On Saturday evening, 18 June, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Vancouver organized a screening of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” at the Centre for Socialist Education. The film chronicles the life and struggle of Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France since 1984, despite being eligible for release since 1999.
The event was attended by members of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, BDS Vancouver, the Communist Party of Canada and interested residents of the area. The event follows several outdoor actions campaigning for the release of Georges Abdallah, including pickets at the French consulate in Vancouver.
The screening also comes after the administration of the University of British Columbia acceded to Zionist organizations’ demand to delay a screening of the film in December 2021. Despite this repression, the AMS student government at UBC voted for a strong divestment policy against Israeli apartheid in March 2022, joining three other campuses across the country with major votes in support of Palestinian liberation (Simon Fraser University, McGill and Concordia.)
After the film screening, attendees discussed the struggle of Georges Abdallah and the movement for his release with Palestinian leftist writer Khaled Barakat and Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates. They discussed the status of the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance and liberation movements today, the work of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra in building solidarity with Georges Abdallah and the leading role of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, including Georges Abdallah.
The film “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” addresses the life and struggle of the longest-held political prisoner in Europe. It is available with appropriate subtitles in French, Arabic, English, German, Turkish, Italian, Catalan and Castilian Spanish. If you want to show Fedayin in your area, email us at samidoun@samidoun.net and contact the directors at vacarmesfilms@gmail.com. We will help you to get your screening organized, and the directors are available to attend your events in person or to join your in-person events via video link.
