March 24-28 marks the 2015 World Social Forum in Tunis, Tunisia. Alongside social movements around the world, and a large number of Palestinian, Arab and solidarity organizations focusing on Palestine in their participation, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network will be participating in the WSF 2015 in Tunis.

Charlotte Kates of Samidoun will be participating in the following self-organized workshops at the Forum:

The EU, UN, US and Corporate complicity in Israel’s apartheid policy
DATE: 25 March – Slot 1 – 8:30-11:00
Room: Mini Amphi G

Description: What are the roles of third parties (corporations, institutions, states) in prolonging Israel’s occupation of Palestine? Are they complicit in abetting Israel’s regime of Apartheid on both sides of the green line? What we, citizens of the world, can do to challenge this? A panel of activists will answer those questions giving ideas for potential actions and more.

Panelists will include: Zakaria Odeh – The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem; Michael Warschawski – Alternative Information Center; Charlotte Kates – Samidoun – Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network; Rania Madi – Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights; Nurit Peled- Elhanan – laureate of the Sakharov Prize 2001 for Freedom of Thought and a patron of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine; Erwan Simon – Campagne BDS France; Ryvka Barnard – War on Want; Andrè Crespin – Intal;Maren Montovani – Stop the Wall/Boycott National Committee; Moderator: Pierre Galand – Russell Tribunal on Palestine/ECCP

Organized by the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) and the Russell Tribunal on Palestine

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Exposing Israel’s Role in Worldwide Repression
DATE: 26 March – 8:30-11:00 am
Room: Salle TD10

Description: The presenters will offer an overall history of Israel’s collaboration with the United States in attacking struggles for freedom in the global South, as well as offer an overview of the Zionist institutions’ role in repressing Palestinian activism and students and faculty members across campuses. The panel will also discuss how the backlash network is tied to the oil and weapons industries, and offer an analysis of how US imperialist interests, especially in permanent war in the Middle East, are sustained by Islamophobia and pro-Israel policies both in the US and in Europe. Some of the questions we will address are: What is the role of Israel in supporting US and European imperialism? How has Israel propped up repressive regimes and assisted other states’ police forces? What are the links between Israel and other colonial projects? How has Israel become a central player in the global arms trade? What kinds of technologies does Israel export? What are the ways in which Zionist institutions and donors play a central role in attacking anti-racist, anti-apartheid, anti-repression and pro-democratic movements?

Organized by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
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These are just a small number of the numerous programs focusing on Palestine at the WSF in Tunis, including a massive cultural and artistic program organized by Artists For Palestine. However, this is also only a small subset of many programs focusing on Palestinian political prisoners at the Forum. The events with significant discussion of Palestinian political prisoners of which Samidoun is aware are listed below – if another WSF event should be listed, please do not hesitate to inform us at samidoun -at- samidoun.net.

The Struggle for Palestinian Political Prisoners
DATE: 25 March – 11:30 – 14:00
Room: Salle 125, FSEGT

Description: The panel will give a general overview of the Palestinian political prisoners issue and how solidarity activists can support the prisoners struggle. Ex-detainees, families of detainees and members of human rights organizations will facilitate the panel. Abla Sa’adat (wife of Ahmad Sa’adat) and Suha Barghouthi will speak about administrative detention, isolation and solitary confinement, medical negligence, torture and the daily violations against the prisoners and their families. A member from ADDAMEER will discuss the prisoners struggle from a legal and historical context and how activists can get involved.

Organized by Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
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International solidarity campaign supporting prisoners and detainees of the Israeli occupation
Date: 25 March – 11:30 – 14:00
Room: Salle SP15, FST

WSF event page: http://registration.fsm2015.org/view_activity/1919

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From Ferguson to Palestine: We Can’t Breathe!
Date: 25 March – 15:00 – 17:30
Room: Salle TD3, FSEGT

Description: The last several months a major upsurge of struggle against police brutality across the United States has revealed an ugly and brutal U.S. society barely concealed behind a veil of democracy, equality and human rights. The slogan “From Ferguson to Palestine: We Can’t breathe” arose to express a felt bond between those demanding justice in Ferguson, Missouri and New York and the victims and opponents of the US and other Western powers in Asia, Latin America, Africa and, of course, occupied Palestine. The workshop will feature reports and commentary by activists from the US, the Middle East and elsewhere examining common threads, a common system, as well as the particular complexities of resistance emerging in the world today. Panelists and audience are also invited to discuss what it will take to bring another, radically different and better world into being.

Organized by We Can’t Breathe United
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The role of youth of the world to backup and support Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails
Date: 26 March – 8:30 – 11:00
Room: Salle de Conference, FST

WSF Event page: http://registration.fsm2015.org/view_activity/2799
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BDS at 10 years on: The Israel Boycott Movement – Achievements and Strategies
Date: 26 March – 11:30 – 14:00
Room: Amphi 4, FSEGT

WSF Event page: http://registration.fsm2015.org/view_activity/1421
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Prisoners in Israeli Jails
Date: 26 March – 11:30 – 14:00
Room: Salle 765, ENIT

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Palestinian youth between revolution, international solidarity and building the democratic state
Date: 27 March – 11:30 – 14:00
Room: Salle de lecture 4, FSEGT

WSF Event page: https://registration.fsm2015.org/fr/view_activity/3685
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Freedom for Palestinian Prisoners
Date: 27 March – 11:30 – 14:00
Room: Salle 117, FSEGT

WSF Event Page: http://registration.fsm2015.org/view_activity/3287
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(Neo)Colonial Militarism and State Violence: Global-Local Connections
Date: 27 March – 15:00 – 17:30
Room: Salle TD9, FSEGT

Description: From the Arab uprisings, to Ferguson, Palestine, Chiapas, Nairobi, Syntagma Square and Ain Salah, grassroots activists are challenging the entrenched inequality, violence and repression that characterizes neoliberal governance and (neo)colonial militarism. Though invigorated by new ideas and forms of organizing, these activists build upon the inspiration, ideas, strategies and networks developed over decades by anti-colonial/imperial, anti-racist, labor and human rights struggles. Focusing on the physical and structural forms of violence inherent in neoliberal forms of governance, militarism and national security state politics the panel will address some of the most pressing questions facing grassroots activists today, including: What are the key connections to be made between localized forms of oppression and the global power structures to which they are linked? How can these connections help empower cross-border mobilization and coordination? What can activists learn from the successes and failures of past and present forms of mass-mobilization- from the anti-colonial, Third Worldist and civil rights struggles of the early-mid 20th century, to the contemporary resistance movements around state violence, racial justice, militarism and neoliberal-capitalist expansion/exclusion?
Speakers: MIREILLE FANON MENDES-FRANCE, Frantz Fanon Foundation; ABDEEN JABARA, US civil rights lawyer/activist (NLG); RANDA WAHBE, Addameer; HAMZA HAMOUCHENE, Algeria Solidarity Campaign; CORINNA MULLIN, University of Tunis/School of Oriental and African Studies; Moderator: AUDREY BOMSE, Human rights attorney/activist (NLG)

Event co-sponsors: National Lawyers Guild, Frantz Fanon Foundation, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
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