2024-07-26- From celebration to commemoration, KW’s Palestinian festival shifts focus to solidarity.

dan kellar
Kitchener, ON – Due to the “urgent” situation in Gaza, organizers of this year’s Palestine Festival in Kitchener have made the theme “Solidarity: the World Stands with Palestine”, shifting the focus from one of celebration to commemoration.  

CKMS News spoke with Suhaila Salah, a co-founder of Sporas Scattered, who along with the local chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing the 3rd annual Palestine festival with the name  Palestinian Solidarity Day.  While speaking about the shift in the festivals’ theme Salah explained, “It is not a day of mourning, it is a day to come together. We are going to commemorate.” she added,  “We still want to celebrate life”.

The Palestinian festival will take place on Sunday July 28th in the public square at Kitchener city hall from 1-9pm and features what organizers call a “packed schedule of entertainment, activities, education, and trivia games” with all donations going to support relief efforts in Gaza.

A statement CKMS News received from Global Affairs Canada about accountability for the violence Israel is inflicting in Palestine is also included in this piece.