Saturday, 28 March NOTE: This event will not take place as scheduled due to COVID-19. Contact the organizers for more information on digital options.
Dublin, Ireland Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1044706709231533/
As part of the global week of solidarity, Anti Imperialist Action Ireland is calling a rally in support of the Palestine Struggle for National Liberation and Socialism and the Great March of Return at 2pm, Saturday March 28 at the GPO in Dublin.
Join us as we stand in solidarity with the Palestine People Against Zionism and Imperialism
From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!
Samidoun hosted a virtual meeting with Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat, the international coordinator of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, on Thursday, 26 March 2020.
Barakat discussed anti-Palestinian repression inside and outside Palestine, including the demolition of Palestinian homes by the Israeli apartheid regime, the imprisonment of the Holy Land Five in the United States, and the ongoing imprisonment of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah in France. He also spoke about his own case in Germany, where immigration authorities recently banned him from entering the country for four years for entirely political reasons, and emphasized the importance of resistance and continuing the liberation struggle in order to confront repression.
2 years on from the start of the Great Return March, take action in your community against Israel’s violations of international law and in support of the rights of the Palestinian people!
We will be listing actions taking place across the UK online here: palestinecampaign.org/events/28march-uk-national-day-of-action-for-palestine/
Get in touch if you’re planning something in your area! #ExistResistReturn
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Global solidarity with Palestine could not be more vital at a time when attacks on the core collective rights of the Palestinian people, as stipulated in international law, are being intensified by Israel and its allies.
Donald Trump’s so-called “deal of the century” represents not a deal for peace but a demand to the Palestinian people to surrender their rights. It reflects the vision that Israel has sought to map out on the ground for decades – no viable state for the Palestinians but a series of Bantustans, no capital in Jerusalem, instead sovereignty over the outlying districts of East Jerusalem, and no right of return for the Palestinian refugees.
Meanwhile, Israel has killed more than 250 Palestinian protesters and injured a further 30000 since the start of the Great Return March in Gaza. These ongoing protests, taking place every single Friday, have seen thousands of Palestinians fighting for their right of return to their villages and homes from which they were forcibly removed. Israel’s unlawful killing of protesters – including women, children, journalists and medics – have been marked as potential war crimes by the UN.
As well as marking 2 years since the start of the Great Return March, March 30th is also Palestinian Land Day – when Palestinians across the world remember the unarmed protesters killed by Israel in 1976 during demonstrations about Israel’s theft of Palestinian land.
The Palestinian people refuse to give up their struggle for justice. It is our task to draw inspiration from their endurance and answer their call for international solidarity.
So get involved in the nationwide day of action on Saturday 28th March to show support for the Palestinian people’s fundamental rights to exist, resist and return.
Please note, this is replacing a previous event organized outdoors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Anti-War Committee will hold the following online action on Tuesday, 24 March:
We are no longer having a visibility bannering as part of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network’s global week of action. Instead we will be organizing a call in day. #GreatReturnMarch #LandDay
On March 30, 1976, Land Day marked a turning point as the first mass mobilization by Palestinians within Israel against colonialism and land theft. Israeli police shot and killed six Palestinian citizens of Israel for protesting the Israeli government’s expropriation of Palestinian land. Land Day’s significance in the Palestinian political calendar was compounded in 2018, when hundreds were killed and thousands injured by Israeli sniper fire as Palestinians demanded their Right of Return to their stolen land with mass protests in Gaza, called the Great March of Return.
Organized by the Anti-War Committee
Please call Sen Klobuchar at 202-224-3244 or 612-727-5220 and demand she change her position on U.S. aid to Israel. Below is a script you can use:
“Sen Klobuchar, we demand you support peace and justice in Palestine. Your support for apartheid Israel undermines all efforts for justice, and therefore peace. The Covid-19 pandemic means even greater misery for Palestinians in the West Bank, and the Gaza open air prison. In response to the pandemic the Israeli government has increased the repression of Palestinians, not addressed their health needs. Your support for keeping the US embassy in Jerusalem, your pledge to continue U.S. aid to Israel, your pledge to increase support for Israel if elected president emphasizes your support for human rights atrocities by the government of Israel. As your constituents we are disappointed that you voted for an anti-BDS (Boycott Divest Sanctions) bill which criminalizes free speech critical of Israel’s human rights abuses. As your constituents we disapprove of the way you tried to play us by saying you would not attend the 2020 AIPAC conference on 2/26 and then on 2/28 sending the conference a supportive video message. We support the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement and the Palestinian Right of Return! End US Aid to Israel! End the Blockade of Gaza and other Human Rights Abuses of Palestinians!”
Palestinian officials have announced the first two cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Watch the emergency webinar live on CODEPINK’s Facebook page or join as a participant via Zoom https://bit.ly/covid19gaza
Hear from the people on the ground. Speakers will include in Gaza, Raed Shakshak, the outreach coordinator for We Are Not Numbers, Basman Derawiof We Are Not Numbers, as well as Geri Haynes, a palliative care consultant who just returned from Gaza two weeks ago with Washington State Physicians for Social Responsibility
Webinar sponsored by CODEPINK, We Are Not Numbers, and U.S. Boat to Gaza
Join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network for an important conversation on anti-Palestinian repression in Germany and Europe with Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and the coordinator of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat.
As part of the international days of action to mark the second anniversary of the Great Return March, and the 44th Palestinian Land Day, Samidoun Gothenburg is screening the documentary “Gaza Fights for Freedom” at the Syndikalistiskt Forum.
Obviously, we also want to take this opportunity to pay attention to the situation of Palestinian refugees in and around Sweden. Many have been protesting since at least 8 January against the Migration Board’s decision to deny them residence permits and thus to perpetuate the violence that they have been subjected to by the Israeli occupation, leading they and their families to flee. They are now in a legal limbo and deprived of jobs, school, housing and opportunities for security and life. Follow them at their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Palerefugees/ and support their struggle!
The space opens at 5:00 pm, the film will be screened from 6:00 pm.
I samband med de internationella aktionsdagarna för att uppmärksamma Stora återvändarmarschens tvåårsdag (och palestinska Landdagens 44-årsdag) visar vi i Samidoun Göteborg dokumentärfilmen Gaza Fights for Freedom på Syndikalistiskt Forum!
Vi vill så klart även ta tillfället i akt att fortsätta uppmärksamma de palestinska flyktingarna i runt om i Sverige. Många av dem protesterar sedan åtminstone 8:e januari i år mot Migrationsverkets beslut att förneka dem uppehållstillstånd och därmed fortsätta det våld som den israeliska ockupationens utsatt dem för genom att driva dem och deras familjer på flykt. De befinner sig nu i ett rättsligt limbo där de berövas jobb, skola och bostad och därmed möjligheter till trygghet och liv. Följ dem på Palestinian Refugees Rights in Sweden och stötta deras kamp!
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands in solidarity with political prisoners and detainees in Germany against all forms of repression. The German state’s attacks on Palestinian rights are well-known, including: the four-year ban on Palestinian leftist writer Khaled Barakat; the deportation of Rasmea Odeh, former political prisoner and torture survivor and the prohibition of her event with Dareen Tatour; the passing of an anti-BDS resolution in the Bundestag, the criminal prosecution of Palestinian and Israeli Jewish activists for interrupting a speech by a member of the Knesset, the forced resignation of the director of the Jewish Museum, the closing of the bank account of Jewish Voices for a Just Peace and the disinvitation of international artists who have taken a stand to support Palestinian rights.
However, repression in Germany is far from limited to the assault against Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizing. Left-wing groups and parties have been repeatedly targeted, especially Turkish and Kurdish organizations. We stand in solidarity with all of the progressive forces politically targeted in Germany, including the “Revolutionary Arameans,” (Süryani Devrimciler) who are facing political charges after protesting the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Germany in September 2018.
On 2 October 2018, eight activists were arrested in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg by state security police, accused of violating the Association Act and carrying the signs of illegal organizations during a the May Day demonstration in 2018. Three of the comrades were already ordered by the Augsburg District Court, on 22 July 2019 and 21 October 2019 to pay 13,000 EUR in fines, with a rate of 40 EUR daily. The activists have lodged a legal appeal against this order.
Specifically, they are accused of carrying the banner of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a leftist Marxist-Leninist movement in Turkey. However, the comrades note that they were actually carrying the flag of the Communist Arameans of Mesopotamia, with the hammer, sickle and a star on a red background.
28-year-old Sami Baydar, from Augsburg, has been particularly targeted in this attack. A leftist activist who campaigns for the rights of the Arameans, especially in Turkey, Baydar and his lawyer have repeatedly been denied access to German government files and information about the case. Finally, they were informed that Baydar is facing an investigation under section 129b of the German criminal code – the infamous category that has been used to prosecute and imprison German and international leftists, especially Turkish and Kurdish activists, under the framework of “terrorist organizations abroad.”
Samidoun has joined many organizations in Germany and internationally calling for sections 129a and 129b to be stricken; these provisions are used repeatedly for political ends, with dozens of Turkish and Kurdish activists imprisoned by the German state. The provisions were introduced in 2002 in the post-September 11 promotion of “anti-terror” laws and, since 2008, they have been used repeatedly against leftist organizations and activists.
One activist was sentenced to 26 months of imprisonment for selling concert tickets for a German concert by Grup Yorum, a political band whose members are also subjected to political repression and imprisonment inside Turkey. In many of these cases, “evidence” used has included confessions obtained under torture in Turkey.
The echoes of this ongoing repression is also to be found in the justifications used to ban Khaled Barakat from the country, to deport Rasmea Odeh and to repress Palestinian and Palestine solidarity activism. In these cases as well, the German state seeks to arrogate to itself the ability to strip the rights of oppressed people to resist, depending on its alliance with the state oppressing them. Israeli allegations, including false confessions extracted through torture or dubious propaganda campaigns, are repeated as fact.
The German state has worked hand in hand with the Turkish state in persecuting leftists, including many former political prisoners in Turkish jails who had initially sought refuge in Europe. This reflects the imperialist NATO alliance binding these countries together and the threat it poses to all peoples struggling for justice, in Palestine, Syria, Turkey and even within Europe itself. Similarly, the alliance between Germany and Israel is an alliance in the persecution and repression of Palestinians, both inside and outside occupied Palestine. Germany sells a wide range of arms and weaponry to the Turkish state – used to persecute Turks and Kurds as well as to invade and occupy Syria – just as it provided nuclear-capable submarines to Israel and has continued to do so, enhancing the nuclear threat in the region.
Despite this repression, these activists have continued to stand with their fellow political prisoners and targets of repression in Germany and around the world. In a speech in Munich calling for freedom for Müslüm Elma, a political prisoner from Turkey in Germany, Baydar spoke on behalf of the Aramean People’s Council to also demand freedom for political prisoners like Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, held in Zionist jails and Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for 35 years.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its strongest solidarity with Sami Baydar and all of the “Revolutionary Arameans” facing repression, heavy fines, political investigations and the threat of imprisonment in Germany. The criminalization of solidarity, activism and liberation struggles threatens the Palestinian movement in Germany, and these same policies have been used to wage an intense attack on Kurdish, Turkish and Aramean strugglers for justice. We see the alliance between imperialist, racist, capitalist, fascist, Zionist and reactionary forces to suppress popular movements, and our mutual solidarity is critical to fight back against and defeat that repression.
We urge the immediate release of all political prisoners in German, Greek, European and Turkish jails and the striking of paragraphs 129a and 129b, which serve as weapons for the criminalization of liberation struggles, and we demand an end to the political charges against the “Revolutionary Arameans.” Long live international solidarity!
Background information:
“Who are the REVOLUTIONARY ARAMEANS?
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Aramaic genocide in Turkey, intellectual Aramaic Turks from Tur Abdin joined forces and in 2015 the popular movement REVOLUTIONARY ARAMAEANS (Aramaic: Suryoye Qauwonye) was founded in Midyat.
In 2017, the socialist October Revolution of 1917 was remembered for 100 years by the REVOLUTIONARY ARAMAEANS, who founded the organization “Communist Aramaeans of Mesopotamia”.
Since 2019, the movement has been a member of the Anti-Imperialist Front (Anti-Emperyalist Cephe).”
Join The Red Nation as we host a Teach-In in solidarity with the anniversary of the Great March of Return and the international days of action in solidarity with Palestine. This will be held online using Zoom. Access can be found below.
Photo: Newsbeast.gr, via the Anti-Imperialist Front
UPDATE: As of 20 March, most of the people arrested in this raid have been released, including the Greek comrade. Those who remain detained are: Ali Ercan Gökoğlu, Halil Demir, Hasan Kaya, İsmail Zat, Anıl Sayar, Burak Agırmış, Harika Kızılkaya, Hazal Seçer, Şadi Naci Özpolat and Sinan Oktay Özen. We reiterate our call for the immediate release and the dropping of all charges against these comrades and freedom for all political prisoners in Greek and other European jails.
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Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses our utmost concern for the dozens of people arrested in raids and attacks by the Greek police against the Anti-Imperialist Front in Athens. While stating concern for public health as a top priority to shut down most social interactions in Athens amid the very real threat of coronavirus, police nonetheless engaged in a large-scale raid on Thursday, 19 March on offices and apartments in Athens’ Exarcheia neighborhood, targeting the Solidarity Committee for Political Prisoners in Turkey and Kurdistan and the Anti-Imperialist Front.
While the Greek and Turkish states continue to engage in warmongering, nationalist rhetoric that puts migrants and refugees at severe risk and instrumentalizes their search for safety, they continue to collaborate on “anti-terrorist” policies that target left and progressive organizations. Instead, we see the Turkish government making more agreements with Greece to repress politically active migrants at the same time that prisoners in Turkish jails are conducting a growing hunger strike against repression.
At least 26 people and up to 35 were detained in the raid, including a Greek comrade from the Anti-Imperialist Front who was arrested after she approached the area and made a video (below) as well as a number of Turkish and Kurdish activists. As she said, “Our comrades always struggle against capitalism and fascism and that is why they are targeted, by the Turkish government, the government in Greece and by imperialism.”
Police invaded two offices and one apartment of Turkish Kurdish leftist political refugees, some of whom are suffering from Wernicke-Korsakoff due to hunger strikes in Turkey. All of those arrested are still detained, including people with serious physical disabilities.
These attacks come just weeks after the Anti-Imperialist Front organized a large forum on political prisoners and anti-imperialist struggle in Athens, in which Samidoun activists from Greece and the Netherlands participated. The forum emphasized the cases of Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Abdallah alongside those of political prisoners around the world. The activists have also been engaged in active campaigns to highlight the cases of political prisoners in Turkey, especially Mustafa Koçak and Grup Yorum band members.
The “anti-terrorism” framework has repeatedly been used to harass, detain and deport Turkish and Kurdish leftist migrants and refugees, many of whom have suffered severe political persecution in Turkey. These attacks have taken place not only in Greece but also in Germany and elsewhere throughout Europe.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses our deepest solidarity with the arrested and targeted comrades in Greece and we join the call for their immediate release. We demand freedom for all of the political prisoners in Europe targeted for their commitment to justice and liberation.
Palestinian officials have announced the first two cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network for an important conversation on anti-Palestinian repression in Germany and Europe with Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and the coordinator of the Campaign to 
