Canada’s denial of entry to officials from the Palestinian and Iranian football bodies for the FIFA Congress meeting in Vancouver on April 30th has invoked widespread anger. A team of Canadian researchers and organizers, including World Cup Watch’s Carolyn Prouse, published a piece, Canada’s FIFA exclusion of Palestinians and Iranians reveals a lethal double standard, for independent Canadian media outlet The Breach that examined the significance of this denial in the broader context of Canadian immigration bureaucracy. The authors drew attention to this incident to make a larger point about the anti-Palestinian racism that characterises the Canadian state and its immigration policies. Drawing a contrast with the preferential treatment afforded to the Israeli tennis officials who had visited Canada for the Davis Cup in Halifax last year, they argue, “Despite calls for members of the delegation—current and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers— to be investigated for potential war crimes, the only people subjected to surveillance and criminalization were the local community members who protested the games. It is notable who qualifies as a ‘terrorist,’ and who does not.”
The denial of entry to Iranian and Palestinian football officials for the FIFA Congress demonstrates a hawkish approach to immigration and policing by the Canadian state as the World Cup nears. Such hostility is likely to extend to the streets of the host cities, as indicated by the launch of a new counter-terrorism unit called ‘Task Force Guardian’ by the Toronto Police Service.
Prouse co-wrote this piece with El Jones, Derek Silva, Nathan Kalman-Lamb, and Daniel Sailofsky. You can read more here: https://breachmedia.ca/canadas-fifa-exclusion-of-palestinians-and-iranians-reveals-a-lethal-double-standard/