An unusual union: Climate activists join forces with pro-Palestine demonstrators at Vic Park

It was a case of strange bedfellows at London’s Victoria Park Saturday afternoon, as climate activists joined forces with pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

They may have been rallying for two disparate causes, but they managed to find common ground.

“I wanted to take that opportunity and tell everyone that we are here from Canada, we stand with our Palestinians who still live in Palestine,” said Londoner and Palestinian-Canadian Mirna Alassaad.

She was among several dozen demonstrators who gathered at city hall for a rally to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, before marching to the northwest corner of Victoria Park.

It was there that the group found common ground, literally and figuratively, with climate change activists.

The Power Up Climate Solutions rally calls on governments to embrace renewable energy. It comes as the Trudeau government softens its stance on the carbon tax, issuing a three-year tax halt on home heating oil. Environmentalist Brendon Samuels, who took part in the climate rally, said the move is a step back.

London’s Victoria Park saw an unusual union of climate activists and pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Nov. 4, 2023. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)

“Climate change is way more expensive than what you’re paying in your carbon tax and you’re getting most of that back if you need it,” Samuels said. “And I would ask the people who are critical, ‘What’s the alternative?’ If we are phasing out fossil fuels immediately, how are you going to do that if we have a free market?”

It may be difficult to imagine how these two groups might intersect on any normal day, but those taking part in the joint-rally say the main commonality is human rights.

Climate rally organizer Mary Ann Hodge said there’s much more in common than one might expect.

“War creates a lot of devastation and a lot of pollution, and it’s just like a waste of resources that peace is something that we all strive for, and that’s peace both with each other and the natural environment that we live in,” she said.

“They care about the land, they care about the resources, they care about the climate,” said Alassaad. “And those things are suffering in Gaza because we don’t even have the water.”

  London’s Victoria Park saw an unusual union of climate activists and pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Nov. 4, 2023. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)