Tag: palestine

The Global March to Gaza is not the story; Gaza remains the story

yipengLeave a comment

Also published in rabble.ca on July 9, 2025.

Along with over 4000 other people from 80 different countries, I joined the Global March to Gaza in an attempt to march to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Palestine, to increase international pressure and attention on breaking the siege and blockade of the Gaza Strip.

People from all over the world, including Palestinians from the diaspora, attempted to leave Cairo for Ismailia so we can gather as a group to meet one another and see our people power. With the plan to continue the journey onwards towards Al Arish so we could march onwards to the Rafah border crossing. This was all in solidarity with the Palestinian people who were then experiencing a telecommunications blackout on top of an ongoing famine and genocide that has lasted 21 months at the hands of Israel.

People came to Cairo to do this solidarity work knowing the risks and knowing how important bringing attention to ending the famine and stopping the genocide is. I met people who were prepared in their minds ready to take the risk of dying at the hands of the Egyptian or Israeli military so that they could attempt to bring aid into Gaza.

These people that came to Egypt to participate in this march come from all walks of life, but share this beautiful idea that we are collectively responsible for helping to change the conditions in this world so that they are better for everyone, especially for people who are most oppressed in this current moment and experiencing ongoing genocidal violence.

People were detained and deported for simply being accused of participating in the march. We saw many forms of repression like people being detained with their passports taken, not only at checkpoints but also when people were on their way to a hotel or walking on the street in Ismailia. People were beaten by the authorities and by agitators. People were deported after being questioned. Some people didn’t receive their passports back.

I have seen some messages about how this is not unexpected from Egypt, about how foreigners are naive about Egypt, or simply messages of “I told you so, why even try?”. But here is the thing… We have to try. When we give up and we no longer try to help end a 21-month long genocide using all the ways possible within our power as ordinary citizens of this world, and as people of conscience of this world, what are we really giving up on? We aren’t just giving up on the Palestinian people, but we give up on the idea of shared humanity and collective responsibility in this world.

The social and political context of Egypt is important to understand. There are tens of thousands of political prisoners in Egyptian jails, including students, activists, journalists who have attempted to organize in solidarity with the Palestinian people experiencing genocide by Israel. They have been disappeared by and some are still held by the Egyptian authorities. This is well documented. As is how the Egyptian Hala company has required thousands of dollars from Palestinians leaving Gaza to cross the border. Or even the mistreatment of Palestinian evacuees in Egyptian hospitals who receive substandard care despite being evacuated from Gaza for medical reasons. Or the tens of thousands of Palestinians in Egypt without status and documents to attend work or school. And and and… This is why understanding the role of your privilege as a foreigner to bring attention to the struggle of Palestinians is so crucial and necessary. And to do it in a way that recenters the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

I spent a little over a week in Cairo reconnecting with friends and colleagues who are doing amazing work. There continues to be great work happening on the ground, but nothing feels like enough when the genocide in Gaza continues to intensify.

Daily massacres continue at the “food aid” distribution sites in Gaza coordinated by the Americans and Israelis through the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation”. It is completely undignified the way that scarce food aid is given out, nothing in line with humanitarian principles and practices. The Israeli military are gunning down Palestinians who simply are trying to get food for their starving families and loved ones.

This is why the Tunisian sumoud convoy and the freedom flotillas attempted to bring aid in by land and sea. The international community continues to fail to end famine and stop genocide. This is all preventable. Everyday citizens of the world, volunteers and activists, are taking on the role of attempting to bring aid into Gaza when this should be the role of all states and political leaders in this world. We continue to see remarkable inaction by many states and political leaders, and continued impunity be given to Israel.

My friends who came with me from Ottawa on this trip were detained and held on a bus for over 12 hours – they did nothing wrong, and were simply pulled off the streets for being accused of being a part of the march. What were they sharing on their social media? What was on their minds? It wasn’t their release, nor their wellbeing that was top of mind. It was the genocide and the famine that was and still is continuing in Gaza. That the oppression they were experiencing then pales in comparison to what Palestinians are experiencing every day. I care about their wellbeing deeply, and I am proud of them for their steadfastness and courage to do things despite the risk. To try and to not give up or give into defeatism.

We must keep trying to break the siege, to end the blockade, and to stop the genocide. Gaza is the story, and has always been the story.

Ending genocide is a collective responsibility and a moral duty if we truly believe in shared humanity. That my life is not more valuable than a Palestinian’s life in Gaza. Even if the world sees it in such a way, we refuse to. And in fact, we understand the importance of using the privilege we do hold to put our bodies on the line so that we get closer to a world where Palestinians have their inherent rights to life, dignity, and self-determination respected in this world.

This is why we were doing what we’re doing, and this is why we will continue to keep organizing and mobilizing. Join us.

Although we were unsuccessful in marching to the Rafah border crossing, we were successful in showing the world that people of conscience from all over the world care deeply about Palestinian human rights. We must try to do everything we can within our power to end the famine and stop the genocide. We will continue. We will keep trying. We must keep trying. Until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea.

Anti-Palestinian racism is a freedom of expression issue.

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Opening statement remarks for Wednesday, October 30, 2024 session, House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, study of the protection of freedom of expression.

Good afternoon.

My name is Yipeng Ge. I am a family doctor currently practicing in primary care and refugee health in Ottawa.

I completed my medical school at the University of Ottawa, and was awarded the Anne C. Amberg Prize, a convocation award, for the best combination of academic accomplishment and sensitivity to community health issues. I completed my Masters of Public Health in health and social behaviour with a certificate in public health leadership from Harvard University.

Also as a scholar and practitioner of anti-racism and health equity, I was on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research anti-racism advisory committee, and I helped develop anti-racism education for the University of Ottawa’s Department of Family Medicine. During my time at Harvard University when I first visited Palestine, I deepened my learning on settler colonialism and bearing witness to apartheid and occupation as determinants of Palestinian health, as this has been my area of study here on Turtle Island related to Indigenous health in Canada.

I was a resident in public health and preventive medicine at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine. I sat on Faculty Council, the highest governing committee for the Faculty. And I was on the board of directors for the Canadian Medical Association last year.

I learned intimately this past year that the boundaries of freedom of expression in Canada have been severely limited as it pertains to speech in support of health and human rights for Palestinians and Palestine.

My experience of institutional anti-Palestinian racism and limitations on our freedom of speech parallels the stories of many who have chosen to speak out about human rights violations in Palestine. Anti-Palestinian racism is a form of racism and discrimination adjacent to Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism but also distinct from both. It is a form of racism that seeks to silence, exclude, erase, stereotype, and dehumanize Palestinians and their allies. This often results in severe sanctions and disciplinary actions that profoundly impact the lives of Palestinians and their allies, a practice which was advised against by the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This is a freedom of expression issue.

Last year around this time, a family doctor and Faculty member shared my social media posts and publicly mischaracterized them as antisemitic and inflammatory, and sent them to the University and the Canadian Medical Association. He was someone that was neither a patient nor a direct colleague or supervisor of mine.

My social media posts were from my personal accounts and in no way was I trying to speak for any of my places of employment or affiliation. These posts were criticized as being inflammatory, racist, and antisemitic simply because they advocated for Palestinians having the same human rights as everyone else, aligning with international law.

I met with senior leadership of the Canadian Medical Association, and my social media posts were criticized and I was pressured to put together a public apology and provide personal one-on-one apologies to certain people in high-ranking positions and who hold influence on the association.

Soon after, I received a phone call from the University, informing me of my immediate and indefinite suspension citing a level 3 breach of professionalism for my social media posts. A level 3 professionalism breach means repeated instances of an individual’s behaviour and conduct despite intervention or a concern for the individual’s clinical care or quality of care of services. No prior conversations were held, nor were concerns ever raised regarding my social media posts or professionalism before. Patient safety was raised as a concern; however, in my duties as a resident in public health I was completing a rotation at the Public Health Agency of Canada without any individuals working under me who I was responsible for supervising, and without direct patient contact.

The University’s professionalism subcommittee who reviewed my case recommended immediate reinstatement without any disciplinary action. They suggested an apology be issued by the University, which they never gave. I feel deeply harmed by the University in causing emotional and psychological distress and has permanently altered my career path in public health.

As I sat on Faculty Council this past year, I witnessed multiple cases of medical students’ social media posts be discussed as “professionalism” concerns, and it was clear that a fair process was not being followed. It was shared during these meetings that there were no clear bylaws or processes, and that their legal counsel was creating the processes as they went. There were statements shared in these meetings that were rooted in anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab hate without any accountability.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has informed me of multiple complaints against me of a similar nature related to social media posts, and not related to my clinical competency and conduct within the clinical setting. This is taking away time and resources from me, my legal counsel, and ultimately the College itself in managing legitimate cases related to professional competence and conduct.

My purpose today is to ask this Standing Committee for support in holding institutions to account for overstepping in their policing of people’s right to free speech and to recognize the appalling normalization of anti-Palestinian racism in educational institutions and places of employment, such as the University of Ottawa and the Canadian Medical Association.

This is not a partisan issue. There are solutions that are already being proposed, including a Conservative private members bill (C-257) titled, ‘An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act (protecting against discrimination based on political belief)’. Last week, the Alberta Premier along with the Justice Minister said that their government will review professional regulatory bodies such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons which plays the important role of regulating professional competence and conduct, and introduce legislation next year to limit how they can police their own members on their speech.

Thank you.