals during the war,” says El Hassan. “ACPS headquarters deals with (sending the funds to Gaza). I have no content on (how that happens).”
ACPS Fredericton is run by El Hassan along with two other community members.
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UNB Palestine Solidarity - the same group as STU Palestine Solidarity - is a “network of activists” led by four main organizers. Established by University of New Brunswick (UNB) student Laila Soliman, the group organizes actions once or twice a month that raise awareness of the genocide in Palestine.
The group routinely organizes walkouts. Open to all, the walkouts traverse the UNB campus and its peripheries. Signs held by protesters list international law violations committed by Israel and the massive number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, which now exceeds 33,000.
Recently, the group organized an information session for the community where UNB and STU faculty gave talks on Palestine. The topics spanned Israel’s international law violations; scholar Edward Saïd’s book “The Question of Palestine” that tracks the history of Palestinian global identity; the weaponization of antisemitism to silence activism for human rights; and the US’ puzzling financial commitment to Israel. Over forty people attended.
In future, the group plans to put pressure on local politicians to call for a permanent ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel.
“Anyone is welcome to join in organizing events or attending the actions,” says Soliman. “The best way to stay up to date is to send us an email to join our mailing list at NBstudents4palestine@gmail.com.”
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FHS Palestine Solidarity is a group of Fredericton High School (FHS) students who educate FHS students about Palestine.
Since October, they’ve organized walkouts open to the community. Recently, they ran a fundraiser with the FHS Middle Eastern Society by preparing food and henna booths; they raised $745 for Gazan refugees who fled to Egypt and need artificial limbs.
Now, they plan to organize educational events about Palestinian history. They are currently preparing a presentation on the genocide that they plan to deliver to the whole school and share with the principal.
Jana Salem, co-founder of the group, says the group felt supported by the school. Though the school refrains from taking a firm stance on Palestine to “avoid any political clashes”, FHS Palestine Solidarity was able to advocate for Palestine without facing major issues.
“We were looking for a way to advocate for Palestine and send a valuable message to the student body,” says Salem. “We have seen a lot of teachers talk about Palestine in a different way (than) we wanted to portray in our school environment.”
Driven by only a few students, Salem says that the group’s actions have slowed. They strive to build a larger organizing group, and welcome community members to reach out to the group’s Instagram to help their actions.
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NBCCD Palestine Solidarity is committed to social media activism. Maintaining a strong Instagram presence, they act as a resource to share news about the genocide in Palestine and promote the actions of other Palestine solidarity groups in Fredericton. They were established with the help of UNB Palestine Solidarity.
“NBCCD has a very small population of students and they tend to not participate in events - even those organized for other reasons,” says a New Brunswick College of Craft and Design (NBCCD) student organizer for the group. “For that reason, we have chosen to focus our energy in other ways (like) sharing educational posts on our stories. We encourage our students to attend the walk-outs organized by (other groups).”
The group encourages all to follow their Instagram, and hope that the resources they share will mobilize community members to attend Palestine solidarity actions across Fredericton.
“We hope that sharing these resources will mean more NBCCD students and community members will be in attendance at future events.” ♦
NOTE: École Sainte Anne Palestine Solidarity and Leo Hayes High School Palestine Solidarity were contacted via Instagram, but did not respond prior to the publication of this article.
This article was written with files from Tracy Glynn and Angus Fletcher (Fredericton Palestine Solidarity), Marwan El Jamal (Fredericton’s Friends of Palestine), Rana El Hassan (ACPS Fredericton), Laila Soliman (UNB Palestine Solidarity), Jana Salem (FHS Palestine Solidarity), and an NBCCD Students for Palestine organizer contacted via Instagram. This article was aided by the document ‘Local Guide to Palestine Solidarity’ , created by Queer+Trans Fatties in NB.
A version of this article appeared in The NB Media Co-op on April 19th, 2024:
https://nbmediacoop.org/2024/04/19/get-to-know-six-palestine-solidarity-groups-in-fredericton