6 April, Chicago: Urgent Action in Support of Gaza

4 April 2018

Friday, 6 April
12:00 pm
Kluczynski Federal Building
230 S Dearborn St
Chicago, IL
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1191132724354941/

Join us as we call on our elected Illinois officials to speak out against the Israeli government killing Palestinian protesters at the #GreatReturnMarch and brutal military blockade lasting over a decade causing immense suffering in Gaza.

Friday, March 30 an estimated 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza took part in the Great Return March. The march was organized by a cross section of civil society, grassroots activists, and political factions in Gaza as part of an effort to both highlight the impacts of the siege and occupation and to re-center the issue of refugee rights.

Israel reacted to this nonviolent protest through a brutal show of force. Israeli snipers opened fire with live ammunition against the protestors and deployed tear gas against them by drones, killing at least 17 Palestinians and injuring more than 1,400, half of which were shot with live ammunition. The Israeli army claimed online on March 30 that, “Nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed.”

Take action today to demand accountability.
Call on Illinois US Members of Congress to:
>Condemn the killing of protesters in Gaza
>Work to end the blockade of Gaza
>Urgently address the crisis of Palestinian refugees

Congressional Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Senator Durbin: (202) 224-2152
Senator Duckworth: (202) 224-2854

As of Wednesday, April 3, only one US Senator, Sen. Bernie Sanders, has spoken publicly on what Human Rights Watch calls, “a bloody crackdown planned at highest levels of the Israeli government.”

This action is initiated by the Chicago branches of the American Friends Service Committee, American Muslims for Palestine, Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Middle East Task Force of Chicago Presbytery, and the United States Palestinian Community Network. We will gather to share brief remarks, updates from Gaza, mourn and pray for lives lost before a delegation will meet with IL Senate offices.

7 April, Anaheim: Great Return March – Action in Solidarity

4 April 2018

Saturday, 7 April
1:00 pm-4:00 pm
Corner of Brookhurst St. and W. Orange Ave.
Anaheim, CA

Palestinian Youth Movement – Los Angeles, Orange County, and Inland Empire (PYM LA,OC,IE), along with Arab American Activists, have called upon residents of Orange County and Southern California to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, especially Palestinians in Gaza, participating in the 46 day long Great Return March — from March 30th, Land Day, until May 15th, Al Nakba, the day of catastrophe.

The purpose of this 46 day action and march is to reclaim and demand the Palestinian right of return to the homelands, cities, towns, and villages, that Palestinians were and are continuously displaced, erased, and exiled from by the settler-colonial Zionist state, Israel.

The Zionist response, as usual, is to silence this act of liberation and determination with violence and criminalization. Since the beginning of the Great Return March, at least 18 Palestinians protesting in Gaza have become martyrs because of bullets from Zionist forces. Palestinians in the West Bank are also being attacked by Zionist forces. They have wounded over a thousand Palestinians.

We are asking the Orange County and Southern California community to stand with Palestinians in their ongoing movement and struggle of liberation and decolonization.

On April 7th, from 1pm to 4pm in Anaheim on the corner of Brookhurst St. and W. Orange Ave., bring your Palestinian flags and messages of solidarity, wear your kuffiyehs/hattas, and use your voice. We will see you there.

We will return. Palestine will be liberated.

Certain Days Calendar: Call for Art and Article Submissions: Health/Care

4 April 2018

See more information at the Certain Days website.

What: A call for art and article submissions on Health/Care for the 2019 Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar.

Deadline: May 18, 2018

The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar collective (www.certaindays.org) is releasing its 18th calendar this coming fall. The theme for 2019 is ‘Health/Care,’ reflecting on the overlapping topics of health, care/caring, and healthcare.

We are looking for 12 works of art and 12 short articles to feature in the calendar, which hangs in more than 3,000 homes, workplaces, prison cells, and community spaces around the world.

We encourage contributors to submit both new and existing work. We also seek submissions from prisoners – please forward to any prison-based artists and writers.

THEME GUIDELINES

In 1972, The Black Panther Party formally added healthcare to its ten point program:

WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE

We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventive medical programs to guarantee our future survival.

Then, as now, health in all its dimensions — physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, environmental, community — remains fundamental to liberation. Some of the topics that could be explored within this theme could be:

health care and medical neglect in prison
movement healthcare projects (anything from the Black Panther Party free clinics, to current projects providing both western medical and other forms of health support)
radical reproductive health projects, past and present
the politics of care work in its myriad forms (care for people living with illness and/or disability, childcare, elder care, etc)
mad pride and resistance to forced psychiatric treatment
aging and health issues in prison
disability and health
Indigenous healing and other non-western health practices and projects
trans health projects and activism
radical organizing among health care workers and/or in defence of public healthcare
medical parole
strategies for, and stories of, (collective and individual) self care within movements

FORMAT GUIDELINES

ARTICLES:

• 500 words max. If you submit a longer piece, we will have to edit for length.

• Poetry is also welcome but needs to be significantly shorter than 500 words to accommodate layout.

• Please include a suggested title.

ART:

1. The calendar is 11” tall by 8.5” wide, so art with a ‘portrait’ orientation is preferred. Some pieces may be printed with a border, so it need not fit those dimensions exactly.

2. We are interested in a diversity of media (paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, computer-designed graphics, collage, etc).

3. The calendar is printed in colour and we prefer colour images.

Due to time and space limitations, submissions may be lightly edited for clarity, with no change to the original intent.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. Send your submissions by May 18, 2018 to info @ certaindays.org.

2. ARTISTS: Please send images smaller than 10 MB. You can send a low-res file as a submission, but if your piece is chosen, we will need a high-res version of it to print (600 dpi).

3. You may send as many submissions as you like. Chosen artists and authors will receive a free copy of the calendar and promotional postcards. Because the calendar is a fundraiser, we cannot offer money to contributors.

Prisoner submissions are due June 8, 2018 and can be mailed to:

Certain Days c/o
Burning Books
420 Connecticut Street
Buffalo, NY 14213
USA

ABOUT THE CALENDAR

The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal, Hamilton, New York and Baltimore, with three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell. The initial project was suggested by Herman, and has been shaped throughout the process by all of our ideas, discussions, and analysis. All of the members of the outside collective are involved in day-to-day organizing work other than the calendar, on issues ranging from refugee and immigrant solidarity to community media to prisoner justice. We work from an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, queer and trans positive position.

Certain Days – a QPIRG Concordia working group
QPIRG Concordia
1500 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Suite 204
514-848-7583 fax: 514-848-7584
qpirgconcordia.org – info @ qpirgconcordia.org

8 April, Berlin: Demo in Solidarity with the Great March of Return

4 April 2018

Sunday, 8 April
5:00 pm
Hermannplatz
Berlin, Germany
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2081634148828751/

On 30 March, the bloodiest day in the Gaza Strip since the 2014 war of agression, the Israeli military killed 17 people and injured 1,400 more with tear gas, live ammunition and even tanks. Palestinian civilians were attacked for just one reason, peacefully demonstrating for their rights. On Land Day, the people of Gaza commemorated the bloody crackdown on the 1976 Palestinian General Strike, resist land confiscation and dispossession, and uphold Palestinian refugees’ right to return. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, demonstrators marched to the border of the Gaza Strip to highlight their right to return. The response of the Israeli state was murderous. With extreme brutality and violence, the military shot down the unarmed demonstrators. Yet thousands of people continue to stand and the protest of the Palestinian people remains unbroken.

We say: Stop the massacres in Gaza! End the siege, end the occupation, end the settlement project! We are in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their call for freedom and human rights. The return of the Palestinian refugees is their irrevocable right!

Demo in Solidarität mit dem “Großen Marsch der Rückkehr” / مظاهرة تضامنية مع مسيرة العودة
#GreatReturnMarch

Am 30. März, dem blutigsten Tag seit dem Angriffskrieg auf den Gazastreifen 2014, tötete das israelische Militär 17 Menschen und verletzte 1.400 weitere durch den Einsatz von Tränengas, scharfer Munition und sogar Panzern. Angegriffen wurden die palästinensischen Zivilist*innen lediglich aus einem Grund: Weil sie friedlich für ihre Rechte demonstrierten. Zum „Tag des Bodens“ gedenkt die Bevölkerung in Gaza der blutigen Niederschlagung des palästinensischen Generalstreiks von 1976, dem Widerstand gegen Landenteignungen und Vertreibungen sowie dem Rückkehrrecht der Geflüchteten. In einem von Komitees organisierten „Marsch der Rückkehr“ zum 70. Jahrestag der ethnischen Säuberung Palästinas zogen die Demonstrant*innen gemeinsam an die Grenze des Gazastreifens, um auf ihr Recht auf Rückkehr aufmerksam zu machen. Die Antwort des israelischen Staates fiel mörderisch aus. Mit äußerster Brutalität und Gewalt schoss das Militär die unbewaffneten Demonstrant*innen nieder. Dennoch kampierten Tausende weiter und der Protest der palästinensischen Bevölkerung bleibt ungebrochen.

Wir sagen: Stopp den Massakern in Gaza! Stopp der Belagerung, stopp der Besatzung, stopp der Besiedlung! Wir solidarisieren uns mit der palästinensischen Bevölkerung und ihrem Ruf nach Freiheit und Menschenrechten. Die Rückkehr der palästinensischen Flüchtlinge ist ihr unwiderrufliches Recht!

5 April, Boston: Stand Out in Solidarity with the People of Gaza

4 April 2018

Thursday, 5 April
12:30 pm
Outside Israeli Consulate
20 Park Plaza
Boston, MA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/169167957076450/

Last Friday Israeli snipers killed 16 people and wounded more than 1400 (according to the UK Guardian) during unarmed mass demonstrations demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Another person was killed a few days later. More than 70 percent of the 2 million people who live in the Gaza Strip are refugees expelled from their homes inside Israel and their descendants. The civil society protests are set to continue until Nakba day, May 15.

The Stand Out in Solidarity with the People of Gaza will demand an end to the murder of unarmed protestors, an end to the suffocating decade-long blockade of Gaza and the full implementation of international law and UN resolutions guaranteeing the rights of refugees.

Let Gaza live! Free Palestine!

Co-sponsors (list in formation):
Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights
Boston University Students for Justice in Palestine
Dorchester People for Peace
Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (UMass Boston)
Grassroots International
Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine
Harvard National Lawyers Guild
Jewish Voice for Peace – Boston
Massachusetts Peace Action
National Lawyers Guild – Massachusetts Chapter
United for Justice with Peace
UUs for Justice in the Middle East – MA

8 April, Sydney: Stand with Gaza – Rally for Palestine

4 April 2018

Sunday, 8 April
1:00 pm
Sydney Town Hall
483 George St
Sydney, Australia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1868671156538417/

Stand with Palestine, take a stand against Israel’s massacre of 17 demonstrators on Friday!

7 April, Milan: Assemblea #CambiaGiro

4 April 2018

Saturday, 7 April
7:00 pm
Centro Occupato Autogestito T28
Via dei Transiti,28, Milan, Italy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1627628317334089/

Stop the wheels of occupation! Presentation on the campaign against the Giro d’Italia, along with a buffet of Arab and Palestinian food and solidarity with the Palestinian people.

12 April, Derry: Palestinian Child Prisoners in Apartheid Israel’s Prisons with Nery Ramati

4 April 2018

Thursday, 12 April
7:30 pm
Sandinos Bar/Club
Water Street
Derry, Ireland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2072245102987863/

Palestinian Child Prisoners in Apartheid Israel’s Prisons with Nery Ramati, Human Rights Lawyer from Israeli Law firm Gaby Lasky & Partners (The Legal team representing Palestinian Child prisoner Ahed Tamimi).

700 children detained and prosecuted every year. Institutional torture. Forced confessions. Systematic Human Rights violations.

Please join, share and invite your friends to this event on Facebook & Twitter, thanks!

6 April, Aarhus: Palestinian Land Day

4 April 2018

Friday, 6 April
6:00 pm
Star festlokale
Holmstrupgardsvej 18
8220 Braband
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/180748505904846/

The Palestinian Society of Aarhus invites you to a commemoration of Palestinian Land Day, with song, entertainment and poetry. Speakers will include Rabih Azad-Ahmad, a member of the city council in Aarhus, Majed al-Zeer, director of the Palestine Return Center, and Adel Abdallah.

Kære alle,
De Palæstinensiske Foreninger i Aarhus inviterer jer til en festival for den Palæstinensiske Jordens dag.
Sted: Stars Festlokale – Aarhus
Fredag den.06-04-2018.
Tid: 18:00
Vær med til palæstinensisk underholdning, dans sang og poesi. Vigtige personer vil gæste os på aftenen:
1. Advokat Rabih Azad-Ahmad, medlem af byrådet i Aarhus.
2. Direktør Majed Alzeer for Al-Awda Center i London
3. Projektleder Adel Abdallah, der har stået for at oprette palæstinensiske fagorganisationer i og uden for europa

7 April, Bordeaux: Rally to Support Gaza!

4 April 2018

Saturday, 7 April
3:00 pm
Place de la Victoire
Bordeaux, France
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1979983668884940/

We want to send a message to the occupier! We are standing, we exist!

Tens of thousands of Palestinians protested Friday a few meters from the “border” fence in Gaza. At least 16 were killed and over 1400 wounded by Israeli occupation forces.

Come in numbers to express our anger at the violence of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people and the silence of the international community!

ON VEUT ENVOYER UN MESSAGE A L’OCCUPANT »
« ON EST DEBOUT, ON EXISTE ! »

Des dizaines de milliers de Palestiniens manifestaient vendredi à quelques mètres de la clôture qui les sépare d’Israël. Au moins seize d’entre eux ont été tués et plus de de 1400 ont été blessés.

Dans chacun des cinq lieux de rassemblement prévus le long de la frontière a conflué le peuple gazaoui dans sa diversité, et son dénuement. Vieillards et gamins, femmes voilées et jeunes étudiantes apprêtées, mais surtout jeunes hommes sans avenir : ils ont marché des kilomètres, ou bien ils ont pris un bus. Ils ont juché les enfants sur les épaules, grimpé à l’arrière de camionnettes ou tenté de se tenir en équilibre, à dix, sur un tracteur épuisé.

Dans le bruit confus des klaxons et des sonos, ils se sont lentement approchés de cette zone frontalière d’habitude évitée, redoutée, où l’armée construit un mur pour remplacer une clôture jugée trop vulnérable. La plupart sont restés sagement à distance, loin de la frontière, mangeant des glaces ou picorant des graines, s’interrompant pour la grande prière.

Il y avait, évidemment, une avant-garde plus téméraire. Des centaines d’adolescents qui s’escrimaient à se rapprocher le plus possible de la clôture de sécurité, sans la franchir, conformément à la consigne diffusée.

Mais personne ne contrôlait cette foule éclatée, coupant à travers champs. Certains jeunes avaient des lance-pierres de fortune, qui ne pouvaient guère atteindre les soldats. Les autres cherchaient à planter un drapeau palestinien, ou bien à organiser un sit-in de quelques minutes, avant que le gaz lacrymogène, largué par des drones, ne les éparpillent.

Le face-à-face a duré toute la journée du vendredi 30 mars, le long de la bande de Gaza. Alors que des dizaines de milliers de personnes ont afflué pacifiquement vers les zones prévues par les organisateurs de la « grande marche du retour », au moins seize manifestants ont été tués et près de 1 400 ont été blessés, dont beaucoup par balles réelles. Un bilan lourd, hélas attendu.

Il est tentant de dire que ces jeunes défiaient la mort. En réalité, ils défiaient la vie, la leur, qui ressemble à une longue peine : celle des victimes du blocus égyptien et israélien, enfermés depuis bientôt onze ans dans ce territoire palestinien à l’agonie.

SOYONS NOMBREUX (SES) A DIRE NOTRE COLERE FACE A LA VIOLENCE PERPETREE PAR L’ETAT ISRAELIEN ENVERS LE PEUPLE PALESTINIEN ET AU SILENCE DE LA COMMUNAUTE INTERNATIONALE.
Samedi 7 avril 2018 – 15 heures – Place de la Victoire à Bordeau

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