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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is an endorser of the following call, initially issued by the Unified Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah in Ile-de-France. The call urges a month of action leading up to the mass demonstration at Lannemezan prison on 24 October 2020. Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is a Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine who has been imprisoned in France for nearly 36 years and is one of Europe’s longest-held political prisoners. If your organization would like to endorse the call, please contact [email protected]
CALL FOR AN INTERNATIONAL MONTH OF ACTION FOR THE RELEASE OF GEORGES ABDALLAH
Since the arrest of Georges Abdallah, many groups and support committees have been created over time to fiercely defend our comrade and demand his releasee. We have always recognized and proclaimed this fact as the founding heritage of our struggle. In 2015, however, for the fifth anniversary of the demonstrations organized in Lannemezan by these long-standing activists, a desire was also expressed to intensify the struggle and to coordinate existing forces to amplify the mobilization and achieve a real change in the balance of power. Hence, the Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah has been formed on the basis of the following statement, written at the time:
“We, the participants in the Lannemezan support meeting that took place after the demonstration of October 24, 2015 for Georges Abdallah, call for the intensification of the mobilization campaign for the release of our comrade Georges Abdallah. We recognize ourselves in the political identity of Georges Abdallah, Arab fighter and resistant, Lebanese communist, today’s symbol of the fight against imperialism, Zionism, capitalism and reactionary Arab states. Georges Abdallah has been a political prisoner of the French state for more than three decades, to the applause of the United States and the Zionist entity. His fight is ours. We want a free and victorious Palestine. We want the end of colonialism throughout the world and in all its forms, the end of capitalism and exploitation, and we support the struggle of the peoples against all oppressions. We recognize ourselves in Georges Abdallah’s fight against the war of invasion of Lebanon by the Zionists and for the liberation of Palestine that he engaged in before being arrested in 1984 by the French police. We recognize ourselves in his unfailing revolutionary commitment during his 3 decades of incarceration and his fierce fighting determination in the face of class injustice. And we will be by his side on the day of his release to continue to fight with him.
We are internationalists and we are fully aware that it is the French state that keeps Georges Abdallah in prison. It is this French state and its successive governments on the right and on the left, claiming to be republican or claiming to be socialist, that conditions the release of this uncompromising militant on his disavowal of his commitments. For more than 30 years, Georges Abdallah has been standing in front of his jailers and, like thousands of Palestinian prisoners, he does not give up. He resists and fights for freedom.
The decision not to release Georges Abdallah is a political decision and that is why our fighting is based on a political ground.
We call on all activist and struggling forces, support committees, associations, parties, unions to express their solidarity and to multiply initiatives to make the cause of Georges Abdallah known and to raise the demand for his release.
We call for a national campaign for the release of Georges Abdallah, carried out in accordance with his commitments and his path. We also call for the multiplication of international initiatives; as Leila Khaled of the PFLP so rightfully declared: “Georges Abdallah is a symbol for revolutionaries around the world.”
We call for this campaign to be carried out on two main axes:
1. support for the Palestinian people and their fight for victory; solidarity with the struggle of Palestinian prisoners and the defense of the right of return and self-determination of Palestinians.
2. support for popular neighborhoods and their struggles for emancipation; solidarity with victims of repression; support for revolts against police violence; fight against state racism.
We are calling for strong moments of mobilization: gatherings and demonstrations in Lannemezan, Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Lille, Bordeaux, Brussels, Beirut … For meetings in different cities of France, Europe and the Arab world. The involvement of the Lebanese and Palestinian forces who put forward the cause of Georges Abdallah (PFLP, LCP); we call for support from political parties that support Georges Abdallah’s request for release (PCF, NPA, CNT, FA, PIR, etc.); for the organization of events on common mobilization dates (Land Day, International Day of Political Prisoners, First of May etc.) and for the multiplication of awareness-raising efforts and information campaigns for the mass-media (L’Humanité, Politis, Le monde diplo, activist radios and press).
We are now designating the common targets to be challenged: the French and Lebanese authorities. Several actions have already taken place in different cities of France (against Valls, Taubira, F. Hollande) and we must multiply these actions. The United States, civil party in the lawsuit and still active in blocking the release of Georges Abdallah, must also be confronted, and the Lebanese authorities must position themselves firmly for the release of Georges Abdallah.
One, two, three, a thousand initiatives for the release of Georges Abdallah!
He is part of our struggles; we are part of his fight!
Palestine shall live, Palestine shall triumph! It is victory or victory!
Lannemezan, October 24, 2015»
The line of defense of our comrade on this political basis is still ours today: Georges Abdallah, on a daily basis, is part of our struggles and action or demonstration is carried out without our reaffirming that we are part of his fight. For five years, this battle on the political ground, effectively conducted in compliance with the commitments of our comrade and his life of struggle, has been waged everywhere and by all of us, along the lines mentioned in the 2015 declaration but also more broadly within all social and political struggles, through demonstrations, rallies, meetings, solidarity meals, calls for signatures, letters addressed to the French and Lebanese authorities and weeks of coordinated action between all the forces engaged in this fight for the release of Georges Abdallah. This commitment in Paris, in the regions, at the national level and now also widely at the international level – because of the investment of all the supporters in Georges Abdallah, in the diversity of our expressions – increases every day a little more the pressure exerted; and the multiple reactions – read in the press, also perceptible through the responses of the Keepers of the Seals and the Ministers of the Interior, who followed one another, to the letters of elected officials or even reflected in the exceptional visits carried out to our comrade by high-ranking political and religious representatives or by the response launched by the French President, during his visit to Beirut, to Lebanese activists demanding the release of Georges Abdallah – all these reactions are as many signs to be grasped of the justice of the struggle waged and that we must continue on the same dynamic and energy by seeking to challenge the representatives of the French State even more directly when possible or even by mobilizing all together to act as one.
Georges Abdallah continues to give us the keys to this line of approach, as when on several occasions in his statements, he highlights the strength of this united and coordinated solidarity. So, let us simply recall here again some of his messages where he encourages us to continue in this direction:
“Let us encourage, ever more comrades, the various processes of convergence of struggles at the local level as well as at the regional level and even more so at the international level” (Georges Abdallah – statement of October 20, 2018)
“This change in the balance of power requires above all the inclusion of this united approach in the overall dynamic of the ongoing struggle by increasingly assuming the ground of the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggle” because “it is not a question of pretending tht we do not know that the said justice is always a class justice in the service of a class policy inscribed in the global dynamics of a class war on a national and international scale.” (Georges Abdallah – declaration of June 23, 2018).
It is in this sense, and always faithful to this line and to the principles of political action recalled here, that we are calling today for not only an international week of action but a full month of actions so that all of us, the supporters of our comrade, we do not leave an open political space at the local, regional, national and international level without putting the demand for the release of our comrade Georges Abdallah on the agenda.
In Albertville, Amiens, Annecy, Aubagne, Aubervilliers, Besançon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Gennevilliers, Grenay, Grenoble, Lannemezan, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montauban, Montpellier, Morlaix, Nanterre, Nîmes, Paris, Pau, Saint-Denis, Saint-Etienne, Tarbes, Thionville, Toulouse, Troyes; in the Alpes-Maritimes, in Corsica, in Finistère, Gers, in Gironde, in Haute-Marne, in Hautes-Pyrénées, Hérault, Ile de France, Lot-et-Garonne, in the North and Pas de Calais, in the Pays de Cornouaille, in Poitou-Charentes, in Puy-de-Dôme, in the Rhône-Alpes region, in Seine-Maritime and in the Tarn-etGaronne. ; in Algeria, Germany, England, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Spain, Greece, India, Italy, Kurdistan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Morocco, occupied Palestine, Peru, Poland, Romania, Tunisia, Turkey – everywhere in France and throughout the world where the struggle of of Georges Abdallah is relayed and the demand for his release is carried, wherever we are, in active solidarity and support for our comrade, let us increase the mobilization actions and intensify the pressure on the representatives and places of power of the French State so that the current Minister of the Interior may finally sign the expulsion notice on which the release of our comrade has been conditioned and put this inquitous reality to an end.
All of us – anarchists, autonomists, anti-fascists, anti-imperialists, anti-Zionists, communists, democrats, environmentalists, internationalists, libertarians, Marxist-Leninists, Marxist-Leninist-Maoists, rebellious republicans, revolutionaries, Trotskyists; involved in parties, unions, fronts, campaigns, associations, collectives, committees, movements and multiple networks; engaged alongside our comrade in the political struggles for Palestine, in support of the Intifada and against normalization; in the defense of peoples’ struggles and their resistance; in defense of political prisoners and revolutionary prisoners; against imprisonment; against police violence; for the defense of immigrants and working-class neighborhoods; against racism; for the defense of workers, their achievements and their rights; in defense of the yellow vests of France; for the emancipation of women; against torture and the death penalty – let us mobilize once again, all together where we are, in this diversity that is ours, from 22 September 2020 to 24 October 2020 so that on this date, the tenth demonstration in Lannemezan may be the last one and that we can finally materialize this deep desire that we have all carried within us for so many years: “we will be at his side on the day of his release to continue to fight with him!.”
One, two, three, a thousand initiatives for the release of Georges Abdallah!
He is part of our struggles; we are part of his fight!
Palestine shall live, Palestine shall triumph!
Onward to victory!
Paris, 19 September 2020
Initial signatories:
Unitary campaign for the liberation of Georges Abdallah – International campaign for the liberation of Georges Abdallah – Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network – Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat – Collective for the Liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah – Le CRI Rouge for the defense of revolutionary prisoners – CAPJPO-EuroPalestine – Committee of action to support the struggles of the Moroccan people – PIR – ANC – UJFP – Collectif Palestine Vaincra – Secours Rouge International – Tunisian Committee for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah – FUIQP – Belgian appeal for the Liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah – International Prisoners’ News – Palestinian Association in Ile-de-France – AFPS34 – AFPS63 – Couserans-Palestine – Action Antifasciste 79 – ISM-France – Collectif Investig’Action – Compagnie Jolie Môme – Unité Communiste – Comité de défense des Internés des Camps du Sud (Algérie) – Association Car t’y es libre – Conseil syndical 09(Ariège) de solidaires – PRCF
Non-exhaustive agenda of the actions planned in Paris and the surrounding region during the international month of actions, as well as actions from our comrades at Collectif Palestine Vaincra in Toulouse:
- 19 September 2020 – “They ride for the Tour de France/We cycle for Palestine!” Participation in the bike ride for Palestine in the streets of Paris (an initiative organized by many organizations supporting Palestine) in parallel to the arrival of the Tour de France in the Paris region, to denounce the participation of a Zionist propaganda team in this sporting event.
- 26 September 2020 · Stand Palestine, 11 am to 1 pm, metro Capitole, Toulouse
- 26 September 2020 – Participation in the “evening of international solidarity” organized in Nanterre with Arene and AFPS.
- 30 September 2020 – Support for one of our comrades who is on trial at the High Court for his involvement in the demonstrations against COP21.
- 1 October 2020: Attendance at the conference with Pierre Stambul entitled “Middle East: Is Peace Still Possible?”
- 7 October 2020: Participation in the rally to demand the release of Mumia Abu Jamal.
- 10 October 2020: Participation in the national meeting and the Ile de France meeting of the ANC in Saint-Denis, on the theme: “A demand: withdrawal of all French soldiers from Africa!”
- 11 October 2020 – Aprem’Palestine, Sport afternoon + workshops (more info to come)
- 17 October 2020 – Evening of solidarity for Shatila camp, 3 pm at Terre Blanque, Toulouse
- 17 October 2020: Participation in the reception of the solidarity march of undocumented migrants in Paris and also in the rally at the Saint-Michel Bridge in honor of the victims of 17 October 1961.
- 22 October 2020, Advance premiere of the documentary, « Fedayin, le combat de Georges Abdallah », 8:30 pm at American Cosmograph with the film crew, Toulouse
- 23 October 2020: departure of the bus from Paris to Lannemezan
- 24 October 2020: 10th demonstration in Lannemezan, 2 pm at the train station, march to the prison. For the bus from Toulouse, email: [email protected]
