Students Across Ontario Walkout of School To Demand a Ceasefire in Gaza: November 13

We, Ceasefire Now, are a loose coalition of 42 high school student groups in Ontario. We are appalled and disgusted by the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza, as well the anti-Palestinian racism demonstrated by many Ontario schools. We have come together for a coordinated student walk-out on November 13th to demand that our institutions and political leaders call for an immediate ceasefire.

In the past month, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have killed over 12,000 people, including over 4500 children, and severely injured 30,000. There are many more missing under the rubble and the number of Palestinians killed is rising rapidly every day. Food, clean water, electricity, communication, and even humanitarian aid are all being blocked off  to 2.5 million half of them are children and students like us . Israel has warmed Gazans to move south to escape, and yet they bombed them as they fled, alongside multiple hospitals, churches, mosques, and entire neighbourhoods.

Now there is a ground invasion, and a clear campaign of ethnic cleansing. We cannot simply continue to come to school everyday and live life as usual while this genocide is happening. especially as our elected officials refuse to do the bare minimum of calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. To make matters worse, school boards have not acknowledged the genocide, and subsequently there have been many documented incidents of schools in Ontario censoring or punishing expressions of Palestinian identity and solidarity with Palestine.

We, the students, are walking out to express our outrage at this genocide and to call for an immediate ceasefire. We also expect our school boards to acknowledge what's happening, and to release a statement regarding the genocide in Palestine. We will continue to organize walkouts, not only province wide but across Canada until a ceasefire is called by our political leaders.

We also demand that a plan is put in place for the following actions - we will continue to organize actions until a plan s received from school boards across Ontario:

• We demand that Ontario schools protect Palestinian students, create safe spaces for them, and refrain from censoring and punishing solidarity with Palestine
• We demand that Ontario school boards (teachers, administration & trustees) receive anti-Palestinian racism training
• We demand that the history of the colonization and ethnic cleansing of Palestine be included in school curriculums.
• We demand that Canada stops providing financial, military, and political support to Israel!

Canada and the rest of the world has failed the children of Gaza and we are incredibly saddened and enraged by the apathy of so many leaders during these times. There's no electricity or connectivity in Gaza, the cries of children are being muted as lsrael tries to hide their war crimes. This is why we are doing this- we are here to amplify the silenced voices of Palestinian students in Gaza and in Canada. Our political leaders have made Canada complicit in this genocide, and we,as students, will stand on the right side of history.

Sincerely,

Students of Ceasefire Now

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