Friday, April 19, 2024
Home Blog Page 2

4 February, Online: Teach-In — How to Defend Palestinian Resistance

Sunday, 4 February
3 pm Eastern (12 pm Pacific)
Register for Zoom Link: https://linktr.ee/bxantiwar

The Bronx Anti War Coalition and Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network are partnering to organize a teach-in on Palestinian resistance. This event will dive into the reality of Palestinian life under occupation, the various forms of resistance employed, and the portrayal of resistance in mainstream Western media. The discussion will conclude with ways individuals can show solidarity and defend Palestinian resistance by any means necessary.

By shedding light on the different armed resistance groups in Palestine and the “Axis of Resistance” in the region, our objective is to demystify Arab resistance and arm you with the knowledge required to foster global solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle.

Our esteemed speakers will include Charlotte Kates and Khaled Barakat, with moderation by Saher Al Khamash and Marina Samuel.

2 February, Pittsburgh: Breaking Resistance – Weaponizing Incarceration in Palestine and the U.S.

Friday, February 2
6 pm
Tripoli Community Center
816 Tripoli St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1815680922213037/

Join us for a panel discussion that explores the parallels between the weaponization of mass incarceration in Palestine and in the United States.

Our panelists will discuss the use of mass incarceration as a form of collective punishment used to silence movements, disrupt communities, and break resistance.

Let’s engage in a crucial conversation about justice, human rights, and the need to recognize mass incarceration as a form of violence and we can keep each other safe in times of unrest.

Please register online https://secure.everyaction.com/G-Aq5SouZ06QL-6gIWHsfg2

Moderator: Tanisha Long

Sponsoring organizations:
Abolitionist Law Center
CCRIP
PSL Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Palestine Coalition
Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network See less

Abducted by IOF: Palestinian-Canadian Journalist Mansour Shouman

The following statement was developed by Samidoun Toronto. Reach out to Samidoun Toronto at toronto@samidoun.net.

It is strongly suspected that on January 21st, Israeli Occupation Forces abducted Palestinian-Canadian journalist Mansour Shouman at a safe passage crossing between Khan Younis and Rafah in Gaza. Shouman is a Canadian citizen and was living with his mother, wife, and five children in Calgary before bravely choosing to report from Gaza on the Zionist genocidal onslaught against the Palestinian people. His kidnapping and possible incarceration as a Palestinian journalist makes Shouman a political prisoner of the Zionist entity. Samidoun Toronto strongly condemns the IOF’s targeted kidnapping, incarceration, and slaughter of Palestinian journalists.

Like other reporters before him, Mansour Shouman’s journalism exposed the reality of Israel’s colonial brutality in Gaza. The Palestinian journalist’s work is inherently politicized due to the nature of this feat, and thus Israel’s incarceration of Palestinian journalists is a form of political incarceration. We continue to call for the release of all political prisoners from the Zionist dungeons as the Resistance has called and struggled for since October 7th.

Samidoun Toronto condemns the cowardly silence and indifference of the Canadian settler-colonial government towards the safety and wellbeing of Canadian citizens forcibly contained in Gaza. This includes Mansour Shouman, the Kouta family, and any others still abandoned by their so-called government that is actively arming the ongoing genocide, putting their lives at risk. We demand the so-called Canadian government take immediate action in locating Mansour Shouman and facilitating his unconditional release and safe passage back to his family. We call on all people in so-called Canada to demand elected officials to locate Shouman and ensure his safe return home by signing Justice for All Canada’s call to action addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, and Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller. Be sure to issue the same demands to your local elected officials and be unrelenting in the struggle for Palestinian liberation by any means necessary.

We urge all people of conscience in so-called Canada to support the Palestinian struggle by involving yourselves in local solidarity events and organizing. It is our duty as people in the imperial core to demonstrate our principled and unconditional support of this anti-colonial struggle and that the masses will not tolerate so-called Canada’s direct military, financial, and diplomatic support of the genocidal Zionist entity.

Upcoming Palestine Solidarity Events in Toronto:

  • GENOCIDE IS NO JOKE: Protest at Yuk Yuk’s, a comedy venue fundrasing for the IOF. Wednesday, January 31st at 5:45pm at 224 Richmond St W.
  • Trinity of Fundamentals Book Launch: Palestinian Youth Movement translated a book written in prison by a political prisoner in Palestine. Friday, February 2nd 6-8pm. Preorder your copy here!
  • Keep up with the ILPS Canada social media for our upcoming teach-in series about the Right to Resist featuring Samidoun Toronto and our comrades in Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) Toronto, Canada-Philippines Solidarity Organization (CPSO) Toronto, Anakbayan Toronto (ABTO), Tamil Freedom Coalition (TFC), Jewish Anti-Zionist Collective Toronto (JAZCto), and more.

Samidoun Brussels statement: Attack on the demonstration on 21 January

On Sunday 21 January, at the mass demonstration that brought tens of thousands of people to the streets in Brussels to express their support and solidarity for the Palestinian people resisting genocide in Gaza, the Popular Committee for Palestine (PCP) block was suddenly and severely physically assaulted by security personnel assigned to their task by the organizing committee of the demonstration. Stewards wearing fluorescent vests stole Samidoun flags and attempted to confiscate those calling for freedom for Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for 39 years, physically assaulting several people in the block (including women, one of whose glasses were broken by the attackers.)

We strongly denounce this attack, which is unfortunately not the first of its kind: since the demonstration on 11 October in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have been systematically subjected to physical and verbal attacks and attempts to prevent us from expressing our membership of the Samidoun Network or our support for Georges Abdallah. The pretext for the ban was that “the Palestinian community” (although the Palestinian Community organisation was not a co-organizer of the demo and there is no basis to declare individuals representatives of the Palestinian diaspora in Belgium) had expressed the wish that only the Palestinian flag should be flown.

While this was used as an excuse, it is clearly untrue: At this demonstration and since the demonstration on October 11, organizations like Intal, Viva Salud, PTB, FGTB, LDH, Amnesty International and others routinely bring flags and banners with their logos and names, and they are not attacked and their flags are not removed. In addition, our banners, including banners featuring Ghassan Kanafani and demanding the freedom of Palestinian prisoners, have also been attacked forcibly by these security personnel, despite the presence of a large number of diverse banners representing other organizations in the marches.

See above, examples of organisational flags at the demonstration that were not interfered with.

Although we are systematically attacked at national demonstrations (and our applications for demonstrations are refused by the police and public authorities), the coalition, which has been informed of these attacks, has not reacted in any way or taken any action to stop them.

This attack is all the more reprehensible because it deliberately targeted the block, the majority of which was made up of young Palestinians and Arabs, with the presence of families, children and elderly people. Rather than being the source of unity, such actions aim to divide the Palestinian community and people in Belgium and set them against one another, as well as to isolate activists who are facing state repression.

In addition to our rejection of the physical violence against people who had come to demonstrate their support for Palestine, it should be stressed that this attack has taken place simultaneously with a very public propaganda campaign by the Zionist regime: the Israeli colonial regime has decided to classify the Samidoun network as a terrorist organisation and is putting pressure on Western countries to do the same. The far right and its supporters have joined this initiative, and the Israeli ambassador in Belgium was tweeting to attack the PCP block and Samidoun at the same time that the organizers’ security personnel physically assaulted us in the demonstration. In Germany, the government has declared a political ban on Samidoun (without legal proceedings, it is a political ban, not a legal one).

The FGTB, a union claiming to be left-wing, went so far as to withdraw its signature from the call for the first rally, citing the presence of Samidoun, which it described as a “pro-Hamas organisation” supporting terrorism. This withdrawal comes at exactly the time when Zionist propaganda is intensifying and is the only response of the trade union organisation, instead of intensifying its demands in favour of the rights and freedom of the Palestinian people.

France seems intent on following Germany’s lead in its fascist drift, and Belgium is not far behind, since the NVA, known for its position on the far right of the Belgian political spectrum, has launched hostile attacks against Samidoun Brussels in parliament, openly calling on the Belgian government to respond to pressure from the extreme right-wing Israeli government and repress freedom of expression and association on Palestine in Belgium.

The fact that these Zionist and fascist attacks are followed by physical aggression and attempts to politically isolate Samidoun activists by organisations claiming to be motivated solely by solidarity with Palestine raises questions, particularly about the internal policing activities undertaken by the coalition organising the national demonstrations. Apart from the fact that these assaults are legally (theft, assault and battery) and politically (censorship) reprehensible, it is important to emphasise that they are an expression of the prevailing paternalism and racism: the predominantly white petty bourgeoisie silencing the voices of undocumented refugees and attempting to exploit and/or create contradictions within the Palestinian population in Belgium, at a time when the government is locking Palestinians up in closed centres, failing to meet its obligations in terms of reception and leaving them destitute on the streets, and continuing to send arms to the Palestinian Authority in order for it to engage in “security coordination” with the Israeli occupation and to repress the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank.

ABP, Intal, CNCD and company, we see you: you will not silence us with violence.

31 January, Rotterdam: Palestinian Women in Resistance

Wednesday, 31 January
6 pm
Gemaal op Zuid, Rotterdam, NL
Register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfM54cP4oUYSyTNWofydgSQsEgAmLBvqRtUvik9OIx0e5U2Ug/viewform

We invite you to our event “Palestinian Women in Resistance” on the 31st of January organised in collaboration with with “Reading Counterpower”.

This event will open with a shared dinner provided by @hetrodekeukentje and will follow up with a collective reading session, a shared space for discussion, a talk by Samidoun’s Charlotte Kates, and concludes with taking the time to write letters that will be sent to the female prisoners held captive in the occupation’s colonial jails.

The space provided is limited to 30 people, so for this event registration is required!

Heightened Police Repression against Palestinian Solidarity Protesters in Toronto

The following statement is issued by Samidoun Toronto. To get involved or find out more, email toronto@samidoun.net.

UPDATE, 17 February 2024: An organizer reached out to clarify that on one of the occasions of people being stopped by Toronto police, they were not even dropping a banner but simply wearing kuffiyehs.

24 January 2024

Since the commencement of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the Canadian state has made it abundantly clear that Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs, and all people who oppose so-called Israel’s Zionist occupation and imperialism are a threat to Canada’s own settler-colonial social order. Toronto Police Services (TPS) and other police agencies are, as the domestic enforcement arm of the state, at the forefront of repressing this threat through brutal violence, in line with their ongoing war on Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities in Tkaronto.

On October 7, TPS officers attempted to stop Palestinian solidarity protesters from flying flags and banners on the Roncesvalles bridge in Toronto for alleged “safety reasons”. Since then, at least 28 people have been arrested during demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinian people. We, as Samidoun Toronto, vehemently condemn the heightened police repression against Palestinian solidarity activists and the violent and cruel brutality that the TPS is shamelessly inflicting on Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and allied protesters.

RECENT CASES OF POLICE REPRESSION

Zionism and Canadian settler-colonial expansion have been historically and continuously intertwined. Since October 7, TPS have engaged in a particularly violent censorship and political suppression campaign against Palestinian solidarity dissenters.

On October 29, 2023, the TPS put out a public press release alleging that a man who was attacked by a Zionist committed a “hate-motivated assault”[1]. The press release, which has since been deleted, included a photograph of the man. It is unclear whether any arrests occurred.

On October 30, 2023, six protesters were arrested for trespassing while staging a sit-in at MP and Minister for Justice Arif Virani’s office in Toronto. Minister Virani had been quick to denounce Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and had promised legislation designed to obstruct anti-Zionist speech. That same day, five demonstrators were arrested for trespassing[2] while protesting in front of INKAS Armored Vehicle manufacturing plant in North York, an action organized by World Beyond War. The Toronto-based manufacturing company continues to supply military equipment to the brutal Zionist entity.

On November 13, 2023, TPS arrested three Palestinian solidarity protesters who disrupted the Scotiabank Giller Prize gala in Toronto, jumping on the stage and holding up a sign that reads “Scotiabank Funds Genocide”. Scotiabank is the top foreign shareholder in Elbit Systems[3], an “Israeli” corporation that produces weapons for the genocidal Zionist occupation, including cluster munitions, a deadly weapon banned by more than 100 countries, including so-called Canada[4]. The protesters were charged with mischief and, bizarrely, allegedly using forged documents to disrupt the awards show.

On November 14, 2023, Palestinian solidarity activists allegedly wheatpasted posters onto the outside of an Indigo store store. One person was arrested on site and charged with alleged criminal mischief over $5500. The following week, on November 22, 2023, TPS conducted an aggressive raid on the homes of ten of the alleged protesters, breaking down doors and ransacking homes before arresting them. The alleged protesters faced the same alleged charge of mischief over $5500 and an additional charge of alleged conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. The police declared the alleged solidarity demonstration a “hate-motivated offence”. Indigo Books and Music founder Heather Reisman and her husband have financially supported the IOF amid the Zionist occupier’s genocidal onslaught in Gaza. In 2005, the couple established the HESEG foundation which, between 2021 and 2022, provided $12 million in financial aid to IOF soldiers. If convicted, the ten alleged protesters face a sentence of up to ten years in prison.

On November 16, 2023, TPS were called to investigate a Starbucks location in midtown Toronto that was postered in condemnation of the ongoing genocide by the Zionist entity in Gaza. Starbucks is currently the subject of a grassroots boycott, partially[5] because Starbucks is suing the Starbucks Workers United union for making a statement of solidarity with Palestine[6]. One person was arrested with a mischief charge[7].

On December 10, 2023, TPS were caught on camera violently arresting a protester during a Human Rights Day rally. The officer punched and slammed the protester to the ground, then pressed his knee into the protester’s neck.

On December 17, 2023, a Palestinian solidarity protest occurred near the Eaton Centre. Two Palestinian solidarity protesters who had entered the mall were arrested by TPS on several alleged charges[8]. The action occurred days after Zara published an insensitive campaign photoshoot depicting models standing with props of body bags and rubble, which Palestinian solidarity supporters interpreted as making light of the genocidal onslaught by the Zionist entity on Palestinians[9].

On December 23, 2023, a group of Palestinian solidarity protesters disrupted routine holiday shopping in the Cadillac Fairview Toronto Eaton Centre in order to draw attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza[10]. TPS detained at least one protester, but it is unclear whether that person was charged.

On December 29, 2023, Cadillac Fairview Toronto Eaton Centre mall security with handcuffs assaulted Palestinian solidarity protesters and detained three people before TPS even arrived on the scene[11]. The three people were eventually released without legal charges.

On January 7, 2024, one person in Toronto was arrested on charges of public incitement of hatred for waving a flag for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Palestinian resistance organization that has existed since 1967, under the false pretense that he was waving a “terrorist flag”. TPS and Public Safety Canada have both labelled the PFLP a “terrorist entity” alongside other resistance organizations in the region; however, it is not illegal to carry a flag of a designated organization in Canada, and this is the TPS’ attempt to create widespread fear and intimidation.

On January 11, 2024, Palestinian solidarity protesters launched several awareness protests at several major highway bridges across the city. In a ridiculous and unprecedented move, TPS announced that they were prohibiting any demonstrations at the Avenue Road bridge over Highway 401. The TPS Police Chief threatened future protesters with arrests. This protest is one of a series of highway overpass protests throughout the Greater Toronto Area, where participants raise Palestinian flags and drop banners from the sidewalk calling for justice in Palestine. The goal of intimidating Palestinian solidarity voices into silence did not work, and two days later, there was a large demonstration and banner drop on that bridge. Police arrested three people at the demonstration. One man was charged with mischief, and two others charged with obstructing a police officer.

In a particularly absurd turn of events, the Toronto police chief made a public apology after a TPS officer was filmed handing coffee to a Palestinian solidarity protester. The protester had purchased the coffee, but the police initially barred the coffee from being delivered to the protester.

On January 22, 2024, a Palestinian solidarity protester was arrested on charges of alleged mischief regarding an alleged demonstration that took place on November 22, 2023[12]. A strange feature of this arrest was that the Hate Crimes Unit was involved, even though the arrestee was not charged with a hate crime. This seems to be in line with the TPS’ current narrative that they need additional funding to further suppress Palestinian solidarity demonstrations while smearing these anti-genocide demonstrations as “hate crimes”[13].

In all public statements, the TPS have unnecessarily and shamelessly name-doxxed all protesters that they arrested, despite no charges being made, in an attempt to intimidate and undermine the livelihoods and efforts of Palestinian solidarity supporters in so-called Toronto.

ILLEGITIMATE ARRESTS

There is no legal basis for the criminalization of Palestinian solidarity organizing; in fact, the TPS appears to be attempting to create new laws through the targeting and arrests of protesters. Moreover, we know that legality in settler colonies like so-called Canada and “Israel” are not an accurate determiner of morality and justice. Laws in Canada continue to criminalize marginalized communities, while Zionist laws criminalize Palestinians for simply existing in their homeland. Palestinian solidarity organizers who disrupt business-as-usual and do violate laws in Canada to bring attention to the ongoing genocide in Palestine are lawfully, but unjustly, criminalized.

Canadian police units have a reliable history of leveraging hate-related charges and investigations against marginalised groups in order to protect their own interests of upholding settler-colonialism and imperialism. One particularly egregious case occurred in 2020 when the Halton Regional Police investigated the vandalism of a Waffen-SS Nazi Memorial in Oakville as a hate crime. “Hate crimes” such as this that are pursued by police forces in this country reveal the absurdity behind claims of antisemitism that are wielding against Palestinian solidarity activists struggling against settler-colonialism on this land and abroad. To claim that people protesting against a genocidal settler-colonial occupying regime are committing a “hate crime” or being “willfully antisemitic” when Nazi memorials remain across this country exposes the reality behind Canadian hate crime legislation and what it truly serves: settler-colonial order and capital..

POLICE REPRESSION USED TO DISRUPT ORGANIZING

Despite the high incidence of arrests, imprisonment with political charges in Ontario is very rare. This is because the police’s primary goal with our movements is not to send people to jail. Nevertheless, the TPS’ heightened police repression leads to other risks that we, as people organizing for the Palestinian cause, should be aware of and prepared for.

The primary goal of police repression in Ontario, in the vast majority of instances is to disrupt our organizing. By arresting people, giving them non-association conditions (meaning that they cannot speak to their friends without going to jail), “keep the peace” conditions (meaning that they risk more severe legal consequences if they get arrested a second time), the increased use of arrests, even illegitimate ones, Ontario police forces create a climate where organizing communities are disrupted and individual actors are intimidated into silence and non-action.

The TPS uses these arrests as an excuse to identify people by legally compelling that information out of them, and then giving the so-called Canadian state an excuse to publish people’s names and personal information to intimidate people and make them the target of local fascists. This creates tangible consequences for people who are arrested and name-doxxed; it doesn’t matter if you are guilty of the alleged charges if the police force you to divert all your attention, time, and money to resolving the charges and dealing with potential threats to your housing and/or livelihood.

TPS TIES TO ZIONIST OCCUPATION

The Canadian police repress anti-Zionist activists because they share imperialist goals with their allies in the Zionist occupation’s police force. In 2005, 32 Canadian Police Chiefs, including the Chief of the OPP and the York Regional Police Chief, partook in a delegation that went to occupied Palestine, hosted by the occupation’s police forces and the Zionist Minister of Internal Security. A couple of months later, 39 Canadian Police Chiefs went to occupied Palestine[14]. Additionally, the RCMP receives police training from the Zionist police forces within occupied Palestine[15]. Just last week, the Toronto Police chief also held a community meeting at a Toronto synagogue publicly denouncing Palestinian solidarity demonstrations as “hate rallies”, thus pushing racist anti-Palestinian narratives that make it easier to criminalize Palestinian solidarity demonstrators without backlash from the general public as consent continues to be manufactured for state repression.

The Canadian federal government, too, is directly involved in financing the repression of Palestinians in the West Bank. The Government of Canada sends the majority of Canadian aid for Palestine to the collaborationist Palestinian Authority which funds the development of the traitorous Palestinian Authority’s security forces in the West Bank. Canada has even sent police personnel to train PA security forces directly through Project Proteus[16]. The PA’s security forces exist to provide security to the Zionist entity, not to provide security for Palestinians under occupation. Canada’s aid, therefore, is designed to make the PA more efficient in repressing Palestinian resistance and defending colonial power. Canadian-trained PA security forces work to quell any anti-imperialist sentiments that promote resistance against the occupation through armed struggle. They also function as an arm of the murderous occupation in the West Bank. For example, the Palestinian Authority security forces assassinated Palestinian pro-resistance activist Nizar Banat only a couple years ago and continue to imprison resistance members today amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The rise in mass anti-Zionist sentiment through public Palestinian solidarity demonstrations threatens Canada’s ongoing aid towards the imprisonment of Palestinians in the occupation’s brutal dungeons wherein over 5,000 Palestinians have been newly detained since October 7th— doubling the original number[17].

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

The repression being carried out by the TPS and other police forces across so-called Canada against Palestinian and Arab communities and the Palestine liberation movement is akin to that being pursued by other Western imperialist powers, including the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. At this moment, it is critical that we advance and escalate our mobilization and organizing efforts in support of the Palestinian people, their struggle against genocide, and their resistance movement until liberation and return.

We urge action to confront ongoing Canadian complicity in Zionist colonialism– including confronting the listing of Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organizations on Canada’s lists of so-called “terrorist entities.” We also call upon all supporters of Palestinian liberation to show solidarity with and support all of those arrested for their struggle against the imperial war machine and confront repression as we demand freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners and all of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20231130002208/https://www.tps.ca/media-centre/news-releases/58059/

[2] https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/10/30/israel-gaza-protest-toronto-factory-arrests/

[3] https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2193847363886

[4] https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/three-people-arrested-after-demonstrators-interrupt-scotiabank-giller-prize-gala/article_2de13d82-1857-5dff-8456-0f508b1ad07e.html

[5] Howard Schultz, former Starbucks CEO and one of Starbucks’ current biggest shareholders (https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/052416/top-4-starbucks-shareholders-sbux.asp) continues to invest in the Zionist entity and even received “The Israel 50th Anniversary Tribute Award)” from the Jerusalem Fund of Aish Ha-Torah for “playing a key role in promoting a close alliance between the United States and Israel” (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/howard-schultz).

 

[6] https://theintercept.com/2023/10/17/starbucks-suing-union-israel-palestine/

[7] https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/11/18/woman-charged-in-midtown-starbucks-vandalism/

[8] https://www.tps.ca/media-centre/news-releases/two-men-arrested-in-suspected-hate-motivated-crime/

[9] https://new.thecradle.co/articles-id/2367

[10] https://www.cp24.com/news/Palestinian solidarity-protesters-stage-brief-sit-in-at-eaton-centre-1.6700163?cache=yesclipId10406200text%2Fhtml%3Bcharset%3Dutf-80404%2F7.626236%2F7.626236%2F7.626236%2F7.532963%2F7.532963%2F7.532963%2F7.532963%2F7.532963

[11] https://www.instagram.com/p/C1niGWctCOy/?igsh=MTRoMjY2bzZ2czBnNA==

[12] https://www.tps.ca/media-centre/news-releases/58584/

[13] https://www.tps.ca/media-centre/news-releases/58497/

[14] https://ijvcanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Challenging-Israeli-Canadian-Global-Pacification-no-Links.pdf

[15] https://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/activist-reveals-hidden-military-ties-between-canada-and-israel

[16] https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/canadian-police-connections-israel-colour-responses-palestinian-solidarity

[17] https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/features/2023/10/21/number-of-palestinian-prisoners-in-israel-doubles-to-10000-in-two-weeks

Drop the Charges: Justice for the Merrimack 3!

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins with many organizations in standing with the Merrimack 3 and demanding that New Hampshire officials drop all charges against these activists taking a stand against genocide. Please join us in signing on to the statement below at the link.

The endorsing individuals and organizations resolutely stand with the Merrimack Three, joining the international call to drop all charges against these courageous young activists. On November 20th, 2023, the Merrimack Police Department of New Hampshire arrested Sophie Ross, Calla Walsh, and Bridget Shergalis for daring to confront the genocidal arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, a cornerstone of the global military-industrial complex.

The Merrimack Three’s direct action called attention to the web of interconnected, profit-motivated systems responsible for maintaining US hegemony across the globe. Demonstrating against this Elbit facility helped to reveal the corporations in our neighborhoods that are directly involved in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Elbit Systems supplies 85% of the land-based equipment and drones used by the Occupation Forces and further maintains the surveillance technology deployed at the apartheid wall, Gaza border, and military checkpoints. Marketing their weapons as “field-tested” on Palestinians, Elbit built the very weapons used to murder over 30,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

We have witnessed the US empire double down on its investment in the Zionist project, repressing and criminalizing the Palestine solidarity movement in the belly of the beast. The foundational role of political prisoners in the struggle against Zionism and imperialism has emerged from the empire’s reliance on violent repression as a means to quell mass movements and popular resistance. In a desperate attempt to make an example out of the Merrimack Three, the Hillsborough County Superior Court has levied charges of up to 37 years in prison. This draconian demonstration of repression only proves what we already know: the allegiance of the state lies with capitalism and the continuation of global exploitation.

We commend the Merrimack Three, as well as the broader campaign to Shut Elbit Down, for directly challenging war profiteers in the face of immense repression. The state will not deter our commitment to forge a world liberated from the chains of Zionism, capitalism, and imperialism, a world devoid of entities like Elbit. We call on our movement partners to join us in the global campaign to Drop the Charges against the Merrimack Three and to Shut Elbit Down. Sign onto the statement below!

Down with Zionism, Down with Imperialism, Liberation for All!

Drop the Charges Now, Shut Elbit Down!

The More They Try to Silence Us, the Louder We Will Be!

Sign on: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSceOlqnipvfrNa3CQu7MAGtd3cy3CiaGeNWzSpfhULwPan1cw/viewform

Endorsing Organizations:

National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP)
Palestinian Youth Movement
Palestine Solidarity Working Group
Palestinian Feminist Collective (PFC)
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Within Our Lifetime: United for Palestine
Black Alliance for Peace
Black Alliance for Peace, Solidarity Network
National Lawyers Guild International Committee
National Lawyers Guild Palestine Subcommittee
Palestine Action
CAGE International
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
DSA International Committee
The People’s Forum
CODEPINK
Alliance for Global Justice
Labor for Palestine
Queers in Palestine
International Jewish Antizionist Network IJAN
Jewish Network for Palestine
Black Lives Matter New Hampshire
NH Youth Movement
Upper Valley for Palestine
Palestine Solidarity Coalition – University of New Hampshire
United American Indians of New England (UAINE)
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Good Shepherd Collective
Interfaith for Palestine
Christians United for Palestine
The Palestine Pod
DecolonizePalestine.com
Babochki Collective
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
American Student Union
USA-Palestine Mental Health Network
Law Students for a Free Palestine
Adelphi Students for Justice in Palestine
Stony Brook Students for Justice in Palestine
SUNY BDS
CUNY for Palestine
Williams College Students for Justice in Palestine
Palestine Solidarity Alliance of Hunter College
Boston Jericho Movement
NYC Jericho Movement
Maryland2Palestine
NYCars4Palestine
Anti-Imperialist Action Committee
Anti-Imperialist Solidarity
Free Gaza Movement
Michigan General Defense Committee
Midnight Books
Al-Awda NY/NJ: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Western New York Peace Center
Berkshire Communists
Berkshires DSA
Boston Boricuas for Liberation
Colorado Palestine Coalition
Young Communist League of Britain
Bruxelles Panthères
Collectif Palestine Vaincra
Mouvement Citoyen Palestine
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill
Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU)
Canadian BDS Coalition
Global Peace Alliance BC Society
Calgary Peace Council
Canada Palestine Association
Ontario Palestinian Rights Association
BDS Vancouver/Coast Salish Territories
UBC Social Justice Centre
Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
The DuBois School
The Sunbird Movement
Friends of Socialist China
Center for Counter Hegemonic Studies

21 January, NY and Online: Int’l Assembly Against Imperialism in Solidarity with Palestine

On Sunday, January 21 — The 100th Anniversary of the Death of Vladimir Lenin

INTERNATIONAL ASSEMBLY AGAINST IMPERIALISM IN

SOLIDARITY WITH
THE PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE

Malcolm X & Dr Betty Shabazz
Memorial & Educational Center 
3940 Broadway, at West 165th St
Washington Heights, New York City

11AM – 5PM
10AM – registration, coffee

Email: lenincentennial2024@gmail.com

A unique hybrid Assembly

Representatives of the Palestinian resistance and liberation and workers’ struggles from the Global South to the U.S.

REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND IN PERSON at the Malcolm X & Dr Betty Shabazz
Memorial & Educational Center
Eventbrite link: https://tinyurl.com/IntlAssemblyRegister

REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND BY ZOOM WEBINAR
https://tinyurl.com/IntlAssemblyZoom

MAKE A DONATION HERE
Eventbrite link:
https://tinyurl.com/Donate-IntlAssembly

Workers World Party invites you to an International Assembly Against Imperialism in Solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance on Sunday, Jan. 21, the 100th anniversary of the death of V.I. Lenin.

Join us with representatives of the Palestinian resistance and representatives of many liberation struggles and workers struggles.

At this moment, with millions of people in every corner of the world taking to the streets to protest the genocidal war against Gaza, the best way to commemorate the centennial of Lenin’s death is to devote this occasion to solidarity with Palestine and all liberation movements. We can no longer allow any issue to separate and atomize workers fighting on the many fronts in the global working class struggle.

The Assembly will address the urgent question of how to raise the level of solidarity with Palestine in the working class and the workers movement. A number of U.S. labor unions have issued statements calling for a cease-fire. That’s a good start but much more can be done, and must be done.

One of Lenin’s many contributions to revolutionary struggle was his tireless effort to lead the international working class movement toward maximizing concrete solidarity with all of the anti-colonial liberation struggles. This direction exemplifies the essence of Leninism – it has never been more relevant and necessary.

Please join us on January 21 You can attend in person or register for the webinar.

WORKERS AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE OF THE WORLD UNITE !

REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND IN PERSON at the Malcolm X & Dr Betty Shabazz
Memorial & Educational Center
Eventbrite link: https://tinyurl.com/IntlAssemblyRegister

REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND BY ZOOM WEBINAR
https://tinyurl.com/IntlAssemblyZoom

MAKE A DONATION HERE
Eventbrite link:
https://tinyurl.com/Donate-IntlAssembly

17 January, Online Event: Sustainable Solidarity for Palestinian Liberation after “ceasefire”

Participate in today’s panel discussion, “What Happens After Ceasefire?”: How to think about making the struggle sustainable beyond this crisis and protest-oriented demand.

Join Samidoun Seattle, SUPER-UW, and CHID for a virtual panel discussion + Q&A tonight at 4PM Pacific Time (7 pm Eastern) on the framework beyond “ceasefire” and the importance of continued solidarity for Palestine.

Join on Zoom: https://washington.zoom.us/j/98825240759

22 January, Albuquerque: “Fedayin” Film Screening * Cases of Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Abdallah & the Palestinian Prisoners

Join us 6pm Monday January 22 in Albuquerque, NM. Film screening of Fedayin. Dinner and Conversation on the cases of Ahmad Sa’adat, Georges Abdallah and the Palestinian Prisoners Movement. All are welcome!

14-24 January 2024 International Week of Action to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners.

Mon, Jan 22
6 pm
Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice
202 Harvard SE

123...667Page 2 of 667

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Contact us: samidoun@samidoun.net
Unless otherwise stated, all content by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them.