On 19 July, Mustapha Awad (who lives in Aalst) was arrested by Israel during a visit to Palestine. He was sentenced to 1 year in prison. There are serious reasons to fear that during his imprisonment he will be subjected to cruel and degrading treatment.
Bring light to Mustapha’s heart. Write him a letter! Your cards and letters will of course go through the Israeli censorship, but know that they are of great importance to Mustapha!
Op 19 juli werd Mustapha Awad (wonende te Aalst) tijdens een bezoek aan Palestina gearresteerd door Israël. Hij werd veroordeeld tot een gevangenisstraf van 1 jaar. Er zijn ernstige redenen om te vrezen dat hij tijdens zijn gevangenschap wordt onderworpen aan een wrede en mensonterende behandeling.
Steek Mustapha een hart onder de riem. Schrijf hem een brief! Jouw kaarten en brieven zullen natuurlijk door de Israëlische censuur gaan, maar weet dat ze voor Mustapha van grote betekenis zijn!
Join our demonstration against the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) on 14-18 May 2019 being held in the apartheid state of Israel!
In Malmo, the Swedish Melodifestivalen contest is held in Malmo Arena on 9 February at 19h30, with admission from around 18h155. We will stand outside the entrance with the banner “End the occupation of Palestine” and placards with the text “Melodifestival – yes, Apartheid – no; Move the Eurovision final; Solidarity with Palestine!” hand out flyers, give speeches and sing songs against apartheid.
Anna Wester, chair of the Palestinagrupperna i Sverige, writes:
“The initiative to boycott Eurovision in Israel was taken by a number of Palestinian organizations, and hundreds of artists around the world have endorsed the call. Thousands of activists have signed on to the call for boycott, and the international campaign is growing every day. Everyone who upholds democracy and human rights should support the Palestinian people in this. By pressuring the occupying power and standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people, we can contribute to a just peace. If the finals are moved from Israel, we look forward to seeing Sweden in the list, but no Swedish participation so long ass Israel is hosting!”
It is important that there are many participants in the demonstration if we are to be seen and heard by many concertgoers. Join us 9 February for Palestinian rights! Invite friends and acquaintances to participate in the protest and join our anti-apartheid song chorus.
We wll gather at the entrance to Hyllie train station towards Malmo Arena at 16h45.
Yes to Melodifestival in Sweden! No to Eurovision Final in Israel! No Swedish participation as long as Israel is hosting!
Välkommen till vår manifestation mot att finalen i Europeiska schlagerfestivalen (ESC) den 14–18 maj 2019 ska hållas i apartheidstaten Israel!
I Malmö hålls en deltävling i den svenska Melodifestivalen i Malmö Arena den 9 februari kl 19.30, med insläpp från kl. 18.15. Vi kommer att stå utanför entrén med banderollen “Häv ockupationen av Palestina” och plakat med texten “Melodifestival – ja, Apartheid – nej, Flytta Eurovisionsfinalen, Solidaritet med Palestina!”, dela ut flygblad, hålla tal och sjunga Sånger mot Apartheid.
Anna Wester, ordförande för Palestinagrupperna i Sverige, skriver:
“Initiativet att bojkotta Eurovision i Israel togs av en rad palestinska organisationer och hundratals artister fra°n hela va¨rlden har sta¨llt sig bakom uppmaningen. Tusentals aktivister har undertecknat uppropet om en bojkott och den internationella kampanjen va¨xer fo¨r varje dag. Alla som va¨rnar demokrati och ma¨nskliga ra¨ttigheter bo¨r sto¨dja palestinierna i detta. Genom press pa° ockupationsmakten och solidaritet med det palestinska folket kan vi bidra till en ra¨ttvis fred.
Om finalen flyttas fra°n Israel, sa° ser vi fram emot att se Sverige i startlistan. Men inget svenskt deltagande sa° la¨nge Israel a¨r va¨rd!”
Det är viktigt att vi blir många deltagare i manifestationen om vi ska höras och synas bland de många konsertbesökarna! Ställ upp den 9 februari för fred och för palestiniernas mänskliga rättigheter!
Uppmana vänner och bekanta att delta i manifestationen och att sjunga med i vår schlagerfestivalsångkör!
Vi samlas vid uppgången från Hyllie tågstation mot Malmö Arena (se bifogad bild) kl 16.45.
JA TILL MELODIFESTIVAL I SVERIGE! NEJ TILL EUROVISIONSFINAL I ISRAEL! INGET SVENSKT DELTAGANDE SÅ LÄNGE ISRAEL ÄR VÄRD!
Join the London Protest for the release of the Craigavon 2. Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton were wrongly convicted of the killing of PC Carroll and have spent nearly 10 years in jail.
Another British frame-up On March 9th 2009 Constable Steven Carroll was fatally shot in Craigavon, County Armagh, Northern Ireland . On the 30th of March 2012 Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton were convicted of the shooting and sentenced to life in prison.
At the trial no evidence of Brendan McConville or John-Paul Wootton’s direct involvement in the shooting was ever presented. It wasn’t presented because it doesn’t exist.
Instead the conviction was based on:
1.) The testimony of a witness who testified that on the heavily raining night of the shooting he saw McConville dressed in a green army jacket in the neighborhood of the shooting around the time of the shooting.
2.) DNA evidence from a jacket retrieved from Wootton’s car after the shooting that an expert testified had McConville’s DNA on it and traces of what possibly could be gunpowder.
3.) A GPS tracking device that had been placed in Wootton’s car sometime prior to the shooting which showed the car leaving a housing estate adjacent to the one where the shooting occurred ten minutes after the shooting & passing near McConville’s home on its way back to Wootton’s. The prosecution used this information to surmise that McConville was dropped off by Wootton before he made his own way home.
The problems with the conviction are as follows:
1.) The prosecution’s star witness, Witness M, gave the only testimony that placed either of the two men near the scene of the shooting. He testified that, on that very dark and rainy night, he saw McConville, from a distance of about 16 yards by an electricity box wearing a green knee length army coat with a German logo. The witness, however, was shown to be astigmatic & short shorted – conditions which would have made him unable to see what he said he saw.
In addition, his partner who was walking with him that night refused to corroborate his story.
Furthermore, he waited 11 months to come forward (by which time McConville’s name had been widely spread by the press), was shown to have repeatedly lied under oath and had contacted the police on a number of occasions while drunk or drinking, including the night of his original call. Also large extracts of his witness statement to the police were redacted. ` All of this is further compromised by the fact that the witness receives a weekly income from the PSNI and also receives an allowance for childcare. He has had loans and overseas holidays facilitated for his children and has received other financial benefits.
2.) When the AK47 that was used in the shooting was discovered, a partial fingerprint was found on the internal spring mechanism of the magazine. This fingerprint was checked against the fingerprints of McConville and Wootton. No matches were found. Also, according to the tracking device Wootton’s car never went near the housing estate where the rifle was found.
3.) The prosecution claimed a jacket found in Wootton’s car with McConville’s DNA & traces of what might be gunpowder, were further proof of the men’s involvement in the shooting. The jacket, however, was brown leather & waist length, not the green knee length army jacked with a German logo the witness had claimed to see. In addition, the jacket was completely dry, not very wet as it would have been if McConville had been wearing it during the shooting. In addition, when police searched both men’s homes they found no traces of the wet and/or muddy clothes they were specifically looking for.
4.) The only “evidence” tying John Paul Wootton to the killing is his car & the GPS tracking device that was placed on it sometime prior to the shooting. The tracking device showed Wootton’s car leaving a housing estate a quarter of a kilometer from the estate where the shooting took place about 10 minutes after the shooting occurred. It proceeded at a normal pace along one of the two available routes leading from where he was to his home. (Both routes pass close to McConville’s house.) According to the prosecution Wootton dropped off McConville and went home. However, at no time did the tracking device show the car’s doors being opened anywhere near McConville’s home. Even more worrying, data from the tracking device was mysteriously wiped while the device was in the hands of the army. No plausible explanation was ever given as to why this happened.
There is more. The fact that the men were denied the benefit of a trial by jury. Admitted deficiencies in witness testimony, state interference with new witnesses who were scheduled to testify at the appeal, etc.
”The Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver”
Coalition integrated by solidarity organizations from Vancouver and supporters calls on the Canadian and Latin American people to rally for peace and democracy in Bolivarian Venezuela.
!! Hands off Venezuela are the message of the people’s voice !!
The Bolivarian people want peace, no intervention of any kind the savagery that the imperialist powers have imposed as a steel ring to suffocate the Bolivarian revolution is a crime against humanity. “Everyone must come to the demonstration to fight for peace.”
Love Eurovision, Hate Apartheid! Protest at the BBC
Join the protest at the Eurovision: You Decide event, taking place from 4pm on Friday 8th February at MediaCityUK, the BBC Headquarters in Salford Quays, calling on the BBC to withdraw from the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest hosted by Apartheid Israel. The demonstration will begin when the audience of the show arrives soon after 4pm and we invite you to join us for Palestinian music and a rally with Palestinian cultural figures that will run until 7pm, so people can come and participate after work.
The public will be choosing who goes through to the final in a live TV show, Eurovision: You Decide. We will urge contestants, hosts and BBC workers to heed Palestinian civil society’s call for the boycott of Eurovision hosted by Israel’s apartheid regime, which continues to massacre Palestinian protesters in besieged Gaza and imprison the Palestinian population under a decades-long illegal military occupation.
We are urging all participants follow the example of British group The Tuts, who courageously announced they had refused an invitation to enter the UK’s Eurovision contest. https://twitter.com/TheTutsBand/status/1088465070714167296 We are appealing to all the singers and songwriters to boycott the contest hosted by Israel, just as they would have boycotted the South African apartheid regime.
We are also calling for an end to the BBC’s complicity in “Brand Israel”, the Israeli government’s official policy of artwashing its crimes against the Palestinian people. Israel regularly uses culture to cover up, justify and distract from its oppressive regime of military occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian people.
Just days after Israel’s Eurovision win, Israeli forces massacred 62 Palestinians in Gaza, including six children, as they demonstrated for freedom and refugee rights. Since the Great Return March protests began on March 30th 2018, at least 205 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the besieged Gaza Strip. More than 18,000 others have been injured, including thousands shot with live sniper fire.
Join the protest and take a stand against BBC artwashing apartheid.
Hosted by Manchester Palestine Action Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign University of Manchester BDS Campaign Liverpool Friends of Palestine Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine Birmingham Palestine Action London Palestine Action Glasgow Palestine Action
Other Northern groups to be added
#BoycottEurovision2019
How to get there: Manchester’s tram network stops at MediaCityUK (zone 2). It takes 15 minutes from Manchester Piccadilly or ten minutes from Eccles Station.
BBC Studios, Media City UK at Dock 10 Salford M50 2NT
Given the alarming situation Venezuela is currently facing, we call for an immediate halt to the intervention of the US and the European Union, whether through military threats, political support for the latest coupe by Juan Guaidó, or economic sanctions.
As Latinxs, we know of the catastrophic and tragic legacy of imperialist interference in the countries of our continent, with Chile (1973), El Salvador (1979) and Honduras (2009) as just a few examples of the systematic crimes against humanity.
We condemn the external interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela, which fuels violent confrontation and promotes dangerous escalation and regional destabilization. The blatant anti-democratic cooperation of the Governments of the “Lima Group” are not based on the sincere desire to help the Venezuelan people, but On Their subordination to the hegemonic geopolitical interests and the surge of the new right on our continent.
We demand a political solution through the dialogue between the Venezuelan people and their legitimate political institutions, without interference, without sanctions and without media manipulation, in order to make the right of self-determination of the peoples, to define the strategies of their economic and social recovery under the condition of the welfare of the social collective.
We invite everyone to protest with us at Pariser Platz, both against the undemocratic and imperialist meddling of the German Government and for the self-determination of the peoples of our continent and the Global South.
Hands off Venezuela!
A la luz de la alarmante coyuntura actual que enfrenta Venezuela, hacemos un llamado a que pare la agravante injerencia de fuerzas externas de parte de los Estados Unidos y La Unión Europea en la actual crisis política y económica que atraviesa el país. Como latinoamericanos, conocemos la herencia nefasta y trágica dejada por la injerencia en los países de nuestro continente, con Chile (1973), El Salvador (1979) y Honduras (2009) como ejemplos paradigmáticos de violación sistemática de los derechos humanos. Condenamos la injerencia extranjera en los asuntos internos venezolanos que impulsan la confrontación violenta, promueven una escalada peligrosa y una desestabilización regional. Ante el flagrante colaboracionismo antidemocrático de los gobiernos del autodenominado “Grupo de Lima”, denunciamos que su accionar no obedece a un afán sincero de apoyo al pueblo venezolano, sino a su subordinación a los intereses geopolíticos hegemónicos en el marco del actual giro a la derecha que vive nuestro continente. Nos pronunciamos a favor de una solución política dialogada convocada por el pueblo venezolano y sus instituciones legítimas, sin intervenciones, sin sanciones ni manipulación mediática, respetando el derecho de los pueblos a definir soberanamente sus estrategias de recuperación económica y social bajo premisas de bienestar social colectivo. Los invitamos a encontrarnos en Pariser Platz, para rechazar la postura de Alemania frente a esta crisis y hacer un llamado enérgico por el respeto a la autodeterminación de los pueblos de nuestro continente.
Bloque Latinoamericano
—DE —
Angesichts der alarmierenden Situation, in der sich Venezuela aktuell befindet, fordern wir den sofortigen Stopp der Intervention der USA und der Europäischen Union, ob durch militärische Drohungen, politische Unterstützung des Putschisten Guaidó oder ökonomische Sanktionen.
Als Lateinamerikaner*innen wissen wir um das katastrophale und tragische Erbe der imperialistischen Einmischung in den Ländern unseres Kontinents, mit Chile (1973), El Salvador (1979) und Honduras (2009) nur als ein paar Beispiele für die systematischen Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit. Wir verurteilen die Einmischung von außen in die inneren Angelegenheiten Venezuelas, die eine gewaltvolle Konfrontation schürt und eine gefährliche Eskalation und regionale Destabilisierung fördert. Die offensichtlich antidemokratische Zusammenarbeit der Regierungen der „Lima Gruppe“ zur weiteren Destabilisierung Venezuelas, fußen nicht auf dem aufrichtigen Wunsch zur Unterstützung des venezolanischen Volkes, sondern auf ihrer Unterordnung unter die hegemonialen geopolitischen Interessen im Rahmen des gegenwärtigen Rechtsrucks, der auch unseren Kontinent ergriffen hat.
Wir sprechen uns aus für eine politische Lösung durch den Dialog zwischen dem venezolanischen Volk und seinen legitimen politischen Institutionen, ohne Eingriffe, weder durch Sanktionen noch durch mediale Manipulation, um das Recht der Völker zu respektieren, selbstbestimmt und unter der Voraussetzung des Wohls des sozialen Kollektivs, selbst die Strategien der wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Erholung zu definieren.
Wir laden alle zum Protest am Pariser Platz ein, gegen die undemokratische und imperialistische Einmischung der deutschen Bundesregierung und für die Achtung der Selbstbestimmung der Völker unseres Kontinents, sowie des ganzen globalen Südens.
Demonstrators gathered in Brussels on 6 February, almost seven months since Mustapha Awad has been unjustly imprisoned in Israel. The demonstration, organized by the Free Mustapha Committee, urged the Belgian Ministry to take action on the imprisonment of the Belgian citizen, metalworker and co-founder of the Palestinian popular dance troupe Raj’een.
The protest came days after attacks on Awad were repeated by Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan, charged with the global repression of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign – as well as heading the Israel Prison Service, where he has directed repeated repressive attacks against Palestinian prisoners. The Free Mustapha Committee has urged supporters of justice in Palestine to write to Mustapha behind Israeli bars. Sending a letter to Mustapha can help to lift his morale while making clear to the Israeli jailers that Mustapha is not alone. Write to him at:
Gilboa Prison To the attention of Mr. Mustapha AWAD POB 65 Gilboa Israel
Photo: Tahsin Zaki
The press release of the Free Mustapha Committee follows (original in French) :
It has been almost seven months that Mustapha Awad has been imprisoned in Israel.
Supporters of the Free Mustapha Committee gathered in front of the Belgian Foreign Ministry in Brussels, Belgium on 6 February. There, a delegation comprised of An Muylaert, Mustapha’s Belgian adoptive mother, Alexis Deswaef, honorary president of the League for Human Rights, and Myriam De Ly of the Free Mustapha Committee, visited the Foreign Ministry. The delegation had asked for an appointment with the minister or members of cabinet, but were instead received by administrative staff – sending a message in and of itself about the Belgian government’s failure to support Mustapha.
The delegation wished to make clear that an early release of Mustapha may be possible in March, after completing two-thirds of his “sentence,” but that Belgium’s intervention is absolutely critical in this regard.
From the beginning, the representatives of the Ministry said that Belgium would not intervene.
Alexis Deswaef gave a review of the history of five meetings between the Committee and the Ministry: “At the first meeting, we were told that we had to be patient, that diplomacy was progressing, that we would first make verbal notes. Then it was said that this is an exceptional case and it was necessary to wait for the trial. And now that the sentencing has taken place, but an early release is possible, we are told that nothing can be done. Belgium’s attitude was completely opposite in the case of the arrest of Amaya Coppens in Nicaragua. Minister Reynders intervened the day after her arrest with the Nicaraguan government. Why these two weights, two measures? Because it’s Israel.
An Muylaert, the spokesperson for Mustapha’s family in Lebanon and his Belgian adoptive mother, said once again that for over six and a half months, she has not even been able to hear Mustapha’s voice. Even a telephone call between them is banned: an intolerable situation, from a human point of view. This is one factor that leads Mr. Deswaef to say that Mustapha’s conditions of detention do not comply with international laws. Even one of his basic rights, seeing or calling his relatives, is not respected. At the time of his interrogation, Mustapha also underwent inhumane treatment: sleep deprivation and interrogations for 20 out of 24 hours in a day.
Myriam De Ly, speaking for the Free Mustapha Committee, spoke about Mustapha’s conditions of detention, held in the high-security prison of Gilboa. In late January, elite troops sent by the internal security minister Gilad Erdan invaded Israeli prisons with dogs, batons, machine guns, tear gas. 150 prisoners were seriously injured in Ofer prison. Mustapha, imprisoned in Gilboa, is not immune to this type of experience.
Alexis Deswaef also discussed an official report issued by that same minister, also responsible for “Strategic Affairs,” a text sent to international bodies attacking human rights defenders like Shawan Jabarin, the representative of Al-Haq and General Secretary of FIDH; Salah Hamouri, the recently released French-Palestinian lawyer; and Mustapha Awad, calling them “terrorists.”
Belgium should not accept these kinds of smears against its citizens. We ourselves can now be treated as “terrorists in suits.”
Photo: Tahsin Zaki
The Free Mustapha Committee has gone again and again to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Belgium could have helped to release Mustapha from his detention. It can still. But over the course of these meetings, the delegation has understood clearly that Belgium does not have the political will to act.
**
The next action to support Mustapha Awad will take place on 17 February at Het Wereldhuis in Aalst, where people will gather to write letters in solidarity with Mustapha. People can find out more and RSVP at the event Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/341107900078001/
Palestinian prisoner Fares Baroud, 51, from al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza, died on Wednesday, 6 February only hours after being suddenly transferred to intensive care from Ramon prison. Baroud suffers from a number of health conditions, including a hernia and liver disease, and has repeatedly spoken about medical neglect and denial of needed health treatment to Palestinian prisoners.
Earlier, he had lost 80 percent of his sight due to a vision problem; treatment was delayed for four months by the prison administration for his condition. Palestinian prisoners’ associations said that Baroud has been subjected to deliberate medical neglect over the years and that he has been denied necessary medical care that could have sustained his life.
Baroud had been denied family visits for 18 years by the Israeli occupation, including with his mother, Rayya Baroud. Rayya suffered from the same vision condition, losing her sight and her life before seeing her son again. Before her death in 2018 at the age of 85 , she participated every week in the vigils of prisoners’ families outside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City, holding her son’s poster and demanding his release and that of his fellow prisoners.
Fares Baroud’s mother Rayya. Photo: Palestine Information Center
Imprisoned since 1991, Baroud was one of the prisoners slated to be released in 2013 as part of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Instead, the occupation violated the agreement, refusing to release the final 30 prisoners named, including Baroud.
He participated in numerous hunger strikes and protests during his years in Israeli prison. Most recently, he held an open hunger strike in 2018 against the Palestinian Authority’s cuts to prisoners’ support, particularly those against prisoners from Gaza. After his strike, he suffered severe liver disease, but did not receive prompt medical care. Months later, he required surgery on his liver.
Baroud was held in Ramon prison and had been transferred to multiple prisons over the years. He was repeatedly held in isolation through his 27 years of imprisonment.
Following Baroud’s death, there are reports of widespread anger and rising protest from Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. A closure and lockdown has been imposed at Ramon and Nafha prisons. Baroud is the 218th Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli jails, many due to medical neglect, mistreatment or denial of necessary healthcare.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns the loss of Fares Baroud, his life taken away by 28 years of imprisonment and isolation – including 18 painful years of collective punishment for him and his loved ones, denied family visits until the moment of his death. We note that this loss is part of the ongoing and systematic medical neglect and abuse taking place inside Israeli prisons – as we see in recent days with the renewal of administrative detention orders against severely ill Palestinian prisoners Walid Khaled Sharaf and Moataz Obaido, imprisoned without charge or trial while their lives are at risk. We urge all supporters of justice in Palestine to continue to organize to demand freedom and justice for nearly 6,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails – and freedom and justice for Palestine.
Saturday, 9 February 2:00 pm Graben/corner to Kohlmarkt Vienna, Austria
Women in Black (Vienna) are holding a vigil on “Solidarity with the Palestinian Political Prisoners, child detainees and Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat” on Saturday 9 February 2019, between 2 and 4 PM in the centre of Vienna, Austria.
The international Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes our comrades in Gothenburg, Sweden on one year of organizing together as a collective for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners – and the liberation of Palestine. We urge all to visit the Samidoun Gothenburg website in Swedish and read the Swedish original statement: https://samidoun.net/sweden/ett-ar-av-fangsolidaritet/
One-year statement 24/1
One year ago, January 24 2018, a few us started the initiative Free Ahed Tamimi Gothenburg (Frihet åt Ahed Tamimi Göteborg). We created a Facebook page and called to protest to bring attention to the detention by the Israeli occupation of the then 16-year-old Palestinian girl Ahed tamimi. By then, the case had already received substantial attention around the world, but Swedish initiatives were glaringly absent. To us, it was an unmistakable opportunity to highlight that Ahed’s crime, like that of so many other Palestinians, was to defy Israel, an apartheid regime maintained by military occupation. A regime whose settler colonial violence is tied up in other imperialist projects such as Fortress Europe and numerous Western military adventures in the Middle East and North Africa in what are labeled wars on “terrorism” and “extremism”. A regime, whose ethnic cleansing, oppression and exploitation are motivated by false ethnonationalist claims of being the homeland of all Jewish people. A regime, whose allies are not to be found among those who combat racism, xenophobia and antisemitism, but among the antisemitic government of Hungary, the Nazi-dominated Ukraine and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, who is prepared to sacrifice the jungles of the Amazon rainforest for private economic interests. With her “slap that was heard around the world”, Ahed Tamimi demonstrated that it is possible to resist, and with her words inside and outside the prison walls Ahed has recalled the necessity for all of us who struggle for liberation and a just future to connect our struggles in every way we can.
Since our first protest early last year, we have organized a number of other activities: More protests of different kinds, alone and together with others; letter writing evenings for Ahed Tamimi and other Palestinian prisoners; movie screenings and talks to advance our knowledge on Palestine and widen our understanding of how the struggle for a free Palestine is connected to so many other struggles for justice and liberation. We have established many connections locally and internationally through our work. Among others with the international network Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. After discovering many common standpoints, we decided with the release of Ahed and her mother Nariman Tamimi at the end of July 2018 to regroup as an autonomous local group of the network, Samidoun Gothenburg (Samidoun Göteborg).
Today, a year later, January 24 2019, we in Samidoun Gothenburg have just finished marking the international week of action for the freedom of the Palestinian prisoner and General Secretary of the PFLP, Ahmad Sa’adat. Together with many international groups and in many different ways, we have highlighted the question and always pointed to the connection between individual important Palestinian prisoners such as Ahed Tamimi and Ahmad Sa’adat on the one hand and all Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian liberation struggle and all international struggles for peace, freedom and justice on the other. We hope, and believe, that our work has contributed to generating interest, attention, engagement and hopes for the solidarity work for all Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian liberation struggle. In the near future, we support the work for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel as part of the international BDS campaign för an end to the occupation of Palestine, for an end to the apartheid regime and for the right of return for all Palestinian refugees. During February, we will also highlight the prominent Palestinian feminist and leftist parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar, who by the end February will have been held for 16 months of administrative detention as part of the Israeli attempts to suppress resistance by attacking resistance leaders. In both of these issues, we work with others and encourage others to contribute with even the smallest of means to the solidarity work with the Palestinian liberation struggle.
Finally, we continue to push important issues of imperialism and international solidarity with Palestine and Palestinian prisoners as the focus of our work. Our solidarity with Palestinian prisoners is simultaneously solidarity with the repeatedly punished, but persistently struggling, leadership of the Palestinian struggle for liberation as well as with the Palestinian masses who after 70 years of Israeli oppression and more than 100 years of international occupation and colonisation steadfastly persist in their defiant existence and creative resistance. We struggle with a radical conviction that the struggle for the liberation of Palestine is an indispensible struggle for all those around the world who struggle against oppression and exploitation and for peace, freedom and justice.
