Call to Action! Week of Palestinian Struggle, 15-22 May 2020

Call to Action | Days of Action and Events | Action Ideas | Endorse or Submit Your Activity 

View this call to action in French: https://palestinevaincra.com/2020/05/du-15-au-22-mai-rejoignez-la-semaine-de-lutte-palestinienne/

View this call to action in German: https://www.facebook.com/events/928938670913039/

View this call to action in Swedish: https://samidoun.net/sweden/palestinsk-kampvecka-2020/

On 15-22 May 2020 Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all organizations, activists and movements to join us in a collective Week of Palestinian Struggle. 

On these days, we remember the Nakba, the theft of Palestinian land and the dispossession of the Palestinian people. At the same time, we celebrate, affirm and pledge to continue over 72 years of Palestinian resistance for liberation and return. 

For decades, the Palestinian people’s  movement has commemorated 15 May and the week that follows as a week of solidarity, resistance and struggle, affirming a revolution that will continue until victory. This week marks the Palestinian, Arab and international struggle for justice and liberation, a struggle that has continued for 72 years and continues every day. As the Nakba continues, the resistance continues!

Join us in a week of virtual and in-person actions to stand with the Palestinian people through 72 years of struggle confronting Zionism, imperialism and reaction and for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea! 

Click here to endorse the week of action or send us your activities. 

We know that the Zionist ethnic cleansing project did not begin on 15 May 1948 – it was mostly completed by this point throughout 78% of historic Palestine after its launch the previous December. More than that, it was built upon decades of military escalation and European colonization in Palestine and throughout the region more broadly, particularly the British colonial mandate and its Balfour declaration. This week of struggle requires confronting the racist, imperial ideology of Zionism on which the colonial regime in Palestine has been constructed.

There are over seven million Palestinian refugees and over 13 million Palestinians in exile and diaspora. The implementation of the right of return to Palestine is a collective and individual right that is at the core of the liberation of Palestine. In recent years, the attempts to liquidate the right of return have intensified, culminating in the so-called “deal of the century.” This week of action pledges to intensify the struggle everywhere for the right to return to Palestine. 

This struggle for return and liberation has meant that Palestinians have been on the front lines fighting imperialism for over 72 years, fighting alongside comrades in Ireland, the Philippines, Turkey, South Africa, the indigenous Americas and elsewhere. This week of Palestinian struggle is also a week of struggle against imperialism, especially as the U.S. attempts to impose its “deal of the century” and liquidate the Palestinian cause. Imperialist powers use “anti-terror” laws and repressive measures to repress the struggle for Palestine within their borders as well, from the imprisonment of Georges Abdallah in France to the Holy Land Five in the US, to the targeting of Palestinian activists like Khaled Barakat in Germany for political bans.

Every victory that is achieved for people’s struggles around the world is a victory for Palestine, and every attack on those movements – such as the attempts to foment a coup in Venezuela or blockade Cuba – is also an attack on the Palestinian people. The siege on Gaza is not simply an Israeli siege but also a U.S. and European siege in which Arab reactionary regimes are complicit. During this week of action, we struggle to break the siege on Gaza, bring an end to imperialist sanctions and fight all forms of repression.

Of course, Israel is not the only racist settler colony built on dispossession of indigenous peoples and extraction of their resources; the sponsors of Zionist policy in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. We stand with all oppressed peoples and indigenous movements defending their land from the ravages of settler colonial capitalism. 

Just as the Palestinian cause is an international struggle, it is also deeply linked to the fight against imperialism throughout the Arab world and the region more broadly. Arab reactionary regimes like those in Saudi Arabia and Egypt work hand in hand with Israel and the United States to promote normalization, besiege the Palestinian people and squander an independent future for the peoples of the region – and this is reflected in their attacks on the Palestinian movement. We stand with the Arab people and the peoples of the region who continue to fight back and defend their sovereignty and their future against imperialism and reaction. 

The Palestinian Authority continues to engage in “security coordination” with the Israeli occupier on a routine basis, attacking the Palestinian resistance. This week of action stands unconditionally with the Palestinian people’s right to resist occupation and oppression and against all forms of normalization and complicity with the liquidation of Palestine. 

As we fight these attempts to normalize colonialism, the Week of Palestinian Struggle aims to intensify the boycott of Israel and the complicit corporations that profit from the oppression, dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The boycott movement and BDS campaign has faced escalated repression because it poses a material challenge to Israel and its corporate partners. During this week of action, we will expand the movement to isolate and boycott Israel.

Palestinian youth and students are fighting back against imprisonment and for the future of a liberated Palestine .Resisting suppression and imprisonment inside and outside Palestine, they fight – generation after generation until total liberation. 

Palestinian women have been on the front lines of struggle for over 72 years, defending the land, educating generations of strugglers and participating fully in leadership of the Palestinian struggle, political organization and armed and popular struggle. 

From inside the prisons, Palestinian prisoners stand on the front lines of confrontation for the freedom of their land and people. The imprisonment of Palestinians has always been a tool of the colonial project in Palestine, meant to maintain occupation, apartheid and oppression and criminalize the existence and resistance of Palestinians. From the martial law imposed in 1948 on the Palestinians who remained in the 78% of historic Palestine occupied at that time, to the imprisonment of 5,000 Palestinian political leaders, journalists, and freedom fighters today, the imprisonment of Palestinians and their leaders has always been part and parcel of the Nakba – and the Palestinian prisoners behind bars continue to stand at the heart of the resistance.

We salute the struggle of the workers and farmers of Palestine, fighting to defend their land and resist exploitation and oppression in all of its forms. Labor organizers are locked inside prisons and fishermen in Gaza are targeted for Israeli gunfire and assault. The popular classes of Palestine have always been the leaders of the revolution and those who have propelled the national liberation movement forward:  the farmers, the workers, the refugees in the camps. 

Join this week of action to highlight the voices and struggles of the Palestinian people, inside and outside Palestine, from Haifa, Nazareth and Safad to Gaza, Ramallah and Nablus, from Cairo, Amman and Beirut to Berlin, Brussels, Santiago and New York. 

Remember the Nakba: Long live the resistance! Victory for Palestine! 

Endorsers include: Staat van Beleg, Actions 4 Palestine, Knocknacarra Palestine Network, Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine, Free Palestine FFM (Frankfurt), Labor for Palestine, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, Anti-War Committee Minneapolis and more! Add your endorsement below:

Days of Action

Below are themes for each day through the week, although events may reflect any or all of these themes at any time! Samidoun’s social media will focus on these topics through each day. We encourage you to schedule events and actions on any day during the week, regardless of theme or topic, focusing on the Palestinian liberation struggle and 72 years of continuing resistance. We also present a schedule of the events we know of taking place during the week. 

We want to add yours! Email us at [email protected] or use the form below to send in your events and actions! 

10 through 17 May

15 to 22 May

  • Free Palestine FFM in Frankfurt, Germany calls for the Actionswoche des palästinensisichen Struggles  https://www.facebook.com/events/928938670913039/ Download the images and posters and take photos around Frankfurt or your local community: submit them online!

Thursday, 14 May

  • Online Event: Webinar with Rasmea Odeh and George Khoury, moderated by Suzanne Adely. Organized by the US Palestinian Community Network. 11:30 am Pacific/2:30 pm Eastern/8:30 pm central Europe/9:30 pm Palestine. Watch on Facebook Live at: https://facebook.com/USPCN
  • Film screening and discussion, Gothenburg, Sweden: Screening of “Roadmap to Apartheid,” 6 pm, Syndikalistiskt Forum, Linnegatan 21, Gothenburg. Organized by Samidoun Gothenburg. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/704603883702440/
  • Online Event (in Arabic): They can demolish our homes, but they cannot break our will: Discussion with Widad Barghouthi. 11:30 am Pacific/2:30 pm Eastern/8:30 pm central Europe/9:30 pm Palestine. Organized by Samidoun occupied Palestine. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/761898511218239/

Friday, 15 May
72 years of struggle and ongoing resistance! Palestinian Workers’ and Farmers’ Struggle for Liberation

  • Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #KeyToJustice #Nakba72 #NakbaDay. Join the global Twitterstorm: https://samidoun.net/2020/05/join-the-keytojustice-nakbaday-twitterstorm-on-friday-15-may/ Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
  • In Chicago: Car Caravan to Commemorate the Nakba. For more details, see US Palestinian Community Network. At 1:30 pm Central time, gather at AAAN, 9838 S. Roberts Rd, Palos Hills, IL
  • In Minneapolis: Car Caravan to Commemorate the Nakba. Organized by the Anti-War Committee. Meet at 6 pm @ large parking lot at 43rd and Central Ave. in Columbia Heights (at intersection with Filfillah Restaurant 4301 Central Ave NE). Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/252169372647362/
  • Online Event: The Holy Land 5 and COVID-19: Conversation with their Sons and Daughters, organized by the Coalition for Civil Freedoms. 11:30 am Pacific/2:30 pm Eastern/8:30 pm central Europe/9:30 pm Palestine time. Register on Zoom at https://bit.ly/3dHUyvR or watch Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/civilfreedoms/live/
  • Online event: Nakba72: The Continuation of Colonisation – Annexation and Peace. 7 am Pacific/10 am Eastern/3 pm London/5 pm Palestine. Organized by EuroPal Forum. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/595772341287413/ 
  • Online event: Discussion with Palestinian Nakba survivors. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/7 pm Scotland/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Sheffield PSC. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/554093915292170/
  • Online event: Nakba Day Rally, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, BDS Movement, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, South Africa BDS Coalition. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/7 pm Britain/8 pm Europe/9 pm Palestine. Register online: https://bit.ly/2YHx0TR
  • Online event: (In Arabic and German) #Nakba72 commemoration, organized by the Palestinian Working Committee in Austria. 12 pm Pacific/3 pm Eastern/9 pm central Europe/10 pm Palestine. On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/102366481337932/photos/a.102448721329708/146173453623901/
  • Online Event: Documentary film 1948: Creation & Catastrophe followed by a Q&A with directors Ahlam Muhtaseb and Andy Trimlett. 2:30 pm Pacific/5:30 pm Eastern/11:30 pm central Europe/12:30 am Palestine. Organized by the Toronto Palestine Film Festival. Watch at tpff.ca or live on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/1624576931027490/
  • Online event: Friday Night Forums: Palestine and the Blockade of Gaza. Organized by The Red Nation, Arab Resource and Organizing Center and Center for Political Education. 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern/2 am Europe/3 am Palestine. Register online: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fSQJFHRzROKHyMqyqfM7Vg
  • Online event: Never Forgotten: 72 Years of Resilience, organized by American Muslims for Palestine. 7 pm Pacific/10 pm Eastern/4 am central Europe/5 am Palestine. With speakers: Dr. Salman Abu Sitta | Hanady Halawani | Dr. Hatem Bazian | Rawan Damen | Sh. Ibrahim Dardasawi | Raed Jarrar | Kefah Zreeqy | Taher Herzallah | Sh. Monzer Taleb | Tarek Khalil | Dr. Osama Abuirshaid | & special emcee Tessneem Abdallah from AMP Minnesota. Register online: bit.ly/AMPNeverForgotten

Saturday, 16 May
Palestinian Struggle for Return and Liberation: Confronting Zionism – Boycott and Isolate Israel!

  • Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
  • Online Event: Liberate Palestine from the River to the Sea! With Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat. 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/7 pm central Europe/8 pm Palestine. Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Register online: https://bit.ly/liberatepalestine
  • Online event: From Nakba to Return – the Struggle for Palestinian Liberation. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm Central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Palestinian Youth Movement and National SJP (Samidoun is an endorser!) Register online: bit.ly/nakba2return
  • Online event: The Nakba and Indigenous Struggles, with Ahed Tamimi, Nadya Tannous and Melanie Yazzie. 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern/6 pm central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Friends of Sabeel North America. Register at fosna.org/Nakba2020
  • Online event: Lift the siege on Gaza – Online rally for Palestine. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm Central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Canadian Palestinian Community Centre. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1086584601724111/
  • Online event: The Palestine Question, with Ramzy Baroud, Ghada Ageel and Mohammed Marandi. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Mobilization for Justice. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/539023010333963/
  • Online event: The right to return: the Palestinian Nakba, organized by Cadfa (Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association) 12 pm Pacific/3 pm Eastern/8 pm British time/9 pm central Europe/10 pm Palestine. With Jehan Aburaya, Abdullah Abu Hilal, Mona al-Farra, Abdelfattah Abu Srour, Basma Dhoukhi and Zeina. Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87535605255
  • Online event: Remember the Nakba. Organized by the Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/7 pm British time/8 pm Europe/9 pm Palestine. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1414738382046138/

Sunday, 17 May
Palestinian Refugees’ Struggle for Liberation and Return to Palestine!

  • Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
  • Online Event: Virtual Rally and Panel to Commemorate al-Nakba and For the Right to Return. Organized by Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition. 12 pm Pacific/3 pm Eastern/9 pm central Europe/10 pm Palestine. Register online: https://bit.ly/alawda72
  • Online Event: Arabic-Language Webinar with Fawzi Ismail on Palestinian Struggle in Exile. Organized by Samidoun Palestine and fellow organizers. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Follow on Facebook: https://facebook.com/samidoun3/
  • Online Event: Screening of Gaza Fights for Freedom and Nakba commemoration, organized by the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (Australia). 7 pm Eastern Australia time. Includes an introduction with Australian lawyer Hiba Farra. To register for the event, email cjpp@coalitionforpalestine.org
  • Online Event: TAHA – The play, written by and starring Palestinian artist Amer Hlehel عامر حليحل based on the life of Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali. Organized by Toronto Palestine Film Festival. 1 pm Pacific/4 pm Eastern/10 pm central Europe/11 pm Palestine. Watch at tpff.ca or live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1624576931027490/
  • Online Event: Palestine, Free Speech and Becoming Strong on Campuses, organized by Students for Justice in Palestine activists. 2 pm Pacific/5 pm Eastern/11 pm central Europe/12 am Palestine. Join Zoom Meeting: tinyurl.com/palestineoncampus
  • Online Event: Reel Palestine Home Editition – 1948: Creation and Catastrophe. Ramzi Jabri in conversation with Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb. 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/7 pm central Europe/8 pm Palestine/9 pm UAE. On Instagram Live https://www.instagram.com/reelpalestine/

Monday, 18 May
Palestinian Youth and Students – Generation after Generation until Total Liberation

  • Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!

Tuesday, 19 May
Confronting Reactionary Regimes, Normalization and Imperialism: Arab struggles for liberation

  • Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
  • Online Event: Honoring Malcolm X & Elombe Brath:Black Solidarity with Palestine. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by AMED Studies at SFSU Open Classroom. Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/536552867060717/
  • Online event: Unite in Solidarity with Palestine, organized by Unite the Union. 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/6 pm British time/7 pm Central Europe/8 pm Palestine. To register: https://bit.ly/2WdENad

Wednesday, 20 May
Palestinian Women in the Liberation Movement: National and Social Liberation

  • Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!

Thursday, 21 May
Palestinian Prisoners on the Front Lines of the Freedom Struggle

  • Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
  • Online Event: Palestinian prisoners’ families: Collective punishment and steadfastness, with Basil Farraj. 12 pm Pacific/3 pm Eastern/9 pm central Europe/10 pm Palestine. Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Register online: https://bit.ly/prisonersfamilies
  • Online event: Stop settlements – on the road to justice in Palestine. 8 am Pacific/11 am Eastern/5 pm central Europe/6 pm Palestine, organized by ECCP – European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine. With Michael Lynk, Anna Kdair, Tom Moerenhout, Clare Daly. Join via the link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89797605467 or at Facebook live: https://www.facebook.com/ECCP-European-Coordination-of-Committees-and-Associations-for-Palestine-343061752465951/

Friday, 22 May
Palestinian, Arab and International Struggle Confronts Zionism, Reaction and Imperialism

  • Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
  • Online event: Why Palestine is still the issue, with Ilan Pappe, Rob Ferguson, Baha Hilo and Tamika Sankar. Organized by several organizations at the University of York. 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/6 pm British time/7 pm central Europe/8 pm Palestine. Register online: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/why-palestine-is-still-the-issue-tickets-104451258526

Suggested Actions

  1. Videos and selfies are a great way to express solidarity online! Create a short video clip or hold up a sign supporting the Palestinian people and their resistance through 72 years of ongoing Nakba. Your Tweets, Facebook, Instagram and other social media posts throughout the week can emphasize the critical importance of the Palestinian struggle! Use the hashtags #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle and tag us at @SamidounPP on Twitter so that we can re-share and boost your solidarity efforts.
  2. If you cannot hold an in-person demonstration or action during this week, we encourage you to consider a car caravan. Of course, you can still support the prisoners with an online action or event! Several online meetings are listed below. Host a webinar or online meeting about Palestine and the prisoners’ struggle over Zoom, Facebook Live or a platform of your choice. Send your event details – in any language – to Samidoun at [email protected] and we will include them in our list of activities.
  3. Call in for action. Governments around the world, specifically imperialist powers and reactionary regimes, are fully complicit in Israeli crimes against humanity. Even if you have to leave a message, call your government officials and demand they stop funding and supporting Israel’s ongoing Nakba with military, diplomatic and political support. Express your disgust at these governments’ ongoing support for Israeli colonialism. Call during your country’s regular office hours:
    • Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne: + 61 2 6277 7500
    • Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne: +1-613-995-4895
    • European Union Commissioner Josep Borrell Fontelles: +32(0) 470 18 24 05
    • New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
    • United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab: +44 20 7008 1500
    • United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111
  1. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. It’s just as important to boycott Israel when buying online! Join the BDS campaign to highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.
  2. Share history and record oral history. It is vitally important to recall the history of Palestinian struggle and share the stories of Nakba survivors and generations of Palestinian strugglers. Share your story, that of your family and loved ones, or that of your comrades. Tag us at @SamidounPP so that we share your story further!

Endorse or Submit Your Event

Use this form to endorse the week of action or submit your event. You can use the form just to endorse, just to submit an event, or you can do both at the same time. We will update the schedule and call and re-release it on Friday, 15 May and throughout the week! You can also always email us at [email protected].

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