The International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS) United States chapter convened in Chicago on 22 October for “Right to Exist, Right to Resist,” a conference focusing on peoples’ struggles confronting imperialism and racism inside and outside the borders of the US.

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The event included a collective action and statement of solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, as part of the international week of solidarity with Abdallah including events around the world. ILPS declared its support for the campaign to free Abdallah and came together, chanting “1, 2, 3, 4 – open up the prison doors! 5, 6, 7, 8 – smash the settler Zionist state!”

Samidoun is a member organization of ILPS and Mohammed Khatib of Samidoun Europe participates on the international coordinating committee of the alliance; Aiyanas Ormond, the chair of ILPS Canada, has been involved with Samidoun since its founding in Canada.

The conference brought together numerous movements involved in liberation struggles; amongst others, participants included BAYAN USA, Gabriela USA, NYC Students for Justice in Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, the League of Filipino Students and others, and highlighted the slogan, “Unite to fight police terror, state repression and racism.”

The event opened with greetings sent to the conference, including from longtime Filipino revolutionary Jose Maria Sison and Palestinian resistance icon Leila Khaled. The video of Khaled’s statement is below:

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Jesus Rodriguez of the Consulate General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela also gave an opening speech before remarks by keynote speaker Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racial and Political Repression. Hatem Abudayyeh of the US Palestinian Community Network spoke on behalf of Rasmea Odeh, on her struggle as a former Palestinian political prisoner and torture survivor being targeted once more for prosecution and harassment by the US government.

Various panels highlighted struggles taking place in the US and internationally to confront US imperialism and racism, before ILPS delegates participated in a mass march in the streets of Chicago to remember and demand justice for Laquan McDonald, murdered by Chicago police two years ago, on 20 October 2014.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Istanbul held a protest in front of the French consulate in Istanbul on Friday, 21 October, as part of the international week of solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the imprisoned internationalist struggler.

The protest included the participation of Palestinian diaspora organizers and Turkish pro-Palestinian parties, associations and activists. Despite the police forces’ demand and pressure to cancel the protest, tens of activists were present to express their solidarity with Georges Abdallah.

A press statement by Samidoun was read during the protest emphasizing their strong solidarity with George Abdallah and condemning the French government’s support for the Israeli state and its occupation and colonization of Palestine. The statement and speakers affirmed that George Abdallah will be free, whether sooner or later, and is an example who teaches all revolutionary movements in the world the meaning of the continuous struggle against Zionism and its imperialist allies.

Protesters chanted, spoke and distributed a Samidoun pamphlet in Turkish calling for action about Georges Abdallah and the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners. However, the protest was forced to an early close under police pressure and the high security demands of the French Consulate.

The event in Istanbul came alongside related actions in the United States, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the UK, Palestine, Italy, Lebanon, Austria, Greece and elsewhere in support of Georges Abdallah. Abdallah has been imprisoned for 32 years in French prisons for alleged involvement in attacks by Lebanese resistance organizations in France in the early 1980s targeting US and Israeli officials, during the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. With a long history of involvement in communist, revolutionary and Palestinian movements, including involvement with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Abdallah’s case is a symbol of international support for Palestinian resistance and the international struggle of Palestinian prisoners. He has been eligible for release since 1999 and yet has been repeatedly denied parole, including through the intervention of the highest levels of the French state after judicial victories.

See Turkish language report and details; More information at BDS Turkiye

Over 400 people took to the streets in Lannemezan, France on Saturday, 22 October to demand freedom for Lebanese struggler for Palestine Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. Abdallah is held in Lannemezan’s prison; he has been imprisoned by the French state for 32 years. The annual march marks the anniversary of his arrest on 24 October 1984 in Lyon.

Participants from across France as well as international organizations gathered to demand Abdallah’s immediate release, marching through the streets of Lannemezan to the prison gates. Demonstrators banged on the prison gates with rocks and flagpoles while firecrackers were thrown to ensure that Abdallah and his fellow prisoners inside would hear the call of their supporters demanding freedom.

Buses came to the demonstration from across France, including two buses from Paris, as well as collective transit from Toulouse, Marseille, Bordeaux, Pau and other cities and towns. Participating organizations included Coup Pour Coup 31, Secours Rouge, OCML Voie Proletarienne, the Unified Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Collective for the Freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, EuroPalestine-CAPJPO, FUIQP (United Front of Immigrants and Popular Neighborhoods), Le Cri Rouge, the Maoist Communist Party, and a number of prisoner solidarity and left organizations, including supporters of Turkish, Kurdish and Basque prisoners and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists working in solidarity with Palestine, including some of those currently facing persecution for BDS activity in Toulouse.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network participated in the demonstration in partnership with Coup Pour Coup 31, which is organizing to build Samidoun and support for Palestinian political prisoners in Toulouse. A joint banner featured the call to free Georges Abdallah, imprisoned Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, and all Palestinian prisoners. Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates spoke at the rally outside the prison, recounting the numerous international events taking place in support of the call for Abdallah’s freedom as well as the importance of this case to the Palestinian prisoners’ movement internationally. She recounted the mutual support between Georges Abdallah and Palestinian political prisoners, noting that Abdallah had refused meals for three days this summer in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoner and hunger striker Bilal Kayed.

The rally also included speeches by many organizations, including a direct message of support from Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who said that “In the Zionist jails, in Morocco, from the isolation cells in Turkey to those in Greece, in the Philippines and elsewhere in Europe and around the world, it is always the same: judicial persecution is only one element of a wide range of actions against revolutionary and pre-revolutionary movements. Of course, this panoply of measures and legislation continues to expand against even more comrades, while in general there are times of crisis shaking the pillars of the global system.”

Palestinian leftist writer Khaled Barakat spoke at the rally, conveying the message of the Palestinian leftist PFLP. He emphasized the Palestinian view of Georges Abdallah as a true imprisoned struggler for Palestinian liberation, and as a leader of the Palestinian, Arab and international movements for revolution and liberation. He also denounced the role of the French state in continually supporting the colonization of the Palestinian people and the collusion of France, Israel and the United States in imprisoning Georges Abdallah, saying that next year this march should be one of celebration as Abdallah must be free.

Coup Pour Coup’s speech to the rally emphasized its local work to build solidarity and “take part in the strugle against imperialism, capitalism, colonialism and racism.” Coup Pour Coup announced its affiliation with Samidoun for organizing around Palestinian prisoners and its dedication to “amplify the voice of Ahmad Sa’adat…the struggle and courage of Georges Abdallah, and popularize the cases of the progressive and revolutionary prisoners held in the US, occupied Palestine, Morocco, the Philippines and everywhere, including in the prison where Georges is held alongside six strugglers of the Basque nationalist left.”

The massive march in Lannemezan was the central event of a week of events including actions in New York City, Chicago, Milan, Padua, Rome, Paris and its suburbs, Lyon, Bordeaux, Martigues, Magdeburg, Hamburg, Berlin, Athens, Thessaloniki, Brussels, Bern, Ramallah, Gaza, Beirut, Tunis and elsewhere.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges the continuation and escalation of popular campaigns in France and internationally for the freedom of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. We look forward to working with Coup Pour Coup to build the movement to free Georges Abdallah and all of his fellow Palestinian prisoners, in Zionist and imperialist jails.

New Yorkers gathered for their second protest in two weeks to free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine held in French prisons since 1984. The protest by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network came as part of an international week of solidarity with Abdallah, marking the 32nd anniversary of his arrest by French police. It also marked the first anniversary of Samidoun’s organizing and weekly protests for the freedom of Palestinian political prisoners in New York City.

Protesters in New York City rallied outside the consulate general of France on Friday, 21 October before concluding with a march to the nearby consulate general of Lebanon. The demonstrators remained outside the French consulate, hosting an evening event, for several hours, distributing large numbers of leaflets about Abdallah’s case. Numerous passers-by took interest in the case and the protest, including attendees at the consulate’s event.

The protest was watched constantly by four NYPD officers from the “Counterterrorism Bureau” throughout the demonstration. Participants chanted “Free, free Georges Abdallah!” outside the consulate and while marching to the Lebanese consulate to call on the Lebanese state to take action to pressure the French government to release their imprisoned citizen.

Following the demonstration, activists commemorated the one-year anniversary of Samidoun activities in New York City at the Solidarity Center and prepared for their next protest on Friday, 28 October outside the offices of G4S, the global security corporation that provides services to Israeli prisons, checkpoints and settlements.

Abdallah was originally imprisoned on charges of holding a false passport; after years of detention, including a promised prisoner exchange in which France reneged on its commitment to release Abdallah and his own lawyer serving as a spy for French intelligence, he was later charged and then convicted for armed actions by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Fraction (LARF) which targeted American and Israeli officials, killing two. These events took place during the Israeli occupation of Lebanon – Abdallah has a long history of resistance to Zionist attacks on Lebanon and support for the Palestinian people’s struggle. He remains a committed revolutionary Communist and organizes alongside other political detainees, including Basque prisoners, and Arab prisoners, inside French prisons. He refused meals for three days earlier this year in solidarity with Palestinian hunger striker Bilal Kayed.

Photos by Joe Catron and Adnan Farsakh