Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all friends and supporters of Palestine and the Palestinian prisoners’ strugle for freedom to join in the international week of action on 15-22 October in support of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine, imprisoned in French prisons for over 32 years. Georges Abdallah’s case has built significant support in Lebanon and in France, and Palestinian prisoners have highlighted the importance of Abdallah’s case as part of the struggle of the Palestinian political prisoners for freedom and liberation.
Abdallah was sentenced to life imprisonment in France, accused of participating in actions in France targeting U.S. and Israeli interests during the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon. During his arrest and trial, one of his original lawyers was a spy against him, working for French intelligence. He has been eligible for release under parole since 1999; he has been repeatedly refused, and at times when his release to Lebanon has been approved by the French judiciary, the highest forces of the state, including then-Interior Minister Manuel Valls – with the clear involvement of the U.S. government, including the personal intervention of Hillary Clinton – have intervened to keep Georges Ibrahim Abdallah locked up in French prison.
Throughout his time in prison, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has remained politically active and, indeed, a leader, extending solidarity and full support to struggling prisoners and peoples’ movements around the world. He and fellow prisoners – Basque and Arab, among others – in Lannemezan prison returned their meals in solidarity with Palestinian hunger striker Bilal Kayed, and he has previously participated in hunger strikes in solidarity with Palestinian individual and collective strikes for justice and freedom. He recently expressed his solidarity with Toulouse BDS activists under attack and has constantly remained an active thinker on Arab, Palestinian and international liberation struggles.
He has always refused to in any way capitulate or renounce his political vision and commitment to the Palestinian cause, to the people of Lebanon, and to international struggles for liberation. He remains a committed anti-Zionist, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist. In part because of that very refusal, he remains today imprisoned in the French prison of Lannemezan.
The imprisonment of Georges Abdallah comes alongside the persecution and arrest of BDS activists in France for urging the boycott of Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people, ongoing racist targeting of Arab and Muslim communities in France and the “state of emergency” being used to repress popular movements for justice, while the French state promotes itself as a supporter of “peace” in the region while acting directly in support of the Israeli occupation and Zionist colonization.
We urge friends and supporters of Palestine around the world to organize events and protests and engage in actions on 15-22 October for the freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and all Palestinian prisoners, and to join in the collective march on 22 October in Lannemezan at 2 pm outside the prison, demanding the immediate release of Georges Abdallah.
The statement in French by the Unified Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah is published below, urging participation in the week of action. Samidoun joins in this call and urges all to take part as well. Please email us at [email protected] or message us on Facebook about your actions in solidarity with Georges Abdallah. (Suggested actions include protests at French embassies and consulates; deliveries of letters to French officials; and protests of official French visits or activities.)
Scheduled events include the below. Paris already has a major schedule of events! To get involved or book bus tickets from Paris to Lannemezan, email [email protected]. Add your events below!
Friday, 14 October
New York City, US
4 pm: Protest at French Mission to the United Nations
Magdeburg, Germany
7 pm – Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Saturday, 15 October
Paris, France
10 am – 1 pm: Information at the Barbès market
2 pm: Stand with Palestine, place de la Republique
Marseille, France
8 pm: Concert for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Sunday, 16 October
Paris, France:
10 am – 1 pm: Information at the Saint-Ouen market
2 pm: Emergency event in solidarity with all of the accused of the social movements
Monday, 17 October
Paris, France
6 pm – Gathering at Saint-Michel bridge to link between 17 October 1961 and the struggle of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Grenay, France
6 pm – Banner display for Georges Abdallah
Tuesday, 18 October
Paris, France
6 pm – Gathering outside the Prison Administration at 35 Rue de la Gare, Paris
Wednesday, 19 October
Paris, France
12 pm – 3 pm – information at Saint-Denis university
Toulouse, France
7 pm – Palestine Evening for Georges Abdallah, Blind Tiger, Toulouse
Thessaloniki, Greece
8 pm – Palestinian Resistance Continues – Stop the Persecution, Dromos Center
Thursday, 20 October
Paris, France
5:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Gathering in Belleville
Milan, Italy
4 pm – Freedom for Georges Abdallah! At Universita Statale
Friday, 21 October
Paris, France
6 pm – Protest at place de la Republique before bus departure to Lannemezan at 10 pm
Bordeaux, France
8:30 pm – Screening of Film and Discussion about Georges Abdallah, Cinema Utopia
Hamburg, Germany
7:30 pm – Solidarity Meeting with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Brigittenstrasse 5
New York City, US
4 pm – Protest to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Athens, Greece
6 pm – Protest for Georges Abdallah, French Embassy
Istanbul, Turkey
7 pm – Solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, French Embassy, Istiklal St.
Vienna, Austria
3 pm – Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, French Embassy
Saturday, 22 October
Lannemezan, France
2 pm – Protest from the Gare de la Prison, Lannemezan to the Prison, in solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Lyon, France
3 pm – Protest to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Berlin, Germany
1:30 pm – Protest to Free Georges Abdallah, French Embassy, Berlin
Tunis, Tunisia
1 pm – Protest to free Georges Abdallah, Ahmad Sa’adat and al Palestinian Prisoners, French Embassy
Beirut, Lebanon
11 am – Protest for Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Manchester, England
12 pm – Protest for Palestine, Piccadilly Gardens
Vienna, Austria
12 pm – Freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, French Embassy
Padua, Italy
5:00 pm – Documentary and discussion in support of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Marzolo Occupata
Monday, 24 October
Gaza, Palestine
10 am – Protest for freedom for Georges Abdallah, ICRC
Tuesday, 25 October
Ramallah, Palestine
5 pm – Lecture on Georges Abdallah: Lebanese national, Palestinian cause
Friday, 28 October
Paris, France
8 pm – Evening for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, 61
Rome, Italy
8 pm – Film screening, dinner and discussion, Comitato Populare Garbatella
Georges Abdallah, militant communiste arabe, combattant pour la lutte de libération nationale de la Palestine, est incarcéré dans les geôles de l’État français depuis plus de 32 ans. Condamné à perpétuité pour complicité dans des actes de résistance revendiqués par les Fractions armées révolutionnaires libanaises, alors que son pays le Liban, était envahi par les troupes sionistes, il est libérable depuis 1999. Malgré deux libérations prononcées par le tribunal d’application des peines, Georges Abdallah est maintenu en prison par décision de l’Etat impérialiste français et sur injonction des Etats-Unis.
Rappelons que ce prisonnier politique est un prisonnier politique de la résistance palestinienne qui, en dépit des décennies de captivité, ne s‘est jamais soumis et n’a jamais capitulé. Et aujourd’hui encore, il livre bataille, n’ayant pour armes que son inébranlable volonté et son attachement indéfectible à la justesse de la cause des peuples opprimés de Palestine, du Liban, de toute la région et d’ailleurs.
Rappelons aussi et encore que Georges Abdallah, en tant que communiste, n’a jamais rien renié de son engagement politique antisioniste, anticapitaliste et anti-impérialiste. Les masses populaires, à travers diverses initiatives, lui témoignent régulièrement toute leur sympathie et leur solidarité. Aux forces et organisations communistes, révolutionnaires, militantes, anti-impérialiste, progressistes et démocratiques d’assumer aussi pleinement la tâche qui leur incombe : celle de combattre cette détention arbitraire et illégale que subit Georges Abdallah pour mettre à l’ordre du jour, comme tâche primordiale, la libération de notre camarade et de tous les révoltés contre le colonialisme, le capitalisme et l’impérialisme.
C’est en ce sens que nous appelons tous ceux et celles qui sont du côté des peuples en lutte, du côté de la résistance palestinienne, qui combattent le capitalisme, l’impérialisme, le sionisme, le colonialisme et les états réactionnaires arabes, à participer activement et massivement à la semaine d’actions internationale prévue du 15 au 22 octobre 2016 et à manifester devant la prison à Lannemezan, le 22 octobre 2016 à 14h pour réaffirmer l’exigence de la libération de Georges Abdallah.
Paris, le 23/09/20176
Campagne Unitaire pour exiger la libération de Georges Abdallah
