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Tuesday, May 13, 2025
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From Turtle Island to Palestine, Colonialism is a Crime: Solidarity with Indigenous Land Defenders Under Attack #AllOutForWedzinKwa

Images: Yintah Access website

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its strongest solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people’s struggle to defend their territory from Canadian settler colonialism and the Coastal GasLink pipeline, and urges action and solidarity to free detained land defenders and break the RCMP siege of Indigenous land. We stand in solidarity with all Indigenous struggles for liberation, sovereignty and self-determination in the face of settler colonialism, we salute Indigenous resistance, and we demand the immediate release of Sleydo’ Molly Wickham and all detained land defenders and journalists.

Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat says:

“The Palestinian struggle and Indigenous struggles in North America are, in many ways, one struggle, because we are fighting the same enemy. We are fighting for the cause of justice, self determination and freedom. There will never be justice in North America or in Palestine without the victory of Indigenous people and the assurance of their inalienable rights to self-determination, sovereignty and liberation. The same companies that exploit the land and steal natural resources, exploit impoverished workers, are the same companies stealing the natural gas of the Palestinian people for the benefit of the Zionist occupation. If the camp of the imperialists, the oppressors, the exploiters, are united, then the natural response of the oppressed peoples and communities is to be united in an international, indigenous popular front for liberation.

Racist Stephen Harper was just dining with Zionists in Montreal to raise funds for NGO Monitor and B’nai Brith to attack Palestinian organizations and communities, while at the same time, the RCMP was being sent in to attack Indigenous land and water defenders, approved of by a provincial NDP government and a federal Liberal government. In a way, Canada is ‘greater Israel.’”

On 18 and 19 November, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) stormed the Gidimt’en camp on the Wedzin Kwa (Morice) River, arresting land and water defenders alongside journalists who were covering the Gidimt’en eviction of Coastal GasLink. Among those arrested was Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, a spokesperson for the Gidimt’en checkpoint, as was Jocey Alec, daughter of Hereditary Dini ze’ (Chief) Woos and 13 others, including journalists Amber Bracken and Michael Toledano.

On 19 November, the RCMP stormed the homes and cabins set up by unarmed Indigenous women with canine units and snipers, breaking down the door to a Tiny House with an axe. The arrested land defenders and journalists were transferred to Smithers and then Prince George. Earlier, on 18 November, the RCMP also detained land defenders, journalists and legal observers, who were released the following day. In all cases, the arrestees have been accused of “breaches of the injunction” in place at the hands of Coastal GasLink, despite the fact that these arrests — and the injunction — are taking place on the unceded Indigenous land of the Wet’suwet’en people.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) stated:

We are absolutely outraged that the Province of BC authorized a military-style raid on peaceful land defenders in order to allow Coastal GasLink (CGL) to build their Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline, while much of the Province is suffering from life-threatening, catastrophic flooding related events. The Province of BC continues to pretend that LNG can be clean energy and is a so-called ‘transition fuel’ when we know that LNG production carries critical environmental and health risks and is a non-renewable source of energy that requires incredibly large amounts of our precious water. Prioritizing fossil fuel expansion while British Columbians grapple with a climate emergency is an alarming, criminal and incredibly poor decision by Premier Horgan and Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. We are calling on BC and Canada to recognize and uphold Indigenous Title and Rights, including the right to self-determination, and institute a moratorium on fossil fuel expansion in the wake of clear and present climate catastrophe.

The raids followed the 14 November action of the Gidimt’en clan to evict Coastal GasLink from their territory. The Gidimt’en members are acting to enforce the eviction notice served to Coastal GasLink in 2020 by the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, which has been entirely ignored to date. The Gidimt’en members gave CGL workers eight hours to evacuate the area before they closed the main road into their territory. Despite the Gidimt’en members clearly conveying their eviction to Coastal GasLink, the company did not inform employees, with workers later telling journalists that they would have left had they known of the Indigenous eviction.

Under Wet’suwet’en law, all five clans of the Wet’suwet’en have refused all pipeline proposals and have not consented to Coastal GasLink’s work or presence on Wet’suwet’en land. Further, they have held firm on their clear demand that the Wedzin Kwa River must not be drilled under for a pipeline:

The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs represent a governance system that predates colonization and the Indian Act which was created in an attempt to outlaw Indigenous peoples from their lands.

The Wet’suwet’en have continued to exercise their unbroken, unextinguished, and unceded right to govern and occupy their lands by continuing and empowering the clan-based governance system to this day. Under Wet’suwet’en law, clans have a responsibility and right to control access to their territories….Will the entire region be overtaken by the fracking industry, or will Indigenous people asserting their sovereignty be successful in repelling the assault on their homelands?

Even Canadian settler colonial law has upheld the rights of the Wet’suwet’en people on their territories, and it has also been blatantly flouted by the RCMP, as affirmed in the Gidimt’en Camp press release:

“The 1997 Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the Delgamuukw-Gisdaywa court case affirmed that Aboriginal title – the right to exclusively use and occupy land – has never been extinguished across 55,000km2 of Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan territories. Despite this, in 2019 and again in 2020, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have trespassed onto Wet’suwet’en territory and undertaken a series of militarized assaults, enacting violent arrests and following the orders of fossil fuel behemoth TC Energy.”

In addition, the RCMP again set up an exclusion zone against journalists despite just being defeated in court on this same issue for its use of an exclusion zone to block media coverage of the Fairy Creek logging blockade, while entering the two Wet’suwet’en properties without warrants, all allegedly in the service of enforcing an injunction on behalf of a private corporation. Further, this took place while much of the province is suffering from disastrous flooding, mudslides and dangerous weather conditions that led to road closures and washouts, heavily linked to the climate crisis.

Indigenous peoples throughout Turtle Island have faced ongoing settler colonial genocide and crimes against humanity at the hands of the Canadian state, including forced displacement, residential school genocide, containment on reservations, colonial gendered violence against Indigenous women and girls, restrictions on movement, and colonial expropriation and land theft. The land and water defenders resisting the pipeline are part of hundreds of years of Indigenous resistance and struggle.

As an international, Arab and Palestinian movement in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners struggling for freedom, we recognize the deep connections between the experiences of Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island and of the indigenous Palestinian people.

Palestinians and Indigenous peoples continue to be subjected to settler colonial violence, in various forms, at the hands of European colonial forces that continue to the present day, and continue to resist that colonialism through all means of struggle. The Palestinian national liberation movement, in its internationalist and anti-imperialist approach, has always stood hand in hand with liberation movements around the world, throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America, and with the Indigenous and Native peoples of North America resisting settler colonialism in the heart of imperialist domination. There is a lengthy history on Turtle Island of joint struggle and mutual solidarity between Palestinian and Indigenous organizations and communities, building a common framework for collective liberation.

The same Canadian state responsible for the ongoing genocide and settler colonial project targeting Indigenous nations and peoples has also been one of the earliest and strongest supporters of Zionist settler colonialism in Palestine. Lester Pearson of Canada chaired the UN committee recommending the partition of Palestine. Indeed, the Canadian state’s mechanism for the expansion of settler colonialism and control of Indigenous land and peoples could be considered a blueprint for the Israeli occupation.

We affirm our commitment to participate fully in the struggle to support Indigenous liberation, self-determination and sovereignty throughout Turtle Island, as we fight for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

We salute Indigenous peoples’ struggle and ongoing resistance and unceasing defense of their land and people. From Turtle Island to Palestine, colonialism is a crime! Freedom for all Indigenous and Palestinian political prisoners!

#WetsuwetenStrong #AllOutForWedzinKwa

Samidoun condemns British “terror” designation targeting Hamas, urges action for Palestinian liberation

Photo: Alisdare Hickson

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network condemns in the strongest terms the British government’s criminalization of the Hamas movement, specifically its political wing, through the use of the “terrorist” label, and demands that all such designations targeting liberation movements be cancelled or rescinded. It is particularly appalling to see such an action from the British state, which holds the greatest responsibility for the ongoing colonization of Palestinian land and dispossession of the Palestinian people. This declaration is nothing more than another British colonial crime against the people of Palestine, continuing a record of over 100 years of attempted subjugation of Palestinians. 

British colonialism and crimes in Palestine

Britain conspired with other Western imperialist powers and especially France  to divide up not only Palestine but the entire Arab region in the Sykes-Picot agreement. The results of this colonial assault on the Arab people continue to undermine all efforts for national liberation and self-determination throughout the region. In 1917, British official Lord Balfour was responsible for the notorious Balfour Declaration, that aimed to gift the Palestinian people’s land to the European colonialist, racist Zionist movement for a “national home for the Jewish people.”

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the British state supported, funded and armed the Zionist movement; reflecting its recognition of Theodor Herzl’s vision expressed in his letter seeking the support of Cecil Rhodes: “it is something colonial…put the stamp of your authority on the Zionist plan…quite good for England, for greater Britain.” The assault on Palestine was, of course, part and parcel of the crimes of British colonialism spanning the globe and particularly targeting Africa and Asia. 

Under the British mandate, Palestinians’ homes were blown up and Palestinians executed for rejecting British and Zionist colonialism. Indeed, the early poetry, songs and symbolism of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement was developed in British jails for revolutionary Palestinians. Many of the British “emergency laws” imposed on occupied Palestine have been continued today by the Zionist regime; for example, administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, indefinitely renewable, on the basis of secret evidence. 

Britain is directly responsible for the crimes of colonialism and Zionism in occupied Palestine; it is directly responsible for creating the framework for Zionist armed groups to perpetrate the Nakba against the Palestinian people, carrying out massacres, destroying hundreds of villages, and forcing the vast majority of the Palestinian people into exile as refugees. Nevertheless, Britain has not only avoided any accountability for these crimes, it has refused to even apologize to the Palestinian people for the blatant colonialism of the Balfour declaration. Instead, the British state celebrated 100 years of Balfour in 2017, with then-Prime Minister Theresa May inviting war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu to sit beside her as they celebrated the anniversary “with pride.”

British state: perpetrator of terror

The British state is the perpetrator of terror against the Palestinian people for over 100 years. Not only does it have no right or legitimacy to designate Palestinian resistance organizations, political parties or revolutionary movements as “terrorist” (nor did it in 1929, 1936 or throughout the history of the Palestinian struggle), but instead, it is British officials who should be forced to stand trial and be held accountable for these historic and ongoing state crimes against the people of Palestine and the peoples of the world. 

To those everywhere subjected to British colonialism, it is the Tory (Conservative) Party and the Labour Party who may be considered terror organizations, funding and directing the perpetration of massacres, confiscation of people’s resources, destruction of popular organizations and imprisonment of leaders seeking freedom and self-determination throughout the bloody history of the British empire. This is not a long-forgotten history; the reverberations of British colonial crimes continue today across continents, while Britain continues to occupy and colonize the north of Ireland, carrying out ongoing colonial crimes. 

This is, of course, not to mention the ongoing crimes of the state against workers, impoverished and marginalized people, oppressed communities and especially formerly colonized peoples inside Britain and the United Kingdom today. Rather than providing for the needs of the people, the British state continues to invest in “security” alliances, “terror” designations and militarized, racist policing, while corporate directors and politicians evade accountability for even their domestic crimes. 

“Terrorist” listings: A colonial weapon

Palestinians, like other colonized and oppressed peoples, have the right to resist. They have the right to struggle, including by the use of armed struggle, for their freedom. Palestinians have a right to organize themselves into political parties, social movements and revolutionary groups to seek their liberation from the occupation on their land for over 73 years. Any attempt to label Palestinian organizations seeking to achieve this goal as “terrorist” flies in the face of international law and any sense of justice. 

The systematic listing of Palestinians and their political organizations and organizations of resistance and revolutionary struggle as “terrorists” is meant as a colonial weapon, taken up by the imperialist powers of the world, in order to undermine the Palestinian liberation struggle. The same is true in the United States, Canada and the European Union, and this is also why we see these countries pressuring reactionary Arab regimes engaging in normalization with the Israeli occupation and acting as puppets for imperialist interests to also impose the “terrorist” label on Palestinians seeking to return to their homes and liberate their land. 

Many Western countries and imperialist-backed governments — see, for example, the Duterte regime in the Philippines new Anti-Terror Bill, used against activists, peoples’ rights workers and revolutionary movements — have based their anti-terrorism legislation in many aspects on the U.S. list of “foreign terrorist organizations.” While far from the first step in the U.S.’ use of the “terrorist” label against Black, indigenous and working class movements at home and liberation struggles around the world, modern U.S. “anti-terror” legislation was introduced in 1995, 1996 and again in 2001. 

“Terrorist” listings in support of the Oslo process

The first iteration of today’s list of “foreign terrorist organizations” was created by the United States government specifically to attack organizations that aimed to “disrupt the Middle East Peace Process” — that is, the Palestinian and Arab resistance that rejected the attempt to liquidate the Palestinian struggle through the Oslo process. This political framework — the use of “terrorist” designations to punish noncompliant Palestinians and those who refuse to relinquish their rights or their vision for liberation — continues to define the use of “terrorist” listing against Palestinians today. The “terrorist” label is used to impose conditions of defeat or surrender on the Palestinian people, while those that reject such conditions and continue to resist are criminalized.

In many ways, the “terrorist” lists in these countries bear a strong resemblance to the ever-growing lists of “illegal organizations” and “terrorist organizations” created by the Zionist state. In its zeal to criminalize the Palestinian movement inside Palestine and internationally, those lists have been expanded to encompass human rights organizations, student movements, solidarity organizations, cultural groups and others. 

In February 2021, Samidoun was listed as a “terrorist” organization because of its international organizing to free Palestinian prisoners; this was followed in October by the listing of Al-Haq, Bisan Centre, Addameer, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and Defence for Children International Palestine. Throughout this time, multiple Palestinian community and advocacy organizations outside Palestine were similarly labeled, with vague allegations in their case of “supporting Hamas.”

While some states have expressed their hesitation to fully embrace the attempt to list the six human rights and legal organizations as “terrorist” (precisely at the same time these Palestinian groups aim to hold Israel accountable at the International Criminal Court), they continue to embrace the use of “terrorist” designations as a weapon against the Palestinian people overall.”

The war at home: Anti-Palestinian Repression in Britain

The listing of Hamas as a “terrorist” organization not only aims to undermine the Palestinian resistance inside Palestine and anti-imperialist resistance throughout the region, it also aims to terrorize the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities in Britain and even supporters of justice for the Palestinian people. In the United States, such listings have been used similarly to criminalize even charity work; the Palestinian political prisoners of the Holy Land Foundation Five remain behind bars today because of this type of abuse of the “terror” label. 

Under the so-called “PREVENT” program, teachers and other workers are forcibly engaged as spies and informers for the state to report on “warning signs” of “radicalization.” As a result, children wearing buttons with a “Free Palestine” slogan have been questioned by police. Arab and Muslim families have found police at their doors, questioning them and criminalizing them, for expressing political opinions, especially about Palestine. 

Most recently, a man wearing a t-shirt during the May 2021 Israeli attacks on Gaza and Jerusalem and the uprising throughout Palestine, which bore the images of the armed resistance wings of Islamic Jihad and Hamas, was put on trial for criminal charges. All of this is part and parcel of the application of the Terrorism Act, which aims in large part to repress freedom of expression and opinion in support of national liberation movements and resistance to colonialism. 

This exists on a continuum with the ongoing efforts to silence support for Palestine in Britain, from the corporate/right-wing attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and any politician expressing the slightest sympathy for the Palestinian cause; the repression of student organizations engaged in action for Palestine; the false use of anti-Semitism claims to target advocates for Palestinian liberation; the firing of professors such as David Miller; and the expression of sympathy by both Tory and Labour officials for far-right, racist Zionist Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hovotely when she was met with a peaceful, loud student demonstration. Despite all of this, support for justice and liberation in Palestine continues to grow among trade unions, workers, students and all sectors of society.

At the same time, Zionist organizations appear to enjoy free rein to support and fundraise for colonialism in Palestine and support the Israeli army engaged in war crimes against the Palestinian people, even openly calling to “burn” Palestine, working hand in hand with the Israeli Embassy in Britain to target the growing support for the Palestinian people. The minister who issued this designation, Priti Patel, was forced to resign in 2017 from her previous position as Minister for International Development due to her multiple undisclosed and secret meetings with Israeli officials, Israel lobbyists and the Conservative Friends of Israel, in violation of the Ministerial Code. 

Why this designation?

The British state does not only use the “terrorist” designation in Palestine, of course; it uses it most avidly, perhaps, in the north of Ireland, in order to implement ongoing British colonialism and continue to divide the Irish people. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, a Palestinian doctor, remains imprisoned alongside many Irish republican prisoners in British jails in the north of Ireland, targeted by British intelligence for attending political meetings where he expressed solidarity between the Irish and Palestinian cause.

In the north of Ireland, “anti-terror” laws are used to justify long-term detention before trial; while Dr. Bassalat and the Saoradh 9 have been imprisoned without bail for over a year, almost no forward motion has been made at all on the charges against them. The long record of internment and imprisonment against the Irish movement has led to a strong political prisoners’ movement, which led to not only the hunger strikes and martyrdom of historic leaders like Bobby Sands but ongoing solidarity between Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails and Irish prisoners in British jails.

Today, Dr. Hijjawi Bassalat’s case once again illustrates the clear connection between anti-colonial struggles. This reminds us also of the case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, anti-imperialist Lebanese Communist fighter for Palestine, imprisoned in France for 37 years, whose freedom is an urgent demand. 

This designation aims not only to target Hamas alone, but to target the entire Palestinian people, especially the resistance. It aims to give police a weapon to use against demonstrators and social movements on the streets expressing solidarity with the Palestinian resistance by all means. It must be noted that hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in British cities and throughout the UK in May and June 2021 expressing full solidarity with the Palestinian people. That solidarity will not be suppressed or frightened into silence through this designation. 

It is also intended to further isolate and entrench the siege on Gaza, implemented now for over 15 years and a form of punishment against the Palestinian people for making a democratic choice to vote for the resistance, an outcome unacceptable to the U.S., UK, EU and other imperialist powers. It also seeks to undermine the position of the Palestinian resistance in the ongoing discussions of a prisoner exchange, aiming to keep 4,650 Palestinian political prisoners — including national leaders like Ahmad Sa’adat and Marwan Barghouti — behind bars. 

However, like all such efforts to destroy the Palestinian resistance through criminalization, “terrorist” labels, mass repression, imprisonment and assassination, such intentions will receive no satisfaction through this latest British attack on the Palestinian resistance and Palestine as a whole. 

Fight back! 

Like all such efforts to undermine Palestinian rights, this designation of Hamas as a “terrorist” organization requires organizations in support of Palestine to speak up, resist and fight back against the use of the terror label to criminalize resistance. Palestinians have a right to resist occupation and colonialism by all means necessary, including armed struggle. This is a principle not only of international law but of basic justice. 

Palestinian resistance is a response to ongoing siege, bombardment, extrajudicial killings, land confiscation, mass imprisonment, home demolitions, settlement construction and the denial of millions of Palestinian refugees’ rights to return home. The most important work that groups in solidarity with Palestine can do is to reject the “terrorist” designation in full and strengthen their work to support Palestinian liberation, through demonstrations, direct actions, mobilization and action to confront the officials in Britain — and all imperialist powers — responsible for continuing to provide unlimited diplomatic, military, political and financial support to the Israeli occupation in Palestine, and to hold them accountable. 

Of course, this includes intensifying actions to escalate the boycott of Israel, divestment from the corporations continuing to profit from colonialism in Palestine, and sanctions on the Zionist regime responsible for ongoing war crimes, including a military embargo. In this context, we view the actions by Palestine Action to confront the Israeli-owned Elbit arms factories in Britain, costing these arms dealers millions of pounds, as an exceptional example of confronting the real purveyors of terror in occupied Palestine. They have continued these actions despite arrests, raids and trials for their civil disobedience and direct action, and we express our strongest solidarity with Palestine Action. 

We also urge all supporters of Palestine, in Britain and around the world, to escalate solidarity with the Palestinian political prisoners. They represent the Palestinian resistance in all of its forms, from protesting against land confiscation to organizing students to taking up arms in the fight for freedom, and a true leadership of the Palestinian people that Israel aims to isolate from their fellow Palestinians, the Arab people and our international movements for social justice and liberation. Their liberation from Israeli occupation prisons is a necessity. 

We can confront unjust “terrorist” listings, criminalization and repression with stronger mobilization for Palestine and against all imperialist interventions in the region and in the world. Together, we can stand with the Palestinian people and their resistance, to achieve a free Palestine from the river to the sea. 

 

27 November, Berlin: Rally to support Palestinian political prisoners

Saturday, 27 November
3 pm
Hermannplatz
Berlin, Germany

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network called for a public rally and gathering on Saturday, 27 November, to support the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the hunger strikers. Gather at Hermannplatz at 3 pm to join the demonstration.

On Saturday, 20 November, Samidoun Deutschland carried out a media day in the streets of Berlin, hanging up posters and distributing flyers in Arab and popular neighborhoods. They also published calls on social media to the Palestinian and Arab community and supporters of Palestine to participate widely in the demonstration in order to support the prisoners on the front lines in the struggle for Palestinian liberation. 

20 November, Copenhagen: International Forum – 50 years of anti-imperialist solidarity

Saturday, 20 November
10 am to night
Kapelvej 44
Copenhagen, Denmark
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/304098241277763/

In September 2020, it has been 50 years since the International Forum was founded. In the 1970s, anti-imperialism was a central part of the activities of the left. Tens of thousands demonstrated against the Vietnam War outside the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen. The World Bank Congress held in September 1970 in Copenhagen led to street fights.

Later solidarity was shown towards Palestine, Chile, the liberation struggle in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, which also led to the formation of IF – a coalition of anti-imperialist solidarity groups in Denmark. Solidarity with different movements in Latin America has also been at the heart of IF for many years; these include Chiapas, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Peru.

Over the past 50 years, groups in IF have emerged as international struggles flared. Hundreds of activists have been a part of IF over the years. IF is thus created in continuity with international solidarity over half a century across generations. At the same time, IF has opened its premises to many small political groups that have not been able to afford their own premises and thus helped to strengthen the extra-parliamentary left in general.

Today, IF has an active Colombia-, Mexico-, Southeast Asia- and Middle East-group as well as a local group in Copenhagen, which is engaged in the Palestinian struggle i.a.. IF also operates a shop with books and solidarity goods. IF organizes meetings on anti-imperialist struggles around the world, conducts campaigns, carries out demonstrations and actions, and facilitates study groups on political theory.

All of this, we would like to celebrate with you on Saturday 20 November!

The program is divided into two parts.

First, we are inviting for a conference on anti-imperialist solidarity work including talks and debates with comrades from various international groups working with, among others, the Philippines and Palestine as well as an anti-imperialist front in Spain.

Later, the event will turn into a party as we will serve a delicious banquet and open up the dance floor with a blast of a concert from the ever so popular Trypical Cumbia!

Conference on anti-imperialist solidarity work (Language: English)
10.00-10.30 Welcome and introduction to IF
10.30-11.30 Frente Antiimperialista Internacionalista, Spain
11.30-12.30 Gabriela, Germany/Phillipines
12.30-13.15 Lunch, food can be bought
13.15-14.15 SAC, Sweden
14.15-15.15 Collectif Palestine Vaincra, France
15.15-15.30 Coffee Break
15.30-16.30 Josef Tarrak, Greenland
16.30-17.30 Plenary discussion

50 year anniversary party:
18.00-19.30 Dinner, food can be bought
20.00-21.00 Concert with Josef Tarrak
21.00-23.00 Concert with Trypical Cumbia
23.00-24.00 Local DJs will play music until the last dance of the night

We encourage everyone to show up with a valid corona passport, to make the risk of infection smaller.

We do not tolerate: Racism, homofobia, sexism or transfobia.

**

Internationalt Forum – 50 års antiimperialistisk solidaritet

I september 2020 var det 50 år siden, Internationalt Forum blev dannet. I 1970’erne var anti-imperialisme en central del af venstrefløjens aktiviteter. I titusindvis demonstrerede mod Vietnam-krigen uden for US-ambassaden i København. Verdensbankens kongres i september 1970 i København førte til gadekampe.

Senere voksede solidariteten med Palæstina, Chile, befrielseskampen i Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe og kampen mod apartheid Sydafrika, hvilket også førte til oprettelsen af IF – en koalition af antiimperialistiske solidaritetsgrupper i Danmark. Solidariteten med bevægelserne i Latinamerika har ligeledes været central i IF i mange år; det gælder Chiapas, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala og Peru.

Gennem disse 50 år er grupper i IF opstået, som internationale kampe er blusset op. I hundredvis af aktivister har været igennem IF i løbet af disse mange år. IF er dermed skabt i kontinuitet med den internationale solidaritet gennem et halvt århundrede på tværs af generationer. Samtidig har IF været åbent for at låne sine lokaler ud til mange små politiske grupper, der ikke har haft råd til egne lokaler og dermed været med til at styrke den udenomsparlamentariske venstrefløj generelt.

I dag har IF en aktiv Colombia-, Mexico-, Sydøstasien- og Mellemøst- gruppe samt en lokalgruppe i København, som bl.a. er engageret i den palæstinensiske kamp. IF driver desuden en butik med bøger og solidaritetsvarer. IF arrangerer møder om antiimperialistiske kampe verden over, laver kampagner, demonstrationer, aktioner og har studiekredse om teori.

Alt det vil vi gerne fejre sammen med jer lørdag den 20. november!

Programmet er delt op i to.

Først på dagen byder vi på konference om antiimperialistisk solidaritetsarbejde med deltagelse af kammerater fra forskellige internationale grupper med tilknytning til bl.a. Philippinerne og Palæstina samt en antiimperialistisk front i Spanien.

Om aften slår vi over til fest, server festmiddag og åbner op for dansegulvet med et brag af en koncert fra byens populære Trypical Cumbia!

Konference om antiimperialisme (Sprog: Engelsk)
10.00-10.30 Velkomst og intro til IF
10.30-11.30 Oplæg v. Frente antiimperialista, Spanien
11.30-12.30 Oplæg v. Gabriela, Tyskland/Filippinerne
12.30-13.15 Frokost. Mad kan købes
13.30-14.15 Oplæg v. SAC, Sverige
14.15-15.15 Oplæg v. Collectif Palestine Vaincra, Frankrig
15.15-15.30 Kaffepause
15:30-16:30 Oplæg v. Josef Tarrak, Grønland
16.30-17:30 Plenum diskussion

50 års jubilæumsfest for Internationalt Forum
18.00-19.30 Festmiddag. Mad kan købes
20.00-21:00 – Koncert med Josef Tarrak
21.00-23.00 – Koncert med Trypical Cumbia
23.00-24.00 – Lokale DJ’s spiller op til de sidste dansetrin

Vi opfordrer alle til at komme med et gyldigt coronapas, så risikoen for smitte bliver mindre.

Vi accepterer ikke: racisme, homofobi, sexisme eller transfobi.

15-16 November, Ottawa: Solidarity Hunger Strike for Palestinian Prisoners

Friday, 19 November
Hunger strike starting at 5 pm (Eastern time)

Saturday, 20 November
Group reflection at 5 pm
888 Belfast Road, Ottawa

Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWWtz5lpid6/

Carleton Students for Justice in Palestine invite you to join us on on our hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners facing administrative detention and join us the next day for a potluck to break our fasts together & reflect (limited space available) https://forms.gle/j3TPpR48AGK8vwhY9

Action to take now
1. Sign the pledge
2. Tag 2+ friends to join the strike
3. Send in + Share your hunger strike message using hashtags #FreeThemAll #HungerStrike4Freedom #endadministrativedetention

Message prompts can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/145BtX7_a9bOViPjJ_jHNRaUL9dZNY_igqQz4RNAZ–8/edit?usp=sharing

19 November, Toulouse: Palestine Stand — Solidarity with the Hunger Strikers!

Friday 19 November 2021
From 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Metro Bagatelle – Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/594854881756808

Friday November 19 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Collectif Palestine Vaincra is organizing a Palestine Stand at the exit of the Bagatelle metro in Toulouse in support of the 5 Palestinian prisoners currently on hunger strike for their release and against administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. After Miqdad Qawasmeh’s victory over his jailers , we must step up the campaign of solidarity to defend their lives and their immediate release! On the program: distribution of flyers, photos of solidarity, free leaflets and stickers, etc.
This gathering is registered at the prefecture and respects the required health measures (masks, sanitizer etc.). 

19 November, Online Event: Comparative Criminalization: Repression and Resistance Across Borders

Samidoun supports this event organized by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Our international coordinator, Charlotte Kates, will be speaking:

Friday, 19 November
11 am Pacific (2 pm Eastern, 8 pm central Europe, 9 pm Palestine)
Register here for updates: https://bit.ly/repressionevent

Live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/USACBI/videos/390365819489596/
Live on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUdbFoTTfsE

From the Israeli designation of Palestinian civil society organizations as “terrorist,” to San Francisco State University’s repression of Palestine in the classroom, to the repression student activists and faculty face on campus, the Palestinian liberation movement and Palestinian narratives face criminalization across borders. Join the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel for a discussion about how we can fight back against repression and build collective resistance.

Speakers:
Alum from SJP Butler
Rabab Abdulhadi, SFSU/AMED Studies
Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Defence for Children International – Palestine
Charlotte Kates, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network/USACBI
Tomomi Kinukawa, SFSU/WGS
Nerdeen Kiswani, Within Our Lifetime
David Miller, writer and scholar sacked from the University of Bristol

Moderated by Omar Zahzah, USACBI/PYM

Final Lineup TBA!

Collectif Palestine Vaincra delegation to Lebanon campaigns to free Georges Abdallah and support Palestinian refugees

The following article is republished from the original French at Collectif Palestine Vaincra:

Between 8 to 14 November 2021, several members of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun Network, traveled to Lebanon to accompany the Lebanese premiere and tour of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight,” organized with Collectif Vacarme(s) Films and the Lebanese Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah. After previous delegations to Lebanon in 2019 and the Samidoun Brigade in 2021, this new trip made it possible for the Collectif to once again strengthen ties with Lebanese and Palestinian partners.

On Monday, 8 November, the Collectif visited the Palestinian Chess Club in the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. This independent community organization offers a social and educational framework to over 70 children. Founded in 2013, the chess club is led by Palestinian children and youth, who constitute a general assembly that makes decisions for the center. They are supported by the coordinator of the Chess Club, Mahmoud al-Hanoun, a Palestinian leftist activist.

The Chess Club takes inspiration from the ideas and vision of Palestinian and Lebanese revolutionaries like George Habash and Georges Abdallah, whose portraits are prominently displayed in the Club.

The day continued with a visit to the cemetery of the martyrs of the Palestinian revolution, which pays homage to the thousands of people who gave their lives for Palestine, whether Palestinian, Arab or international. Important political figures are buried there, such as Ghassan Kanafani and Maher Al-Yamani.

In the afternoon, delegates met with different members of Palestinian and Lebanese organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Nasserite People’s Organization, the Lebanese Communist Party, the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon and the Youth Movement for Change.

The discussion addressed the campaign to support Georges Abdallah in Lebanon as well as the economic crisis, the dire situation of Palestinian refugees and regional policies in regard to the Zionist occupation. The delegates ended the first day in a bar called Red Night, run by former members of Jammoul, with decorations that pay homage to the long history of resistance to imperialism and Zionism.

On Tuesday, 9 November, the front page of the Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, was dedicated to a complete report on Georges Abdallah. The issue included an article by the Collectif Palestine Vaincra as well as an interview with Collectif Vacarme(s) Films on “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” and an article by Robert Abdallah about Said Bouamama’s book, “The Georges Ibrahim Abdallah Affair.”

The day ended with the premiere of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” in Lebanon, at the Al Madina Theater in Beirut’s Hamra district. Over 120 people participated in the event, which concluded with a discussion about the current situation of the mobilization to free the longest-held political prisoner in Europe, moderated by a representative of the film directors and Robert Abdallah, spokesperson of the Lebanese Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah.

https://twitter.com/Fedayinlefilm/status/1458400933998649346

On Wednesday, 10 November, the Lebanese tour continued in the city of Saida south of Beirut, a city with a long history of resistance to the Zionist invasion of Lebanon. The screening took place in the Maarouf Saad Center, named for a Lebanese Nasserist politician and supporter of Palestine, who died on 6 March 1975 from gunshot wounds sustained during a demonstration against a company’s attempt to monopolize the fishing industry and destroy the fishers’ labour organization.

Anwar Yassin, Lebanese resistance icon and communist activist, jailed in the Israeli occupation prisons from 1987 through 2004, was present at the screening to reaffirm his support for Georges Abdallah. He was liberated as part of a prisoner exchange organized by Hezbollah after over 17 years in Israeli prisons following various operations against the Zionist occupation of southern Lebanon.

Al-Mayadeen television station reported on the event, which was also covered by Al-Akhbar newpaper.

The next day, the delegation traveled to Tripoli in the north of Lebanon, where the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine organized a rally in support of hunger striking Palestinian prisoners and Georges Abdallah outside the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Several dozen people attended, including families from the Nahr el Bared Palestinian refugee camp.

After the rally, a new screening of “Fedayin” brought over 170 people to a cinema in the heart of Tripoli. The film was introduced by Robert Abdallah, who spoke about the importance of the film in developing and intensifying the campaign to free the Lebanese Communist imprisoned in France since 1984.

https://twitter.com/Fedayinlefilm/status/1459241287006269441

On Friday, 12 November, the delegation returned to Shatila camp to meet the people of the camp, who live in extreme poverty. Around 27,000 people live in the camp, including 14,000 Palestinian refugees fighting for their right to return to their homes in Palestine, which they have been denied for over 73 years. The camp was established in 1948 by Palestinian refugees expelled from Palestine by occupying Zionist forces during the Nakba, and was also the site of the infamous 1982 massacre perpetrated by Israeli occupation and local reactionary forces.

The Palestinian Chess Club organized a screening of “Fedayin,” bringing this historical documentary on Georges Abdallah and the Palestinian resistance to young people in Shatila. The event ended with a discussion of France’s role in the oppression of the Palestinian people and a dabkeh dance performed by the children of the Club.

https://twitter.com/Fedayinlefilm/status/1459241528359067649

Later on 12 November, the delegates visited Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp; there, they visited the PFLP office and discussed the political and social situation in the camp and the prospects for Palestinian resistance in the region. They also visited the Al-Naqab Center, which organizes with Palestinian youth in the camp and is a partner of the Collectif and Samidoun as well as a participant in the Masar Badil.

An open-air screening of “Fedayin” followed at the Rawdat al-Qassam stadium of the camp, which was attended by dozens of people, including several heads of Palestinian and Lebanese organizations. The evening concluded with a letter-writing session to Georges Abdallah, who has become a true symbol of anti-imperialism for the residents of the camp.

https://twitter.com/Fedayinlefilm/status/1459420540490371076

On the delegation’s final day, participants traveled to the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp near Saida, where over 100,000 Palestinian refugees live in an area of one square kilometer. Ain el-Helweh is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Many banners in the streets and alleys of the camp saluted the Palestinian prisoners, especially the six heroes of the “Freedom Tunnel” that humiliated the Zionist state by escaping from Gilboa prison.

The delegates visited the Social Solidarity Center, a long-time partner of the Collectif in developing joint activities to support the right to return of Palestinian refugees and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

The Center organized a screening of “Fedayin” which brought together dozens of people, including members of the PFLP and the Popular Committee of the camp, as well as many youth. The discussion was led by a member of the directing team and youth from the camp and ended with a letter-writing session for Georges Abdallah.

Finally, a closing screening of “Fedayin” was organized by the Cine-Palestine Festival in a cultural cafe in Beirut, with the participation of Robert Abdallah, Anis Germany and Collectif Vacarme(s) Films.

The delegation offered a meaningful opportunity to connect with the Lebanese Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah and to affirm collective commitment to develop the campaign for his freedom. The mobilization is entering an important stage in France by enlarging significantly, with over 1,000 people marching to Lannemezan prison where he is held on 23 October. This delegation aimed to strengthen the international and anti-imperialist dimension of the struggle to free the longest-held political prisoner in Europe.

“Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” is available with appropriate subtitles in French, Arabic, English, German, 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.

17 November, Paris: Film screening and discussion, “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight”

Wednesday, 17 November 2021
8 pm
Cinema L’Epee de bois
100 Rue Mouffetard,
Paris 5, France
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWVWx6sAY9Y/

Film screening and discussion

“Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s fight” retraces the course of an indefatigable Arab communist and fighter for Palestine. From the Palestinian refugee camps that forged his conscience, to the international mobilization for his release, we will discover the man who has become one of the longest-held political prisoners in Europe.

📍Wednesday November 17, 2021 at 8 p.m. / L’Epee de bois cinema – 100 rue Mouffetard, Paris 5

Organized by ACTA, a member organization of the Samidoun Network

Video: Samidoun speaks with Press TV on Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike

Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, appeared on Press TV on 7 November to discuss the hunger strikes of Palestinian prisoners held without charge or trial. She appeared alongside Mick Napier of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign on the Spotlight show hosted by Marzieh Hashemi.

As of Sunday, 14 November, five Palestinian prisoners are continuing their hunger strikes, including Kayed al-Fasfous, now on his 123rd day of strike. Doctors have warned that he is at risk of sudden death at any time as symptoms of blood clots have become apparent in his body; a fitness enthusiast and bodybuilder, he is now emaciated, and he is experiencing intermittent loss of consciousness, low blood pressure, irregular heartbeat and severe pains throughout his body.

Fasfous is on hunger strike to demand an end to his administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial on the basis of so-called “secret evidence.” Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians are routinely jailed for years at a time under these orders. There are approximately 500 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial out of 4,650 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

He is joined by four more hunger strikers, all demanding an end to their administrative detention: Alaa al-Araj, on strike for 98 days; Hisham Abu Hawash, on strike for 89 days; Ayyad Hraimi, on hunger strike for 52 days; and Louay al-Ashqar, on strike for 34 days.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine to take action to support these Palestinian hunger strikers and all Palestinian prisoners struggling for freedom, for their own lives and for the Palestinian people. They are confronting the system of Israeli oppression on the front lines, with their bodies and their lives, to bring the system of administrative detention to an end. Take these actions below to stand with the hunger strikers and the struggle for liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!

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