Events and actions around the world demanded the freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah as part of a global week of action from 14 to 24 October, as the imprisoned struggler entered his 34th year in French prisons as part of the International Week of Action to Free Georges Abdallah.

This new video on the week of action contains solidarity messages from Barcelona, Galicia, New York, the Southwest US, Toulouse, Palestine, Vancouver and more, with messages in English, Farsi, French, Galician and Catalan demanding Georges Abdallah’s freedom.

Abdallah has been imprisoned by the French state since 24 October 1984, when he was accused of carrying false documents. Throughout his life, he has been committed to the revolutionary struggle in Lebanon and the liberation of Palestine. He was involved with the Palestinian leftist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, resisting Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Later, he joined other Lebanese revolutionary leftists in the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions.

His detention was repeatedly extended as French intelligence searched for information to charge him with involvement in armed actions that killed a U.S. military attache and an Israeli representative in Paris. Even one of his lawyers was reportedly involved in spying on Abdallah for the French intelligence agency. While he was supposed to be exchanged with prisoners held by Arab revolutionaries, the French state reneged on the deal.

In 1987, when Georges Abdallah was sentenced, he was expected to receive a lengthy sentence of ten years or less – as recommended by the prosecutor in his case. Instead, he received a life sentence, as argued for by a private lawyer representing the U.S. government.

Today, Georges Abdallah remains behind bars. Despite being eligible for release since 1999, his parole applications have been denied repeatedly. French and even U.S. officials have intervened at the highest levels to block his release. From behind prison walls, he remains an active struggler, writing letters and refusing meals to support revolutionary struggles around the world, including Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli prisons.

The week of action was called for by Samidoun and involved numerous international events and actions in cities and locations around the world, unified in their message of freedom and liberation for Georges Abdallah and for Palestine.

BORDEAUX

The Days of Action began with two events in Bordeaux, France, a screening of Mai Masri’s feature film “3000 Nights,” about Palestinian women prisoners in Israeli jails and a meal and discussion with Jacques-Marie Bourget. Organized by the Collectif Liberons Georges 33, the events also helped to raise money to support the Bordeaux bus to the national Lannemezan demonstration on 21 October.

ATHENS

The next event for the Week of Action was an action by the Greek Front of Resistance and Solidarity for Palestine “Ghassan Kanafani”, who raised a banner to free Georges Abdallah on Saturday, 14 October at the football game between Atromitos and Asteras Tripolis at a central spot beside the Atromitos fans.

NEW YORK

Samidoun organized the first of two protests in the city on Monday, 16 October, outside the French Mission to the United Nations. Protesters carried placards, chanted and distributed hundreds of leaflets with information on the case of Georges Abdallah as well as the Israeli imprisonment of French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri without charge or trial.

VILLENEUVE

In Villeneuve, supporters of Georges Abdallah marked the Week of Action on 17 October with a screening of “After War is Always War,” a film directed by Samir Abdallah, followed by a discussion about Georges Abdallah, Salah Hamouri and the Palestinian struggle.

MANCHESTER

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! and other student organizations at the University of Manchester protested and held an information table on 18 October in solidarity with Georges Abdallah and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The event also came as part of the run-up to a large protest on 31 October against a celebration of the Balfour Declaration officially sponsored by the University.

MARSEILLE

Dar Lamifa in Marseille organized an event on 19 October that formed a collective commemoration of the imprisonment of Georges Abdallah and the massacre of 17 October 1961, when hundreds of Algerians in Paris were killed by French police when they protested for Algerian independence. The event also helped to mobilize and support the Marseille group traveling to Lannemezan.

THE HAGUE

Studenten voor Rechtvardigheid en Palestine (Students for Justice in Palestine) in the Netherlands organized a protest on 20 October in The Hague with signs, leaflets and chants to demand freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Salah Hamouri and all Palestinian prisoners.

BRUSSELS

Over 100 people joined a demonstration organized by Secours Rouge on 20 October across from the French Embassy in Brussels. Participants included Secours Rouge organizers, Samidoun members and Palestinian community organizers as well as participants in a number of left and anti-colonial organizations. The outdoor protest was followed by a solidarity evening for Georges Abdallah and other political prisoners, organized by Secours Rouge.

HAMBURG

The Bündnis gegen imperialistische Aggression organized a film screening and discussion in Saint-Pauli on 20 October in support of Georges Abdallah. Local activists from the Palestinian community joined the screening as well as anti-imperialist organizers.

TOULOUSE

A large event brought out over 160 people in Toulouse on the eve of the mass march in Lannemezan, organized by the Comité de Soutien aux InculpéEs BDS (Committee to Support the Accused BDS Activists). The event included a screening of the Secours Rouge film on Georges Abdallah as well as a speech by Michel Warschawski, journalist, writer and co-founder of the Alternative Information Center. The event was followed by a Palestinian meal and concert.

The next morning, a bus from Toulouse organized by Coup Pour Coup 31 headed off to Lannemezan, packed full of participants in the national demonstration.

PARIS

A bus organized by the Unified Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah travelled from 20 October to arrive in Lannemezan on 21 October. This followed multiple mobilizations throughout the week, including the commemoration of 17 October 1961, with the participation of campaigners for Georges Abdallah.

LANNEMEZAN

Despite pouring rain, over 400 people marched from the Lannemezan train station toward the prison where Georges Ibrahim Abdallah on 21 October, chanting and carrying signs and banners beneath umbrellas. They declared solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, the Palestinian prisoners, Abdallah and all revolutionary prisoners. Dozens of organizations joined the mobilization, with buses coming from Toulouse, Bordeaux, Paris and elsewhere. Georges Abdallah sent a statement to the demonstration and representatives of numerous organizations spoke at the event, urging even greater mobilization to make this year the one in which Georges Abdallah wins his freedom.

DUBLIN

Irish republican socialists gathered in the rain in Dublin on 21 October to urge freedom for Georges Abdallah and Palestinian prisoners. Despite cold, wet weather, they distributed hundreds of leaflets to passers-by and discussed the case and the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners with a number of people.

BERLIN

The Democratic Palestine Committees in Berlin organized a protest as part of the Week of Action on 21 October, outside the French embassy in Berlin. Carrying signs, banners and Palestinian flags, they demanded freedom for Georges Abdallah, Ahmad Sa’adat and all prisoners of the Palestinian struggle in Israeli and international jails.

LYON

Activists in Lyon organized a boxing demonstration gala on 21 October in support of Georges Abdallah, but it was prohibited by the local police under the pretext that boxing matches must be authorized – despite the fact that the match was not a real boxing match but only a demonstration. The organizers, including Dar Harraga and the Comite Lyon sud/est for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah noted that by the police ban on the event and ensuing coverage of the repression, many more people had learned of the struggle of Georges Abdallah.

TUNIS

The Tunisian Committee for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah organized a protest on Saturday, 21 October. Activists gathered on Habib Bourguiba street to march to the French embassy, led by a banner with images of Georges Abdallah and Ahmad Sa’adat. Tunisian activists spoke and protested, demanding Abdallah’s freedom.

BAALBEK

The Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah organized an evening event in Baalbek, Lebanon to demand freedom for Georges Abdallah on 21 October at the Martyr Basil al-Asad Cultural Center. The event included cultural performances and music in solidarity with Abdallah.

RAMALLAH

The Progressive Democratic Student Pole at Bir Zeit University organized a rally in Manara Square in the center of Ramallah on 21 October. The student organizers carried signs and chanted, emphasizing Georges Abdallah’s position as a prisoner of the Palestinian liberation struggle in French jails.

BEIRUT

Palestinian resistance icon and leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Leila Khaled joined the Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah for a demonstration outside the French embassy in Lebanon on 22 October, demanding Abdallah’s immediate release and return to Lebanon. The protesters also demanded the Lebanese government to take real action to see Abdallah, a Lebanese citizen, returned from France.

NEW YORK

Samidoun activists returned to the streets on 23 October in New York City, where they protested outside the French Consulate with signs and leaflets about Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and Salah Hamouri. They distributed numerous leaflets to passers-by, chanting and waving Palestinian flags, urging freedom for all political prisoners.

ATHENS

The Greek Front for Resistance and Solidarity with Palestine “Ghassan Kanafani” organized a protest in Athens on 24 October, outside the French Embassy to Greece. Numerous organizers from a number of groups and Palestinian activists joined the protest with signs, banners and demands for the immediate freedom of Georges Abdallah.

BIR ZEIT

Samidoun organizers in occupied Palestine joined with student blocs at Bir Zeit University for a day of activities that included a seminar on Palestinian political prisoners, focusing on the case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and longtime Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, Samir Abu Naameh. The seminar was followed by an outdoor rally and protest to free Palestinian prisoners, as well as the creation of three murals in support of Abdallah, Abu Naameh, and the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners for freedom.

SHATILA CAMP

The Palestinian Chess Forum organized an event on Palestine in the Heart of Georges Abdallah in Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon on 27 October, including a presentation by lawyer Fidaa Abdel-Fattah about the case. This followed an earlier children’s chess tournament in solidarity with Georges Abdallah in the camp organized by the Forum on 22 October.

These events were accompanied by other actions and visual displays in solidarity with Georges Abdallah internationally during the week. Graffiti demanding the release of Abdallah appeared on the facade of BNP-Paribas bank in Brussels.

In Turin and Milan, activists put up posters around the city in solidarity with Abdallah. Videos of support also came from resistance organizations, such as the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades in Palestine and TIKKO Rojava.  Activists gathered in Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza and elsewhere to express their solidarity with group photos, videos and other actions.

In Geneva, activists gathered outside the French embassy in a night-time mobilization to demand freedom for Georges Abdallah.

In Gaza, Palestinians expressed their solidarity with a video campaign urging solidarity with Abdallah as part of the Palestinian cause. In Belgium, 200 supporters and 30 organizations joined a new Belgian call for the release of Abdallah, including a number of Palestinian, solidarity and social justice movements. Graffiti appeared on the streets of Zurich urging Abdallah’s release.

At the weekend meeting of BDS France in Saint-Etienne, demands for freedom for Georges Abdallah and Salah Hamouri were a focus.

In Hortaleza, an anti-racist, anti-fascist soccer tournament also urged liberation for Georges Abdallah.  And in Nanterre, a commemoration of the 17 October massacre also included solidarity calls for Abdallah’s freedom.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network thanks and salutes all of the organizations, groups, activists and strugglers that organized events and actions around the world to demand freedom for Georges Abdallah, the imprisoned struggler, and his fellow prisoners of the Palestinian struggle. These events have all helped to contribute to a growing demand and movement to free Abdallah and free Palestinian prisoners as an inexorable and essential component of the struggle for a free Palestine and a free humanity. The challenge now is to all of us to escalate and advance our organizing so that next year we are celebrating the release of Georges Abdallah and not one more year behind the bars of a French prison.

Free Georges Abdallah! 

Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners! 

Freedom for all political prisoners! 

On Saturday, 21 October, over 400 people marched in Lannemezan, France, from the train station to the prison where Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is imprisoned, demanding freedom for the Lebanese communist struggler for Palestine as he enters his 34th year in French prison.

The national demonstration was the central event of the international week of action in solidarity with Abdallah, which included events and actions in New York, Berlin, Brussels, The Hague, Paris, Geneva, Bordeaux, Villeneuve and more global cities. Participants chanted as they marched, banging on the gates of the prison, “Long live the Palestinian people’s struggle!” “Georges Abdallah, tes camarades sont la!” (“Georges Abdallah, your comrades are here!”)

Buses brought people to the demonstration from a number of cities, including Toulouse, Bordeaux, Paris and Marseille. As the protesters neared the prison itself, they dragged stones along the prison gates, creating loud noises clear enough to be heard inside the prison itself before tying banners and placards to the large gate surrounding the prison where Abdallah is confined.

Many speakers delivered messages of support to Abdallah and encouragements to continue the struggle. Myriam De Ly of Plate-Forme Charleroi-Palestine and the Belgian call to Free Georges Abdallah spoke, reading out the call that has garnered hundreds of signatures of support.

The anti-imperialist collective Coup Pour Coup 31, part of the Samidoun Network, delivered a speech at the march:

“Once again, we are gathered in front of this prison to demand the release of our comrade Georges Abdallah.

Once again, we pay tribute to the courage, determination and past, present and future struggles of this communist fighter.

Once again, we denounce the French State, an imperialist power, which keeps this anti-imperialist resistance struggle behind bars.

Once again, we salute the Palestinian Resistance, of which Georges Abdallah has been a part for more than 30 years.

But the best tribute we can give him is to continue and intensify the anti-imperialist struggle. This is what we are striving to do as Coup Pour Coup 31 in Toulouse.

We support the struggle of the Palestinian people and their Resistance, by making their history and their struggles known alongside other organizations and collectives, including the BDS campaign. We also support the Palestinian cause by collecting money for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and for a hospital in Gaza then under the bombs of the Zionist occupier.

We also build links with Palestine, Lebanon and its struggles. We are proud, for example, of helping to strengthen the ties between Georges Abdallah and the Palestinian Resistance, first and foremost the PFLP. Two years ago, in Toulouse and in Gaza, we renamed a street and the Charles de Gaulle square after Georges Abdallah!

This year, PFLP General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat sent an open letter to Georges Abdallah following a solidarity photo. And we reiterate his words:

‘From your principled steadfastness through decades in prison, we build our determination, our will and our intellectual conviction; from your head held high, always accelerating our steps to become nearer to the sun of truth and liberation, with you, by you, and with all of the forces of freedom in the world.’

Finally, our collective is a member of the international solidarity network supporting Palestinian prisoners, Samidoun, and this initiative of this International Action Week. Everywhere the demand for the release of Georges Abdallah is expressed: Beirut, Shatila, Baalbek, Birzeit, Gaza, Athens, Saint Pauli, The Hague, Brussels, Zaragoza, Manchester, Dublin, New York City, Berlin, Tunis, Toulouse , Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Paris and elsewhere. Everywhere we say that only international solidarity will free him!

Everywhere around the world we cry:
This is our struggle and we are fighting! (Il est de nos luttes, nous sommes de son combat!)
Free Georges Abdallah!”

The participating organizations in Lannemezan included Coup Pour Coup 31, the Unified Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah, the Collective for the Freedom of Georges Abdallah, the trade unions CGT and Solidaires, the EELV (ecological party), the LDH (League for Human Rights, the Communist Party of France (PCF), France Insoumise, EuroPalestine, FUIQP, Secours Rouge Arabe, OCML Voie Proletarienne, Plate-forme Voix des Prisonniers, Association France-Palestine Solidarite (AFPS), ROC-ML, PRCF, PCOF, JCML, Voie Democratique Maroc, Partizan, ATIK, AC Chomage, Parti Communiste Maoiste, International League of Peoples Struggle, Supporters of Ocalan, the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), OTC of Tunisia, the Tunisian Committee in Solidarity with Georges Abdallah, the Belgian Call to Free Georges Abdallah, BDS campaigners, anti-fascists and supporters of Basque prisoners, among others.

Georges Abdallah issued a statement to the demonstration, read out to the event by Suzanne Le Manceau of the Collective for the Liberation of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah:

“Dear comrades, dear friends,

You know that when you gather in these times before these abominable walls and guard towers brings us, here inside, a lot of strength and warms our heart. The atmosphere in its entirety changes inside these ominous places when the echo of your life and activity comes crashing through the nameless flatness of the daily deadness of the prison…so, so close to our cells, the resonance of your presence arouses a great deal of emotion and enthusiasm…

Certainly, comrades, the various solidarity initiatives that you have developed throughout this 33rd year of captivity, not only have effectively unmasked the absurd judicial harassment and the level of state revenge, but also have presented a scathing denial to all those who bet on the exhaustion of your momentum and solidarity.

Of course, Comrades, you also know that it is also thanks to this mobilization and your diverse commitment that the revolutionary strugglers here in the jails of the Republic as well as elsewhere manage to stand up behind these abominable walls despite many years of captivity…

Comrades, the policy of annihilation to which the incarcerated revolutionaries are subject is inevitably doomed to failure insofar as we have solidarity on anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist gorunds. We can never emphasize enough that it is only by acting in solidarity through activity in the current class struggle in all its dimensions that we can convey the most effective support to our prisoners.

At the dawn of this 34th year of captivity, you remain here, comrades, in the field of struggle, and your multiple initiatives provide more comfort and strengthen more than ever my resolve and determination. By my side here brave Basque comrades still resist for so many years. The adjustments of sentences as well as the suspension of sentences for medical reasons are systematically refused to the Basque activists. The case of Comrade Ibon Fernandez is emblematic in this regard. And yet we could have expected something else from the ongoing initiatives of their main organization of struggle.

Comrades, from the Zionist jails to those in Morocco, from isolation cells in Turkey to even darker ones in Greece, the Philippines and elsewhere in Europe and around the world, it is always the same observation: as and when the crisis of the system deepens and becomes more widespread, judicial harassment becomes a basic element of a large panoply of measures available to the pre-revolutionary counter-revolution. Of course this panoply of measures and laws continues to grow in numbers in these times of general crisis, when the measures of the state of emergency are transformed into simple common law.

Comrades, the conditions of detention in Zionist prisons are getting worse by the day despite the agreements reached during the last hunger strike. And as you know, Comrades, to confront it, international solidarity is an indispensible weapon…

Of course the Palestinian popular masses and their revolutionary vanguards can always rely on your mobilization. This is an excellent opportunity to show the criminal Netanyahu and his associates that the Palestinian people are not alone.

It is always necessary to remember that more than 300 children, the flowers and the cubs, languish in the Zionist jails in particularly difficult conditions.

It may be recalled also that the number of administrative detainees continues to grow. and certainly Comrade Salah Hamouri will be the last in this time when the occupier does not have to be accountable to any international authority for its barbarity and arbitrary measures which strike an entire people every day.

May a thousand solidarity initiatives flourish in support of the Palestinian Flowers and Cubs!
What a thousand solidarity initiatives flourish in support of the popular masses in struggle!
May a thousand solidarity initiatives flourish in support of the revolutionaries who resist in Zionist jails and isolation cells in Morocco, Turkey, Greece, the Philippines and elsewhere in the world!
Down with imperialism and its Zionist watchdogs and other Arab reactionaries!
Honor to the martyrs and the popular masses in struggle!

Solidarity, all solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people and its imprisoned resistance fighters!
Solidarity, all the solidarity with the comrades on hunger strike in Moroccan jails!
Honor to the brave PKK fighters!
Capitalism is nothing but barbarism!

Together comrades, and only together, we will win!
To all of you comrades, my warmest revolutionary greetings.

Your friend Georges Abdallah”

All photos via demonstration organizers.

New Yorkers gathered on Monday, 23 October outside the French Consulate in New York City to urge freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned in French jails for 33 years, and urge the French government to take action for Salah Hamouri, French-Palestinian lawyer jailed without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation.

Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in New York City, the protest was the second New York event in the international week of action to free Abdallah as he entered his 34th year in French prison. It also highlighted the case of Hamouri, field researcher at Addameer and newly graduated lawyer, imprisoned since August without charge or trial. A former prisoner released in 2011, Hamouri is also separated from his wife and young son; his wife, Elsa, has been banned by the Israeli occupation from entering Palestine for 10 years despite holding a valid visa and a job at the French consulate.

The protesters distributed a number of leaflets and flyers about the cases of Abdallah and Hamouri to passers-by. They were met by a number of police from the NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau as well as a State Department representative, who attempted to direct the protesters that they could not stand in front of the consulate, contrary to New York law.

Abdallah was arrested by French police on 24 October 1984, accused of carrying forged documents; however, his detention was extended as French intelligence sought to charge him with involvement in armed actions in Paris by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction that killed a U.S. military attache and an Israeli occupation diplomat during the Israeli war on and occupation of Lebanon. He has been eligible for release since 1999, and despite several favorable parole decisions, his release has been denied on multiple occasions after intervention by political forces, including former French prime minister Manuel Valls and U.S. former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

His case has received wide support from left-wing and social justice organizations throughout France and around the world, and events were organized in a number of cities as part of the global week of action this year.

Despite Hamouri’s imprisonment without charge or trial, the French government has been slow to push for his release despite an active and growing campaign. Protests and actions have been held in cities across the country for his release and dozens of cities, towns and municipalities have endorsed the call to free Hamouri, alongside prominent political, social and academic figures.

Samidoun in New York will protest next on Monday, 30 October in solidarity with Bilal Diab and Hassan Shokeh, two Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike against their administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. The protest, at 5:30 pm outside the Best Buy in Union Square, will also urge the boycott of HP products for the corporation’s profiteering from contracts with the Israeli occupation military and prison service.

Samidoun is also working with the other organizations in the NY4Palestine coalition to organize a rally against Zionist and British colonialism on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration on 2 November at 5:30 pm, which will march from the Israeli consulate to the British UN mission. All supporters of justice in Palestine are encouraged to join us for these actions.