Friday, April 7
3:30 pm
Gather at Main and Prior (5 minute walk from Main Street – Science World Skytrain), Vancouver
Defend Al-Aqsa, Al-Quds, Palestine! Long Live the Resistance! Vancouver solidarity-resistance-liberation banner drop for Palestine. All welcome to join us: the more folks we have, the more banners and flags we can display!
On 4 and 5 April, the scenes of Israeli occupation forces invading Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan and brutally attacking Palestinian worshipers were displayed around the world on video. The beatings, the mass arrests, the vicious assault on Palestinians gathering in the mosque or in prayer once again exposed the reality of the Zionist colonial project in Palestine — that of the most vicious colonial assault that aims to strip the land, identity and holy sites away from the Palestinian and Arab people in order to make way for an invasion by a few fanatical settlers a few hours later.
In the attack on Al-Aqsa, hundreds of Palestinians were forced to the ground, tied and subjected to mass arrest. Once again, arrest, imprisonment, detention and interrogation were clearly colonial tools used in an attempt to suppress the Palestinian people and their resistance. In fact, many of these had been beaten or injured during the assault on the mosque amid the holy month, when tens of thousands gather every night to worship together.
The open brutality of the assault and its clear direction for the interests of the most fanatical sector of the Zionist regime — that represented by Itamar Ben Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and their constituents in the “hilltop youth” — sparked outrage around the world. First, and most profoundly, the outrage by Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, part of over 75 years of struggle against Zionist colonialism, occupation and apartheid, with this new assault keenly recognized as an attempt to confiscate holy sites and attack even the celebration of Ramadan by the occupier, and by progressive forces around the world standing with the Palestinian people. However, even many of the very imperialist states and officials that routinely defend Israeli colonialism and continue to sell it weapons, provide it with aid, and give it a privileged status in trade, were compelled to issue statements of condemnation: The reality was all too clear, and the outrage too great.
The attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque are an attack on the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim identity of the holy site as well as an attack on the identity of Jerusalem. Palestinians in Jerusalem are subjected to ongoing campaigns of ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, mass arrests and attempts to strip them of their residency in their own home city. Jerusalem has been illegally “annexed” by the settler colonial project, the same future it envisions for the entire West Bank of occupied Palestine.
During this time, the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance have made clear, verbally and in action, their commitment to the defense of Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem — and all of Palestine, from the river to the sea. The strength of the Palestinian people and their resistance in all of its forms, inside and outside Palestine, is on full display as many tens of thousands more came to Al-Aqsa Mosque to continue their worship, as the people of Gaza stand with pride with their resistance despite the terror bombings of the occupation military, and as the occupation openly expresses its fear of confrontation with the Lebanese resistance led by Hezbollah that has defeated it multiple times in the past. The prisoners’ movement just won a significant victory over a divided Zionist camp, while Khader Adnan continues his hunger strike for over 2 months behind bars.
It is critical for people around the world to come together to defend Al-Aqsa, to defend Jerusalem, and to defend Palestine from the river to the sea from the colonialist onslaught. The imperialist powers, despite some words of condemnation, continue to practice a policy of strategic alliance with the Zionist regime. They continue to sell weapons to the occupation and buy its weapons, “battle-tested” on Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians. The occupation weapons factories continue to produce their machines of death, while corporations profit from their ties with the occupation. Now is the time to make clear that this is unacceptable and that the people of the world stand with Palestine and the Palestinian people, to bring this injustice of over 75 years to an end — toward the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.
We urge you to join the events and actions below in your city to defend Al-Aqsa, defend Jerusalem and defend Palestine. If your event is not listed here, please email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or DM us on Instagram or Twitter and we will add it. Please note, these events are organized by many different groups and wherever possible, we have linked to the post of at least one of the original organizers so that you can contact them with any questions or for any changes:
🚨OTTAWA — EMERGENCY PROTEST FOR AL-AQSA🚨
In the past two nights, Zionist Occupation Forces stormed the al-Aqsa mosque and brutally shot, assaulted, detained and forcibly removed Palestinian Muslim worshippers. The worshippers were in al-Aqsa performing i`tikaf, a part of Ramadan’s rituals where Muslims remain in mosques overnight to pray. The desecration of one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites during Ramadan is a yearly occurrence that depicts the brutality of the occupation. The occupation has currently detained over 400 Palestinians, mostly youth, who steadfastly confronted the occupation forces.
We call on our community members and allies in Ottawa and Gatineau to join us this Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the Human Rights Memorial (220 Elgin Street) to affirm that Al-Aqsa belongs to the steadfast Palestinian people and to uplift our land defenders.
بالروح بالدم نفديك يا اقصى
°°°
🗓Friday, April 7 — 2:30 pm
📍Human Rights Memorial (220 Elgin Street), Ottawa
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, call for broad participation in the popular demonstration on Saturday, April 8, in Berlin, Germany “to declare with one voice that our Palestinian people will respond to the call of duty in defense of their people and sanctities, and in order to liberate their land from the river to the sea.” The demonstration and march will take place on Saturday, 8 April at 4 pm (16h), beginning at Rathaus Neukolln and marching to Kottbusser Tor.
Jaldia Abubakra, a member of the Executive Committee of the Masar Badil, called on all Palestinian and Arab communities and supporters of the Palestinian people to express their anger at what is happening in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque. The movement called on all its organizations and committees to announce a continuous popular, trade union and media movement in various locations and arenas.
The armed resistance, based on popular support, has shown that it is the only legitimate protector of Al-Aqsa and Palestine. And just as the masses of our people in the occupied homeland rose up in all the squares of Palestine, the time has come for our people in the diaspora to rise up to express the unity of the Palestinian people and to support their legitimate right to defend themselves and their rights.
The Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement and the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network invite you to participate in a demonstration and a popular stand on the road to return and liberation, in the city of Cologne, Germany, on Saturday 4/8/2023 at 4 pm at Heumarkt.
Join us Saturday, April 8 at 10 AM Pacific, 1 PM Eastern, 5 PM UTC to discuss Palestine, the next steps in the struggle on Turtle Island/in North America, and the Ottawa Liberation Conference, coming up at the end of the month.
The news from Palestine — the outrageous attacks on Al-Aqsa, the vicious settler militias on rampage, amid the growing and strengthening resistance from the river to the sea — must move us to organize, mobilize and take action. Join us this Saturday to hear from speakers and share your ideas about next steps. Register here to join online: https://bit.ly/landpalestine
Since 18 March 2023, the international day of political prisoners, Eda Deniz Haydaroglu, 22, a member of the revolutionary youth organization Föderation der Revolutionären Jugend der Türkei, is waging an open hunger strike for justice in Berlin, Germany.
Several events are being organized as part of the hunger strike. Click here to view the program and download the flyer of the campaign against “paragraph 129,” a law in Germany that has been used to target and repress leftist and revolutionary organizations.
As part of the “Down with Paragraph 129” committee, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network supports Eda in her hunger strike and demands. On 01.04.2023 we participated in the daily organized vigil in front of the Federal Ministry of Justice in Berlin and conducted an interview with Eda.
We invite all free people and organized forces to support our comrades in their struggle for justice. Invite them to your actions and seminars, and give publicity to their brave struggle: ozgulihsanserkan129@gmx.de
Read our interview below:
Hello Eda! Could you tell us why you are all gathered here today?
Today we are in front of the Federal Ministry of Justice to demand justice! We are on hunger strike and have clear demands that the authorities must respond to. Our comrades were unjustly arrested on the basis of paragraph 129b and we want to draw people’s attention to this injustice and create publicity. That is why we have gathered here.
Who is on hunger strike today? And what are your demands?
I and my comrade Befin Özder have been on hunger strike [for 15 days] since the 18th of March 2023, Political Prisoners Day. I am on an indefinite hunger strike and Berfin is on hunger strike for 30 days. Several comrades from Austria, Greece, Belgium and Netherlands are on hunger strike for 10, 7 or 3 days. In addition, two Grup YORUM band members are on hunger strike for 10 days. On March 18, the Day of Political Prisoners, hundreds of people from all over Europe have also made a one-day hunger strike.
We all demand the same thing: justice!
Our concrete demands are as follows:
*All 4 imprisoned comrades: Özgül Emre, Ihsan Cibelik, Serkan Küpeli and Hasan Unutan, were imprisoned on the basis of paragraphs 129 a and b of the Criminal Code. The charge is membership of a so-called “foreign terrorist organization”. For several years, opposition figures in Germany who actively campaign against fascist rule in Turkey have been persecuted and criminalized via diplomatic demands. Turkey regularly transmits lists of opposition members, who are to be pursued here, and the 4 now imprisoned anti-fascists were on these lists. The German Government uses for this persecution the paragraph 129b, which is highly dangerous. It is a relic of the Nazi era and a direct successor to the National Socialist treason law. The Allies had banned the law, but it was reinstated in the course of the 1st Criminal Law Amendment Act in order to “prevent Nazis from gaining strength”. In reality, through these paragraphs, however, it is mainly opposition members from Turkey who are persecuted and imprisoned. We demand that the Nazi paragraphs 129 a and b of the criminal code be discussed, questioned and deleted from the law. For prosecution of terror crimes the criminal law has all necessary means, it needs no „Gesinnungsjustiz“ a sort of political influence of certain beliefs, which is a relic of the Nazi era!
*The 4 imprisoned anti-fascists have valid addresses in Germany. All of them were also arrested in their respective homes. Serkan Küpeli is married, a student in Hamburg and was arrested 15 days after the birth of his first child. Hasan Unutan is also married, owns an advertising company in Mannheim and is the father of 3 children. They are all fully involved in public life, their political activities are announced days in advance on the internet, they have regular medical and official appointments that they attend, only to name a few. The danger of flight claimed by the prosecution is therefore vague and no reason to keep these people in detention for almost a year in unspecified conditions. Pre-trial detention is a last resort and may only be used if no milder means are suitable. We demand that the pre-trial detention be lifted for the reasons stated and that the trial be continued with them released.
*The Attorney General Peter Frank signed the arrest warrants against the imprisoned anti-fascists. A short time later, he flew to Turkey by invitation and met, among others, with the Minister of Justice and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and was honored there. We demand that it be explained what Peter Frank was doing in Turkey, what he discussed with Erdogan and the others and what he was honored for in Turkey? We would like to know whether Peter Frank was honored for the persecution of opposition figures from Turkey in Germany.
*The persecution of Turkish anti-fascists in Germany is based on reports from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. This scandal-ridden authority, which was deeply involved in the NSU crimes [a series of racist attacks by neo-Nazis] and repeatedly attracts attention with scandals related to fascist sentiments, has no legitimacy in the persecution of anti-fascists. These reports from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution serve as preliminary criminalization, are treated as facts by authorities and any repression is justified with these reports. This approach is an attack on the rule of law, since in a constitutional state, courts not secret services decide who has committed a crime. We demand that the presumption of innocence once again take center stage and that reports from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are not to be used as facts.
*For some time now, digital files have repeatedly been used as evidence in political proceedings in Germany. This approach sometimes makes for scandalous legal rulings. Digital files are in their basic nature exposed to any form of modification, rewriting, deletion, etc.. With the current state of technology, it is almost impossible to determine clearly whether digital files are reputable and credible, or whether they have been altered in regards to political interests. In Germany, however, an overall assessment is sufficient. This means that the judge decides whether or not to accept a piece of evidence. This is also an attack on our rights, because there is no longer any legal certainty here. We are deprived of the possibility to legally defend ourselves in case of doubt against modified or newly written digital files, because everything is at the discretion of a judge. We therefore demand that digital files are not cited as evidence in political proceedings, since political interests always harbor the risk of abuse and there is no way to effectively eliminate this risk.
Paragraph 129b is marketed as an instrument of protection against terrorism, but how is it applied in reality?
In short, this paragraph serves as an instrument to destroy the anti-fascist and revolutionary struggle. The paragraph attacks all our democratic rights and freedoms. It is nothing but legal injustice.
Who are the four imprisoned comrades? What are their charges and what evidence did the state use to arrest them?
Özgül Emre was born in Germany but grew up in Turkey surrounded by revolutionaries. She witnessed the class differences in Turkey at an early age and saw the repressions against revolutionaries such as torture and killings in the open streets. Her uncle is one of the people who was murdered by the Turkish police. At the age of 14, she decided to join the anti-fascist revolutionary struggle. She also witnessed torture and was detained several times. She worked as an anti-fascist journalist for the magazine Kurtuluş. However after some time, she had to go to Europe because she was persecuted in Turkey and put on terror lists. But even in Europe and in Germany, where she got a political asylum, she continued to do political work against fascism. She has co-organized concerts, rallies, and demos against AKP fascism and racism in Germany and worldwide. She was also involved in anti-drug work in Germany and continued to work in Germany as a journalist for the World Home Newspaper from Baden-Württemberg.
Ihsan Cibelik is one of the veteran band members of the revolutionary anti-fascist musical group Grup Yorum, which was founded in 1985 and is known for its anti-fascist revolutionary music. Grup Yorum has faced repression both in Turkey and around the world and even in Germany. Ihsan has had to emigrate to Europe because of persecution and being put on bounty lists in Turkey. He has continued to do anti-fascist work in Europe and in Germany as a band member of Grup Yorum.
Serkan Küpeli was born and raised in Germany, where he met revolutionaries and anti-fascists in cultural associations. At a young age, he joined the anti-fascist struggle by co-organizing rallies, demos and also concerts of Grup Yorum and mobilized for and participated in these events. Shortly before his arrest, he became a father. His child was just 14 days old when he was arrested.
Hasan Unutan was born in Turkey and grew up in poorer circumstances. He then came to Europe for various reasons and got married and had children here in Germany. He is known in his surroundings as a friend of revolutionaries, Grup Yorum sympathizer and an anti-fascist. He has organized several rallies against AKP fascism, racism, the repression of Grup Yorum, and also commemorations for Hanau and NSU murders in Germany. He then participated in many Grup Yorum concerts and also mobilized for them.
The indictment of the four comrades does not mention much more than I did. The “evidence” used by the state in the four cases is the participation and organization of authorized officially conducted rallies, demos, concerts, and events such as weddings, engagements or funeral ceremonies. Specifically, these are concerts by Grup Yorum and, in particular, the 2014 concert in the König Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, in which 15,000 people participated. The concert was organized under the motto “one heart and one voice against racism”.
The participation in an engagement used as “evidence”, is that of two Grup Yorum members in December 2021. Özgül Emre presented the engagement rings to the couple, which the state used to suggest that she is a cadre of a terrorist organization. The funeral ceremony used, is that of Birsen Kars, who died in February 2022. All four of them attended it and Özgül Emre carried Birsen’s coffin.
What is striking about Hasan Unutan is that his indictment, mentioned participation in the demo that we organized in Berlin on November 27, 2022. That was a demo against Paragraph 129. And Hasan Unutan is said to have participated in this demo and set up the loudspeaker system. The fact, that he used Özgül Emre’s photo as his profile picture on Facebook was also mentioned as evidence.
These are the big “crimes” and “offences” of our comrades!
You mentioned Peter Frank and that he was honored by Erdogan. Who is he and what role do the interests of Turkish reactionary forces and alignment with imperialism play in the arrest of the four comrades?
Peter Frank is the Attorney General of Germany who also ordered the arrest warrant of our four comrades at the same time. He traveled to Turkey shortly after the arrest and met with his counterpart and Erdoğan. He was honored there by the Turkish government and given a new “hit list.” We know very well that political interests are involved and we strongly believe that these interests regard the trial of revolutionaries. The federal prosecutor is the one who decides whether to continue the pre-trial detention. The decision to do so is arbitrary and based solely on political reasons.
What do the next months look like? What trials will take place and what events are you planning?
We have now started with a vigil in front of the Federal Ministry of Justice. We’ll be there from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day during the week. On Saturdays and Sundays we organize rallies in Berlin-Kreuzberg. We would like to organize a press conference in front of the Federal Ministry of Justice on April 17, where we will explain why and what we are on hunger strike for. The trial of our comrades Özgül Emre, Ihsan Cibelik and Serkan Küpeli will probably take place on April 18 in Düsseldorf.
Palestinian and Brazilian organizations achieved an important boycott victory in Brazil today, as UNICAMP University cancelled an “Israeli Universities Festival” scheduled to take place today, Monday, 3 April, after a mass mobilization occupied the building and its entrances in advance of the beginning of the scheduled event.
Dozens of Palestinian community, student, women’s, labour and youth organizations, antifascist and antiracist movements and left political parties, came together to confront the planned “Israeli Universities Festival.” The cancellation of the event was announced after demonstrators blocked the entrances to the building while occupying it inside, declaring that they would not allow Brazilian universities to be used for the marketing of occupation, colonialism, apartheid and Zionism.
Rawa Alsagheer, Palestinian activist and representative of Samidoun Brazil, spoke at the close of the rally, saying that this victory was dedicated to the steadfastness of the prisoners’ movement fighting for their lives behind bars, saluting in particular Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine jailed in France for over 38 years, who turned 72 behind bars on 2 April; and Walid Daqqah, the Palestinian intellectual, writer and freedom fighter who is facing a severe, rare cancer and is in critical condition even as he remains imprisoned by the occupation for 37 years.
She also delivered a message on behalf of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, thanking and saluting all of the united movements that came out to demonstrate the strength of the popular support for Palestine, from Palestinian communities and Brazilian movements for social justice, revolutionary organizations and student, youth and women’s organizations, pledging that the struggle will continue until the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.
The Masar Badil said in a statement, “We affirm that this action at UNICAMP University is a direct example of the future of the Zionist entity and its colonial project in Palestine, which will inevitably fall.”
Earlier, dozens of organizations had gathered in Al Janiah cultural center in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to plan a mass response to the announced “Israeli Universities Festival.” The event, and its marketing of the same Zionist universities that are fully complicit in Israeli colonialism, occupation and apartheid, including engaging in research and development for the occupation military, sparked outrage among many in Brazil. An anonymous hacker collective, Etersec, announced the hacking and defacement of the Unicamp website in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle.
Samidoun, the Masar Badil, Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Movement and Al Janiah had previously issued a statement calling for broad participation in the demonstration, declaring:
“Zionist colonialism must be opposed and confronted everywhere, in Palestine and wherever its representatives and apologists are found. And our moral, human and legal duty necessitates refusing to participate in the crime of polishing the image of the Israeli occupation by marketing its programs and projects. This is especially important at a time when the Zionist occupation force are carrying out heinous crimes against the Palestinian people, while the dignity and rights of over 4,700 prisoners are being violated inside the occupation prisons and the occupation army is practicing a policy of assassinations, massacres, siege, home demolitions and more crimes in full view of the so-called “international community” and “international institutions.”
We call upon activists, trade unionists, and students defending the rights of the peoples in Brazil, from all liberation movements and progressive forces, to stand with us in confronting the forces of imperialism, racism, and fascism, and we expect them to take the correct political and moral stance by working to boycott this activity offensive to the Palestinian struggle, and to declare their clear position on the side of justice, freedom and the Palestinian resistance. No more silence on the crimes of colonialism and racism!”
Organizations joining the action included Sanaud Palestinian Youth, FEPAL, Afronte!, Vamos Aluta, DCE Unicamp, UJC-SP, the Anura, Correnteza, and Faísca collectives, PSTU, Juntos and many more.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the united front of organizations and movements that came together to confront the marketing of Zionist colonialism in Brazil — and achieved a victory that boosts the morale and encourages student movements and mass organizations around the world calling for the academic boycott of Israel and its institutions and working to achieve boycott victories on their own campuses. It sends a message of strong solidarity from Brazil to the Palestinian people inside Palestine and everywhere in exile and diaspora, including the prisoners fighting for freedom and the refugees struggling for return. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
Marking Palestinian Land Day, the Canada Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver organized a demonstration in Vancouver urging the boycott of “Israeli” wines and demanding that the BC Liquor Stores (owned by the government of British Columbia) stop selling these wines. The demonstration is part of an ongoing 15-year campaign led by CPA demanding a boycott of the wines, several of which are produced in the West Bank of occupied Palestine, or on the Golan Heights of occupied Syria, highlighting that the British Columbia government is taking part in war crimes for putting these wines on the market.
The demonstration, outside a BC Liquor Store on Pacific Boulevard, was joined by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Vancouver as well as organizers with the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, the Masar Badil, Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, and other left and internationalist groups.
Demonstrators carried Palestinian flags, banners calling for the boycott of occupation products, and an array of signs. They chanted in support of the Palestinian people and their resistance, called for total boycott of Zionism, and urged, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” Participants distributed information and literature to passers-by, calling on them to contact the BC Finance Minister to demand the boycott of apartheid wines, and to contact International Cellars, the importer of these wines, to urge them to comply with the boycott call.
The demonstration also highlighted the unity of the Palestinian land and people, from the river to the sea and inside Palestine and in exile and diaspora, including the struggle of Palestinian prisoners for liberation. Participants highlighted three cases in particular: that of Walid Daqqah, Palestinian author, thinker and imprisoned freedom fighter, who is currently in critical condition with a rare cancer after years of Israeli medical neglect; Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine jailed in France since 1984, who marks his 72nd birthday on 2 April; and Khader Adnan, the Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for 57 days for freedom, who previously undertook and won his freedom in four prior strikes.
Aiyanas Ormond of BDS Vancouver highlighted the campaign to boycott Israeli wines, emphasizing that the BC government’s continued support for these Zionist products implicate it in war crimes, as well as expressing solidarity with Indigenous struggles for liberation, sovereignty and self-determination locally and throughout North America. Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun, spoke about the cases of Daqqah, Abdallah and Adnan, urging action and solidarity to demand their release and the international isolation of the Zionist regime. She noted further that Canada’s actions continue to make it complicit with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine.
After distributing hundreds of leaflets outside the BC Liquor Store, protesters marched from the store to the offices of International Cellars, the company responsible for importing the wines in question. Marion Kawas of BDS Vancouver and the Canada Palestine Association spoke about the role of the company in introducing these wines to the local market, noting that it was the only company that distributed Israeli wines in BC. She held up a letter being delivered to International Cellars by the demonstrators, demanding the company end its ongoing complicity with war crimes in occupied Palestine.
Khaled Barakat of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, delivered a political speech for Land Day, highlighting the history of the day and the mass protests of Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 in 1976, the martyrdom of six Palestinians, and the way the day has since come to symbolize the unity of the land and people of Palestine. He also saluted the martyr Mohammed al-Osaibi, shot dead just that morning by occupation forces at the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque, a newly graduated medical doctor who was defending a Palestinian woman being assaulted by occupation guards. He noted that al-Osaibi is from al-Naqab, carrying Israeli citizenship, but treated as expendable like all other Palestinians.
He emphasized the importance of joint struggle and solidarity with Indigenous struggles on Turtle Island, noting that the Israeli occupation’s strongest allies are imperialist powers and settler-colonial states like Canada and the United States. Finally, he affirmed that the Palestinian struggle for liberation and return would continue by all means necessary until colonialism is uprooted from Palestine from the river to the sea.
Finally, Hanna Kawas, chair of the Canada Palestine Association — which has commemorated Land Day in Vancouver from the first day in 1976 — spoke about the need to continue the campaign to boycott “Israeli” wine and all such products stolen from Palestinian and Syrian land. He noted that the BC authorities had removed Russian vodka from its shelves within a day of the Ukraine war beginning, but has ignored the calls from the Palestinian community for over 15 years, connecting this to Canadian federal policy which continues to protect Zionist racism against the Palestinian people.
He noted that the occupation can no longer rely on an unchanging international balance of power, noting the rise of a multipolar world and growing strength in the East and South of the globe, while the U.S. empire and its fellow Western imperialist powers supporting the colonization of Palestine are in retreat.
Samidoun Vancouver is continuing to organize events and activities in Vancouver for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners and all of Palestine. Contact us at vancouver@samidoun.net or on Twitter or Instagram to get involved.
On 17 February, 1942, Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party (BPP), historical figure of the Black Panthers, was born. For the preface to his autobiography, Revolutionary Suicide , published by Premiers Matins Novembre in rench, Ahmad Sa’adat, general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), evoked three of the longest-held political prisoners in the world.
“Whether they are called Mumia Abu-Jamal, Walid Daqqah or Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, political prisoners behind bars can and must be a priority for our movements
Mumia Abu-Jamal has been imprisoned since December 9, 1981 in the United States
Walid Daqqah has been imprisoned since March 25, 1986 in Israeli occupation prisons
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been imprisoned since October 24, 1984 in France
On Saturday, 1 April, the Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine, in Charleroi, Belgium, organized a stand for Palestine in Place Verte in Charleroi calling for the release of Georges Abdallah and Walid Daqqah. The Plate-forme is an affiliate of the Samidoun Network.
They distributed flyers and information, and many people, especially youth, took photos to show their solidarity.
Sunday, 2 April marks the 72nd birthday of Georges Abdallah, the Arab communist and Palestinian resistance fighter imprisoned in France since 1984. On this occasion, the Unitary Campaign for the Release of Georges Abdallah initiated an international week of action from March 25 to April 2.
Many passers-by responded to our invitation to write to Georges and to send cards to Macron, calling upon him to sign the order for Georges’ expulsion to Lebanon. As he has been eligible for release since 1999, this is in fact the primary obstacle preventing Georges from returning to his family in Lebanon.
Because the life of the political prisoner Walid Daqqah is in danger, we also informed the people who visited our stand about him. Many of them underlined the cruelty of the occupation and colonization of Palestine and expressed their wishes to join our future actions.
Parallel Time
“We are part of a history, and history obviously is a state of past events that have ended, except for us; for us it is a continuous past that never ends. We communicate with you from it as a present that shouldn’t be your future. Our time is different from yours, for time here does not pace itself on the axis of past, present, and future. Our time, which flows in the lingering place, dropped the concepts of conventional time and space from our language, or it confused them, if you wish. Here, we don’t ask when and where we shall meet, for example, for we have met and keep meeting at the same place. Here, we travel at ease, back and forth, on the axis of the past and present, and every moment, post presentness, is an unknown future that we are not capable to deal with. We have no control over our future, and our case is quite similar to that of all Arab peoples. Yet, there is a substantial difference: our occupation is foreign and theirs is Arab. Here we are in captivity because we search for a future, while their future has been buried alive.”
Letter to a Comrade (excerpt)
“To depict life in prison, I always use the trope of a train car. Closed and with no windows. In order to know where this wagon took you, and what distance it traveled, or perhaps in order to know the speed, you must drill a hole in the wall. Writing or painting are drilling a hole. Responses I receive as a feedback on what I produce […] are the scenes of nature I see through this opening, the mountains and the trees— what indicate my time, place and speed. There have been always, inside the wagon, well-versed “travelers” who read your text, and tell you where we are at, and what the train’s speed is. However, those veterans remain travelers like myself, and all the time I need not appreciation, but rather a certain view from the outside of the parallel time.”
