Friday, 25 June
4 pm
Palestinian Authority UN Representation
116 E 65th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/s/justice-for-nizar-banat-emerge/344399897040490/
Protest and organize to demand justice and accountability – and the liberation of Palestine!
Demand Justice for assassinated Palestinian Nizar Banat: Down with Oslo!
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network condemns in the strongest terms the assassination of Palestinian organizer Nizar Banat, a stalwart fighter against corruption who worked tirelessly to end “security coordination” between Palestinian Authority security forces and the Israeli occupation regime, the framework underlying the Oslo Accords. Before his assassination early this morning, 24 June, by Palestinian Authority security forces, coming once again to detain him as a political prisoner, Banat has been repeatedly jailed, interrogated and tried by the Palestinian Authority. We urge Palestinians, Arabs and internationalists to protest and organize to demand justice and accountability – and the liberation of Palestine!
The assassination of Nizar Banat reflects a conscious policy of the Israeli occupation and the Oslo Palestinian Authority affiliated with it. The latter is carrying out its specific function to protect the existence of the occupation and its control over the Palestinian people in the West Bank. Acting as agents of the occupation, the PA is practicing all forms of oppression and terror, including political arrests, violent raids and assassinations, against the Palestinian people in order to serve the Zionist colonial project and to protect the privileges of the small sliver of the beneficiaries of the Palestinian Authority – the Oslo class affiliated with the Zionist regime.
This crime cannot be considered apart from the assassination policy against Palestinian leaders and fighters carried out continuously over the decades by the Israeli occupation regime. The “security coordination” framework, overseen and implemented by the United States, Canada and the European Union (all engaged in training, funding and oversight of Palestinian Authority security forces), is designed to employ Palestinian agencies to carry out the mission of Zionist colonialism – chasing, repressing, imprisoning and targeting the Palestinian resistance as well as many Palestinians — organizers, writers, intellectuals, student activists — who present an alternative vision for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea, without the collaborationist entity of the Palestinian Authority.
The purpose of these Palestinian Authority security forces and the “security coordination” project under which they carry weapons is to prevent the Palestinian people and their liberation movement from effectively resisting and overthrowing the Israeli occupation regime throughout occupied Palestine through ongoing force, violence and repression, in full service of the interests of Zionism and imperialism, while bearing a Palestinian flag emblem on each agent’s badge.
The brutality of the beating of Nizar Banat is evident in the photographs of his body. 25 Palestinian Authority security forces – trained by the standards created by U.S. officials, such as Gen. Keith Dayton – invaded Banat’s home in Dura near al-Khalil at 3:30 am, exploding the door off of the hinges, mimicking almost exactly the terror of the Israeli night raids to which Palestinians are subjected to daily before dawn. Middle East Eye reported, “Ammar, a cousin of Banat… added that officers stormed the room in which Nizar was sleeping and immediately sprayed him with pepper spray to his mouth and nose. The cousin said they beat Banat severely with iron and wooden batons. Nizar being in a semi-conscious state, Ammar said security forces then dragged him, stripped him of his clothes, and took him away in a military vehicle.” He was reported dead hours later.
Thousands of Palestinians marched in the streets in outrage at the assassination of Banat, demanding not only justice and accountability for those responsible for the killing but also the downfall of Mahmoud Abbas, bringing down the PA regime and its collaboration with Israel, and the end to the Oslo Accords. Indeed, the Palestinian people and the resistance have repeatedly demanded an end to security coordination since the beginning of its implementation, while PA President Mahmoud Abbas has declared it to be “sacred.”
The entire Oslo process has been devastating for the Palestinian people: Thousands of Palestinian lives have been stolen on the path to Oslo, while the political frameworks of the Palestinian struggle have been distorted, hijacked and compromised. While Palestinians inside occupied Palestine ’48 continue to affirm their identity and existence and organize for liberation, the official Palestinian leadership of the P.A. instead “recognized” Israel, the creation of the Nakba and a Zionist settler colonial project on 78% of Palestine. This is why Palestinian organizers have demanded an alternative Palestinian path that rejects Oslo and the project of surrender in full.
Indeed, the past month of mobilization inside and outside Palestine has underlined the deep unity of the Palestinian people throughout occupied Palestine from the river to the sea and everywhere in exile and diaspora, and their commitment to resistance until liberation — two things that the Oslo project was meant to destroy and undermine, yet failed utterly to do so.
Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in outrage at the assassination of Nizar Banat, marching in Ramallah – only to be attacked once again by Palestinian Authority security forces firing tear gas and beating protesters with batons. “Palestinian law protects the occupation,” affirmed Maher al-Akhras, who won his release from administrative detention after a 103-day hunger strike. The killing also comes after dozens of Palestinian activists, including protest leaders and youth chanters during the marches in support of Sheikh Jarrah and Gaza, have been detained, interrogated and attacked by the Palestinian Authority in recent weeks.
Lawyers for Justice, which has worked tirelessly to release dozens of political detainees from PA prisons, chronicled the misuse of health regulations and the declaration of a state of emergency in order to repress Palestinian organizing in a report released only two days before Banat’s killing. Middle East Eye reported that Muhannad Karajah of Lawyers for Justice noted that “Banat had called him on Wednesday and told him that he was being subjected to threats by the PA’s intelligence service, who had demanded that he stop his criticism of the authority….’By killing Nizar Banat, the [Palestinian] Authority confirms today that it is a repressive authority that threatens any human rights defender, and every person is subjected to a process of political arrest.'”
Of course, the assassination of Banat brings echoes of many previous cases of Palestinian Authority security forces’ brutality and complicity with Israeli crimes – from the assassination of Basil al-Araj by Israeli occupation forces shortly after al-Araj and five of his comrades were imprisoned and tortured in PA jails to the killing of Omar Nayef Zayed, found dead outside the PA Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he had taken refuge after Israeli occupation authorities attempted to seek his extradition, decades after he had escaped from colonial prisons.
Palestinian Authority political detention is a “revolving door” with Israeli occupation imprisonment for many Palestinian youth leaders and student activists. Arrests of student leaders on campus by Israeli occupation forces are combined with “security coordination” detentions of even more Palestinian students. Just months ago, PA security forces attacked Palestinian refugees in Beirut protesting for justice at the PA’s embassy.
And, infamously, the Palestinian Authority imprisoned Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the PFLP; his comrades Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi Rimawi, Basil al-Asmar and Hamdi Qur’an – as well as longtime Fateh leader Fuad Shobaki, in the PA’s Jericho prison, under U.S. and British guard, for four years, from 2002 until 2006. Now, all of them are held in Israeli jails, when they were seized from Jericho prison by Israeli occupation forces.
Nizar Banat’s blood is on the hands of the PA – and therefore it is on the hands of Israel, the United States, Canada, the European Union and all parties involved in creating, sustaining and propping up the “security coordination” framework, which benefits only the occupier and colonizer at the expense of the Palestinian people.
Now is the time to take action to confront the Palestinian Authority and all those responsible for imposing it upon the Palestinian people to the detriment of the Palestinian struggle for return and liberation. The PA and its funders and trainers must be held accountable for its ongoing betrayal of the Palestinian people and its collaboration with the occupation regime and Zionist colonialism. We note that this crime is also an urgent call to boycott, isolate and resist Israeli occupation throughout Palestine and elsewhere. The Oslo project is backed by Zionism, imperialism and reactionary regimes – and it must and will fall on the road to the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.
Take Action:
Wednesday, 30 June
7:45 pm
Strada Războieni 60
400260 Cluj-Napoca, România
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/183670633741312
[EN]
Fedayin, Georges Abdallah’s Fight reconstitutes the journey of a tireless Arab warrior for Palestine. From the camps for Palestinian refugees where he developed his political conscience, to the international mobilization for his release, we will discover the man who became one of the oldest political prisoners in Europe.
More than just a story of Abdallah’s life, the documentary reconstructs the complicated history of the struggle for the liberation of Palestine, a battle strongly linked to the emancipation of Arab peoples under the yoke of Western colonialism as well as the class struggle within Arab and European societies.
Abdallah is a controversial figure because he forces us to face the the responsibility that European countries bear in supporting the oppression of the Palestinian people and forces us to re-evaluate our own understanding of what the liberation of Arab peoples means and how “terrorism” has been instrumentalized to delegitimize Palestinian and Arab resistance:
” Of course, <<tolerant>> and <<democratic>> minds can well be indignant against the rise of <<fanaticism>> and <<terrorism>>. They never forget to display their humanitarian solidarity with the resistance against the occupant, as long as the victims obey the laws of their torturers. That is to say that the war should never go beyond the regions in the peripheries and should never disturb their criminal peace.“
Abdallah is one of the longest-serving political prisoners in Europe, having been imprisoned by the French state for more than 35 years. Although, under French law, he has been eligible for parole for more than 20 years, his appeals have been consistently dismissed as a result of numerous interventions by the United States, which sees him as a fierce opponent for Western hegemony in the Middle East. His story lies at the intersection of the anti-colonial struggle, the class struggle and the struggle against the carceral system, becoming over the years a symbol of Palestinian resistance and beyond.
The documentary will be subtitled in English. Entry is free.
To minimize epidemiological risks, the projection will take place outdoors.
The documentary is made by Vacarme(s) Films, a documentary filmmaker collective that has made a political commitment to fight against all forms of domination.
Trailer:
[RO]
Fedayin, lupta lui Georges Abdallah reconstituie călătoria unui neobosit luptător arab pentru Palestina. De la taberele pentru refugiații palestinieni în care și-a dezvoltat conștiința politică, la mobilizarea internațională pentru eliberarea sa, îl vom descoperi pe omul care a devenit unul dintre cei mai vechi prizonieri politici din Europa.
Mai mult decât o simplă povestire a vieții lui Abdallah, documentarul reconstituie istoria complicată a luptei pentru eliberarea Palestinei, luptă puternic legată de emanciparea popoarelor arabe de sub jugul colonialismului Vestic precum și de lupta de clasă din interiorul societăților arabe și a celor europene.
Abdallah este o figură controversată deoarece ne pune față în față cu responsabilitatea pe care o poartă țările europene în susținerea oprimării poporului palestinian și ne forțează să ne reevaluăm propria înțelegere asupra a ceea ce înseamnă eliberarea popoarelor arabe și a modului în care „terorismul” a fost instrumentalizat pentru a delegitima rezistența palestiniană și arabă:
“Desigur, mințile <<tolerante>> și <<democratice>> pot fi foarte indignate împotriva creșterii <<fanatismului>> și a <<terorismului>>. Ei nu uită niciodată să-și arate solidaritatea umanitară cu rezistența împotriva ocupantului, atât timp cât victimele se supun legilor torționarilor lor, atât timp cât războiul nu depășește niciodată regiunile de la periferie și nu perturbă niciodată pacea lor criminală.”
Abdallah este unul dintre cei mai longevivi prizonieri politici din Europa, fiind încarcerat de statul francez de peste 35 de ani. Deși, conform legii franceze, el este pasibil pentru eliberare condiționată de peste 20 de ani, apelurile lui au fost constant respinse ca urmare a numeroaselor intervenții din partea Statelor Unite, care îl văd drept un adversar de temut pentru hegemonia Vestică în Orientul Mijlociu. Povestea lui se află la intersecția dintre lupta anti-colonială, lupta de clasă și lupta împotriva sistemul carceral, devenind de-a lungul anilor un simbol al rezistenței palestiniene și nu numai.
Documentarul va fi subtitrat în limba engleză. Intrarea este liberă.
Pentru a minimiza riscurile epidemiologice, proiecția va avea loc în aer liber.
Documentarul este realizat de Vacarme(s) Films, un colectiv de film documentar care și-a asumat un angajament politic de luptă împotriva tuturor formelor de dominație.
Trailer:
Friday, 25 June
6:30 pm
Maison de quartier de Laubadere
Boulevard Saint Exupery
65000 Tarbes, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/830458404345466/
Screening of “Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah,” followed by a discussion with the Vacarme(s) Films team and the Collectif 65 pour la liberation de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.
FEDAYIN, THE STRUGGLE OF GEORGES ABDALLAH
A documentary by Vacarme(s) Films
France / Palestine / Lebanon • 2020 • 1h21m
For more than 35 years, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been locked behind bars. This documentary retraces the journey of this Lebanese communist resistance fighter who struggled side by side with the Palestinian resistance. For this, the film returns to the origins of Georges Abdallah’s activism and to the complex geopolitical context of the time. It thus takes us to Lebanon, and to the Palestinian refugee camps where Abdallah forged himself politically. We follow his involvement in the Palestinian resistance and then against the Israeli occupation within the LARF (Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Fractions), an engagement which will lead him to France during the 1980s where he was convicted for complicity in assassination. Through a series of interviews with his family, his lawyer, his relatives, his supporters and his comrades, we meet those who know him and retrace a life of resistance to imperialism and colonialism.
VENDREDI 25 JUIN A 18H30
Projection suivie d’une rencontre avec l’équipe de Vacarme(s) Films et en partenariat avec le Collectif 65 pour la libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.
* * * * * * * * *
FEDAYIN, LE COMBAT DE GEORGES ABDALLAH
Un documentaire de Vacarme(s) Films
France/Palestine/Liban • 2020 • 1h21
Depuis plus de 35 ans, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah est enfermé en prison. Ce documentaire retrace le parcours de ce résistant communiste libanais engagé aux côtés des combattant·e·s palestinien·ne·s. Il revient pour cela sur les origines du militantisme de Georges Abdallah et sur le contexte géopolitique complexe de l’époque. Il nous emmène ainsi au Liban, dans les camps de réfugié·e·s palestinien·ne·s auprès desquel·le·s Abdallah s’est forgé politiquement. Nous suivons son engagement dans la résistance palestinienne puis contre l’occupation israélienne au sein des FARL (Fractions Armées Révolutionnaires Libanaises), engagement qui le conduira en France au cours des années 80 où il sera condamné pour complicité d’assassinat. À travers une série d’entretiens avec sa famille, son avocat, ses proches, ses soutiens et ses camarades, nous allons à la rencontre des personnes qui l’ont côtoyé et avec lesquelles nous retraçons une vie de résistance à l’impérialisme et au colonialisme.
Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Communist revolutionary and struggler for Palestine who has been imprisoned in France since 1984, delivered the following statement for the International Week of Action for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah, marked at demonstrations and events around the world between 12 and 19 June. Georges Abdallah is now the longest-held political prisoner in Europe.
His story is chronicled in the new film, Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah, screened in cities across France, Switzerland, Italy and Tunisia as part of the Week of Action.
Fedayin is available in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, and German (with subtitles). The film is available for screening — to organize a screening, please contact Vacarmes Films at vacarmesfilms@gmail.com. Please also feel free to reach out to Samidoun at samidoun@samidoun.net if you are interested in organizing a screening of Fedayin.
Georges Abdallah’s statement was originally issued in French; the English translation is below:
Dear comrades, dear friends;
Less than one month ago, we commemorated the Nakba in a very special atmosphere. Reactionaries of all stripes swore by the “deal of the century,” trumpeting from the rooftops the so-called beneficial effects on regional peace provided by normalization between the Zionist entity and reactionary Arab regimes. They repeatedly proclaimed the end of the Palestinian cause. 28 years after the Oslo accords, the Zionist entity came to believe that it had truly subjugated the Palestinian people forever. The Zionist leadership has always believed that, in time, “the old will die and the young will forget”…. This is how these officials made the mistake of believing that they could take advantage of this general confusion and end it once and for all, with their attack on Al-Quds.
73 years after the Nakba, the attack on Al-Quds led necessarily to a general explosion. The Palestinian popular masses do not care about the confusion and indeterminacy of their official leadership in such a situation. And so it is that from Sheikh Jarrah to Gaza to all the towns and cities of the West Bank and occupied Palestine ’48, Palestinians of all ages have rediscovered themselves, an entire, unified people in full mobilization. Palestine, the land and people, are united more than ever. The tremors of this volcano are far from limited to Palestine alone; the Palestinian masses in the refugee camps in the Arab countries surrounding Palestine stand in unison with the Arab masses, together with Palestine, the embodiment of dignity and the source of hope. The tremors of this popular volcano have shaken and pulverized not only the “deal of the century,” but above all, the Oslo accords. It was only to stem this popular uprising and to attempt to prevent its regional repercussions that the imperialist powers and reactionaries of the region hastened, after 11 days of criminal bombardment, to establish a ceasefire…
Naturally, this popular intifada of a particular type will not stop there. This is the time to shift the framework and not allow the Oslo leadership to return as if nothing has happened. It is clear, comrades, that since this ceasefire, not a single day has passed in the West Bank without new martyrs, young and old. Let us examine the situation in Beita, in the south near Nablus, or in Jenin in the north, not to mention all the ongoing provocations, attacks and repression in Al Quds, in occupied Palestine ’48 and the ongoing raids and bombing attacks on Gaza.
Comrades and friends, the Resistance in all its forms always benefits the people. It is only the Resistance that puts the Palestinian cause back in its rightful place on the regional and world stage. Fateh strugglers, like strugglers from all organizations in the West Bank, chanted the names of the resistance fighters in Gaza, committing themselves to defend the ongoing popular intifada, to end all forms of capitulation and treachery, and to get rid of the occupier once and for all. Certainly, it was the Resistance that enabled the Palestinian popular masses to transform the 73rd commemoration of the Nakba into a Nakba for the Zionist regime. Despite the enormous cost in blood and destruction, the joy of the final victory will be even greater, as a commander of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades affirmed…
Comrades and friends, from behind the abominable prison walls, Ahmad Sa’adat and the thousands of comrades imprisoned in Zionist jails, send their revolutionary greetings and draw your attention to what is happening in occupied Palestine ’48. Certainly, they can rely on you more than ever not to ignore or underestimate the scope of the violent racist gang attacks organized by the fascist and supremacist groups in Ramleh, Lydda, Haifa and Umm al-Fahm, openly supported by the Israeli police .
That said, comrades, the Palestinian popular masses engaged in this ongoing intifada can rely, and must be able to rely, upon your mobilization confronting all of the shameless propaganda of the imperialist bourgeoisie, in your countries in particular….The conditions of detention in Zionist jails worsen daily. And as you know, comrades, international solidarity is an essential weapon of struggle. Quite naturally, the Palestinian popular masses and their revolutionary vanguards can always rely on your mobilization and your active solidarity.
May a thousand solidarity initiatives blossom in support of Palestine and its promising Resistance!
May a thousand solidarity initiatives flourish in support of Palestinian flowers and lion cubs (Palestinian girls and boys)!
Solidarity, all solidarity with resistance fighters in Zionist jails and in all isolation cells elsewhere around the world!
Solidarity, all solidarity with young proletarians from working-class neighborhoods!
Honor to the Martyrs and to the struggling popular masses!
Down with imperialism and its Zionist and Arab reactionary watchdogs!
Capitalism is nothing more than barbarism, salutes to all those who oppose it in the diversity of their expressions!
Together, Comrades, and it is only together that we will win!
Palestine will live and Palestine will certainly win!
To all of you, Comrades and Friends, my revolutionary greetings.
Your Comrade Georges Abdallah
19 June 2021
One month ago, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in cities across Germany, demanding justice, freedom and liberation for Palestine, from the river to the sea. From Berlin to Frankfurt, from Hannover to Düsseldorf, Palestinians, Arabs and German and international comrades marched in massive, continuing demonstrations rejecting Israeli war crimes and colonialism throughout Palestine. These marches and actions continued to progress despite attempts to ban demonstrations, police brutality and attacks on protesters, and repeated defamation and racist attacks against the organizers and participants in these actions.
Now, German officials are seeking to escalate their attacks on Palestinian organizing in an attempt to intimidate, repress and subjugate the growing activity and involvement of Palestinian youth and communities in leading social justice movements throughout Germany. This proposal, marketed as a “Hamas flag” ban by the leading political parties in Germany (CDU, CSU and SPD), will allegedly be voted on by the Bundestag next week, barring the “use of symbols” of organizations on the EU “list of terrorist organizations.”
Currently, German law only allows for the prohibition of symbols and flags if the organizations are themselves banned by the German state. Rather than actually seeking to make a case against Palestinian resistance organizations, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, these German political parties once again seek to repress and intimidate the Palestinian community from expressing their political position and support for the resistance. We note here that this act would not only apply to Palestinian resistance organizations but in fact to all national liberation movements and organizations labeled “terrorist” by the EU, including the Communist Party of the Philippines and multiple Kurdish and Turkish Leftist parties.
German politicians have openly admitted that this entire initiative is based on suppressing the popular movement that arose last month, falsely labeling it “anti-Semitic” rather than what it is in reality: pro-liberation, anti-colonial and anti-racist. This is yet another of the repeated attempts of the German state to deflect blame for the crimes of the Nazi Holocaust and European colonialism by instead attempting to place guilt on the Palestinian and Arab people for German and European atrocities. It also places the German state directly in line with U.S. imperialism and Zionist colonialism — alongside its ongoing weapons sales to the Israeli regime — as part and parcel of the assault on the Palestinian people.
We note that this is only one of several attempts to criminalize and target the Palestinian and Arab community. Perhaps most egregiously, this same government coalition declared that it plans to introduce legislation to prohibit people convicted of even minor/petty offenses that are classified as “anti-Semitic” from naturalization. This project is based on the false classification of Palestinian protest as anti-Semitic, when in fact the perpetrators of actual anti-Jewish attacks in Germany are overwhelmingly German, far-right Nazis and fascists. It attempts to exonerate German fascism by targeting “imported anti-Semitism,” a ludicrous concept that makes a mockery of German politicians’ claimed reckoning with Germany’s historical crimes.
As noted by Studis gegen Rechte Hetze (Students against Right-Wing Hate), “Of course, German fascists, who assume an absolute majority of anti-Semitic crimes and, in general, all racist crimes, are not affected by this tightening of the nationality law. This shows how racist this bill is, since it vilifies anti-racist liberation movements as ‘anti-semitic’ while sweeping its own German fascist history under the carpet and denying who really poses a threat of anti-semitic and generally racist crimes. Indeed, anti-Semitism is exported to the ‘evil, non-German others’”
The reactionary government in Germany – in office for just the three next months before the elections of September – is attempting to market itself with anti-Palestinian racism, which comes as no surprise. During the assault on Gaza and the attacks on the Palestinian people throughout occupied Palestine that brought millions to the streets in outrage around the world, the German officials of the so-called “Grand Coalition” (CDU, CSU and SPD) were raising the Zionist flag atop of town halls and government buildings! This kind of allegiance to the Israeli state and Zionist war crimes came against the will of millions of German citizens, who will hopefully hold these forces accountable in the next elections, and the entire movement in support of Palestinian liberation, including our Internationalist comrades from many countries, will encourage them to do so.
It must be clear that the involvement of the SPD alongside the avowedly right-wing CDU and CSU in this motion comes as no surprise. Not only did the SPD support the Bundestag resolution denouncing and seeking to criminalize the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, it is SPD officials in Berlin that issued the political bans against both Rasmea Odeh and Khaled Barakat.
The SPD interior minister in Berlin has repeatedly directed massive numbers of police to attack and disrupt Palestinian demonstrations as well as large-scale police raids targeting Arab neighbourhoods and locking down entire streets to investigate alleged petty violations like the sale of untaxed tobacco. These shows of police intimidation have a clearly racist character and effect and were widely criticized following the far-right, neo-Nazi massacre perpetrated in Hanau.
Of course, anti-Palestinian racism and repression in Germany is nothing new. Every effort of Palestinians and their supporters to organize in their communities and on campuses is subjected to blatant defamation and incitement by the German media, while demonstrations like those in Frankfurt were subjected to attempted political bans by pro-Zionist, pro-apartheid officials; in Berlin, demonstrators were repeatedly subject to police surveillance, attacks and brutality.
Palestinian feminist, torture survivor and former political prisoner Rasmea Odeh was subjected to a political ban in 2019, followed by deportation; this was followed by the political ban imposed on Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat and his forced exclusion from Germany.
Both of these actions followed the Bundestag resolution against BDS – currently being challenged in court — a resolution that, while justified as not legally binding, was used to justify Khaled Barakat’s exclusion.
As Barakat noted, “Far from expressing guilt or responsibility for Nazi atrocities against Jewish people in Europe and the crimes of the Holocaust, this resolution and the other official anti-Palestinian attacks are an attempt to shift responsibility for these crimes from European fascism to Palestinian and Arab communities, especially refugee populations seeking refuge and safety…Anti-Semitism exists and is real, and the primary perpetrators are right-wing, racist, anti-Jewish groups, the same groups that also attack people of color. These are the same fascists that can organize rallies in the streets of Germany, while German officials defend their ‘freedom of expression’ and police attack anti-fascists who challenge them.”
The criminalization of the flags of Palestinian resistance organizations in Germany also recalls the multiple arrests and prosecutions of people in Germany for carrying the flags of Kurdish organizations, prosecutions that came hand in hand with the persecution of Turkish and Kurdish communists and leftists by the German state.
It is clear that the purpose of this proposal is to repress the movement and create yet another pretext for police attacks, intelligence investigations, surveillance and criminalization against Palestinian communities and Palestinian solidarity organizations. We in Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, including and especially in Samidoun Deutschland, affirm that we will not be silenced or intimidated by such attacks on the Palestinian people and their resistance. Instead, they make it more clear than ever how important it is to expand, build and grow the Palestine solidarity movement and deepen Palestinian community organizing in Germany to effectively fight back and support all those under attack.
The symbols and images of the resistance live in the hearts of the Palestinian people. They will be raised around the world and in every country, because they are symbols of hope for humanity — of those who fight for justice and liberation despite the massive military might of the oppressor. They blossom on walls in graffiti, in art and murals, in flags at protests and everywhere that people stand together against racism and colonialism. We urge people around the world to continue to highlight and raise these symbols in support of the Palestinian people and their right to resist, and as a sign of solidarity against these attempts to criminalize Palestinian protest and action.
These efforts by the German regime to suppress the legitimate struggle of Palestinians against colonization will, like all of the home demolitions, forced expulsions, land confiscation, mass imprisonment, siege and crimes against humanity to which Palestinians are subjected, inevitably fail. Palestine will be victorious and liberated, from the river to the sea – despite all attacks by imperialism, Zionism and the politicians serving their interests.
Read more on anti-Palestinian repression in Germany:
Saturday, 19 June
12 pm
Frederick Douglass Square, Brooklyn, NY
(Formerly Nostrand & Jefferson)
Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQM1rMngxWD/
Stand with the December 12 Movement and Sistas’ Place
You cannot stand for Palestinian liberation without standing for Black Liberation. If you’ve been showing up for protests for Palestine, you should also be showing up for Black liberation. This Saturday on June 19th we will join the December 12th movement at Frederick Douglass Square in Brooklyn to commemorate Juneteenth. Join us as we wave the New Afrikan flag and show solidarity with our Black Comrades fighting for liberation. Our struggles are interconnected and our liberation is tied to one another.
Saturday, June 19, 2021
4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Metro Capitole
Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/226569835718031
As part of the international week of action for the liberation of Georges Abdallah , Collectif Palestine Vaincra is organizing a Palestine Stand at the exit of the Capitole metro station in Toulouse, France on Saturday June 19 from 4 pm to 6 pm. Lebanese communist and Palestinian resistance fighter, Georges Abdallah has been imprisoned in France since 1984 and eligible for release since 1999. He has become the longest-held political prisoner in Europe. To support him is to support the Palestinian people and their legitimate right to resistance against Israeli occupation.
On the program: information stand and distribution of flyers on Georges Abdallah; signing of petition cards; interventions on Georges Abdallah, Palestine and the boycott of Israel; free stickers and flyers on Palestine; Palestinian music; exhibition on Palestinian prisoners, etc. Do not hesitate to come and participate in this solidarity initiative!
This gathering is registered at the prefecture and respects the required health measures (masks, sanitizer, etc.).
Dans le cadre de la semaine internationale d’actions pour la libération de Georges Abdallah, nous organisons un Stand Palestine à la sortie du métro Capitole le samedi 19 juin de 16H à 18H.
Communiste libanais et combattant de la résistance palestinienne, Georges Abdallah est emprisonné en France depuis 1984 et libérable depuis 1999. Devenu le plus ancien prisonnier politique d’Europe, le soutenir c’est soutenir le peuple palestinien et son droit légitime à la résistance contre l’occupation israélienne.
Au programme : stand d’informations et distribution de flyers sur Georges Abdallah ; signature de cartes-pétitions ; interventions sur Georges Abdallah, la Palestine et le boycott d’Israël ; stickers et dépliants gratuits sur la Palestine ; musique palestinienne ; exposition sur les prisonniers palestiniens, etc. N’hésitez pas à venir participer à cette initiative de solidarité !
Ce rassemblement est déposé en préfecture et respecte les mesures sanitaires requises (masques, gel, etc.).
Saturday, 19 June
4:00 pm
Oranienplatz
Berlin, Germany
Resistance and revolutionary arts festival in the fight against fascism and Zionism – Berlin
Samidoun invites you to take part in this popular, artistic festival with the revolutionary band “Grup Yorum” from Turkey. Members of this band have given their lives in hunger strikes for freedom and in solidarity with political prisoners in Turkey.
Together, we celebrate revolutionary solidarity and common struggle against colonialism and fascism! We support Grup Yorum, who will present a number of their song about the Intifada and Palestinian resistance. Many of these songs are in Arabic!
Bring your Palestinian flags and hold them high in our response to the Zionist “Flag-march” in occupied Jerusalem.
Join us to engage with revolutionary art and support resistance on Saturday, 19 June at 4 pm at Oranienplatz in Berlin.
Widerstands- und revolutionäres Kunstfest im Kampf gegen Faschismus und Zionismus – Berlin
Samidoun lädt Euch ein, an dem populären und künstlerischen Fest mit der türkischen revolutionären Band “Yorum” teilzunehmen. Mitglieder dieser Band kämpften bis zum Martyrium unter Hungerstreik für die Freiheit und in Solidarität mit politischen Gefangenen in der Türkei.
Gemeinsam feiern wir die revolutionäre Solidarität und den gemeinsamen Kampf gegen das koloniale und faschistische Lager! Dazu unterstützen wir “Grup Yorum”, die uns eine Reihe ihrer verbotenen Lieder über die Intifada und den palästinensischen Widerstand präsentieren werden. Viele dieser Lieder sind auf Arabisch!
Bringt Euere palästinensische Fahnen mit und haltet sie hoch als Antwort auf den zionistischen „Flaggen-Marsch“ im besetzten Jerusalem.
Lasst uns engagierte revolutionäre Kunst unterstützen und am Widerstandsfest teilnehmen
Samstag, 19. Juni um 16 Uhr
Oranienplatz, Berlin
مهرجان المقاومة والفن الثوري في مواجهة الفاشية والصهيونية – برلين
تدعوكم شبكة صامدون للمشاركة الواسعة في المهرجان الشعبي والفني الذي تحييه فرقة “يوروم” التركية للأغاني الثورية الملتزمة. هذه الفرقة الثورية التي قدمت كوكبة من رفاقها شهداءً تحت وطئة الإضراب عن الطعام من أجل الحرية، وتضامناً مع المعتقلين السياسيين في تركيا.
معاً نحتفي بالتضامن الثوري والنضال المشترك في مواجهة معسكر الإستعمار والفاشيّة. وندعم “فرقة يوروم” التي ستقدم مجموعة من أعمالها الفنية الممنوعة! أغاني تدعم الإنتفاضة والمقاومة الفلسطينية، والتي ستقدمها “يوروم” باللغة العربية
لنرفع الأعلام الفلسطينية رداً على مسيرة الأعلام الصهيونية في القدس المحتل ولندعم الفن الثوري الملتزم!
شاركوا معنا في مهرجان المقاومة يوم السبت 19 يونيو حزيران / الساعة 4 عصراً
المكان: ساحة الأورانيين في برلين
Saturday, 19 June
12 pm
Piccadilly Gardens
Manchester, England
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1015380345870452/
Join us on the streets of Manchester in solidarity with Palestine, to demand the release of prisoners locked up by Israel and to build the boycott!
Responding to the Samidoun call for action, we stand with the six hunger strikers and for the release of all political prisoners. As imperialism continues to back the Zionist state, we also demand the release of Issam Hijjawi, imprisoned by the British state and Georges Abdallah, locked up for four decades in a French jail.
Victory to the Palestinian resistance!
Free all political prisoners!
Isolate the Zionist state! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
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There are currently six Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails on open hunger strike, demanding their release from Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial under “administrative detention” orders. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner demands their immediate release, an end to the policy of administrative detention, and freedom for all Palestinian prisoners.
Ghadanfar Abu Atwan has been on hunger strike for 40 days to demand his freedom; he is joined by Khader Adnan, former long-time hunger striker, who has been on hunger strike for 15 days, as well as Amer al-Shami and Yousef al-Amer, on hunger strike for 14 days, and Mohammed Masalmeh and Sheikh Jamal al-Tawil, on hunger strike for 11 days. Al-Tawil’s strike demands the release of his daughter, Bushra al-Tawil, from administrative detention, as well as his release.
