1 July, Madrid: Palestine is not for sale! Demonstration for the Palestinian People’s Rights

18 June 2020

Wednesday, 1 July
7:00 pm
Plaza de la Provincia
Outside the Foreign Ministry
Madrid, Spanish State
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/277827043420796/

In response to the Samidoun call for mobilizations inside and outside Palestine against the plan to annex even more occupied Palestinian land and to defend the rights of the Palestinian people, we will gather on 1 July at 7 pm outside the Spanish Foreign Ministry at Plaza de la Provincia in Madrid. Come with a mask and lots of solidarity!

Sponsored by Alkarama, BDS Madrid, Unadikum and Samidoun.

En Repuesta al llamado de Samidoun a las movilizaciones, dentro y fuera de Palestina, para alzar la voz en contra del plan de anexión de mas tierras palestinas ocupadas y por los derechos del pueblo palestino. Nos concentramos el día 1 de Julio a las 19h frente al ministerio de Exteriores de España en Plaza de la Provincia Madrid. Ven con mascarilla y mucha solidaridad.

20 June, Toulouse: Stand Palestine – Stop the Toulouse-Tel Aviv Twinning!

18 June 2020

Saturday, 20 June
11:00 am
Metro Capitole
Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/3185911558132265/

As part of the campaign to stop the twinning of Toulouse and Tel Aviv, Collectif Palestine Vaincra is organizing a Palestine Stand on Sunday, 20 June from 11 am to 1 pm at Capitole metro in Toulouse.

Please join in to distribute flyers, sign the petition against twinning or just meet the collective.

The program includes an exhibition on the boycott of Israel, solidarity photos, sales of T-shirts, flags, calendars and tote bags, and an information table on Palestine, the boycott of Israel, Palestinian prisoners and Georges Abdallah.

More info: palestinevaincra.com.

This gathering is registered at the prefecture and will respect the required health measures (masks, sanitizer, etc.)

Dans le cadre de la campagne #StopJumelageToulouseTelAviv, nous organisons un Stand Palestine le samedi 20 juin de 11H à 13H à la sortie du métro Capitole à Toulouse.

N’hésitez pas à venir nous prêter main forte pour distribuer des flyers, faire signer la pétition contre le jumelage ou seulement nous rencontrer.

➡ Au programme : exposition sur le boycott d’Israël ; photos solidaires ; vente de Tshirts, drapeaux, calendriers, tote bags ; table de presse sur la situation en Palestine mais aussi le boycott d’Israël, le soutien aux prisonniers palestiniens et Georges Abdallah etc.

➡ Plus d’infos sur : palestinevaincra.com

⚠ Ce rassemblement est déposé en préfecture et respectera les mesures sanitaires requises (masques, gel etc.).

20 June, Online Event: Our Fight for Liberation: A Conversation With the Families of Oscar Grant & Eyad Hallaq

18 June 2020

Saturday, 20 June
11 am Pacific – 2 pm Eastern – 8 pm central Europe – 9 pm Palestine
Register online: bit.ly/fight4liberation
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/289435545538080/

Organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a co-sponsor of this event and we encourage all to join to listen to and support this important conversation.

In this moment, we are witnessing global uprisings and calls for change and justice ignited by the recent murder of George Floyd, and countless other Black people, at the hands of United States police forces. The murder of Floyd is consistent with the longevity of systemic anti-Black state violence in the U.S.

Palestinians are all too familiar with the loss of loved ones at the hands of an enduring system of oppression and colonial violence in our homeland. Just five days following the police killing of Floyd, 32-year-old Eyad Hallaq was murdered, extra-judicial style, by Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem. As Palestinian youth in North America, we recognize the links between the local movement for Black lives and the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

As part of our collective commitment to both struggles, we welcome you to join us for a conversation with two families who have lost loved ones to racist police/colonial violence and a greater system of oppression in their home countries. We will be joined by Diana Hallaq, the sister of Eyad Hallaq, and Uncle Bobby X, the uncle of Oscar Grant, as they share their stories and as we come together to uplift their calls for justice and liberation.

Co-Sponsored by: Adalah Justice Project, Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Anakbayan, American Friends Service Committee– Oakland, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Arab America, Arab American Civic Council, Arab American Cultural Center at UIC, Arabs4BlackPower, AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center, جمعية أهالي بيت حنينا Beit Hanina Community Association, Eyewitness Palestine, Free Thinking Society AlNadwa, Friends of Sabeel North America FOSNA, Handala Coalition, Jewish Voice for Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area, Karama, Labor for Palestine, Love Not Blood Campaign, Malaya Movement Texas, Majdal Center – مركز مجدل, Middle East Children’s Alliance – MECA, Midwest SJP, National SJP, New Generation for Palestine, NorCal Friends of Sabeel, Palestinian American Cultural Center- PACC Houston, Palestinian American Community Center NJ. USA, Palestine Action Network, Palestinian American Women’s Association, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Unión del Barrio, US Palestinian Community Network, USPCN-Detroit, The Toronto Palestine Film Festival, Within our Lifetime • United for Palestine, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT), New Generation for Palestine

Online fundraising company censors campaign for “Fedayin,” Georges Abdallah documentary – donate to the new campaign!

17 June 2020

The following is primarily translated from the French original at Collectif Palestine Vaincra:

On 28 May, the online fundraiser for “Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah,” a documentary film by Vacarme(s) Films currently in production, was suddenly shut down by online fundraising site lepotcommun.fr. Le Pot Commun is a commonly used fundraising site in France, similar to GoFundMe, LaunchGood or similar sites in English. The fundraiser was shut down without explanation after over 8000 EUR had already been raised. Samidoun, along with many other organizations, previously shared the fundraiser for the film, which is in final production stages after over a year and a half of work.

Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese Communist struggler for Palestine, has been imprisoned in French jails for over 35 years. He is recognized by the Palestinian prisoners’ movement as a fellow prisoner for the Palestinian cause, and the campaign for his release has been accumulating a growing base of support in both France and Lebanon. Among those interviewed for the film include Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and activist; Charlotte Kates, Samidoun international coordinator; and Mohammed Khatib, Samidoun Europe coordinator, in addition to many longtime activists in Europe and Lebanon and Georges’ family and comrades.

The 8000 EUR remaining in the fundraising account was being used to obtain licenses for archival materials and pay technicians for editing work and post-production. To date, lepotcommun.fr has still not provided a meaningful explanation for the closure of the fundraising page.

In a press release from Vacarme(s) Films Collective, the directors and producers of the film noted that: “The company’s customer service representatives stated that the fundraiser did not comply with their General Conditions of Use, which led their compliance department to delete our fundraiser as well as our account. This is a very surprising statement. First of all, customer service was unable to provide contact details of the Compliance Department. They also failed to specify which part of the General Conditions of Use had been allegedly breached. The situation is all the more unexpected as many documentary films have been financed through fundraisers at lepotcommun.fr. One thing is certain, this attitude on the part of the company is akin to an unacceptable form of censorship aimed at silencing a cinematic work on the life and struggle of Georges Abdallah.”

A new fundraiser has been established at cotizup.com to support the film. It has already raised over 7500 EUR following the closure of the previous fundraiser, but more is needed in order to complete this important film. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network supports this fundraiser and the “Fedayin” film project and urges supporters and friends to contribute online at this link: https://www.cotizup.com/fedayin

Watch the trailer:

See the film’s website, in French: https://fedayin-lefilm.com/

Synopsis:

For over 35 years, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been imprisoned. A Lebanese communist engaged in resistance alongside Palestinian fighters, he has been imprisoned by the French judicial system and successive governments since 1984. Beyond the judicial harassment to which he has been subjected, this documentary film will trace the political course of Georges Abdallah and seeks to show how his ideas and struggle are still vital and necessary.

The film takes us to Lebanon, to the Palestinian refugee camps, where he forged himself politically. We follow his engagement in the Palestinian resistance and against the Israeli occupation with the FARL (Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Fractions), a commitment that will take him to France in the 1980s, where he will be sentenced for complicity in murder. Through a series of interviews (in France, Lebanon, Belgium and Germany), we go to meet his family, his lawyer, his supporters, his friends and people who have rubbed shoulders with him. With them, we trace a life of resistance to imperialism and Zionist occupation.

Why this movie?

For several years, we have been campaigning alaongside many others for the release of Georges Abdallah. Some of us visit him regularly and have, over the years, built a political relationship based on trust. There is a multitude of mobilizations, actions and campaigns to demand the release of Georges Abdallah and many video archives of these events. On the other hand, apart from a short film about Georges Abdallah’s activities directed by Secours Rouge (Red Aid) a few years ago, we do not know of a film that looks deeper into his history and political commitment. (Currently, Pierre Carles is also working on a documentary film project.) It seemed essential to us to try to remedy this. One year ago, we launched this film project. Without pretension, we want to bring a new stone to the mobilization for the release of Georges Abdallah.

In order to have a better understanding of the environment in which the struggle of Georges Abdallah was born, we chose to go to Lebanon, Berlin, Brussels and several cities of France to meet his comrades in struggle, his family and his supporters.

In Lebanon, we spent several days in the Palestinian refugee camps in Saida, Beirut and Tripoli. We were warmly guided in the footsteps of Georges Abdallah to Kobayat, his native village, and to the places he frequented.

Take action: Endorse and join the 1 July mobilization against Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank

16 June 2020

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all organizations in support of Palestinian liberation to endorse the call to action by Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine and in the diaspora, originally released in Arabic, against the prospect of Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, and to mobilize internationally on Wednesday, 1 July, the day the Israeli state threatens to escalate its ongoing project of colonialism, dispossession and ethnic cleansing.

Samidoun organizers, affiliates, and partners are helping to build demonstrations in Ramallah, New York City, and Madrid, with other events soon to be announced in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and elsewhere.

And organizations including Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition and the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel have also released calls to action, which Samidoun endorses, and for which it encourages broad support.

To endorse the international appeal from Palestinians under Israeli occupation, or to inform us of your local event so we can help promote it, please complete our online form, message us on Facebook, or e-mail us at samidoun@samidoun.net.

Read the full statement and call to action below:

A call to the struggling Palestinian people throughout occupied Palestine and to the masses of our people struggling in exile and diaspora…

A call to Palestinians, Arabs and the people of the world….

Israel, the Zionist project fully supported by the United States of America and the reactionary forces in the region, is continuing upon the path of attempting to liquidate the Palestinian cause and Palestinian rights. It aims to impose its racist colonial regime through armed force, through repressive systems, prisons and detention center, and by spreading systematic destruction targeting the Palestinian people. Israel not only denies the national rights of the Palestinian people but also violates the most basic and natural rights of people and the land.

Our struggling Palestinian people, along with the Arab nation, the peoples of the region, and the progressive forces and liberation movements around the world, are aware of the true face of the racist, Zionist colonial entity and its expansionist nature and aims, now more than ever. They also see with full clarity how the occupation continues to implement its ongoing crimes and daily attacks against the Palestinian people. These crimes and violations do not subside for one hour, from killing, siege, mass arrests, home demolitions and the confiscation of Palestinian land through annexation and displacement projects. These daily crimes committed by the occupation forces take place in full sight and sound of the world, with no accountability, meaningful response or even a minimal international legal response.

The policies of the Zionist state and of the Trump administration standing together with Netanyahu and Gantz are the natural continuation of the ongoing history of each successive Israeli government and leadership from before the establishment of the Zionist state on our Palestinian homeland in 1948 until the present day. This right-wing alliance and the deeply, fundamentally racist structures propping it up are convinced that it may impose its will by force upon the Palestinian people because of the state of disintegration, weakness and disorganization on the Palestinian and Arab internal fronts. They target the homes and the very existence of the Palestinian people with impunity, from demolishing our homes in the Negev, Qalansuwa, Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank, to continuing the devastating siege upon our people in the struggling Gaza Strip, to denying our right to return and self-determination throughout the entire land of Palestine.

Today, the Zionist right-wing alliance prepares to plunder all of the Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, creating a system of ghettos, cantons, strangulation and impoverishment, what it calls “facts on the ground” that target, first and foremost, the rights and interests of the Palestinian popular classes throughout all of occupied Palestine.

On the other hand, these Israeli policies are also acting to accelerate the resounding fall of all of the projects of surrender and illusion, the path of negotiations that began with the 1991 Madrid conference and the disastrous and devastating Oslo accords that destroyed the Palestinian people’s institutions and organizations. This current dragged the Palestinian national movement into a state of defeat, internal conflict and disintegration, confiscating the role of the Palestine Liberation Organization and emptying it of its popular and democratic role.

Today, the peoples of the world, and friendly and hostile forces alike, look toward the Palestinian response, not only to this latest Zionist crime but to this entire stage of destruction. Their eyes point to the critical importance of a popular Palestinian and Arab response to the annexation project and the imposition of the so-called “Israeli laws and sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”

Accordingly, we call upon all national and Islamic forces, popular organizations inside Palestine and in exile and diaspora, as well as our labor unions, women’s organizations and student movement to participate widely and lead the popular march that will begin on 1 July 2020 in the city of Ramallah, as we march on the path of a unified Palestinian people and a unified Palestinian struggle, standing for the rights and dignity of our people – always and only, the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people.

We call upon the Palestinian people throughout occupied Palestine, everywhere in exile and diaspora, and all those who stand for justice in Palestine – all of the national forces, youth groups, civil society institutions and popular movements – to organize direct actions and popular mobilizations in the refugee camps, cities and villages and to formulate plans for joint action and mass organization. Together, we can mobilize the power and potential of the Palestinian people, the Arab people and the international movement for justice to confront the schemes of the occupier and its collaborators. The time has come to take a qualitative step to protect the Palestinian people and rebuild the foundations of the national liberation movement.

Our Palestinian people everywhere and the national liberation movement march on the path to liberation and return.

With loyalty to the martyrs and the struggling prisoners’ movement, the leadership of the Palestinian struggle.

Down with the occupation! The annexation, colonization and settlement projects will be defeated. Victory is with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause!

6 June 2020

From the CHAZ in Seattle: Free Palestinian Prisoners, Protest Annexation 1 July

15 June 2020

Gwenola Ricordeau – police and prison abolitionist and professor at the University of California, Chico – speaks from the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle. The CHAZ was set up by protesters taking to the streets to call for police abolition and support the Black Lives Matter movement and the struggle for Black liberation after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

She calls for freedom for Georges Abdallah – jailed for 35 years in France – and all Palestinian prisoners. During her message, she urges people to participate in the July 1 actions against Israeli annexation. Samidoun also urges all to join in the 1 July protests by organizing an action or event in your local area. Please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net to tell us about your events.

Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition and the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel have issued calls to action against annexation, and we encourage all friends of Palestine to endorse both.

16 June, Online Event: South African Youth Day Seminar

15 June 2020

Tuesday, 16 June
10 am Pacific – 1 pm Eastern – 5 pm UTC – 7 pm Johannesburg – 8 pm Palestine

Register online: https://shamsaan.org/webinar-registration/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2SunsShamsaan/

Shamsaan and our partners are launching a Webinar Series on transnational struggles resisting settler colonialism on June 16, commemorated as SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTH DAY. This June 16 is significant because it marks 44 years since the historic 1976 SOWETO UPRISINGS which was sparked by school children protesting the Afrikaans Medium Decree, which forced black schools to use Afrikaans and English as the languages of instruction. This legislation by the apartheid government was a form of further oppressing and hindering the education of black students, in order to exploit black labour and keep the unjust order of systematic racism intact.

The struggles for decolonised education in South Africa were revived by the 2015 ‘RHODES MUST FALL’ and ‘FEES MUST FALL” protests at universities. These protests have resonated across the world and currently at Oxford University; there are ongoing protests to remove the statue of the racist Cecil John Rhodes.

In USA the brutal killing of George Floyd has given renewed energy to the BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT (BLM) and has shifted mindsets the world over driven to addressing structural racism. In PALESTINE, days after George Floyd was publicly slain, a 32-year-old disabled autistic man, Iyad Halak, was killed by Israeli police in Jerusalem. This issue is not far from home for South Africans either, and the killing of Collins Khosa and more than 19 others under the lockdown at the hands of the South African National Defense Force and police has also sparked outrage. Taken together, these deaths highlight parallels between three struggles which have their roots in systems of violent settler colonialism.

While the world pledges its solidarity with BLM, it was hopeful to see thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to begin annexing parts of the West Bank. Given the devastating but hopeful times we are in, seeing people coming together against unjust status quos around the world, it is important that we take time to engage with one another on how all our struggles for justice are deeply connected.

“LET’S CONNECT” over shared struggles and transnational solidarity in resisting systems of settler colonialism and oppression the world over, from South Africa to Palestine, to the United States of America and beyond.

“LET’S TALK” with students, activists, academics, workers, artists and organisers to re-imagine what must rise as we push for systems of oppression to fall.

“LET’S BUILD” relationships and grow a social justice movement that promotes freedom and collective liberation.

REGISTER NOW at www.shamsaan.org/webinar-registration The series will be live-streamed on Facebook and available on video platforms like YouTube and podcasting outlets.

The first episode is titled “CONNECTING THE JOINT STRUGGLES FOR DECOLONISED EDUCATION – PAST PRESENT + FUTURE”… FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO PALESTINE AND THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT.

The discussion will be facilitated by SHAEERA KALLA, a South African activist and former president of the Student Representative Council at the University of the Witwatersrand. She was involved in the Fees Must Fall movement that began in 2015 that calls for decommodified and decolonised education.

FROM USA: DR MARC LAMONT HILL, academic, activist and media personality; an award-winning journalist named on America’s top 100 most influential Black leaders and academic. His research focuses on the intersections between culture, politics, and education in the United States and the Middle East.

FROM PALESTINE: 14 year old JANNA JIHAD is a young activist who has recorded and posted reports of her life as a child living under Israeli military occupation since the age of 7. She has been awarded internationally for her work and as the ambassador of Shamsaan, travelled internationally to several countries including South Africa and the USA on speaking tours. She was named in a Knesset report as a security threat for this but she continues to produce media reports for international news agencies and has been featured in documentary films.

AHED TAMIMI is a teen activist who became a PALESTINIAN NATIONAL SYMBOL. She has protested against land confiscation and the exploitation of natural resources for settlement construction around the village of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank since she was a young child. At the age of 16, she was arrested, subjected to Israeli military court processes and jailed for 8 months after a live video of her confronting Israeli soldiers was spread online. She is currently pursuing studies in international law at Birzeit University.

FROM USA: LOUBNA QATAMI, member, and the former International General Coordinator for the PALESTINIAN YOUTH MOVEMENT (PYM) She is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, PhD from the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside, Former Executive Director of the ARAB CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY CENTER (ACCC) in San Francisco.

FROM NYC: NERDEEN KISWANI: Palestinian organiser from New York City and Law student at the CUNY School of Law. Founder and Chair of WITHIN OUR LIFETIME – UNITED FOR PALESTINE, a community based Palestinian youth organization that has been building the movement for Palestine for over 5 years.

FROM SOUTH AFRICA: NEO MOSALA: Student activist from South Africa, Allan Gray Orbis Foundation fellow and Law student at the University of the Witwatersrand. Chairperson of RETHINKING ECONOMICS FOR AFRICA (REFA) at the University of the Witwatersrand. REFA is an organisation of students building a better economics in society and the classroom. Through a mix of campaigning, events and engaging projects, REFA also connects people to discuss and enact the change needed for the future of economics.

OBAKENG LESEYANE: SOUTH AFRICAN Youth activist recognized as the youngest Inaugural Public Service Fellow at Apolitical Academy ‘19. Obakeng is committed to working at the intersection of Education, Public Policy and Strategic Development centering young people in the engagement.

REGISTER NOW at www.shamsaan.org/webinar-registration The series will be live-streamed on Facebook and available on video platforms like YouTube and podcasting outlets.

Video from Madrid: All out on 1 July to confront annexation and stand for Palestine!

12 June 2020

Palestinian activists and organizers in Madrid, from Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Movement and the Jafra Group dabkeh team, pledge to come out on 1 July to resist Israeli annexation and colonization and defend Palestinian rights from the river to the sea.

Watch the video:

Full text of the video:

“In response to Samidoun’s call, we are all going out on 1 July against annexation, colonization, settlements; to demand the rights of the Palestinian people, all of our rights! Our voice will be heard for the political prisoners in Israeli prisoners, for the mothers of the martyrs, for the whole world – to demand our rights to all of our land, our right to return. Palestine, from the river to the sea and from Naqoura in the north to the Naqab in the south 1 July, we come out with Samidoun!

We’re all coming out with Samidoun 1 July! “

We urge you to join them on the streets and in this important campaign on 1 July. Many Palestinians in exile and supporters of Palestine are, like Samidoun’s members, engaged in the uprisings and mass mobilizations taking to the streets to confront anti-Black racism and demand the defunding and dismantling of police and other structures of oppression. Confronting Israel’s annexation plans – fully backed by U.S. imperialism and inspired by Zionist racism – also comes as part of the global fightback against racism, colonialism and imperialism. Israel’s crimes are backed by $3.8 billion in military aid from the U.S. each year as well as unlimited diplomatic, political and “security” support from Canada, the European Union, Britain, Australia and other imperialist powers.

Join us on 1 July to stand with the Palestinian people against Israeli annexation and for justice, return and liberation in Palestine. If you are organizing an event, a contingent or an action of any kind, please let us know – email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or message us on Facebook to ensure we publicize it!

Read the call to action in English: https://samidoun.net/2020/06/1-july-call-to-action-to-confront-israeli-annexation-struggle-for-a-free-palestine/

In Arabic: https://samidoun.net/ar/2020/06/july-call-ar/

ILPS: Stop Canada’s arms deal with Saudi Arabia!

12 June 2020

The following statement was issued by ILPS Canada. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a member of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, an alliance of organizations and movements that promotes, supports and develops the anti-imperialist and democratic struggles of the peoples of the world against imperialism and all reaction.

After stalling for two years, the Canadian government has renegotiated a sale of light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia for $14 billion. The deal was put on hold in 2018 because of political pressure against Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist. This news is jolting because, in December 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said he would not go ahead with the sale. However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois-Philippe Champagne announced that the contract was back on the table on Thursday, April 9, 2020.

The government claims it must proceed with the deal because thousands of jobs and substantial revenues might otherwise be lost. General Dynamics is the supplier building the vehicles to be sold. The government its sales rep, General Dynamics stands to lose profits from the transaction. However, it could be involved in the manufacture of other machinery for domestic and foreign use.

In response to the objection that the items to be sold to Saudi Arabia will likely be used for war, Minister Champagne tells the people not to worry. ““Under our law, Canadian goods cannot be exported where there is a substantial risk that they would be used to commit or to facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law or serious acts of gender-based violence.” (The Defense Post, April 10, 2020). If that is the case, then, no military items should be exported. Champagne added that there are protections in that export permits be delayed or canceled if it learns of goods sold not used for the buyers’ stated purposes. Well, it is pretty clear that military items are for military use, just as it is clear that Saudi Arabia is an aggressor who will likely use military equipment in its aggression against Yemen and elsewhere. Saudi Arabia is committing human rights violations and crimes against humanity. The fact that the war inhibits health care and safety responses to COVID-19 is even more reprehensible.

The Canadian Chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles has opposed all military contracts with Saudi Arabia all along. We have stood in solidarity with the people of Yemen who have been suffering under assault after assault by Saudi forces, calling for Saudi Arabia keep its hands off Yemen. According to Dr. Yahyia Mohammed Saleh Mushed of the Union of Arab Academics at Sana’a University, the war has displaced around 200,000 people and left the country in misery (Sanctions Kill webinar, May 31, 2020). We deplore the coalition states (US, UK, France and Canada) that arms and supports these assaults. Furthermore, we find no justify for the blockade against Yemen, and join in the calls for the illegal economic coercive measures against Yemen and all countries to be lifted, especially in view of the humanitarian concerns during a pandemic.

Canada has been on the war path for the past two decades. It stands by the US imperialist war machine steadfastly and plays a deadly role as its most fervent ally. It itself is an imperialist state with ambitions for market expansion abroad. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voices intolerance against states that dare to follow an independent course away from the dictates and norms set by the US. His negative relations with Venezuela are the starkest example. Also, his government has been increasing the national military budget and expanding the Canadian armed forces, favouring more active engagement. Money for health care and housing has been siphoned for the folly of war.

Now with the determination to rise against domestic militarization and resist its racist blades, let us also decry international militarization and organize to dismantle NATO, the US military bases and imperialist military agreements, and send the troops home. Let us expose and put pressure against the arms trade that encourages instability and feeds off bloody conflict. Let us call for a reduction of military budgets and redirect more tax money into social services and regional economic development.

Stop the Sales of Arms to Saudi Arabia!
Reject the arms trade!
Stop US and Canadian imperialism!
Dismantle NATO!
Close all foreign military bases!
End the coercive economic measures against all targeted countries!

PayPal stands with Israeli apartheid again, closes Collectif Palestine Vaincra account

10 June 2020

The following report is translated from the French original, available at the site of Collectif Palestine Vaincra. The collective, based in Toulouse, France, is a member organization of the Samidoun Network.

*Photo by @francois for LeWeb12 Conference, Paris/Flickr*

On 9 June 2020, Collectif Palestine Vaincra was informed though a brief email that its PayPal account “has been permanently restricted.” In addition, the money in the Collectif’s account has been frozen for a period of 180 days. The online payment company referred in its message to a “violation of the terms of service,” without specifying what type of violation was alleged. The Collectif Palestine Vaincra is self-funded and independent; it calls upon all supporters to help defeat this attack by making an online donation to support its work.

Unfortunately, this attack is nothing new. PayPal has arbitrarily closed the accounts of many associations and organizations supporting Palestine in recent years. In France, PayPal closed the accounts of AFPS and BDS France in 2018. It closed the Samidoun international network account in 2019.

A few hours after the account was closed and without any public announcement from PayPal, many pro-Israeli apartheid sites and far-right organizations published sensationalist articles welcoming this action. This shows their growing fear and concern at the growing global support for the Palestinian resistance and the boycott of Israel.

In particular, they aim to attack the collective by noting that the great struggler Leila Khaled is an honorary member. This obsessive focus by right-wing forces only speaks to the continued vitality of the political project she continues to represent after a lifetime dedicated to defending her people.

Defenders of Israeli apartheid are making immense efforts to silence the many and growing supporters of Palestine everywhere around the world. One of these means of pressure is, obviously, aiming to cut off funds to these organizations, but also by multiple campaigns of defamation and intimidation. The Collectif Palestine Vaincra denounces these pathetic attempts and reaffirms its commitment to struggle for Palestinian rights and to support the Palestinian resistance fighting for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.

Read the Samidoun statement on PayPal from 2019 at this link.

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