Doctors Kavita Algu and Ben Thomson, both very active in the Palestinian solidarity movement, talk about the backlash they received at their separate workplaces - clear cases of anti-Palestinian racism (APR) in our public hospitals. Similar cases, met with very different means of resistance.
““There’s multiple paths of resistance...they’ll all serve different goals, and push in different ways. We find the ones right for us depending on our situation. And they’re all important.”
Dr. Kavita Algu a physician, activist and Ph.D candidate, was working in palliative care at Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto) in the Fall of 2023, while the genocide in Gaza was intensifying. Already a longtime advocate for various issues, she did what any decent human being should have - and was shocked at the response from her fellow doctors.
She talks about seeing her boss' name at the bottom of a letter signed by 550 Zionists, calling her and any other doctor advocating for Palestine antisemitic. how she was pushed out of her job, and what it was like finally being able to go public and expose the anti-Palestinian racism that singled out her work.
Her story brings up discussions around the "entitlement of comfort" and the prioritization of declared feelings over the right to speak against actual violence.
Dr. Ben Thomson, of Eyewitness Gaza has been visiting Gaza for over 10 years, been extremely active in the movement - but how his workplace responded to this work also changed after 2023. All of a sudden "being passionate became a liability", and his protected political views were being used against him.
This happened to him twice! He was first suspended, then reinstated, by McKenzie Health - which caused him to file a lawsuit that is slowly working its way through the courts. Although critical for future cases, this method has been resource consuming and taxing in other ways.
"There needs to be a cost for organizations who behave badly. Whether its shaming them publicly...or causing them to have significant liabilities with cost, or whether its changing the law."
When Ben lost a job opportunity in B.C. for the same reasons, he chose a different route to find 'justice' and filed a human rights complaint against . This process has been more accessible, and public.
Ben contrasts his experiences in other ways, and together with Kavita, provides lots of lessons for other workers who are most certainly facing something similar.
Also discussed: IHRI definition, Bill C9, the Palestine exception, zionism
Call to Action: Donate to the Toronto Community Justice Fund
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