25 October, Montreal: Gaza Fights for Freedom – Film projection and Q&A

22 October 2019

Friday, 25 October
7:00 pm
D B Clarke Theatre
1455 blvd de Maisonneuve Ouest
Montreal, QC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/776164286134294/

DMontreal premiere of the new documentary ‘Gaza Fights For Freedom,’ followed by Q&A with Director Abby Martin

Join Abby Martin for this rare opportunity to see Gaza Fights For Freedom on the big screen.

This debut feature film by journalist Abby Martin began while reporting in Palestine, where she was denied entry into Gaza by the Israeli government on the accusation she was a “propagandist.” So Abby connected with a team of journalists in Gaza to produce the film through the blockade.

This collaboration shows you Gaza’s protest movement like you’ve never seen before. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it features exclusive footage of demonstrations where 200 unarmed civilians have been killed by Israeli snipers since March 30, 2018.

The documentary tells the story of Gaza past and present, showing rare archival footage that explains the history never acknowledged by mass media.

GazaFightsForFreedom.com

25th october, 19 pm et D.B Clarke Theatre 1455 Boulevard de Maisonneuve O, Montreal, QC H3G 1M8

Première à Montréal du nouveau documentaire “Gaza Fights For Freedom”, suivie d’une période de questions avec la réalisatrice Abby Martin et l’activiste et producteur Mike Prysner.

Joignez-vous à Abby Martin pour la projection et ne manquez pas cette rare occasion de voir Gaza Fights For Freedom sur grand écran.

Ce premier long métrage de la journaliste Abby Martin a débuté alors qu’elle filmait un reportage en Palestine, où le gouvernement israélien lui a interdit l’entrée à Gaza, l’accusant d’être une “propagandiste”. Abby a alors contacté une équipe de journalistes à Gaza pour produire un film sur le blocus.

Cette collaboration nous montre le mouvement de protestation de Gaza comme nous ne l’avons jamais vu auparavant. Filmé au plus fort des manifestations de la Grande Marche du Retour, il contient des images exclusives de manifestations où 200 civil.es non armé.es ont été tué.es par des tireurs isolés israéliens depuis le 30 mars 2018.

Le documentaire raconte l’histoire du passé et du présent de Gaza, montrant des images d’archives rares qui expliquent l’histoire qui n’a jamais été reconnue par les médias occidentaux.

GazaFightsForFreedom.com

25 octobre à 19h au D.B Clarke Theatre 1455 Boulevard de Maisonneuve O, Montréal, QC H3G 1M8

25 October, Chicago: Palestinian Prisoner Advocacy with Lana Ramadan of Addameer

22 October 2019

Friday, 25 October
7:00 pm
Grace Place
637 Dearborn St
Chicago, IL
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/519880902078766/

Speaker: Lana Ramadan was born in Dheisheh refugee camp, near Bethlehem in the West Bank. After being actively involved in community activities, Lana studied Human Rights and International Law in the joint Al Quds University and Bard College program. After graduating, Lana went directly into a master’s program at the London School of Economics. She graduated with a Master in Human Rights in 2016. Lana worked with Badil Refugee Resource Centre. She worked as a researcher, specifically focusing on forced displacement and the creation of coercive environments by Israeli policies. In December 2017, she began at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association as the International Advocacy Officer.

About Addameer: ADDAMEER (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. Established in 1992 by a group of activists interested in human rights, the center offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates their rights at the national and international level, and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns.

Circumstances on the ground: On the one hand, over than 800 thousand Palestinians had been arrested by the occupation since the policy of arrest started. The arrest campaigns have affected all Palestinian families, as it is now hardly possible to find a family where there is not at least one member who has experienced detention and imprisonment. Some families were less fortune, with two, three, or even four brothers from the same family under detention at the same time. The Israeli occupation uses detention and imprisonment as a tool to punish Palestinians for practicing their right to resist the occupation and the oppression that it imposes on them. Those prisoners suffer from various violations from the moment of arrest, to interrogations and torture and finally to the unjust and illegal military court system.

On the other hand, several organizations, governments and legislations are in direct opposition to Palestinian rights and to the work of certain Palestinian movements and human rights organizations. This is precisely shown in recent American laws that affect Palestinians directly. Whether those laws affect funding received by the U.S. government or those which are anti the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, they show the politicization of American legislation that oppose Palestinian basic rights and also the rights of American citizen especially the rights to freedom of expression and the First Amendment right to participate in political boycotts.

Within these circumstances, and believing in the significant role that the international community can play in contributing to ending Israeli violations against Palestinians, as well as taking into consideration the significant effect that public opinion in the U.S. has in pressing on the occupation’s government, join USPCN and ADDAMEER in a discussion on how we can continue to work to help liberate Palestinian political prisoners.

Solidarity speakers TBA

24 October, Athens: Freedom for Georges Abdallah

21 October 2019

Thursday, 24 October
6:30 pm
French Embassy in Greece
Vasilisis Sofias avenue 7
Athens, Greece
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/450539312225490/

October 24, 2019 marks the 35th anniversary of the arrest of George Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese Arab rebel, a Palestinian militant, by the French police. George Abdallah has remained behind bars since 1984, making him one of the longest-serving political prisoners in the world.

Η 24 Οκτωβρίου του 2019 σηματοδοτεί την 35η επέτειο από τη σύλληψη του Τζορτζ Ιμπραχίμ Αμπντάλα , του επαναστάτη Λιβανέζου Άραβα Κομμουνιστή, αγωνιστή για την Παλαιστίνη, από τη γαλλική αστυνομία. Ο Τζορτζ Αμπντάλα από το 1984 παραμένει πίσω από τις φυλακές, αποτελώντας έτσι, έναν από τους μακροβιότερους πολιτικούς κρατούμενους στον κόσμο.

Ο Τζορτζ Αμπντάλα καθ ‘όλη τη διάρκεια της ζωής του έχει επιδείξει σημαντικό επαναστατικό αγώνα στον Λίβανο και για την απελευθέρωση της Παλαιστίνης. Ασχολήθηκε με την Παλαιστινιακή Αριστερή οργάνωση, Λαϊκό Μέτωπο για την Απελευθέρωση της Παλαιστίνης(PFLP) και αντιστάθηκε στις ισραηλινές επιθέσεις στον Λίβανο. Αργότερα, ένωσε άλλους Αριστερούς Λιβανέζους επαναστάτες στις Λιβανέζικες Ένοπλες Επαναστατικές Ταξιαρχίες, επισημαίνοντας ένα μη-σεχταριστικό, σοσιαλιστικό και επαναστατικό μονοπάτι για την απελευθέρωση του λαού του Λιβάνου, που αντιμετώπιζε τις πολιτοφυλακές και την Ισραηλινή εισβολή και Κατοχή στο νότιο Λίβανο.

Ο Αμπντάλα συνελήφθη από τις Γαλλικές αρχές, αρχικά επειδή φέρεται να είχε μαζί του πλαστά έγγραφα. Η κράτησή του επεκτάθηκε επανειλημμένα, καθώς οι γαλλικές μυστικές υπηρεσίες αναζητούσαν πληροφορίες για να τον εμπλέξουν σε ένοπλες ενέργειες από τις οποίες σκοτώθηκε ένας διπλωμάτης των ΗΠΑ αλλά και ένας εκπρόσωπος του Ισραήλ στο Παρίσι. Ακόμη και ένας από τους δικηγόρους του συμμετείχε στην παρακολούθηση του Αμπντάλα για τις Γαλλικές Μυστικές υπηρεσίες . Ενώ υπήρχε στον αρχικό σχεδιασμό η πρόβλεψη να ανταλλαχθεί με άλλους κρατούμενους που είχαν πιάσει αιχμάλωτους οι Άραβες Επαναστάτες, το γαλλικό κράτος αθέτησε την συμφωνία όταν πήρε τους δικούς του κρατούμενους πίσω, κρατώντας τον Αμπντάλα φυλακισμένο…

Ο Αμπντάλα, η δίκη του οποίου ήταν γεμάτη παρατυπίες, καταδικάστηκε σε ισόβια ενώ στην αρχική πρόταση του Εισαγγελέα υπήρχε η πρόβλεψη για ποινή 10 ετών ή και λιγότερο.

Σήμερα ο Τζορτζ Αμπντάλα παραμένει πίσω από τα σίδερα . Παρά το γεγονός πως δικαιούται να αφεθεί ελεύθερος από το 1999, οι αιτήσεις του έχουν απορριφθεί επανειλημμένα. Ακόμη και όταν έχουν εγκριθεί δικαστικά, οι Γάλλοι αξιωματούχοι παρενέβησαν στα υψηλότερα επίπεδα για να εμποδίσουν την απελευθέρωσή του, όπως ο πρώην πρωθυπουργός Μάνουελ Βαλς . Αμερικανοί αξιωματούχοι όπως η πρώην υπουργός Εξωτερικών Χίλαρι Κλίντον παρενέβησαν επίσης σε μια προσπάθεια να εμποδίσουν την απελευθέρωση του Αμπντάλα.

Στην ουσία, ο Τζορτζ Αμπντάλα είναι κρατούμενος όχι μόνο του γαλλικού αποικιακού κράτους αλλά και του Αμερικάνικου Ιμπεριαλισμού και της Ισραηλινής Κατοχής. Μέχρι και η κυβέρνηση του Λιβάνου δεν κατάφερε να ανταποκριθεί στην ευθύνη που έχει απέναντι στον φυλακισμένο συμπατριώτη της, στην αναζήτηση κάποιου τρόπου για την απελευθέρωση του.

23 October, Montreal: Conference on Georges Ibrahim Abdallah

21 October 2019

Wednesday, 23 October
7:30 pm
Bibilotheque DIRA
2035 St-Laurent
Montreal, QC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2429135237414427/

In the framework of the international month of action for the liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah – the Lebanese communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France since 1984 – Secours Rouge Canada and Socialist Youth for Popular Power invite you to a public lecture on the life of this resister, his fight against imperialist-Zionist aggression and his political detention.

A video of Secours Rouge will be presented and a special guest of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra will intervene by video conference.

***Nous répondons à l’appel international d’un mois d’agitation pour la libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah***

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah est un communiste libanais et militant de la cause palestinienne détenu en France depuis 1984.

Dans le cadre du mois international d’agitation pour sa libération, le Secours Rouge Canada et Jeunes Socialistes pour le Pouvoir Populaire vous convie à une conférence publique portant sur la vie de ce résistant, son combat contre l’agression impérialiste-sioniste puis sa détention politique.

Une vidéo du Secours Rouge sera notamment présentée et un invité spécial du Collectif Palestine Vaincra interviendra par vidéo-conférence.

Le Collectif Palestine Vaincra interviendra sur le sens de la solidarité avec Georges Abdallah. Basé à Toulouse, près de la prison où est enfermé Georges Abdallah, il est membre du réseau international de soutien aux prisonniers palestiniens Samidoun. Il rend visite très régulièrement à Georges Abdallah et soutient la Résistance palestinienne contre l’impérialisme, le sionisme et les régimes réactionnaires arabes.

Militant.e de gauche, pro-palestinien.ne ou simple curieux.se, vous êtes tous et toutes invitéEs.

N’oubliez pas qu’un rassemblement le 26 octobre est également prévu. Vous trouverez les informations ci-dessous :

https://www.facebook.com/events/1119565334910752/?ti=cl

-Secours Rouge Canada
-Jeunes Socialistes pour le Pouvoir Populaire – JSPP

22 October, Toronto: Gaza Fights for Freedom – Toronto Film Screening w/Abby Martin

21 October 2019

Tuesday, 22 October
6:00 pm
Revue Cinema
400 Roncesvalles Ave
Toronto, ON, Canada
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/527591511145988/

Toronto theater premiere of the new documentary ‘Gaza Fights For Freedom,’ followed by Q&A with Director Abby Martin

Join Abby Martin for the one-day-only theater screening in Toronto! Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see Gaza Fights For Freedom on the big screen.

This debut feature film by journalist Abby Martin began while reporting in Palestine, where she was denied entry into Gaza by the Israeli government on the accusation she was a “propagandist.” So Abby connected with a team of journalists in Gaza to produce the film through the blockade.

This collaboration shows you Gaza’s protest movement like you’ve never seen before. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it features exclusive footage of demonstrations where 200 unarmed civilians have been killed by Israeli snipers since March 30, 2018.

The documentary tells the story of Gaza past and present, showing rare archival footage that explains the history never acknowledged by mass media.

GazaFightsForFreedom.com

22 October, Toulouse: Meeting with Nahla Abdo

21 October 2019

Tuesday, 22 October
7:00 pm
Terra Nova
18 rue Gambetta
Toulouse, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/927540014280902/

Meeting with Nahla Abdo, author of the book, “The captive revolution: The anti-colonial struggle of Palestinian women in the Israeli prison system,” with the French edition published by Blast.

Rencontre avec Nahla Abdo autour de son livre “La Révolution captive. La lutte anticoloniale des femmes palestiniennes et le système carcéral israélien”, paru aux éditions Blast.

Over 500 march in Lannemezan to free Georges Abdallah

21 October 2019

See the French original at Collectif Palestine Vaincra

On Saturday, 19 October, over 500 people marched in Lannemezan to the gates of the prison where Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Lebanese Arab communist struggler for the Palestinian cause, has been imprisoned by France since 1984.

Many delegations and contingents participated in the march from the Lannemezan railway station to the prison for the annual demonstration, including participants from Tarbes, Pau, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Lyon, Marseille and Paris as well as international groups from Brussels, Milan, Naples, Zurich and elsewhere.

In Toulouse, Collectif Palestine Vaincra co-organized a bus and carpooling to bring a large number to the demonstration. The march was led by a joint contiingent of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra – a member organization of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network – and Secours Rouge International.

Marchers chanted slogans of liberation for Georges Abdallah, Palestine and all political prisoners as they rallied through Lannemezan, the vitality of the demonstration reflecting the strong support for Europe’s longest-held political prisoner. Many participants carried Palestinian flags as well as banners of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), recalling Georges Abdallah’s commitment to the Palestinian resistance confronting imperialism, Zionism and Arab reactionary regimes.

The event included a lengthy rally outside the prison itself, with many solidarity statements being delivered on behalf of the growing movement demanding Georges Abdallah’s freedom. Participants hung banners on the prison gates, banged and shouted to be heard by the prisoners inside the walls.

The rally opened with a statement from Georges Abdallah, who called for increased solidarity, noting that imprisoned strugglers are facing a “policy of annihilation targeting incarcerated revolutionary strugglers.” He emphasized the need for greater action for Palestine and the Palestinian political prisoners.

The Collectif Palestine Vaincra delivered the following statement:

Collectif Palestine Vaincra is here in Lannemezan today to affirm once more our support for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. We stand before the prison gates to emphasize the importance of the struggle!

Supporting Georges Abdallah means supporting the PAlestinian struggle against Zionism, imperialism and reactionary Arab regimes for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. Collectif Palestine Vaincra supports the Palestinian resistance in all forms against the Israeli state, a Zionist settler-colonial entity. Our collective denounces and struggles against France’s support for the Israeli occupation.

Supporting Georges Abdallah also means recognizing the right of Palestinians to resist by all forms they judge necessary for his release, including armed struggle, struggle carried on for decades by Palestinian revolutionary left strugglers.

Supporting Georges Abdallah means recognizing and supporting the right of return of all Palestinian refugees. This fundamental right includes more than 5 million Palestinians fighting today to return to their land.

Supporting Georges Abdallah is also supporting thousands of Palestinian prisoners in the jails of the Zionist occupation. It is to support Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the PFLP, and also the students of Birzeit University and othe runiversities throughout Palestine held in administrative detention and undergoing interrogation by the Israeli intelligence and suffering under their well-known methods of torture.

Finally, supporting Georges Abdallah is supporting thousands of Palestinians in Gaza who every week defy the Israeli occupation and siege in the Great March of Return.

The resistance of the Palestinian people is legitimate, just as is that conducted by Georges Abdallah, imprisoned here in the jails of French imperialism. For 35 years, they have wanted to silence him. And for 35 years, he holds his head high and continues the struggle! So we must also continue our struggle, in support of Palestine and Georges Abdallah!

His is our struggle, we are part of his fight!
Palestine will live, Palestine will win!
Free Georges Abdallah!

On the previous evening in Toulouse, a support rally for Georges Abdallah and the Palestinian cause gathered 120 participants, who heard presentations by Leila Khaled (via Skype), Mustafa Awad and Pierre Stambul. All affirmed their support for the Palestinian people and their resistance, the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners, the boycott of Israel and the immediate release of Georges Abdallah.

All photos: Collectif Palestine Vaincra

21 October, Berlin: Talking Justice – Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Rights

21 October 2019

Monday, 21 October
7:00 pm
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Str. 4
10405 Berlin, Germany
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/539822943493593/

“Palestinian Political Prisoners: The Intersection of International Law and the Palestinian Struggle”

Coalition for Palestinian Rights and Against Racism (Palästina Spricht) and the International League for Human Rights (ILMR) in Berlin are proud to host Sahar Francis, General Director of Addameer, directly from Colonized Palestine.

Sahar Francis will be speaking about “The continued prosecution of Palestinians under military law, the widespread arrests, human rights defenders arrests, women arrests, daily life and torture in Israeli jails, children detention, administrative detention and serving sentences of an occupied people exemplify the apartheid nature of the Israeli regime. Through the law and practice of Israeli military courts that distinguish between criminal and security prisoners, the Israeli authorities practice an “institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination” by Israelis over Palestinians, “committed with the intention of maintaining that regime” in line with the definition of apartheid by the International Criminal Court.viii This system serves to repress Palestinians through lower trial guarantees, longer interrogation periods, and legal cover for torture.”

She will emphasize about the Israeli mechanism of censoring and silencing Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations, and the continuous persecution while they investigative and expose Israeli war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

ADDAMEER (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners. The center offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates their rights at the national and international level, and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns.

Addameer was the leading organization supporting the historic Dignity Strike in Palestine and supported different hunger Strike for the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and still doing a great national and international efforts to protect the basic rights for Palestinians.

Since 2006, Sahar Francis has been the General Director of Ramallah-based Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian NGO providing legal and advocacy support to Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. An attorney by training, she joined the association in 1998, first as a human rights lawyer, then as head of the Legal Unit. With over sixteen years of human rights experience, including human rights counseling and representation, Ms. Francis also was on the Board of Defence for Children International – Palestine Section for 4 years, and currently sets in the Board of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. Sahar did her practice on Human Rights in the Society of Saint Yves in Jerusalem, on issues of Land confiscations, house demolitions, labor rights and freedom of movement. On 1997 worked in Badil Refugee Rights Centre, in the legal unit. Sahar did her masters in international Studies at Bir Zeit University, and her law degree at Haifa University.

Take action: Write to Heba Al-Labadi, tortured “administrative detainee” on hunger strike

10 October 2019

Heba Al-Labadi, a 24-year-old Palestinian-Jordanian tortured by Israeli interrogators for weeks, is on her 17th day of a hunger strike against her “administrative detention” without charge or trial. She faces her next hearing in an Israeli military court on Thursday, 17 October. Your letters of support will send a powerful message to both her and the Israeli jailers.

Write to:

Heba Al-Labadi
Kishon Detention Center
PO Box 175, Kiryat Tivon
Israel

On Tuesday, 20 August, Heba was abducted by Israeli occupation forces from the Allenby border crossing between Jordan and the occupied West Bank, where she had traveled to attend a family wedding in Nablus.

The occupation forces transferred her to a series of detention centers and prisons in which she underwent five weeks of brutal interrogation, including torture.

In an account obtained and released by the Commission on Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, Heba said her interrogations began at 9:00 am, then continued until early the following morning, on each of the first 16 days.

“The interrogation was very cruel and violent, and it lasted for long hours while I was sitting tied to the chair, which caused pains in my back, hands and neck,” she said.

“Interrogators kept yelling at me loudly and they were sitting close to me, touching my leg deliberately in a provocative way. They spit on and described me with ugly descriptions. They cursed me saying: loser, mean, animal, ugly and many cruel words that I heard for the first time in my life. They told me that I am an extremist and they cursed the Islamic and Christian religions and said that Judaism is the best and that other religions are racist.”

Interrogators also threatened Heba with the arrests of family members, as well as placement into “administrative detention.”

“They told me, ‘We do not have any evidence against you, but we have administrative detention with the authority to renew it for seven and a half years, and then we will detain you in the West Bank and prevent you from going to Jordan and deprive you of family visits.'”

Later, Heba said, “I told the interrogator that the psychological torture they use is more difficult than the physical one. He said, ‘I know.'”

She launched her hunger strike on Tuesday, 24 September, five weeks after her interrogation began, in response to an “administrative detention” order.

These orders, issued by Israeli military commanders, allow them to intern Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial.

While Heba’s was issued for an initial six-month period, commanders can renew them an indefinite number of times.

Heba “is subjected to being searched every two hours, including throughout the night and often by soldiers.” the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said in a statement after its attorney, Samer Simaan was able to visit her for the first time on Thursday, 3 October.

Her “isolation cell is filthy and has surveillance cameras,” Addameer said. “The designated area for bathing is completely exposed and therefore, she has not been able to shower since arriving to Jalameh Prison. Additionally, there is no window in the isolation cell, and in its place is an air conditioning unit meant to keep the cell cold. There is nothing in the isolation cell except for one dirty sheet.”

On Monday, 5 October, her father warned a Jordanian television channel of the risks his daughter’s hunger strike posed to her health.

“My daughter has been exposed to harsh detention conditions and her health is deteriorating because of her hunger strike for 14 days,” he said.

Heba will challenge her “administrative detention” in an Israeli military court next Thursday. She is currently held in isolation as punishment for her strike.

She is one of two Jordanian citizens among 425 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” one of six on hunger strike to demand freedom, and one of 43 imprisoned women and girls among 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners.

11 October, Brussels: Free Georges Abdallah! Rally in Brussels

8 October 2019

Friday, 11 October
6:00 pm
Regentlaan 42
Brussels, Belgium
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2706615849383840/

35 years of prison, 35 years of resistance: freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, militant communist for Palestine jailed in France since 1984!

Part of the month of agitation for the liberation of Georges Abdallah

35 ans de prison, 35 ans de résistance, liberté pour Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, combattant communiste pour la Palestine emprisonné en France depuis 1984 !

Dans le cadre du Mois d’Agitation pour la libération de Georges Abdallah : lire l’appel complet sur www.freeabdallah.red

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