The Vancouver Public Library has a defacto branch-wide ban on staff wearing watermelon pins and keffiyehs.

TAKE ACTION NOW:

 Background is photo of VPL. Text reads: Sign and Share. Tell the Vancouver Public Library to Reverse it's Anti-Palestinian Ban!

VPL’s overreach in enforcing their staff policy is a full frontal assault on their own stated commitments to intellectual freedom and decolonization. It creates an unsafe environment for staff and community, and is anti-Palestinian racism. During the initial phases of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, VPL staff were permitted to wear symbols of solidarity with Ukraine. This reveals a troubling bias: some expressions of solidarity are celebrated, but support for Palestinians is censored and punished. This is anti-Palestinian racism.

Further, the VPL’s suggestion that keffiyehs and watermelons—symbols of Palestinian heritage and resistance—are “threatening” or “divisive” perpetuates harmful anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim stereotypes. Staff were also told they could only wear Palestinian symbols if they spoke “Palestinian Arabic,” reducing Palestinian heritage to a language test.

It is deeply troubling that VPL administration has chosen to prioritize the discomfort some feel by the mere presence of Palestinian symbols over the actual constitutionally-protected Charter sec 2 freedom of expression and freedom of association rights of staff. VPL should be a workplace that respects the rights of staff to express solidarity with colonized peoples.

We love our libraries and we will not be silent. At least 13 Gazan public libraries have been completely destroyed by the IOF in the genocide, including the Edward Said Library, Diana Tamari Sabbagh Library, Omari Library, Lubbud Library, Al-Nahda Library, and the libraries of Al-Israa University and Islamic University of Gaza.

Let us take a strong community stand. Send a letter to the VPL Library Board Trustees and Administration to scrap their defacto anti-Palestinian, anti-worker prohibition on Palestinian symbols! Our libraries must not claim neutrality on Palestine. And stay tuned for more updates and mobilizing.

Send a letter today: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/vplban