Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network participated in the OCML-VP (Organisation communiste marxiste-leniniste-Voie Proletarienne) summer school 2017 in France along with a number of other organizations. This report is largely translated from the original French article, posted at OCML-VP.
Samidoun activists joined OCML-VP, YDG France (New Democratic Youth, member of ATIK), Secours Rouge of Belgium, Revolutionäre Jugend Zürich and Revolutionäre Aufbau and supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the summer initiative for study and discussion.
The event began with a solidarity message from Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the imprisoned Lebanese communist struggler for Palestine held in French jails for nearly 34 years:
Dear Comrades,
For various reasons and to my great regret, I cannot participate actively at this time in this very interesting discussion that I would say is very necessary, especially these days.
From behind these abominable walls where I have been for an eternity, I address my warmest revolutionary greetings to all the comrades and friends present, and especially to those who organized this gathering.
Certainly the interventions of the local participants make it possible to hope that the debate goes beyond the abstract framework of generalities and banalities and clarifies the regional specificities in the global anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist struggle.
Honor to all those who fight against capital and its barbarism!
Honor to the popular masses in struggle!
Your comrade Georges Abdallah
The political program of the event included several half-days focusing on the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, work in political and trade union movements, the lessons of 1917 for today and the role of revolutionaries in anti-imperialist struggle. The event also included collective child-care and meal preparation to support the participation of all in the program.
Afternoons involved workshops on computer security, graffiti, art, theater, self-defense and other activities as well as cultural presentations and political discussons about struggles today.