New song highlights call to boycott G4S

27 December 2015

Activist singer/songwriter Dave Lippman has released a song highlighting the campaign to Boycott G4S, the multinational Danish-British security corporation that provides security systems, control rooms and equipment to Israeli prisons and detention centers, checkpoints and police training centers. Despite the documentation of G4S’ involvement in human rights abuses in Palestine, Canada, Australia, the UK and elsewhere, a call from Palestinian prisoners to boycott G4S, and hundreds of international organizations demanding boycott, the United Nations continues to maintain contracts with G4S. G4S contracts have been cancelled around the world in response to popular pressure.

Video (images from Addameer):

Lippman writes:

“G4S claims to be in the security business. But actually they increase insecurity, first for Palestinians, then for Israel, which is burying itself under a pile of lies and expropriations of other peoples’ lands. What time is it? Time to boycott, divest, divorce, cancel, and condemn. Footage from by Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and the G4S corporation.

Lyrics:
We want to help the whole world
End poverty and war
But it’s you before me except when we see
Who you’re building prisons for

Now, now, now you try to tell us
You do security
But you support settlements
And prisons where people rot in obscurity

G4S, puts Palestine in distress
Helps Israel to dispossess, so I guess
G4S we’re gonna boycott you

Come on get your prisons out of Palestine
Mass incarceration’s where you really shine
I’m a gonna teach you how to shut it down
Come on, you’re complicit, now turn your self around

Surveillance and occupation
Are the branches of their business tree
And until we cancel their contracts
You know the people can never be free

How, how, how, how to stop the suffering
USA & Palestine, boycott, divest, add the two
Listen to me people, that’s all you gotta do

G4S, puts Palestine in distress
Helps Israel to dispossess, so I guess
G4S we’re gonna boycott you

BBC has cut ties
So have universities
Trade unions, churches, charities
Even banks and the Europe-ans
That’s the future we will see
Boycott, divest, you and me”

Brussels protest calls for justice and liberation for Palestine – and for Omar Nayef Zayed

27 December 2015

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network – Europe participated in a demonstration in Brussels, Belgium on 27 December, marking the anniversary of Israel’s “Cast Lead” assault on Gaza in 2009. The demonstration, organized by Mouvement Citoyen Palestine, gathered at Brussels’ Avenue Stalingrad to express support for the Palestinian resistance and the intifada, to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, to demand freedom for Palestinian political prisoners and justice and freedom for Palestine.

Samidoun activists carried posters of Omar Nayef Zayed, the Palestinian liberated prisoner who is now being pursued for extradition by the Israeli state after living 22 years in Bulgaria. Omar Zayed is threatened once again with Israeli torture and imprisonment, and it is a priority for Palestinian and solidarity activists across Europe to demand that the extradition request for Omar be denied by the Bulgarian state, as this is a political matter and Omar is a former Palestinian political prisoner. Calling for “Justice for Omar,” activists highlighted his case and the campaign in solidarity with him, noting that his case is not individual but carries serious implications for Palestinians throughout Europe, in particular former political prisoners. To take action for Omar, please click here: https://samidoun.net/2015/12/urgent-action-stop-extradition-of-omar-nayef-zayed-former-palestinian-prisoner-from-bulgaria/

Demonstrators chanted in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against European complicity with Israeli crimes, demanding freedom for Palestinian prisoners and for Palestine, from the river to the sea. Youth, families and children participated in the protest, leading the chanting and carrying large Palestinian flags and banners.

Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and activist and the coordinator of the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat spoke at the event, urging support for the current intifada rising up in Palestine and for the Palestinian people’s struggle, and emphasizing the importance of international solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, demanding their freedom.

The protest, calling for an end to the blockade on Gaza, the demolition of the Apartheid Wall, the end of Israeli occupation, the right of return of Palestinian refugees, freedom for all Palestinian prisoners, and support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and for the Palestinian resistance, was endorsed by Mouvement citoyen Belgique, Le Comité Verviers Palestine, ESG asbl, Fewla Lutte Mapuche, Bruxelles Panthères, Comité des parents contre les violences policières à Molenbeek, La Nouvelle Voie Anticoloniale, Ligue Communiste des Travailleurs – Communistische Werkersbond, JOC Wallonie-Bruxelles, and Palestina Solidariteit.

Photos by Charlotte Kates, Mahmoud Alsaadi, Cecile Harnie:

Take Action: New website, online actions to #FreeAhmadManasrah, imprisoned Palestinian boy

27 December 2015

The Campaign to #FreeAhmadManasrah, the 13-year-old Palestinian boy who was rammed by a car, abused by settlers from police, and is facing trial in an Israeli military court, has launched a new website: http://freeahmadmanasrah.com/

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network supports the campaign to Free Ahmad Manasrah, and encourages all to participate in the social media campaign below, scheduled for Monday, 28 December, and to join our protest in New York City on 8 January at 4 PM to free Ahmad Manasrah and all Palestinian prisoners.

Monday, December 28 at 9 PM – 10 PM

The Global Campaign to #FreeAhmadManasrah is inviting you to speak up and raise your voice for justice by tweeting with us on Twitter and Posting Facebook, every Monday at 09:00 PM Jerusalem time, 2PM EST time, using this hashtag #FreeAhmadManasrah

We are aiming to use Social media to wake the world up to what Israel is doing to Ahmad Manasrah and all the abused children behind Israeli prison bars.

** Children aged 13 can be arrested and tried, but they can’t be sentenced to jail unless they have turned 14 by the time the sentence is handed down.

The Prosecution plans to postpone Ahmad’s trial until January 2016; until he reaches the age of 14 which allows them to put him in jail for a long period of time.

*** Why this is important? ****

Ahmad’s case represents other 400+ Palestinian children who went through pretty much the same experience, some of them went through more! But because there were no leaked videos of their savage arrest & abusive interrogation methods, noone knows about them!

By Helping Ahmad’s case go viral, you will be helping all the Palestinian Children who lives under occupation!

RAISE your voice for humanity! Prevent more terrorism against Manasrah and his brothers!
Imagine if Ahmed was your son or brother, would you stand still?

Join us and show your solidarity with the children of Palestine.
Contact us:
On Facebook
Free Ahmad Manasrah: https://www.facebook.com/Free-Ahmad-Manasrah-1662097660702732/
On Twitter: @Help_Ahmad

Take Action: Free Mohammed Abu Sakha, Trainer/Performer of the Palestinian Circus School

26 December 2015

The Palestinian Circus School has issued a call for action for Mohammed Abu Sakha, a trainer/performer at the school, who was issued an administrative detention order for imprisonment without charge or trial by the Israeli military courts. Follow all updates on Mohammed’s case at their site: http://www.palcircus.ps/en/content/freeabusakha-trainer-and-performer-palestinian-circus-school

Last Monday, December 14, Israeli soldiers arrested a member of the circus family, Mohammad Faisal Abu Sakha, 23 years old, at Zaatara checkpoint, while on his way from his family home in Jenin to Ramallah to attend a music concert. Mohammad has been detained for a week now, and is being kept in military detention centers in the West Bank. Palestinians arrested under Israeli military law, are mostly exposed to serious physical and psychological violence, transfers and harsh interrogations, sometimes aiming to obtain false confessions.

Mohammad is part of the Palestinian Circus School since 2007, first as a student and since 2011 as a full time trainer and performer. Mohammad is very passionate about his work in general and about the social programs of the school in particular. He’s known with his magic ability to draw smiles on all people’s faces. Mohammed his entire life is dedicated to the circus.

He was arrested without any reason and no charge was made against him.

December 22, in Military Court at Salem, Mohammed AbuSakha was given administrative detention, but no charges were presented against him. Administrative detention can lead to from 3 months up to indefinite detention, without the need for any charge to be presented against him.

We strongly condemn the arbitrary detention of our colleague and friend and ask you to join us in solidarity to free Mohammed AbuSakha so he can come back and be with his students, his colleges and his family.

TAKE ACTION:

1. Sign the Global Petition to free Mohammed Abu Sakha: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Israeli_Defense_Forces_Free_circus_trainer_and_artist_Mohammed_Faisal_Abu_Sakha/

2. For supporters in France, sign this petition to the French government: https://secure.avaaz.org/fr/petition/Monsieur_Laurent_Fabius_Liberte_pour_Mohammad_Faisal_Abu_Sakha

3. Contact members of your National Parliament or from the European Parliament, political representatives, Ministries of Foreign Affairs or your diplomatic missions. They can enquire about the illegal arbitrary detention of Mohammed Faisal Abu Sakha.

4. Contact your media to bring the story of our arbitrarily detained circus trainer and performer and the illegality of the use of administrative detention without charges.

5. Share this statement and call for action with all your contacts. Twitter, Facebook, mails…

6. Set up an action in front of the Israeli consulate or embassy in your country. Set up an event, a protest

VIDEO:

Samidoun joins New York City protest against Trump racism and US repression

26 December 2015

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joined hundreds of New Yorkers and dozens of organizations in a coalition of student, Muslim, antiwar, migrant justice and anti-racist groups for a demonstration on Sunday, 20 December 2015 outside Trump Tower in New York City, denouncing the racism of US right-wing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, and its promotion in the U.S, media. Demonstrators marched from Trump Tower to CNN headquarters in New York City.

“Our outrage over the racism that is polluting the media must be galvanized into mass mobilization so that the world can see that progressive people will not tolerate racism,” said Larry Holmes of the Peoples Power Assemblies. “We will not allow Paris, or San Bernadino to be used as an excuse for racism and repression.”

“Moreover, Trump is helping to lay the basis for an intensification of the war against people of color. That war includes, but is in no sense limited to, racial profiling, murder and brutality at the hand of the police, even greater mass deportations, mass incarceration, war and occupation,” wrote Joe Piette, pointing out that various Democratic and Republican Party politicians condemn Trump for his overtly racist language while at the same time pushing and enforcing practices and policies that expand profiling, surveillance, repression and global bombing and war in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.

“We salute the dozens of brave youth, migrant and anti-racist activists who braved terrifying punches, hair-pulling and racial slurs as they stood up to Trump’s fanatical supporters,” said Sara Flounders of the International Action Center. “New York is well acquainted with Trump’s racism, going back to 1989 when he financed a racist media campaign to reinstate the death penalty and execute the ‘Central Park Five.’ The five youths after years in prison were proven innocent,” Flounders said.

Samidoun’s signs, linking Zionist racism and repression in Palestine to U.S. racism and repression, were widely seen at the rally, including “Demolish Colonial Walls – from the Southwest to Occupied Palestine” and “Fight Racist Repression – from Killer Cops to Zionist Prisons.”

Photos by Joe Catron and Joe Piette:

8 January, NYC: Protest to stop G4S, #FreeAhmadManasrah and all Palestinian prisoners

26 December 2015

Friday, 8 January
4:00 pm
G4S Offices, NYC – 17 W 44th St, NYC
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/533789226784553/
Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Ahmad Manasrah, a 13-year-old Palestinian, was shot in occupied Jerusalem on 10 October. The hail of bullets, fired by Israeli occupation forces, killed his cousin, 15-year-old Hassan Manasrah.

As Ahmad lay bleeding and gasping for help, occupation forces and other settlers surrounded him, cursing and kicking his injured body as an ambulance idled nearby. A video of the vicious attack, captured on a cell phone by one of the mob and later uploaded to the Internet, shocked thousands.

Later occupation forces interrogated Ahmad without his parents or an attorney. A leaked video of the encounter shows them hurling insults and threats until he agreed to give them whatever confession they wanted. They then charged him with participation in a knife attack on Israeli settlers.

G4S, the world’s largest firm company and second-biggest private employer, equips Israeli prisons and detention centers where Palestinian political prisoners, including children like Ahmad, are held and tortured, as well as the occupation forces and infrastructure that routinely massacre Palestinians while holding millions under military rule.

Join us to answer a united appeal by Palestinian prisoners for escalated boycotts of G4S and support a growing international campaign to win Ahmad’s freedom.

Demand G4S immediately end its contracts with Israeli prisons and detention centers, occupation and security forces and checkpoints, and that Israel release Ahmad and all Palestinian prisoners.

Support the Palestinian people, the Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian Resistance, and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Video: Joe Catron on hunger strike of 25 Palestinian political prisoners held in Etzion jail

26 December 2015

25 Palestinian political prisoners held by the Israeli occupation in Etzion jail – a detention center attached to the Gush Etzion illegal settlement on Palestinian land – have launched a hunger strike against their conditions of detention, noting that two Palestinian prisoners had been attacked by Israeli military forces, while prisoners held in the jail are suffering from poor conditions and a lack of basic needs. Ma’an reported that the hunger strikers include “Abdul-Rahim Zamara, 24, and Yazan Marqtan, 23, who had both been violently assaulted by members of Israel’s prison service with the butts of rifles repeatedly during their detention.”

Detention centers like the one in Etzion are often used by the Israeli occupation to confine newly arrested Palestinians under interrogation or prior to charging in military court or the issuance of administrative detention orders without charge or trial. Amid the growing number of mass arrests carried out by the Israeli military (there are now over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held by the Israeli occupation), the occupation military forces have been holding an increasing number of Palestinian prisoners in these detention centers, in crowded, unsanitary and unsafe conditions, often lacking basic personal goods and winter needs such as blankets. Two weeks ago, 21 Palestinian political prisoners held in Huwarra jail – another detention center – launched a hunger strike that continued until their transfer.

Joe Catron, journalist, activist and Samidoun organizer, conducted an interview with Press TV, in which he discussed Palestinian political prisoners’ experience of confinement, torture and abuse and the escalating Israeli attacks on Palestinian resistance. He also addressed the complicity of the United Nations and international governments, including the US government, in the ongoing Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people, and highlighted the international campaign to call upon the United Nations to end its contracts with G4S, the security corporation that provides security systems to Israeli prisons, checkpoints and detention centers.

Video:

A full transcript of Catron’s interview is available via Press TV: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/12/25/443204/Israel-Palestine-hunger-strike-prisoners-torture-UN-US/

17 January, NYC: 20th Annual Tribute to Black Freedom Fighters and Political Prisoners

26 December 2015

Sunday, 17 January
3 pm to 7 pm (dinner at 4 pm)
Martin Luther King Jr 1199 Labor Center
310 W. 43rd Street, NYC
Tickets $45 at the door, $40 in advance. Tickets available online: http://mxcc519.org/
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/499440106902844

On Sunday, January 17th, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee will host its 20th anniversary of their enduring annual tribute to Black Political Prisoners and their Families!

This moving event will place at the Martin Luther King Jr., 1199 Labor Center, located at 310 West 43rd Street in Manhattan. The event is from 3-7pm with dinner served promptly at 4pm.

The theme of this milestone event is “800 Years: Legacy, Commitment, Sacrifice, Honoring Our Captive Black Freedom Fighters!”

This incredible event will be highlighted by special guest speakers Sekou Odinga and Lynne Stewart, both recently released freedom fighters! Odinga, a veteran of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, endured 33 years in the NY prison system. Stewart, a brave and much beloved people’s lawyer nearly died in prison from breast cancer, but was released on the consequence of a mass medically compassionate release campaign.

“While we are proud to have reached this milestone with a consistency of effort that our freedom fighters’ and their families appreciate with our 20th anniversary dinner tribute, we must underscore that the challenge of our commitment is a consequence of the insidious nature of this issue,” explained a guardedly passionate Dequi Kioni-Sadiki, the organization’s chair.

“It is underscored by the fact that the overwhelmingly majority of our freedom fighters, after 20, 30, and 40 years, are still in captivity,” she finished.

Zayid Muhammad, the organization’s press officer and last surviving founding member, echoed those sentiments.

“20 years of solid consistent work is one thing,” he said.

“But our freedom fighters enduring over 800 years of captivity, over 800 years of captivity, is something else.
“We continue to insist that our freedom fighters are Malcolm’s tragically still ‘hidden legacy’ and that it is time that this government’s dirty political prisoner secret be put on blast before the world,” he finished pointedly.

TIckets for this moving event are $40 in advance and $45 at the door. Validated parking will be available. Tickets available online: http://mxcc519.org/

For more information about the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, please call 718 512 5008 or by email mxcc519@gmail.com

8 January, NYC: 73rd Birthday Celebration of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera

26 December 2015

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network strongly supports the below event organized by ProLibertad and the movement to free Puerto Rican political prisoners from US jails, and urges all to attend. We join the call to free Oscar Lopez Rivera, an imprisoned struggler against colonialism, imprisoned by the US, just as we call for the freedom of imprisoned Palestinian strugglers against colonialism.

Friday January 8th, 2016, @ 7 pm-10 pm
1199/Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Labor Center 310 W. 43rd St. 7th Floor
(Take the A,C, E, 1, 2, 3, 7, N, R, Q To 42nd St. Times Square/Port Authority)

Join us Friday January 8th, 2016, as we celebrate Oscar Lopez Rivera’s 73rd birthday!

For the past 34 years, Oscar has spent his birthday (January 6th) in prison without his family or friends! Why is he in jail? For being a revolutionary who fought for the independence of Puerto Rico from U.S. colonialism.

Join us we celebrate life, work, and legacy of this extraordinary man!
100% of the proceeds will go to Oscar’s commissary fund!

Poetry by:
Rafael Landron, Jesus Papoleto Melendez, and Mariposa

Special Invited Guests:
Representatives of the Cuban Mission to the United Nations
Representative of The Venezuelan Consulate
Lynne Stewart, former Political Prisoner
Daniel McGowan, former Political Prisoner
Nelson Denis, author of “War against all Puerto Ricans”
Estela Vasquez, 1199/SEIU
Dr. Johanna Fernandez, Campaign to Bring Mumia Home
Laura Whitehorn, former Political Prisoner
Francisco “Cisco” Torres, of the San Francisco 8

Artisans:
Botanicafe and Jesus Mangual/Taino Cemí

Food, Music, Poetry, Birthday cards for Oscar and Fun! Donation: $5-$10

(No one will be turned away due to lack of funds)

Sponsors: The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign; Las 34 Mujeres NYC por Oscar; Call to Action on Puerto Rico; Frente Socialista NYC; PIP-NYC; NYC Jericho; Malcolm X Commemorative Committee; SODC; NYC Free Peltier; NYC Anarchist Black Cross; Daniel McGowan, Former Political Prisoner; The Campaign to Bring Mumia home; Freedom Socialist Party; Radical Women; International Action Center; Resistance in Brooklyn; Free Mumia Coalition NYC; New Abolitionist Movement; Lynne Stewart Organization; NY Fee Leonard Peltier. List still information…

28 December, San Francisco: Stop Sleep Deprivation at Pelican Bay

26 December 2015

RALLY MON. DEC. 28, 2015, 10AM in SAN FRANCISCO,
AND MAKE PHONE CALLS.
Share the Facebook event and invite your friends!

Join the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition on Monday, December 28th outside the San Francisco Federal Courthouse for a rally against the so-called “welfare checks,“that since August 2nd, have been waking up men in Pelican Bay SHU (solitary confinement) every 20-30 minutes, 24/7.

As of December 28th, these men will have been tortured with sleep deprivation for 148 days!

Lawyers and CDCr officials will be meeting inside SF Federal Court at 11:00am. We want to show them that these checks are TORTURE and that they need to STOP NOW!

We know that interrupted sleep can cause serious mental and physical health problems. John R. Martinez, who has been in Pelican Bay SHU for over a decade, …wrote: “…there is a reasonable probability that life-threatening injuries and/or even death is inevitable, as medical symptoms are only worsening but not being treated.” CDCr claims the checks are to prevent suicide, but knowing these detrimental effects of sleep deprivation, we’re worried the checks could actually lead to someone committing suicide or developing permanent disabling, and potentially terminal illnesses and conditions.

OTHER ACTIONS you can take (without leaving your home!):

1. Call to advocate for the 30 minute checks to stop, stating that sleep deprivation is torture. Some offices may require your name, city, and zip code.

•CDCR Secretary’s Office: 916-323-6001
•CDCR Director of Adult Divisions, Kelly Harrington (he): 916-445-7688
•Senator Loni Hancock, Chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee: 916-651-4009
•Assembly Member Bill Quirk, Chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee: 916-319-2020

2. Forward this information to your networks to make it known widely that this torture may continue unless we, along with allied lawyers, put pressure to stop it!

Follow us on Instagram @samidounnetwork