HIRAK, the Palestinian Youth Mobilization in Berlin, and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network hosted a webinar on Thursday, 30 April, 2020, on the repression directed againat Palestinian communities and Palestine solidarity organizing in Germany. Palestinian human rights lawyer in Germany Nadija Samour spoke about the case of Khaled Barakat and the legal and political environment in Germany surrounding the attacks on freedom of expression.
Watch the video online:
The discussion included a focus on the racist repression directed against Palestinian communities and other communities of color, including targeting Palestinian leftist writer Khaled Barakat and Palestinian feminist, community organizer and former prisoner Rasmea Odeh. Samour provided a thorough overview of the legal and political context in which communities are struggling to organize.
In the discussion following her presentation, Barakat commented about the need to respond to the situation with greater political clarity and conviction, including on the right to resist and the right to organize. Mohammed Khatib, Europe coordinator of Samidoun, urged participants to get involved in organizing, especially Palestinians in exile and diaspora.
Yasmine of HIRAK noted that “There is a siege on the Palestinian people overall, and every Palestinian community and group is affected and targeted in its own way, from the devastating siege on Gaza to the attacks on our rights in Germany…We refuse to be pushed into silence. We will not accept the criminalization of Palestinian organizing.” Christoph of the BDS Initiative Oldenburg commented that the German public was actually increasingly aware of the reality in Palestine, despite the repressive efforts to silence organizing, ban events, impose political bans or pass anti-BDS resolutions.
Samour noted a number of organizations working to defend Palestinian rights in Germany, including Palästina Spricht (Palestine Speaks) and the European Legal Support Centre, which has played a role alongside organizations like the European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights, the Association of Democratic Jurists and the International League for Human Rights in defending Barakat’s rights and those of Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizers in Germany. She also discussed the recent attacks on Achille Mbembe and the targeting of writers and cultural figures for their defense of Palestinian rights.
Samidoun invites all to join in upcoming webinars and events to continue to build our global solidarity and joint struggle. On Saturday, 16 May, join us for an English-language webinar with Khaled Barakat (Palestinian writer and activist, subjected to repression in Germany) on The Liberation of Palestine: From the River to the Sea. Register today: https://bit.ly/liberatepalestine The webinar will take place at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern, 7 pm Europe, 8 pm Palestine time.
The event concluded with the Redfish video on the Khaled Barakat case, which is shared below:
