The U of M Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted a Palestinian cultural event, Night in Palestine, at the Ukrainian Labour Temple on Dec. 6. It featured Palestinian food and drinks, vendors, dancing, live music and an artefact display. The event was very popular, with such great demand that the initially sold-out ticket sale was extended through last week.
Much of the food came from local restaurants, including shawarma skewers, but many dishes were also prepared at home by Palestinian women. They were served alongside sage tea and karak chai. Products such as Palestinian coffee cups, soccer jerseys and accessories were sold at the market.
One feature of the program was the Dabke dance, led by SJP vice-president Hussein Chokr. Dabke is a traditional Palestinian social dance in which performers hold hands and alternate between line and circle formations.
Another feature was an acoustic performance by OP-ED, a local protest rock band led by Tarek Abdel Aziz, a Palestinian refugee born in a camp in Lebanon.
Rana Abdulla, co-owner of Yafa Café, also provided historical Palestinian artefacts for a museum display.
Night in Palestine follows in the footsteps of a successful gala held last year. Chokr created the exhibition due to the lack of a Palestinian pavilion in Folklorama. He wanted to provide the opportunity for people to learn about Palestinian culture beyond the current genocide.
“People think that we’re just a group of people that are being massacred right now,” Chokr explained. “We are more than that […] We are rich in culture. We’re not just a culture of suffering. We have a beautiful culture through our food, through our dances, through our dresses. So that was the point.”
He also created the event for Palestinians in Winnipeg to have ways of participating in their own cultural activities together and to remind them of their home. He knows the importance from experience — his trip to Lebanon led him to naturally adopt a Lebanese dialect of Arabic, despite living in Kuwait and Canada his whole life.
“Unfortunately for us in West Asia, we haven’t been able to see the light of peace due to conflicts. Yet we smile, we keep the culture alive because as long as we live, the heart of this global movement can never be killed,” Chokr professed. The majority of the funds raised from Night in Palestine will be sent to Palestinian mutual aid organizations.
Night in Palestine was also held in commemoration of SJP’s recently deceased member Nicholas Palmer. Last year’s edition of the event was the first SJP activity Palmer participated in, so this anniversary held complex feelings for the members he leaves behind.
A Palestinian Folklorama pavilion is also set to debut in 2027. The organizers will spend next year shadowing other pavilions in preparation.
“The Palestinian community is big in Winnipeg, and especially the pro-Palestinian community is even bigger,” Chokr explained. “It’s quite important to showcase that culture, especially because […] they’re going through a genocide. And it’s important to keep that culture alive because if we don’t, the culture is going to die. It’s very important to have [a Folklorama pavilion].”
Chokr is proud to have Night in Palestine completed after “countless sleepless nights [and] thousands of cigarettes,” and he is looking forward to more editions in 2026 and 2027.
Keep up with SJP by following them on Instagram @sjpuofm.
