On Tuesday, 19 May, the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS) in Canada hosted the fifth webinar in its LENINFEST series, an ongoing group of events focusing on different aspects of struggle on the 150th anniversary of the birthday of the revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin. Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and coordinator of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat, joined Chandu Claver of the Cordillera People’s Alliance to discuss national liberation and national oppression.
Watch the full video here:
Claver discussed the experiences of indigenous peoples in the Philippines, including displacement, land confiscation and extraction of resources. He also took a historical look at the experience of national groups in China, before, during and after the 1949 revolution, and noted the varying historical and social characteristics of different movements around the world.
Barakat, on the other hand, focused on the struggle for Palestine in the context of the broader Arab national liberation movement, highlighting Lenin’s living contribution to anti-imperialism and confronting this phase of capitalism, even as it has further developed and changed over the past 100 years. He reviewed the history of national liberation movements in Oman, Morocco, Algeria and elsewhere, noting the persistence of colonial forms of domination that have prevented Arabs – and other peoples of the region – from exercising their self-determination and sovereignty. He highlighted some of the dangerous trends that have undermined the resistance, including the transformation of revolutionary movements into “opposition parties” within monarchies, noting that bourgeois and petty bourgeois class control of these movements often descended into collaboration with imperialism over time, if they were not brutally suppressed. He also emphasized that Palestine was and remains the cause and compass of the Arab people and the people of the region in confronting Zionism, imperialism and Arab reactionary regimes.
He further emphasized the importance of mutual solidarity and struggle with indigenous peoples globally, especially those confronting settler colonialism, as in the U.S. and Canada as well as Palestine, for self-determination, sovereignty and liberation of land.
The ILPS series will continue with further speakers and events. Samidoun is a member organization of ILPS, an international alliance of people’s movements confronting imperialism, capitalism and oppression around the world, and we encourage movements struggling for justice to become involved with its activities.
On Sunday, 17 May, Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition organized an online rally and discussion forum marking 72 years of Nakba and continued resistance. One of many events taking place during the Week of Palestinian Struggle, the event included speakers and activists from a number of organizations working for the liberation of Palestine in an inspiring rally as well as a detailed discussion forum probing the history of the Palestinian Nakba and the struggle for the right to return to Palestine.
Mohammed Khatib, Europe coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, spoke as part of the rally. The full text of his speech is presented below, as is this video excerpt (subtitled in French by Collectif Palestine Vaincra):
The full event program included rally interventions by speaker and comedian Amer Zahr, cartoonist Carlos Latuff, Hatem Mohtaseb of the Palestinian Youth Movement, Nerdeen Kiswani of Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine, Kameron Hurt of ANSWER, Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine, and Lamis Deek, representing Al-Awda.
The discussion forum included presentations by Palestinian scholars and activists, Rabab Abdulhadi, Hatem Bazian, Diana Buttu and Ahlam Muhtaseb, with wide-ranging discussions of the Nakba, colonialism and Zionism in Palestine, the current situation inside Palestine and the struggles and steadfastness of Palestinian refugees in the camps in Lebanon.
Watch the full video of the event here:
Full text of Mohammed Khatib’s speech:
My Name is Mohammed Khatib, I am originally from Al Malaha, north of Palestine in the region of occupied Safad,
I was born and raised in Ain el Helweh camp in Lebanon, the Camp of Martyrs , the camp of Naji Al Ali and the symbol of resistance and steadfastness
Being born in a refugee camp, knowing that our people were uprooted from their lands and homes, knowing all of Palestine from within one kilometer square. Looking at our people who live the second time of displacement, who are under tends today in Greek Islands ( I have met Carlos in Skaramngas refugees camp in Athens and we saw under what conditions they live) . To our people under the siege In Gaza and behind the wall in the West Bank, and in Al Quds, to our people in occupied Palestine 48. For all of us, liberation and freedom, and Palestine, is not a political issue, it’s a matter of life and death, it’s a matter of existence. It is a personal and collective struggle.
On the 72nd year of of Nakba, and more than 100th year of struggle, we need today to free ourselves, our voice, and work collectively and in unity to rebuild our national liberation movement, and restart our revolution until liberation and return.
Our youth should play their role to free our movement from the defeated and sellout leadership who brought the Oslo accord. For me, our struggle is for liberation and not for a state for the benefit of Palestinian bourgeoisie and multinational companies.
To our community in the United States, in Europe, as we are living in the belly of the beast, fighting racism and oppression. To our people in the refugee camps living in the front line of poverty and discrimination, racism and isolation, deprived from their basic human rights. From Lebanon to Syria and Jordan and under all Arab regimes, we will fight back.
I have a message to Trump and his Administration, If you think that by cutting aid to the PA and UNWRA you are pushing our people to give up and surrender, then you are not just wrong, but ignorant and stupid.
Today, US ambassador David Freedman lives in a colony on stolen land in Palestine. His daughter serves in the Zionist occupation Army. So for us, we see no difference between Israel and the US, Canada, Australia etc, a gory and dirty white settler colonial project.
We say no to US conditions. Our people will fight back by all means and not surrender, and we will continue our march until liberation and freedom .
Salute to the Black liberation movement, and to the indigenous movement, We call for Freedom for all political prisoners, For Mumia Abu Jamal, the Holy Land Five brothers held in maximum security prisons.
We salute all people of color and oppressed communities fighting racism, imperialism and colonialism.
Salute to our resistance, to our freedom fighters, In Gaza and Jerusalem and West Bank and 48. Down with the Oslo accord and surrender deals. Free Palestine from the river to the sea!
Izz Shabaneh (l), Mehdi Karajeh (c) and Basil Barghouthi (r), students at Bir Zeit University abducted by Israeli occupation forces on 21 May 2020.
In the early morning hours of Thursday, 21 May, Israeli occupation forces seized three Palestinian students at Bir Zeit University: Izz Shabaneh from the village of Sinjil, Mehdi Karajeh from the village of Saffa, and Basil Barghouthi from the village of Beit Rima. This comes as part of an ongoing policy of targeting leading student activists and the Palestinian student movement as a whole; hundreds of Palestinian students are imprisoned by Israel, including approximately 80 from Bir Zeit University alone.
The imprisonment of Palestinian students reflects only one part of the ongoing denial of Palestinians’ right to education by Israeli colonization. In this case, the abductions come only days before the end of the semester.
Over the years, thousands of Palestinian university students have been targeted for arrest and persecution. Palestinian universities have been frequently raided by Israeli occupation forces; student organizations’ offices have been ransacked, their belongings confiscated and destroyed. The Palestinian student movement is subjected to particularly harsh repression.
“Palestinian student unions have not escaped Israel’s efforts to criminalize every aspect of Palestinian civil, political and cultural life and many have also been declared illegal. In the event that a student union is not explicitly declared unlawful by a decision of the Israeli military commander or a government official exercising his or her authority under Regulation 84 of the 1945 Emergency Regulations, a Palestinian student union member may be arrested on the grounds of membership in an organization having broadly defined ‘ties’ with an unlawful organization. The nature of those ties is never of interest to the prosecution and hardly ever examined by the military judge. In consequence, attending a rally of an ‘unlawful association’ or an association ‘with ties’ to an ‘unlawful association’, putting up posters of such an association, writing, producing, printing and distributing publications related to the declared ‘unlawful association’ are all activities that are considered to ‘endanger the security of the state of Israel’, and are prosecuted as crimes under the banner of ‘hostile and terrorist activities’. In some cases, students were indicted with charges as unreasonable and far-fetched as ‘dancing Dabke’, a traditional Palestinian folkloric dance, at an event organized by a student union ‘with ties to an unlawful organization’, or attending a film screening at an ‘illegal rally’.
Palestinian student life is rich in its political diversity and expression. Every year, student council elections spark a vast amount of debate and political competition between all trends of the Palestinian movement as reflected among university students. This vibrant expression of a democratic political culture is routinely subjected to violent suppression by the Israeli occupation; the student election period is often marked by a sharp rise in raids and arrests at university campuses.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges the strongest worldwide solidarity with Palestinian students under attack. Despite ongoing, systematic and continuous repression – including severe torture under interrogation – they continue to learn, organize and struggle. We demand the immediate release of Izz Shabaneh, Mehdi Karajeh, Basil Barghouti and all imprisoned Palestinian students!
As we mark the Week of Palestinian Struggle, we recognize that the Palestinian student movement – and the attacks of occupation forces against it – has a lengthy history of struggle and leadership. Indeed, the same days when we currently mark this week of struggle – 15-22 May – have been days of solidarity with the Palestinian students and their resistance for decades. Below are several posters from the 1970s and 1980s distributed around the world by student organizations and groups to stand in solidarity with Palestinian students fighting for the right to education and playing their leading role on the front lines of Palestinian revolutionary struggle. This call is just as urgent today and demands our solidarity.
Thursday, 21 May 12 pm Pacific – 3 pm Eastern – 7 pm UTC – 9 pm central Europe – 10 pm Palestine Register online: https://bit.ly/prisonersfamilies
Join Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network for an important discussion with Basil Farraj, Palestinian scholar and the son and relative of multiple Palestinian prisoners, on the experiences, struggles, resistance and steadfastness of Palestinian prisoners’ families. Given the widespread nature of incarceration by Israeli occupation prison regimes for Palestinians under occupation, far too many Palestinian families face collective punishment by the Israeli state yet continue to resist with tremendous steadfastness.
Basil Farraj is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute, Geneva and a research assistant for the VIPRE Initiative. Basil’s work focuses on political prisoners, violence directed against them, and ways in which they resist the incarcerating regimes. His work reaches for the intersections of memory, resistance and art by prisoners and others at the receiving end of violence. Basil has previously conducted fieldwork in a number of countries including Chile and Colombia.
Palestinian-American researcher Ubai Aboudi, executive director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development, was abducted from his home by Israeli occupation forces on 13 November, 2019 and put in detention without charge.
Ubai, who had been working with Scientists for Palestine to organize the Third International Meeting on Science in Palestine, which took place on 10-12 January, 2020 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was later transferred from “administrative detention” to an Israeli military court.
Today he faces trial on manufactured, baseless charges, which Israel routinely imposes on Palestinians under military occupation.
And despite Ubai’s United States citizenship, as well as the U.S. government’s $3.8 billion in annual military aid to Israel, the U.S. has largely left Ubai and Hind Shraydeh, his wife and the mother of their three children, to suffer alone.
On Monday, 1 June, take action to demand freedom for Ubai and 4,700 other Palestinian political prisoners.
Take action:
Ask your organization to endorse this call to action. Please use the form here – visit the link at https://bit.ly/action4ubai.
Demand the U.S. government intercede for Ubai and his freedom. Call the U.S. State Department at (202) 647-4000, then, if you are a U.S. citizen or resident, find your Congressional representative here. Tell each of them:
Israel is currently subjecting a U.S. citizen, Ubai Aboudi, to trial on manufactured political charges before a military court.
Ubai was previously one of 400 Palestinians held under “administrative detention,” internment without charge or trial.
Israel routinely subjects Palestinians in military detention to mistreatment, including torture.
Israeli military courts convict Palestinian defendants at a rate of 99.76%.
The U.S. government must immediately intercede to demand Ubai’s immediate and unconditional release.
It must also impose meaningful sanctions for Israel’s crimes against 4,700 political prisoners and other Palestinians, including an immediate end to its $3.8 billion in annual military aid.
Join a social media storm at 10:00 am Pacific time, 1:00 pm Eastern time, 5:00 pm Greenwich mean time, and 8:00 pm Palestine time. Share content about Ubai with the hashtag #Freedom4Ubai.
Post pictures and videos of yourself and your organization demonstrating in solidarity with Ubai. Watch for signs to hold, or design and share your own! Use the hashtag #Freedom4Ubai to help others find them.
Demonstrate publicly where local conditions and restrictions allow. If possible, organize a car caravan, protest or rally in a public area, then share photographs and footage of it online with the hashtag.
As part of Lenin150 – ILPS events marking Lenin’s 150th birthday – ILPS in Canada is hosting a series of online discussions on the applications of Lenin’s analysis, insights and practice in building anti-imperialist and revolutionary movements in the 21st Century.
(Traduction simultanée en français offerte. Voir ci-dessous.)
SESSION 5
LENINFEST (#5): Tuesday, May 19, 2020, 9 PM EDT: National oppression, National liberation
Featuring Chandu Claver and Khaled Barakat
Chandu Claver belongs to a native tribe in the northern mountain region of the Philippines. He is a human rights and indigenous rights advocate who had to flee and seek refuge in Canada after state-sponsored attacks on his family. He continues his work among his people as a spokesperson for the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance — one of the largest national minority mass organizations in the Philippines.
Khaled Barakat is a Palestinian writer and journalist. He is the international coordinator for the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat.
Dans le cadre des événements Lénine150 – marquant le 150e anniversaire de Lénine – l’ILPS au Canada organise une série de discussions en ligne sur les applications de l’analyse, des idées et de la pratique de Lénine dans la construction des mouvements anti-impérialistes et révolutionnaires au 21e siècle.
(Interprétation simultanée française disponible!)
SESSION 5
PROCHAIN ÉVÉNEMENT LÉNINEFEST (#5) : Mardi 19 mai 2020, 21 h EDT : L’oppression nationale, Libération nationale
Avec Chandu Claver et Khaled Barakat
Chandu Claver appartient à une tribu indigène de la région montagneuse du nord des Philippines. Il est un défenseur des droits de l’homme et des droits des indigènes qui a dû fuir et chercher refuge au Canada après les attaques perpétrées par l’État contre sa famille.
Khaled Barakat est un écrivain et journaliste palestinien. Il est le coordinateur international de la Campagne pour la libération d’Ahmad Sa’adat.
Ubai Aboudi, his wife Hind Shraydeh, and their three children.
Prominent scientists and academics have released a new petition urging the immediate release of detained Palestinian-American researcher Ubai Aboudi, the executive director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development. Noam Chomsky and Nobel Prize winner George Smith are among the signatories to the petition, launched by Scientists for Palestine. Ubai was abducted from his home the night of November 13th, 2019, and held for nearly two months in administrative detention. Unfortunately Ubai still languishes in Israeli military jail.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine and of freedom for the Palestinian prisoners to express support for Ubai Aboudi by taking action below!
Directly contact the US State Department to ask for Ubai’s release.
Petition text and signatories
Ubai Aboudi is a Palestinian-American civilian, father, researcher, educator, director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development who was abducted by Israeli military without charges on November 13, 2019 [1]. Ubai is one of Scientists for Palestine’s (S4P) closest partners and has worked tirelessly to make the Third International Meeting on Science in Palestine, which took place on January 10-12, 2020, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, happen and his detention prevented him from attending and presenting his own research. Ubai, after two months of administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial – is still currently detained in Israeli military custody on arbitrary charges and without any guarantees of a fair trial [2]. S4P and the undersigned supporters are steadfast in the support of article 27 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights [3,4] and article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [5], which both guarantee everyone’s right to science. S4P and the undersigned supporters therefore condemn Mr. Ubai Aboudi’s abduction and detention in the strongest possible terms and call for the US State Department and the US ambassador in Israel David M. Friedman to end their silence and work to ensure his immediate release from military prison. We also invite all scholars concerned about human rights and the enforcement of the universal right to education to also take immediate action and support our call.
There is overwhelming evidence that Israeli military law applicable to Palestinians in the West Bank imposes draconian criminal sanctions for vaguely worded offenses that do not allow a person to reasonably predict whether an action or inaction amounts to a crime [2] in defiance of international standards [5]. It is all the more appalling that the US government and the US Department of State adopts these Israeli “terrorism” designations knowing their discriminatory, arbitrary, and illegal genesis which de-facto criminalizes most of Palestinian society, but manages to ensnare and abuse a US citizen, education worker and science advocate with potential tremendous consequences.
This call is made even more urgent by the current pandemic and the deliberate disregard shown by the Israeli military for the health and well-being of Palestinian detainees [6, 7]. This is particularly concerning in the case of Ubai given his preexisting health conditions may render his already unlawful detention a death sentence during the coronavirus pandemic. We therefore demand his case be given top priority.
An organization like S4P, which is committed to building scientific collaborations and strengthening those that already exist, should not be put in the position of writing statements of this kind. However, Mr. Aboudi’s brutal abduction and the experience of his unfair trial is a direct attack to anyone attempting to help elevate Palestinian science and education. S4P and the undersigned supporters, believe that so long as our Palestinian colleagues are subjected to a largely arbitrary and discriminatory legal system, it will be impossible for science to thrive in Palestine. We also believe that it is our duty, as researchers and scientists, to work steadfastly for everyone’s right to science to be indeed respected.
Initial signatories:
Scientists for Palestine – Central Committee.
Ahmed Abbes, Mathematician, Directeur de recherche au CNRS, France.
Susan Abulhawa, Writer and Political Activist.
Philip Argyres, Professor of Physics, University of Cincinnati.
Noam Chomsky, Laureate Professor of Linguistics, Agnese Nelms Haury Chair, The University of Arizona.
Anne Davis, Professor of Physics, Cambridge, UK.
Leila Farsakh, Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Boston.
Catherine Goldstein, Mathematician, Directrice de recherche au CNRS, Paris, France.
Michael Harris, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University.
Assaf Kfoury, Professor, Boston University.
Haynes Miller, Professor of Mathematics, MIT.
Joseph Oesterlé, Professeur émérite à Sorbonne Université, Paris
Nasser Rabbat, professor, history of architecture, MIT.
George P. Smith, Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, 2018 Nobel Chemistry Laureate.
Lionel Schwartz, professeur émérite de mathématiques, Université Paris Nord, France.
Annick Suzor-Weiner, professeure émérite de physique, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.
Raid M Suleiman, Astrophysicist, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
Franz Ulm, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, MIT.
Dror Warschawski, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
On Saturday, 16 May, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network hosted a webinar with Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat, focusing on the theme of the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. The event came as part of the Week of Palestinian Struggle, a series of online and in-person actions to support the liberation of Palestine as we mark the 72nd anniversary of the ongoing Nakba. The webinar was conducted over Zoom and streamed live simultaneously on the Samidoun facebook page.
During the event, live translation to French was provided by solidarity translators; the interpretation was organized by the International League of People’s Struggles in Canada, an international alliance of people’s movements confronting imperialism, capitalism and oppression around the world. Samidoun is a member of ILPS, which has also provided an informative archive of webinars organized by groups and movements around the world.
Barakat discussed a wide range of topics, focusing on the colonialist and imperialist roots of Zionism, the support of imperialist powers for the Israeli state as a military base in the region and the ongoing Palestinian national liberation movement. He emphasized the links of the Palestinian liberation movement to other movements confronting imperialism and oppression, including Indigenous struggles for sovereignty and liberation and the Black liberation movement, and highlighted the Palestinian, Arab and international nature of the Palestinian struggle. He encouraged participants to get involved in making change in their areas and communities and struggling for social justice, emphasizing that all victories achieved by people’s movements help to open the space for Palestinian resistance.
This webinar comes as one of many taking place amid commemorations of the Nakba and ongoing Palestinian resistance and struggle. On Sunday, 17 May, there will be an Arabic-language webinar at 11 am Pacific/3 pm Eastern/8 pm central Europe/9 pm Palestine with Fawzi Ismail, president of the Union of Palestinian Communities and Associations in Europe, discussing the role of the Palestinian community in exile and diaspora in the struggle for liberation and return, organized by Samidoun in Palestine and partner organizations. The webinar will take place on Zoom.
Also on Sunday, 17 May, Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition will host an English-language online rally for Palestine, “Commemorating 72 years of Nakba, Marching Toward Return.” Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun will be one of the speakers in the rally, which will also be accompanied by a panel discussion on the Nakba, the Palestinian right of return, and the current political situation threatening the liquidation of the Palestinian cause. Speakers will include Rabab Abdulhadi, Diana Buttu, Ahlam Muhtaseb, Hatem Bazian, Hatem Mohtaseb, Lamis Deek, Nerdeen Kiswani, Taher Herzallah, Amer Zahr, Carlos Latuff and Kameron Hurt. Interested participants can register to join the Zoom webinar at https://bit.ly/alawda72 or watch online at the Al-Awda PRRC facebook page.
Watch the full video of Khaled Barakat’s talk here:
On the Day of Palestinian Struggle, 15 May, the anniversary of the establishment of the illegitimate Zionist entity in occupied Palestine. We publish for the first time the expanded list of names of Palestinian, Arab and international associations and institutions that have signed on the statement of Palestinian youth and student organizations, which called for the overthrow of the program of the so-called “Palestinian leadership” in the Palestinian Authority that has confiscated the PLO. This statement comes to announce the launch of an effort, based on cooperative principles and joint struggle, to establish an organized Palestinian national platform in the diaspora based on the participation of popular and mass organizations, civil society groups and individuals, to contribute to a revolutionary movement for change to revive the Palestinian national movement, to leave behind the shackles of the Oslo era and to restore the revolutionary path to liberation and return. We thank all who have already signed this statement and will begin to receive individual signatures beginning today at the same email address: bayanyouth.students@gmail.com.
Palestinian youth and student organizations: It is time for the “Palestinian leadership” to go!
Statement for endorsement and circulation
We, the undersigned Palestinian youth and student organizations, and with us the associations, organizations and institutions that have signed this statement, call on the masses of Palestinian youth and students throughout occupied Palestine and in exile to join us in a popular initiative for the advancement and initiation of national development for the restoration of the revolutionary democratic approach for a new stage of struggle. The core of this initiative is the objectives of our Palestinian people: return, liberation, and continuing struggle to achieve all of their legitimate national goals and aspirations, no matter how long it may take.
The cause of Palestine, the sacred cause of our people, the cause of the exploited popular classes in our Arab homeland and the forces of freedom in the world, is today intended for liquidation, to be uprooted from the awareness and memory of our people and our nation. The rights of our people everywhere are subjected to all forms of distortion and confiscation. Nothing will protect this great cause from the ravages of liquidation and destruction except for the minds and arms of our people, the will of the committed, patriotic and revolutionary youth, and the steadfastness of women, workers and peasants.
Therefore, today, we call on our Palestinian people, especially the young Palestinian generations, to reject and repudiate the policies and positions represented in the approach of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his cohort, and to affirm that the leadership of the Palestinian Authority does not represent our people and is outside the ranks of our national struggle. We also call upon our great people to embody this popular will on the ground by organizing the widest, unified popular framework to overcome the disastrous phase of Oslo and all of its accompanying effects.
We invite you to participate broadly in the overthrow of the program of the so-called “Palestinian leadership,” which is based on a path of surrender and abandonment. This corrupt approach has come to its last days after over 40 years of marketing the project of a phantom state. This political class that has brought only shame and disaster to our people seeks today to convert the administrative autonomy in the occupied West Bank into the end of our liberation projects. The money of this class is mortgaged to the agents of the occupation, to “economic peace” and normalization projects. It has become imperative for our people to isolate this sector and defeat its program in the squares, streets, factories, farms, universities and schools inside and outside occupied Palestine.
And as we confront the U.S., Zionist and reactionary policies that today target the rights of our people to life and existence, in the face of the acceleration of the hostile liquidation project that aims to demolish the horizons of the national liberation project and abort all possibilities for renewal, in front of the daily brutal attack on the prisoners’ movement in the occupation prisons, and amid the confiscation of all of the natural and human rights of our people in the camps, silence becomes complicity, betrayal, a form of submission and failure.
The time has come for these leaders of surrender to depart from the Muqata’ headquarters in Ramallah and to isolate this defeated sector that holds itself close to the Zionist entity and the CIA, participating in the collective punishment of our people in Gaza, depriving the families of martyrs and prisoners of their rights, suppressing the resistance and coordinating with the occupation forces to target the fundamentals of our society, its national resistance and its youth and student vanguard.
The defeat of the Oslo project and the isolation of Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies are more achievable and realistic than ever, despite all of the capacities and resources that the forces hostile to the Palestinian people use to support the leadership of the Authority. However, the crucial element in this lengthy historical battle is the role of the popular masses and their ability to generate the revolutionary approach from the grassroots and bring it into the light, from the depths of our history and our militant legacies of struggle and from the womb of our Palestinian societies in every popular community, every neighborhood, camp, city and village.
We call on all Palestinian resistance forces, with their various political and intellectual currents and paths, to end the state of disintegration and fragmentation by forming a unified national front. This will be a support and sustenance for our people everywhere, and it sword and shield will protect our people as they continue on their historical road of great sacrifice and struggle in order to obtain their rights and break their chains, achieving our collective and complete liberation from the clutches of Zionism.
We call on you to broad popular engagement and to intensify popular national activities during the Week of Palestinian Struggle, May 15-22, 2020, as our first stage in announcing a new phase of struggle under the slogan: Palestine Day – the Day of Return and Liberation. Let history bear witness to the crime, the ongoing Nakba that has continued since 1947-48 and, at the same time, testifies to the ongoing Palestinian resistance that continues until victory, despite all of the sacrifices and lengthy years of struggle.
No to the path of surrender and liquidation! No to the project of the “self-rule government” and “administrative autonomy!”
Yes to the path of return and liberation. Yes to the resistance and intifada until victory!
To add the signature of your group or youth organization, please email bayanyouth.students@gmail.com
Initial Signatories:
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
HIRAK: Palestinian Youth Mobilization – Germany
Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)
“Sada” Movement – Jerusalem- occupied Palestine
Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition / North America
Palestinian Arab Cultural Center \Rio Grande de Sol, Brazil المركز الثقافي العربي- الفلسطيني/ ساو بولو، البرازيل
Unione Democratica Arabo-Palestinese (UDAP)- Italy الاتحاد الديمقراطي العربي الفلسطيني- إيطاليا
Democratic Palestine Committees\ Brazil لجان فلسطين الديموقراطية- البرازيل
مركز النّقب للأنشطة الشبابيّة – ِAl Naqab Center for Youth Activities
AlKarama-Palestinian Women Movement in Spain حركة نساء فلسطين الكرامة في إسبانيا
Centro Cultural e Politico Al Janiah\Brazil مركز الجانية الثقافي والسياسي\البرازيل
Brazilian Arab Palestinian Society – Corumba\ Brazil
Students for Justice in Palestine at John Jay College
Students for Justice in Palestine at Butler University
GUPS SFSU
Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine
Canada Palestine Association
Palestinian Student Association at Wilfrid Laurier University/ Canada
Palestine Solidarity Collective at York University
Palestine Solidarity Group at University of Windsor
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at McMaster University
Midwest Students for Justice in Palestine
Handala Coalition of Michigan
Palestinian Cultural Club – Beirut / Lebanon
Palestinian Arab Cultural Club\ Lebanon
One State Assembly \ occupied Palestine
Free Palestine Movement (USA)
Collectif Palestine Vaincra (France)
YDG – Yeni Demokratik Gençlik
Saba Palestina kultur och idrottsförening (KIF)
Bard College Students for Justice in Palestine
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine (Belgium)
Democratic Unionist Assembly التجمع الوحدوي الديمقراطي
Fórum Latino-Palestino (FLP) do Brasil
Students in Solidarity with Palestinian Human Rights McGill
Chilean Committee of Solidarity with Palestine
Chilean committee for the return to Palestine
April 17 Group (UK)
Student sector of the Social Democratic Vanguard Party (Vanguard Student faction)- Morocco القطاع الطلابي لحزب الطليعة الديمقراطي الاشتراكي (فصيل الطلبة الطليعيين)-المغرب
Green Youth Movement – Morocco حركة الشباب الأخضر – المغرب
Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land, a ministry of Central Lutheran Church, Portland
The Red International Alliance to Defend the Revolutionary Prisoners (Paris, France).
Task Force in Support of the Struggle of People of Morocco (Paris, France)
Leeds University Palestine Solidarity Group
National Students for Justice in Palestine
Palestinian Solidarity Committee- Austin, Texas
Arab Journalists Association in Washington – DC
Solidaridad con Palestina, México (Corsopal)
Fundación Cultural Colombo Palestina (Colombia)
Nevadans for Palestinian Human Rights – Student Group – UNLV
Students for Justice in Palestine- San Diego State University
Students for Justice in Palestine- University of Southern California
Front Anti-impérialiste (Anti-Imperialist Front)
Association des Palestiniens en France – Al JALIYA – Union d’Associations Palestiniennes en France
Pan African Club Uganda
Palestine Democratic Committees Venezuela
Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA
Yaffa Palestinian Folklore Band- Berlin/ Germany
Rebeldia – juventude da revolução socialista
PSTU – Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado
CSP-CONLUTAS- Central Sindical e Popular
Movimento Quilombo Raça e Classe
Frente em Defesa do Povo Palestino
Beit al-Tadamoun al-Umami Dirceu Travesso
Assisp – Associação Islâmica de São Paulo
comite santa mariense de solidariedade com o povo palestino
Juliano medeiros – presidente nacional do PSOL – partido socialismo e liberdade
Gabinete vereador Toninho Vespoli cidade de São Paulo – PSOL
Decolonize This Place
Ghassan Kanafani Front of Resistance and Solidarity – Greece
Eastern Michigan University’s Students for Justice in Palestine
Coletivo Socialista popular e periférico, Raiz Popular
Coalition for Justice, Virginia
Palbox
Justice for Palestine Matters, Australia
Sociedade árabe Palestina de Brasília
MML- Movimento Mulheres em Luta
Ibraspal- Instituto Brasil-Palestina
Comitê Cearense de Solidariedade ao Povo Palestino
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
NYU Students for Justice in Palestine
Apeoesp Sumaré/Hortolândia
Africa4Palestine- South Africa.
Revolutionaire Eenheid
Jeunes Revolutionnaires
Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Revolutionary Communist Group – Britain
Victory to the Intifada – Britain
Internationalt Forum Denmark – the Middle East Group
Free Gaza Movement
Fordham Students for Justice in Palestine
Movimento Paulista de Solidariedade à Cuba
Coletivo Paratodos-Ce
ISM Support Group – Northern California
Palestine Democratic Committees- North America
HIRAK: Palestinian Youth Mobilization: Sweden
The Unified Campaign for the Release of George Abdallah
Peoples Power Assemblies NYC
The statement is still open for signature by organizations, associations and individuals in Palestine and diaspora. The list will be updated and republished on May 31/2020
بمناسبة يوم النضال الفلسطيني في الخامس عشر من مايو / أيّار، ذكرى إعلان تأسيس وقيام الكيان الصهيوني اللاشرعي في فلسطين المحتلة، ننشر وللمرة الأولى قائمة وأسماء الجمعيات والمؤسسات الفلسطينيّة والعربيّة والأمميّة التي وَقعّت على عريضة / بيان المنظّمات الشبابيّة والطلابيّة التي طالبت بمقاطعة وعزل ما يسمى ” القيادة الفلسطينية “غير الشرعيّة في منظمة التحرير / السلطة الفلسطينية، والعمل والتعاون معاً لتأسيس حالة فلسطينية وطنية منظمة في الشتات تقوم على أساس مشاركة المنظمات الأهلية والشعبية والأفراد والكفاءات، تُساهم في حركة التغيير الثوريّ لاستنهاض الحالة الوطنية لتجاوز قيود مرحلة أوسلو واستعادة النهج الثوري للتّحرير والعودة. نشكُر كل من وقّع على بياننا، ونعلن عن البدء في استقبال التوقيعات الشخصية. على العنوان الإلكتروني ذاته: bayanyouth.students@gmail.com
المنظمات الشبابية والطلابية الفلسطينية:
آن أوان رحيل ” القيادة الفلسطينية “
بيان / عريضة للتوقيع
نحن المنظمات الشبابيّة والطلابيّة الفلسطينية، ومعنا الجمعيات والمنظمات والمؤسسات الموّقعة على هذا البيان، ندعو جماهير طلبة وشباب فلسطين في عموم الوطن المحتل والمنافي إلى المبادرة الشعبية من أجل النهوض والشروع في البناء الوطني واستعادة نهج التغيير الثوري الديموقراطي للعبور نحو مرحلة نضالية جديدة جوهرها مشروع شعبنا الفلسطيني في العودة والتحرير والنضال لتحقيق كافة أهدافه وطموحاته الوطنية المشروعة مهما طال الزمن.
إن قضية فلسطين، قضية شعبنا المقدسة، قضية الطبقات الشعبية المُستغَلة في وطننا العربي وأحرار العالم، يُراد اليوم تصفيتها وقلعها من جذورها ومن وعي الشعب وذاكرة الأمة، حيث تتعرض حقوق شعبنا في كافة أماكن تواجده إلى كل أشكال التشويه والمصادرة، ولن يحمي هذه القضية الكبرى من براثن التصفية والإلغاء إلا سواعد وعقول شعبنا وإرادة شبابه الوطني الطليعي والثوري وإرادة نساءه وعماله وفلاحيه.
وعليه، فإننا اليوم ندعو شعبنا الفلسطيني وفي مقدمتهم الأجيال الفلسطينية الشابة إلى رفض السياسات والمواقف التي يمثلها نهج رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس وفريقه، واعتبار قيادة السلطة الفلسطينية خارجة عن الصف الوطني ولا تمثل شعبنا، كما وندعو الكل الوطني إلى تجسيد الإرادة الشعبية على الأرض من خلال تنظيم أوسع حالة شعبية موحدة لتجاوز مرحلة أوسلو الكارثية وكل ملحقاتها وآثارها.
إننا ندعوكم إلى المشاركة الشعبية الواسعة في الإطاحة الشاملة بما يُسمى ” برنامج القيادة الفلسطينية ” القائم على نهج الاستسلام والتفريط. النهج الفاسد الذي بات يلفظ أنفاسه الأخيرة بعد أكثر من 40 عاماً من تسويق مشروع الدولة الوهمية، وهذه الطبقة السياسية التي جلبت الخزي والكوارث وتسعى اليوم إلى تحويل الحكم الإداري الذاتي في الضفة المحتلة إلى نهاية مشروعنا التحرري، طبقة المال من وكلاء الاحتلال المرتهنة إلى مشاريع ” السلام الاقتصادي” والتطبيع. فقد صار لِزاماً على شعبنا عزلها وإسقاط برنامجها في الساحات والميادين والشوارع وفي المصانع والمزارع والجامعات والمدارس داخل وخارج فلسطين المحتلة.
وأمام كل ما يجري اليوم من سياسات أمريكية وصهيونية ورجعية تستهدف حقوق شعبنا في الوجود والحياة، وأمام تسارع وتيرة المشروع التصفوي المعادي وضرب آفاق المشروع الوطني واجهاض إمكانيات توليده من جديد، وأمام الهجمة المسعورة اليومية على الحركة الأسيرة في سجون العدوّ، ومصادرة كل حق طبيعي وإنساني لشعبنا في المخيمات، يُصبح الصمت تواطئ وخيانة وشكلاً من أشكال العبودية والسقوط.
آن أوان رحيل هذه القيادات المستسلمة في مقر المقاطعة برام الله، وعزل هذه الشريحة المهزومة التي ترتمي في حضن الكيان الصهيوني ووكالة المخابرات الأمريكية، تعاقب شعبنا في غزة، وتحرم عوائل الشهداء والأسرى من حقوقهم وتطعن المقاومة وتنسق مع قوات الاحتلال لاستهداف أمن مجتمعنا ومقاومته الوطنية و طلائعه الشبابية والطلابية.
إن هزيمة مشروع أوسلو التصفويّ وعزل محمود عباس وفريقه هي إمكانية واقعية أكثر من أيّ وقت مضى، رغم كل الإمكانيات والقدرات التي تملكها القوى المعادية لشعبنا التي تساند قيادة السلطة، غير أن العنصر الحاسم، في هذه المعركة التاريخية الطويلة، هو دور الجماهير الشعبية وقدرتها على توليد النهج الثوري من القاع إلى النور، ومن عمق تاريخنا وإرثنا الكفاحي ومن رحم مجتمعاتنا الفلسطينية في كل تجمع شعبي وكل حي ومخيم ومدينة وقرية.
إننا ندعو كافة قوى المقاومة الفلسطينية على اختلاف تياراتها ومشاربها السياسية والفكرية إلى إنهاء حالة التفكك والشرذمة من خلال تشكيل جبهة وطنية موحدة، تكون سنداً وعوناً لشعبنا في كل مكان، وسيفه ودرعه الذي يحميه، وهو يواصل مسيرته التاريخية ويقدم التضحيات الجسام من أجل انتزاع حقوقه وكسر قيوده وتحقيق خلاصه النهائي والجماعي من براثن الاستعمار الصهيوني.
ندعوكم إلى الانخراط الشعبي الواسع وتكثيف الفعاليات الوطنية الشعبية في أسبوع النضال الفلسطيني 15 ـــــ 22 مايو/أيار، 2020 ليكون محطتنا الأولى في إعلان مرحلة نضالية جديدة تحت شعار: يوم فلسطين. يوم العودة والتحرير. وليعود هذا التاريخ شاهداً على الجريمة ـــ النكبة المستمرة منذ العام 1947 / 1948 وشاهداً في الوقت ذاته على المقاومة الفلسطينية المستمرة حتى النصر. مهما بلغت التضحيات وطال الزمن.
لا لمشروع التفريط والاستسلام. لا لمشروع الحكم الإداري الذاتي.
نعم لنهج العودة والتحرير. نعم للمقاومة والانتفاضة حتى النصر.
لإضافة توقيع منظمتكم أو مجموعتكم الشبابية الرجاء إرسال اسم المنظمة الشبابية عبر الايميل الآتي: bayanyouth.students@gmail.com
المنظمات الشبابية والطلابية الفلسطينية:
شبكة صامدون للدفاع عن الأسرى الفلسطينيين
الحراك الشبابي الفلسطيني- ألمانيا
حركة الشباب الفلسطيني- الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية (Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM
العودة ، ائتلاف فلسطين من أجل حق العودة / أمريكا الشمالية
حراك “صدى” القدس- فلسطين المحتلة
المركز الثقافي العربي الفلسطيني/ ريو غراندي دي سول، البرازيل
الاتحاد الديمقراطي العربي- الفلسطيني- إيطاليا
لجان فلسطين الديمقراطية- البرازيل
الملتقى الفلسطيني للشطرنج- مخيم شاتيلا
حركة نساء فلسطين الكرامة في إسبانيا
مركز الجانية الثقافي والسياسي\البرازيل
Students for justice in Palestine at John Jay college طلاب من أجل العدالة في فلسطين/ جي كولدج
Students for Justice in Palestine at Butler University طلاب من أجل العدالة في فلسطين/ جامعة بتلر
GUPS SFSU الاتحاد العام لطلبة فلسطين/ جامعة سان فرانسيسكو
Within Our Lifetime- United for Palestine
الجمعية العربية الفلسطينية البرازيلية- كرومبا
Canada Palestine Association
رابطة الطلاب الفلسطينيين في جامعة ويلفريد لوريير / كندا
تجمع التضامن مع فلسطين في جامعة يورك
مجموعة التضامن مع فلسطين في جامعة ويندسور
التضامن من أجل حقوق الإنسان الفلسطينية في جامعة ماكماستر
Midwest Students for Justice in Palestine طلاب الغرب الأوسط من أجل العدالة في فلسطين
Handala Coalition of Michigan ائتلاف حنظلة في ميشيغن
مركز النقب للأنشطة الشبابية- مخيم برج البراجنة
النادي الثقافي الفلسطيني- بيروت/ لبنان
النادي الثقافي الفلسطيني العربي/ لبنان
جمعية الدولة الواحدة- فلسطين المحتلة One State Assembly \ occupied Palestine
حراك الحرية لفلسطين (Free Palestine Movement (USA
رابطة فلسطين تنتصر – فرنسا Collectif Palestine Vaincra -France
منظمة الشبيبة الفلسطينية- لبنان
جمعية صبا فلسطين الثقافية الرياضية- السويد
طلاب من أجل العدالة في فلسطين- كلية بارد Bard College Students for Justice in Palestine
On 15-22 May 2020 Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all organizations, activists and movements to join us in a collective Week of Palestinian Struggle.
On these days, we remember the Nakba, the theft of Palestinian land and the dispossession of the Palestinian people. At the same time, we celebrate, affirm and pledge to continue over 72 years of Palestinian resistance for liberation and return.
For decades, the Palestinian people’s movement has commemorated 15 May and the week that follows as a week of solidarity, resistance and struggle, affirming a revolution that will continue until victory. This week marks the Palestinian, Arab and international struggle for justice and liberation, a struggle that has continued for 72 years and continues every day. As the Nakba continues, the resistance continues!
Join us in a week of virtual and in-person actions to stand with the Palestinian people through 72 years of struggle confronting Zionism, imperialism and reaction and for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!
We know that the Zionist ethnic cleansing project did not begin on 15 May 1948 – it was mostly completed by this point throughout 78% of historic Palestine after its launch the previous December. More than that, it was built upon decades of military escalation and European colonization in Palestine and throughout the region more broadly, particularly the British colonial mandate and its Balfour declaration. This week of struggle requires confronting the racist, imperial ideology of Zionism on which the colonial regime in Palestine has been constructed.
There are over seven million Palestinian refugees and over 13 million Palestinians in exile and diaspora. The implementation of the right of return to Palestine is a collective and individual right that is at the core of the liberation of Palestine. In recent years, the attempts to liquidate the right of return have intensified, culminating in the so-called “deal of the century.” This week of action pledges to intensify the struggle everywhere for the right to return to Palestine.
This struggle for return and liberation has meant that Palestinians have been on the front lines fighting imperialism for over 72 years, fighting alongside comrades in Ireland, the Philippines, Turkey, South Africa, the indigenous Americas and elsewhere. This week of Palestinian struggle is also a week of struggle against imperialism, especially as the U.S. attempts to impose its “deal of the century” and liquidate the Palestinian cause. Imperialist powers use “anti-terror” laws and repressive measures to repress the struggle for Palestine within their borders as well, from the imprisonment of Georges Abdallah in France to the Holy Land Five in the US, to the targeting of Palestinian activists like Khaled Barakat in Germany for political bans.
Every victory that is achieved for people’s struggles around the world is a victory for Palestine, and every attack on those movements – such as the attempts to foment a coup in Venezuela or blockade Cuba – is also an attack on the Palestinian people. The siege on Gaza is not simply an Israeli siege but also a U.S. and European siege in which Arab reactionary regimes are complicit. During this week of action, we struggle to break the siege on Gaza, bring an end to imperialist sanctions and fight all forms of repression.
Of course, Israel is not the only racist settler colony built on dispossession of indigenous peoples and extraction of their resources; the sponsors of Zionist policy in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. We stand with all oppressed peoples and indigenous movements defending their land from the ravages of settler colonial capitalism.
Just as the Palestinian cause is an international struggle, it is also deeply linked to the fight against imperialism throughout the Arab world and the region more broadly. Arab reactionary regimes like those in Saudi Arabia and Egypt work hand in hand with Israel and the United States to promote normalization, besiege the Palestinian people and squander an independent future for the peoples of the region – and this is reflected in their attacks on the Palestinian movement. We stand with the Arab people and the peoples of the region who continue to fight back and defend their sovereignty and their future against imperialism and reaction.
The Palestinian Authority continues to engage in “security coordination” with the Israeli occupier on a routine basis, attacking the Palestinian resistance. This week of action stands unconditionally with the Palestinian people’s right to resist occupation and oppression and against all forms of normalization and complicity with the liquidation of Palestine.
As we fight these attempts to normalize colonialism, the Week of Palestinian Struggle aims to intensify the boycott of Israel and the complicit corporations that profit from the oppression, dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The boycott movement and BDS campaign has faced escalated repression because it poses a material challenge to Israel and its corporate partners. During this week of action, we will expand the movement to isolate and boycott Israel.
Palestinian youth and students are fighting back against imprisonment and for the future of a liberated Palestine .Resisting suppression and imprisonment inside and outside Palestine, they fight – generation after generation until total liberation.
Palestinian women have been on the front lines of struggle for over 72 years, defending the land, educating generations of strugglers and participating fully in leadership of the Palestinian struggle, political organization and armed and popular struggle.
From inside the prisons, Palestinian prisoners stand on the front lines of confrontation for the freedom of their land and people. The imprisonment of Palestinians has always been a tool of the colonial project in Palestine, meant to maintain occupation, apartheid and oppression and criminalize the existence and resistance of Palestinians. From the martial law imposed in 1948 on the Palestinians who remained in the 78% of historic Palestine occupied at that time, to the imprisonment of 5,000 Palestinian political leaders, journalists, and freedom fighters today, the imprisonment of Palestinians and their leaders has always been part and parcel of the Nakba – and the Palestinian prisoners behind bars continue to stand at the heart of the resistance.
We salute the struggle of the workers and farmers of Palestine, fighting to defend their land and resist exploitation and oppression in all of its forms. Labor organizers are locked inside prisons and fishermen in Gaza are targeted for Israeli gunfire and assault. The popular classes of Palestine have always been the leaders of the revolution and those who have propelled the national liberation movement forward: the farmers, the workers, the refugees in the camps.
Join this week of action to highlight the voices and struggles of the Palestinian people, inside and outside Palestine, from Haifa, Nazareth and Safad to Gaza, Ramallah and Nablus, from Cairo, Amman and Beirut to Berlin, Brussels, Santiago and New York.
Remember the Nakba: Long live the resistance! Victory for Palestine!
Endorsers include: Staat van Beleg, Actions 4 Palestine, Knocknacarra Palestine Network, Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine, Free Palestine FFM (Frankfurt), Labor for Palestine, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, Anti-War Committee Minneapolis and more! Add your endorsement below:
Days of Action
Below are themes for each day through the week, although events may reflect any or all of these themes at any time! Samidoun’s social media will focus on these topics through each day. We encourage you to schedule events and actions on any day during the week, regardless of theme or topic, focusing on the Palestinian liberation struggle and 72 years of continuing resistance. We also present a schedule of the events we know of taking place during the week.
We want to add yours! Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or use the form below to send in your events and actions!
10 through 17 May
Online screenings: Al Ard Doc Film Festival hosts “Screening the Nakba,” with a new film available each day in the Screening Room. Films may be in Italian or offer Italian subtitles to English and Arabic original films. Watch online here: https://www.alardfilmfestival.com/streaming-di-questa-settimana.html
15 to 22 May
Free Palestine FFM in Frankfurt, Germany calls for the Actionswoche des palästinensisichen Struggles https://www.facebook.com/events/928938670913039/ Download the images and posters and take photos around Frankfurt or your local community: submit them online!
Thursday, 14 May
Online Event: Webinar with Rasmea Odeh and George Khoury, moderated by Suzanne Adely. Organized by the US Palestinian Community Network. 11:30 am Pacific/2:30 pm Eastern/8:30 pm central Europe/9:30 pm Palestine. Watch on Facebook Live at: https://facebook.com/USPCN
Film screening and discussion, Gothenburg, Sweden: Screening of “Roadmap to Apartheid,” 6 pm, Syndikalistiskt Forum, Linnegatan 21, Gothenburg. Organized by Samidoun Gothenburg. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/704603883702440/
Online Event (in Arabic): They can demolish our homes, but they cannot break our will: Discussion with Widad Barghouthi. 11:30 am Pacific/2:30 pm Eastern/8:30 pm central Europe/9:30 pm Palestine. Organized by Samidoun occupied Palestine. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/761898511218239/
Friday, 15 May 72 years of struggle and ongoing resistance! Palestinian Workers’ and Farmers’ Struggle for Liberation
In Chicago: Car Caravan to Commemorate the Nakba. For more details, see US Palestinian Community Network. At 1:30 pm Central time, gather at AAAN, 9838 S. Roberts Rd, Palos Hills, IL
In Minneapolis: Car Caravan to Commemorate the Nakba. Organized by the Anti-War Committee. Meet at 6 pm @ large parking lot at 43rd and Central Ave. in Columbia Heights (at intersection with Filfillah Restaurant 4301 Central Ave NE). Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/252169372647362/
Online Event: The Holy Land 5 and COVID-19: Conversation with their Sons and Daughters, organized by the Coalition for Civil Freedoms. 11:30 am Pacific/2:30 pm Eastern/8:30 pm central Europe/9:30 pm Palestine time. Register on Zoom at https://bit.ly/3dHUyvR or watch Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/civilfreedoms/live/
Online event: Nakba72: The Continuation of Colonisation – Annexation and Peace. 7 am Pacific/10 am Eastern/3 pm London/5 pm Palestine. Organized by EuroPal Forum. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/595772341287413/
Online event: Discussion with Palestinian Nakba survivors. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/7 pm Scotland/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Sheffield PSC. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/554093915292170/
Online event: Nakba Day Rally, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, BDS Movement, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, South Africa BDS Coalition. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/7 pm Britain/8 pm Europe/9 pm Palestine. Register online: https://bit.ly/2YHx0TR
Online Event: Documentary film 1948: Creation & Catastrophe followed by a Q&A with directors Ahlam Muhtaseb and Andy Trimlett. 2:30 pm Pacific/5:30 pm Eastern/11:30 pm central Europe/12:30 am Palestine. Organized by the Toronto Palestine Film Festival. Watch at tpff.ca or live on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/1624576931027490/
Online event: Friday Night Forums: Palestine and the Blockade of Gaza. Organized by The Red Nation, Arab Resource and Organizing Center and Center for Political Education. 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern/2 am Europe/3 am Palestine. Register online: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fSQJFHRzROKHyMqyqfM7Vg
Online event: Never Forgotten: 72 Years of Resilience, organized by American Muslims for Palestine. 7 pm Pacific/10 pm Eastern/4 am central Europe/5 am Palestine. With speakers: Dr. Salman Abu Sitta | Hanady Halawani | Dr. Hatem Bazian | Rawan Damen | Sh. Ibrahim Dardasawi | Raed Jarrar | Kefah Zreeqy | Taher Herzallah | Sh. Monzer Taleb | Tarek Khalil | Dr. Osama Abuirshaid | & special emcee Tessneem Abdallah from AMP Minnesota. Register online: bit.ly/AMPNeverForgotten
Saturday, 16 May Palestinian Struggle for Return and Liberation: Confronting Zionism – Boycott and Isolate Israel!
Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
Online Event: Liberate Palestine from the River to the Sea! With Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat. 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/7 pm central Europe/8 pm Palestine. Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Register online: https://bit.ly/liberatepalestine
Online event: From Nakba to Return – the Struggle for Palestinian Liberation. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm Central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Palestinian Youth Movement and National SJP (Samidoun is an endorser!) Register online: bit.ly/nakba2return
Online event: The Nakba and Indigenous Struggles, with Ahed Tamimi, Nadya Tannous and Melanie Yazzie. 9 am Pacific/12 pm Eastern/6 pm central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Friends of Sabeel North America. Register at fosna.org/Nakba2020
Online event: Lift the siege on Gaza – Online rally for Palestine. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm Central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Canadian Palestinian Community Centre. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1086584601724111/
Online event: The Palestine Question, with Ramzy Baroud, Ghada Ageel and Mohammed Marandi. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by Mobilization for Justice. Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/539023010333963/
Online event: The right to return: the Palestinian Nakba, organized by Cadfa (Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association) 12 pm Pacific/3 pm Eastern/8 pm British time/9 pm central Europe/10 pm Palestine. With Jehan Aburaya, Abdullah Abu Hilal, Mona al-Farra, Abdelfattah Abu Srour, Basma Dhoukhi and Zeina. Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87535605255
Online event: Remember the Nakba. Organized by the Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/7 pm British time/8 pm Europe/9 pm Palestine. Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1414738382046138/
Sunday, 17 May Palestinian Refugees’ Struggle for Liberation and Return to Palestine!
Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
Online Event: Virtual Rally and Panel to Commemorate al-Nakba and For the Right to Return. Speakers include Diana Buttu, Rabab Abdulhadi, Ahlam Mohtaseb and Hatem Bazian – and Samidoun’s Mohammed Khatib! Organized by Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition. 12 pm Pacific/3 pm Eastern/9 pm central Europe/10 pm Palestine. Register online: https://bit.ly/alawda72
Online Event: Arabic-Language Webinar with Fawzi Ismail on Palestinian Struggle in Exile. Organized by Samidoun Palestine and fellow organizers. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm central Europe/9 pm Palestine. Follow on Facebook: https://facebook.com/samidoun3/
Online Event: Screening of Gaza Fights for Freedom and Nakba commemoration, organized by the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (Australia). 7 pm Eastern Australia time. Includes an introduction with Australian lawyer Hiba Farra. To register for the event, email cjpp@coalitionforpalestine.org
Online Event: Palestine, Free Speech and Becoming Strong on Campuses, organized by Students for Justice in Palestine activists. 2 pm Pacific/5 pm Eastern/11 pm central Europe/12 am Palestine. Join Zoom Meeting: tinyurl.com/palestineoncampus
Online Event: Reel Palestine Home Editition – 1948: Creation and Catastrophe. Ramzi Jabri in conversation with Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb. 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/7 pm central Europe/8 pm Palestine/9 pm UAE. On Instagram Live https://www.instagram.com/reelpalestine/
Monday, 18 May Palestinian Youth and Students – Generation after Generation until Total Liberation
Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
Tuesday, 19 May Confronting Reactionary Regimes, Normalization and Imperialism: Arab struggles for liberation
Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
Online Event: Honoring Malcolm X & Elombe Brath:Black Solidarity with Palestine. 11 am Pacific/2 pm Eastern/8 pm Europe/9 pm Palestine. Organized by AMED Studies at SFSU Open Classroom. Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/536552867060717/
Online event: Unite in Solidarity with Palestine, organized by Unite the Union. 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/6 pm British time/7 pm Central Europe/8 pm Palestine. To register: https://bit.ly/2WdENad
Wednesday, 20 May Palestinian Women in the Liberation Movement: National and Social Liberation
Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
Thursday, 21 May Palestinian Prisoners on the Front Lines of the Freedom Struggle
Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
Online Event: Palestinian prisoners’ families: Collective punishment and steadfastness, with Basil Farraj. 12 pm Pacific/3 pm Eastern/9 pm central Europe/10 pm Palestine. Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Register online: https://bit.ly/prisonersfamilies
Friday, 22 May Palestinian, Arab and International Struggle Confronts Zionism, Reaction and Imperialism
Join the online actions and keep tweeting and posting with #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle. Share your solidarity photos, videos and selfies!
Online event: Why Palestine is still the issue, with Ilan Pappe, Rob Ferguson, Baha Hilo and Tamika Sankar. Organized by several organizations at the University of York. 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern/6 pm British time/7 pm central Europe/8 pm Palestine. Register online: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/why-palestine-is-still-the-issue-tickets-104451258526
Suggested Actions
Videos and selfies are a great way to express solidarity online! Create a short video clip or hold up a sign supporting the Palestinian people and their resistance through 72 years of ongoing Nakba. Your Tweets, Facebook, Instagram and other social media posts throughout the week can emphasize the critical importance of the Palestinian struggle! Use the hashtags #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle and tag us at @SamidounPP on Twitter so that we can re-share and boost your solidarity efforts.
If you cannot hold an in-person demonstration or action during this week, we encourage you to consider a car caravan. Of course, you can still support the prisoners with an online action or event! Several online meetings are listed below. Host a webinar or online meeting about Palestine and the prisoners’ struggle over Zoom, Facebook Live or a platform of your choice. Send your event details – in any language – to Samidoun at samidoun@samidoun.net and we will include them in our list of activities.
Call in for action. Governments around the world, specifically imperialist powers and reactionary regimes, are fully complicit in Israeli crimes against humanity. Even if you have to leave a message, call your government officials and demand they stop funding and supporting Israel’s ongoing Nakba with military, diplomatic and political support. Express your disgust at these governments’ ongoing support for Israeli colonialism. Call during your country’s regular office hours:
Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne: + 61 2 6277 7500
Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne: +1-613-995-4895
European Union Commissioner Josep Borrell Fontelles: +32(0) 470 18 24 05
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab: +44 20 7008 1500
United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111
Boycott, Divest and Sanction. It’s just as important to boycott Israel when buying online! Join the BDS campaign to highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.
Share history and record oral history. It is vitally important to recall the history of Palestinian struggle and share the stories of Nakba survivors and generations of Palestinian strugglers. Share your story, that of your family and loved ones, or that of your comrades. Tag us at @SamidounPP so that we share your story further!
Endorse or Submit Your Event
Use this form to endorse the week of action or submit your event. You can use the form just to endorse, just to submit an event, or you can do both at the same time. We will update the schedule and call and re-release it on Friday, 15 May and throughout the week! You can also always email us at samidoun@samidoun.net.
As part of Lenin150 – ILPS events marking Lenin’s 150th birthday – ILPS in Canada is hosting a series of online discussions on the applications of Lenin’s analysis, insights and practice in building anti-imperialist and revolutionary movements in the 21st Century.
