On Saturday, 29 October, 2022, Mohammed Khatib, the Europe coordinator of Samidoun and member of the central follow-up committee of the Masar Badil, Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, delivered the main speech of the movement at the March for Return and Liberation in Brussels. See and hear his speech in this video (full text below):
Also, make sure not to miss this video with highlights from the March:
Full text of Mohammed’s speech below:
Hello comrades:
We stand here in front of this colonial institution that committed genocide after genocide not only against the Palestinians, but also against all the people of the Global South.
So we stand in solidarity as Palestinians with all of you who are present, and also with all the people of the world who are oppressed and paid the big heavy price of this heavy colonial machine that stands based on our blood and suffering.
We stand here as Palestinians today representing the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path. We are not an alternative to the resistance.
We call on you to join Samidoun, join Al Karama, join any local organization with a clear politics on Palestine.
We will not accept anymore, as Palestinians, this rhetoric of “two-state solution,” as a way, to support Palestine. Only one free Palestine
from the river to the sea.
If you want to support the Palestinians, you have to listen to the Palestinian refugees. You have to listen to the Palestinian resistance. And you have to follow their path. This is Palestine for us.
Our free Palestine, where everyone, every human to live in equal basis in dignity. This is how we struggle and this is what we struggle for.
So we have to declare from here, as Palestinians, first and second and third generation of the diaspora. Half of us we are today European citizens as well.
We will not give up on practicing our right of being part, an essential part, of our people’s struggle. We are not in solidarity with the Palestinians. We are all here the Palestinians, Arabs and internationals and Jewish.
Being Palestinian is not about the blood. Being Palestinian is about believing in the liberation identity.
We are not fascists. We are not extremists, we believe in a human dignity. So being a Palestinian, it’s a matter of believing in the rights of the Palestinian people to be liberated. And this is not only because the Palestinian people are special.
Defeating Israel means defeating the US. Defeating Israel means defeating Canada, these settlements that exist on the backs of the Indigenous people and Black people.
Defeating Israel means defeating this colonial institution, means payback for all Africans, Algerians, Moroccans, Sahraoui, second and third generations who are in Brussels. We’ve built this city and we still face fascism and racism.
So we will say no to this not only in Palestine, but here in Europe, there in the United States and in all Arab countries.
Together, as comrade Georges Abdallah said, we must gather together and we will win only together.
We have a comrade. His name is Samah Idriss. He’s one of the co-founders of the Palestinian Alternative Path and he passed away in Beirut. We commemorate him here. We don’t forget our comrades and martyrs, we don’t forget our leaders who gave money and blood and effort for building the movement.
Comrade Samah Idriss used to say in Arabic, “If we give up Palestine, we give up ourselves.” We will not give up Palestine!
On Thursday, 3 November, Palestinian struggler and liberated prisoner, Fatima Bernawi, the first Palestinian woman prisoner of the modern Palestinian revolutionary era and a prominent Afro-Palestinian figure, passed away in the Palestine Hospital in Cairo, Egypt at the age of 83. Bernawi was renowned as a symbol of Palestinian women’s participation and the participation of Palestinians of African descent in the armed struggle and the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.
Bernawi was born in Jerusalem in 1939 to her Nigerian father and Palestinian mother. In 1948, she was forced to a refugee camp near Amman with her mother before returning to Jerusalem, where her father had remained, in 1960; they lived in the African quarter of Jerusalem. At the age of 9, Bernawi had earlier smuggled herself into Jerusalem to reunite with her father. Bernawi’s father had been an active participant in the 1936-39 revolution in Palestine and in the defense of Palestine during al-Nakba, and she became an early member of the newly formed Fateh movement.
Bernawi worked as an UNRWA nurse in Qalqilya during the 1967 occupation and saw firsthand the impacts of the Zionist onslaught on the West Bank of Palestine. She would later declare that she undertook armed struggle “because you destroyed Qalqilya,” in a statement to the interrogators who held her.
She was one of the first women to plan an armed operation in Palestine, the attempted bombing of a cinema screening a film celebrating the occupation of 1967 in Jerusalem; she and a fellow woman freedom fighter left behind a handbag containing an explosive. Although it was found before being detonated, she was seized by occupation forces on 19 October 1967 and became the first Palestinian woman political prisoner of the contemporary Palestinian revolution.
She was sentenced to 30 years in prison and was released on 11 November 1977 in a prisoner release agreement. She was exiled to Jordan and then Lebanon under the exchange terms, where she returned to the Palestinian revolution as a member of social organizations. She later returned to Gaza in 1994 and lived with her husband, fellow liberated prisoner Fawzi al-Nimr, who died last year. She and al-Nimr have lived in Cairo for the past several years. Al-Nimr, who had been a fighter with the Akkawi group that targeted specific Zionist military installations, served over 15 years in occupation prisons with his comrades, and he was freed in an exchange with the Palestinian resistance in May 1985.
Her sister, Enaam Bernawi, was jailed for one year alongside her sister. During Fatima Bernawi’s time in the occupation prisons, she was jailed with fellow Palestinian woman freedom fighter Zakia Shammout, who was pregnant and gave birth in her prison cell accompanied by her fellow women prisoners. As a trained nurse, Bernawi cut the umbilical cord and ensured the life and health of Shammout and her daughter, Nadia.
While Bernawi was the first Palestinian woman prisoner of the contemporary (post-1967) Palestinian revolution, she was always certain to cite fellow Palestinian women who had been jailed in the two decades of occupation prior, including many women detained, held in forced labour camps and subjected to harsh violence by occupation soldiers during the Nakba, as well as notable Palestinians like Ikhlas Ali, jailed for teaching children revolutionary songs in Palestine ’48, and Nayfeh Akilah, a member of Al-Ard group — one of the first Palestinian revolutionary organizations formed following the Nakba — accused of sharing military information about Zionist forces with the Syrian army in 1956.
One journalist who interviewed Bernawi recalled that she discussed a memorable interation with Omar al-Qasim, the imprisoned leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine who is renowned for his role in sparking Palestinian armed resistance inside the occupied West Bank of Palestine as well as for his later leading role in the prisoners’ movement. Both she and al-Qasim were brought by occupation soldiers where several Palestinian resistance fighters were holding Zionist military trainees hostage, while prison guards demanded they use a megaphone to call on the fighters to let the soldiers go. Bernawi refused to speak through the megaphone at all, while al-Qasim took up the megaphone and instead called on the fighters to carry through with the orders of their leadership. Al-Qasim was beaten and dragged away by occupation forces; later, in 1989, he died in Israeli occupation prisons after lengthy medical neglect and following weeks of appeals by his family for his freedom.
Along with Dalal al-Mughrabi, Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, and Leila Khaled, Bernawi remained a symbol of Palestinian women’s steadfastness and commitment by all means to liberate their homeland from the river to the sea. In fact, Bernawi met Dalal al-Mughrabi before she led her commando operation to occupied Palestine, although she was not aware of the operation planned; al-Mughrabi told Bernawi, “I am going to the place you came from.” Bernawi understood the full meaning of al-Mughrabi’s words when she received news of the commando operation and her martyrdom.
Fellow freed prisoner Aisha Odeh saluted Bernawi in a Facebook post: “Goodbye Fatima Bernawi, daughter of Jerusalem and great fighter, the first to seek freedom and dignity and refuse defeat…she became a beacon for us, guiding us to the path of struggle,” Odeh wrote.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the life and struggle of Fatima Bernawi, who lived for the liberation of Palestine and who inspired generations of Palestinian women and men to join the liberation movement. A symbol of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, her life and story once again remind us of the centrality of the Palestinian prisoners of today in continuing to lead the resistance for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.
Israeli occupation officials have once again violated an agreement with a Palestinian prisoner, renewing the detention of Raed Rayan for another 6 months without charge or trial. Rayan had concluded a 113-day hunger strike in July 2022 with an agreement for his release on Thursday, 3 November, after the expiration of his administrative detention order. Now, tensions inside the occupation prisons are escalating as Palestinian prisoners are acting to demand Rayan’s immediate release.
Approximately 40 Palestinian prisoners from the Fateh movement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Ofer prison and the Negev desert prison have announced that they are planning to launch an open hunger strike if Rayan is not released. The extension of Rayan’s detention not only directly violates the agreement that concluded his 113-day hunger strike but also follows the 19-day hunger strike of administrative detainees to put an end to the repeated renewal of detention.
Raed Rayan, 28, from Beit Duqqu northwest of occupied Jerusalem, has been on hunger strike since April 2022, when his administrative detention was last renewed. He has been imprisoned without charge or trial under administrative detention since 3 November 2021. He had been released from his last period of detention without charge or trial only months before, in April 2021.
Administrative detention was first used in Palestine by the British colonial mandate and then adopted by the Zionist regime; it is now used routinely to target Palestinians, especially community leaders, activists, and influential people in their towns, camps and villages.
There are currently approximately 800 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,650 Palestinian political prisoners. These orders are issued by the military and approved by military courts on the basis of “secret evidence”, denied to both Palestinian detainees and their attorneys. Issued for up to six months at a time, they are indefinitely renewable, and Palestinians — including minor children — can spend years jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention.
Israeli occupation authorities repeatedly violate the agreements for release obtained by Palestinian prisoners through lengthy hunger strikes. Most recently, Khalil Awawdeh won his release after 182 days of hunger strike; while his administrative detention was not renewed, Zionist forces have now accused him of trying to bring a mobile phone back to the Ramle prison clinic and have detained him for weeks past his scheduled release date.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in demanding the immediate liberation of Raed Rayan, Khalil Awawdeh and all Palestinian prisoners. All of the governments — such as those of the United States, Canada and European states — that continue to support the Israeli colonization of Palestine are implicated in these ongoing crimes. We urge supporters of Palestine to take action to free Raed, all Palestinian prisoners, and Palestine, from the river to the sea!
Protest in your city or country!
Join the many protests taking place around the world — confront, isolate and besiege the Israeli embassy or consulate in your city or country of residence. Or take to the streets in your neighborhood, on your campus or at a government building in your area. Make it clear that the people are with Palestine! Send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net.
Boycott Israel!
The international, Arab and Palestinian campaign to boycott Israel can play an important role at this critical time. Local boycott groups can protest and label Israeli produce and groceries, while many complicit corporations – including HP, G4S, Puma, Teva and others, profit from their role in support Zionist colonialism throughout occupied Palestine. By participating in the boycott of Israel, you can directly help to throw a wrench in the economy of settler colonialism.
Use these Posters and Signs:
Spread awareness by posting these signs and posters in your community or carrying them during your demonstrations:
Join us at 2p on Saturday November 5th at the Omni Hotel (450 Summer St, Boston) as we let the Jewish National Fund (JNF) know that their colonizer conference will not be tolerated in Boston!
The JNF’s national conference this year will be held at the Omni Hotel in Boston’s Seaport area from November 4-6. Consistent with the JNF’s broader work, it is hosting this conference to amplify its poisonous zionist message and assist illegal settlements in Palestine. As members of the greater Boston Palestinian and Palestine solidarity communities, we are disgusted by this blatant zionist propaganda and refuse to allow this conference to happen quietly in Boston.
Why the JNF? – the JNF has played an active role in the displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in their own lands since 1901. The JNF works hand -in-glove with the Israeli military and conducts greenwashing campaigns to raze Palestinian villages and replace them with parks.
This year’s conference has meetings for several “task forces” for strategic planning to expand illegal settlements on Palestinian land. Follow the Shut Down JNF accounts and stay tuned for more info about the horrific details of this event and how you can show up to disrupt it.
For the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea and the right to return of all Palestinians
To support the Palestinian people, their resistance and their liberation movement
For the release of all Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli, PA, Arab reactionary and imperialist prisons, including the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Lebanese struggler for Palestine jailed in France for 38 years.
To end the blockade and siege on Gaza
To demand and implement the total boycott of the Israeli occupation, including kicking Israel out of the United Nations and bringing an end to the “EU-Israel Association Agreement”
To denounce the responsibility of imperialist powers in forming, funding and arming the Zionist colonial regime in Palestine
To demand an end to the listing of resistance organizations and rights defenders as “terrorists” and the repression of Palestinian organizing by the US, EU and others
To confront the collaborationist role of the Palestinian Authority and the so-called “peace process” and the normalization projects being pursued by reactionary Arab regimes under imperialist auspices.
To honour the activists, leaders, strugglers and organizers assassinated by the occupation forces, especially those in Europe
Thousands participated in the March and associated events, with over 100 organizations endorsing the march organized by the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, its chapters and affiliate organizations, including Collectif Palestine Vaincra, Samidoun Deutschland, Samidoun Nederland, Samidoun Paris Banlieue and Samidoun Spain, participated widely in the March.
Belgian partner organizations Classe Contre Classe, Secours Rouge and the Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine played a crucial role in organizing the march while EuroPalestine brought multiple buses of participants from France. The photos below give just some glimpses of the enthusiasm, revolutionary optimism and commitment to Palestinian liberation on the streets of Brussels:
The March for Return and Liberation for Palestine filled the streets of Brussels near the European Parliament on Saturday, 29 October, following a week of activities and events leading up to the culmination of the march. The Week of Action for Return and Liberation was organized by a range of organizations, including Classe Contre Classe, Secours Rouge, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement.
The week unofficially launched on Saturday, 22 October with the mass march on Lannemezan prison, where Lebanese Communist struggler Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been jailed by France for over 38 years. The Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, organized buses and carpools from Toulouse that brought over 100 people to join the 1,000 marchers from collectives and organizations throughout France.
Moving to Brussels, on 24 October the week officially began in a packed room without enough seats for all attendees, which would become the standard throughout the week. The presentation by Luk Vervaet and Ahmed Frassini presented the French-language anthology “Sumud,” focusing on Palestinian political prisoners. Frassini spoke about the campaign to return the bodies of detained Palestinian prisoners that continue to be held by the Israeli occupation.
Once again, a Brussels bookshop was filled to overflowing on Tuesday, 25 October with a presentation of the Works of Mohammed Boudia at Météores. Boudia, an Algerian theatre director and fighter for Algerian independence, later joined the Palestinian revolution and fought in the ranks of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad in Paris in 1975.
One day later, Belgian, Arab and Palestinian young people filled the Sacco-Vanzetti space on Wednesday, 26 October as two activists from La Grue collective reported back from their experiences in Palestine, as well as showing films and videos highlighting current developments in the Palestinian cause.
On Thursday, 27 October, Manu Pineda, Member of European Parliament from Spain, convened a special forum on Palestinian refugees and the right to return in the Parliament building, where members of the Masar Badil, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and other organizations addressed European parliamentarians on the need to implement Palestinians’ right to return and put an end to European colonial complicity in Zionist colonialism in Palestine.
They urged a complete boycott of the Israeli occupation and ending gas deals based on the exploitation of stolen Palestinian natural resources, as well as ending the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which gives preferential treatment to the occupation in trade and funding.
On the evening of 27 October, Samidoun organized an international forum in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners. The event was facilitated by Thomas Hofland of Samidoun Netherlands, who spoke about Samidoun’s work and its goal to form a bridge between the Palestinian resistance strugglers jailed in Zionist prisons and the global movement.
He also discussed the role of Europe’s gas deals with the occupation, emphasizing the importance of campaigning to end the colonial plunder of Palestinian and Lebanese resources at the hands of the occupation for trade with Europe.
Mohammed Khatib, Europe coordinator of Samidoun, launched the event with a political introduction to the Palestinian cause, situating the Palestinian prisoners at the center of resistance to Zionism, imperialism and reactionary forces, including the so-called “Palestinian Authority.”
Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun, who had been denied entry to the European Union alongside Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat, the co-founder of the Masar Badil, spoke over video, giving an overview of the situation of Palestinian prisoners today and why it is so urgent to organize for their liberation.
Jaldia Abubakra of Samidoun Spain spoke about internationalism and the prisoners’ struggle, highlighting the need to link struggles against racism, fascism and imperialism in Europe with the liberation of Palestinian political prisoners, while a representative of Samidoun Deutschland spoke about their work organizing, especially, Palestinian and Arab youth and students, confronting various forms of repression and building solidarity with revolutionary movements
Nikola Becaut of the Collectif Palestine Vaincra spoke particularly about the campaign to free Georges Abdallah as a central point for mobilization, highlighting last weekend’s Lannemezan protest as a political gathering point to highlight not only Abdallah’s individual case but the Palestinian revolutionary movement.
On Friday, 28 October, the week continued on the eve of the March for Return and Liberation with a seminar organized by Secours Rouge on Palestine, internationalism and anti-imperialism. Over 200 people filled the hall at DK to hear veteran strugglers who had joined the Palestinian resistance historically. Recalling the influx of internationalist strugglers to the Palestinian revolution in the 1970s, the speakers discussed the lessons of that moment for today. Speakers included Ron Augustin, former member of the Red Army Faction, Ahmad, an Iranian comrade, and Torkil Lauesen, who appeared via video message.
Throughout the week, the Revolutionary Youth of Zurich (RJZ) held an exhibition at La Steka of the posters of revolutionary Swiss artist Marc Rudin, who joined the Palestinian revolution in Beirut and Damascus, creating many of the iconic images and posters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PLO and other organizations in the 1980s.
On Saturday morning, before the March, activists once again crowded into the Sacco-Vanzetti space for a meeting on Palestinian women’s organizing led by Jaldia Abubakra of Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization. Participants spoke about the potential of organizing Palestinian women, particularly in exile and diaspora, linking with global women’s movements and the liberation struggle.
Following the March, on Saturday, 30 October, events of the Week concluded with a youth meeting organized in the Sacco-Vanzetti space, where people discussed student organizing and the organizing of young workers, particularly Palestinian and Arab youth in exile. Finally, Khaled Barakat — denied entry to the EU — spoke in a videoconference lecture in Arabic on the life of Fathi Shiqaqi, the Palestinian doctor, scholar and founder of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, who was assassinated in Malta by occupation forces on 26 October 1995, and who had written and spoke at various times about the need for an “alternative Palestinian revolutionary path.”
The Week of Return and Liberation culminated in the mass march on Saturday, 29 October, endorsed by over 100 organizations and with wide participation from communities and organizations throughout Belgium, France and Europe, including a large delegation from EuroPalestine. The march moved through the streets of Brussels to the European Parliament with widespread popular participation and clear goals: support for the Palestinian resistance, implementation of the Palestinian right to return and the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!
Members of Samidoun Netherlands carried placards, Palestinian flags and signs in solidarity with Palestine and denouncing the refusal of entry to Barakat and Kates. They emphasized that repressive tactics would not hinder or suppress the Palestinian cause, noting that this delegation came as members and supporters of Samidoun Netherlands and the Palestine solidarity movement were planning to go to Brussels on Saturday for the demonstration.
“It is completely unacceptable that Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates were denied entry to the EU by the Netherlands for political reasons and subsequently deported,” Thomas Hofland, Samidoun Netherlands coordinator.
Khaled Barakat, a Palestinian native of Jerusalem, is one of the co-founders of the Masar Badil – the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement. Charlotte Kates is the international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.
Charlotte Kates said, “The European Union always talks about human rights, but ignores them when it comes to Palestine. Palestine activists in all EU countries face repression. This deportation is therefore not just an attack on Khaled and me, but on the Palestinian movement as a whole.”
“It is ironic that the Netherlands, a co-founder of the European Union, is deporting Charlotte and me as we embark on a week of activities and protests against European complicity in the Zionist colonization of Palestine and the murder of our Palestinian people,” said Khaled Barakat.
Barakat and Kates, who are married, were on their way from Canada to Brussels to take part in the Week of Return and Liberation of Palestine, a week of activities and protests for the Palestinian cause, which concludes on Saturday, October 29 with a big demonstration at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Marchers called for the return of Palestinian refugees, support for the Palestinian resistance, and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. Participants denounced Canadian complicity and involvement in the colonization of Palestine, demanding an end to Canadian imperialism in Palestine and everywhere. The march had a strong emphasis on internationalism, emphasizing the need to stand with Indigenous struggles on Turtle Island and to build solidarity with people’s movements confronting imperialism, such as the national democratic movement of the Philippines.
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
In the opening rally at the transit station, Callum of Samidoun Vancouver opened the rally with a strong call to action, highlighting the Palestinian struggle against Zionism, imperialism and reaction and saluting the Palestinian resistance organizing and struggling on the front lines, while leading the crowd in chants: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
Perry Sorio of BAYAN Canada spoke next; a former political prisoner in the jails of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines, he focused on the struggle of Palestinian political prisoners fighting back against administrative detention — arbitrary imprisonment without charge or trial — torture, and repression.
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
Finally, Hanna Kawas of the Canada Palestine Association delivered a powerful speech on the long-term role of Canadian imperialism in supporting Zionism, noting that many of the same Canadian right-wing forces who denied entry to Canada for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism were dedicated advocates of Zionist colonization. He linked the struggle for indigenous liberation on this land to the struggle for Palestinian liberation, emphasizing the urgent need to hold Canadian officials accountable for their hostile position toward Palestine.
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
Participants then took to the street to march down Commercial Drive, led by a banner reading: “Free Palestine: Resistance, Return, Liberation.” Participants carried Palestinian flags, banners, and posters urging freedom for Palestine and for Palestinian political prisoners, as well as for Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab struggler for Palestine jailed in France for over 38 years.
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
Along the route of the march, demonstrators stopped in front of a government-owned BC Liquor Store to demand an end to the sale of “Israeli wines,” including those produced in illegal colonial settlements in the West Bank of occupied Palestine and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
Aiyanas Ormond of BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish noted that the sale of these wines implicates British Columbia provincial officials in war crimes, calling for escalated pressure to end this trade. He highlighted the fact that new premier David Eby had previously refused to do anything about this trade in settlement products when he held the portfolio of the liquor stores. “Boycott Israeli Wines!” the participants chanted enthusiastically.
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
At the closing rally at Grandview Park, Natasha of the Vancouver Workers’ Assembly spoke about the link between local and global struggles, highlighting the necessity to confront settler colonialism on this land and stand with Indigenous struggles for sovereignty and self-determination. She emphasized that the battle to fight exploitation, poverty and racism is directly tied to the struggle against imperialism.
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
Next, Caesar and Sean of Anakbayan BC and Sulong UBC delivered a powerful message of solidarity to the Palestinian people and their resistance, led by Palestinian youth. They highlighted the struggle of the people of the Philippines to confront imperialism, fascism and dictatorship, emphasizing the connection between the national democratic movement of the Philippines and the Palestinian liberation struggle.
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
Trevor, a member of the national coordinating committee of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle – Canada, spoke about the urgent need for international solidarity with Palestine. He emphasized the connection between struggles for justice confronting imperialism and focused on the importance of confronting the criminalization of revolutionary movements for justice, in particular the use of the “terrorist” label to stigmatize movements resisting oppression and fighting for liberation.
The rally was closed with comments by Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. She spoke about the denial of entry that she and Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat, co-founder of the Masar Badil, faced when they attempted to enter Europe at Amsterdam airport to attend the Brussels events for the Week of Return and Liberation. She emphasized that this was a political action in line with European support for the colonization of Palestine, linking this with Canadian support for the colonization of Palestine. She saluted the Palestinian resistance as defenders of humanity and strugglers for liberation and emphasized that our struggle and organizing must continue until victory and freedom.
Photos: Michael YC Tseng
The march was part of a global action organized by the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement. Thousands of people marched in Brussels to the European Parliament to confront EU responsibility for Zionist war crimes in Palestine, while Palestinians in Gaza gathered at the colonial borders to demand an end to the siege. This Vancouver action embraced the demands and principles of these marches with global solidarity for Palestinian liberation.
The month of October 2022 marked a month of international mobilization for the immediate release of Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese Communist resistance fighter for Palestine imprisoned in France since 24 October 1984. Gathered around an international appeal initiated by the Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah and supported by many organizations, including Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Collectif Palestine Vaincra, various support committees organized rallies, solidarity stands, screenings of the film “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” , displays and distribution of leaflets, as well as other actions in support of the longest-held political prisoner in Europe. On Saturday October 22 in front of Lannemezan prison, this month culminated in the national demonstration for the release of the Lebanese communist struggler which brought together more than 1,000 people to demand his freedom.
Below are just some of the actions throughout France and internationally during the month, as gathered by the Collectif Palestine Vaincra:
FRANCE Paris/Paris region
The Unitary Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah organized many initiatives during this month of October, in particular the organization of a Parisian bus for the Lannemezan demonstration. For the launch of the campaign, they organized a support meal on September 23 at the UL CGT trade union building in the 18th arrondissement, which brought together many people.
In addition, they organized other initiatives, including press tables at universities and during other events, as well as several gatherings in Ménilmontant and Château Rouge on 30 September and 7 and 14 October.
Samidoun Paris Banlieue organized several initiatives as part of the month of mobilization for the release of Georges Abdallah.
In particular, these activists organized a solidarity stand in Aubervilliers, a campaign of displays and distribution of flyers in different places in the Paris region as well as a presence in support of Palestine and Georges Abdallah in several demonstrations.
During Ivry Decolonial Week, Kathy Peltier expressed her support for the release of Georges Abdallah. She is the daughter of Léonard Peltier, activist of the American Indian Movement unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1976.
During a rally organized by CAPJPO-EuroPalestine on 24 September, several speakers called for the release of Georges Abdallah.
On 10 October, the Collectif Boycott Apartheid Israel Paris-Banlieue and the AFPS Paris-Sud organized an information table in support of Georges Abdallah and the Palestinian prisoners on the campus of the University of Paris-Cité (Diderot).
A few days earlier, on 25 September, they had carried out an awareness and information campaign in Paris 13th arrondissement, highlighting these same issues.
On the occasion of the march against the high cost of living and climate inaction organized by the NUPES on 16 October, members of the Collectif 65 for the release of Georges Abdallah were present and visible to challenge the various left-wing parties and parliamentarians present on the case.
In Val-de-Marne, the Ligue de la Jeunesse Révolutionnaire reported that a banner had been posted demanding Abdallah’s freedom on the offices of the local council.
Toulouse
The Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the international Samidoun network and a leading force in the campaign to free Georges Abdallah, organized numerous stands in the city center of Toulouse and in the working-class district of Bagatelle and at the University of Mirail, distributing more than 12,000 flyers. Despite the attempted intimidation by the municipal police, the numerous distributions of flyers made it possible to reach thousands of people.
During the mass labor union demonstration on 29 September, the Collectif unfurled a large banner above the demonstration attracting the attention of thousands of people.
At the same time, the CPV initiated a united local appeal for the release of Georges Abdallah which was signed by more than 30 local organizations. Finally, more than a hundred people from Toulouse took part in the demonstration on 22 October with the organization of a bus, a mini-bus and carpooling.
On the eve of the Lannemezan march on 21 October, the Collectif organized a closing event of the month of mobilization that brought together more than a hundred people in the Toulouse Bourse du Travail, which displayed for the occasion a large banner.
Comminges
In this region south of Toulouse, a new support committee for Georges Abdallah was founded thanks to the support of several unions and organizations (particularly LFI , the PCF and the Union Syndicale Solidaires). The latter organized several actions, in particular screenings of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” in Soueich on October 13 and in Valentine on October 21. In addition, they organized several carpools from Saint-Gaudens and Cazère to participate in the demonstration on Saturday October 22 in Lannemezan.
Tarbes
Throughout the month of mobilization, the Collectif 65 for the release of Georges Abdallah organized multiple actions for the freedom of Georges Abdallah. For example, they held a solidarity stand for the release of Georges Abdallah at the Fête de l’Humanité 65 on 1 October in Tarbes.
Auch
Collectif 32 for the release of Georges Abdallah postered for the release of Georges Abdallah throughout the month of mobilization and participated in several demonstrations with signs and banners.
Toulon
On 17 October in Toulon, the association “Les Varois pour la paix et la justice en Méditerranée” (VPJM) and several groups organized a rally to demand the immediate release of Georges Abdallah.
The Collectif Libérons Georges 33 participated in the mobilization through the organization of its annual bus for the Lannemezan demonstration as well as through solidarity actions for Georges Abdallah, in particular on 18 October during a trade union demonstration and during of a Trio Joubran concert on 20 October. In addition, the UJFP Aquitaine devoted its radio program “Histoire(s) de Palestine” on 17 October to the subject of Georges Abdallah.
Clermont Ferrand
On 18 October, the AFPS 63 organized a distribution of leaflets during the trade union demonstration as well as a solidarity stand in the city calling for the immediate release of Georges Abdallah.
Niort
On Saturday October 22 in Niort, Action Antifasciste Deux-Sèvres and several organizations gathered to demand the immediate release of Georges Abdallah.
Annecy
The Collective for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah 74 mobilized on several occasions in Annecy, in particular during the one-day strike of 18 October by displaying a banner and flags of support in the trade union demonstration.
Marseille
In Marseille, several associations, political organizations and solidarity activists organized activities during this month of mobilization, in addition to the bus trip for the Lannemezan demonstration. For example, the Young Communists 13 organized a screening of a film on Palestine, as did the ANC, which again screened “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” in its office. A poster campaign also took place in many streets of Marseille, in addition to the growing solidarity of the UD CGT 13 which renewed its support for Georges Abdallah during its congress and during a rally.
On Friday, 14 October, in front of the Palace of Justice, the Collective 69 in support of the Palestinian people organized a rally in support of Georges Abdallah bringing together several dozen people. On the outskirts of the demonstration, people in solidarity were attacked by far-right thugs, underscoring their strategic alliance with supporters of the Zionist colonization of Palestine.
Saint-Etienne
On Saturday 22 October, several associations and organizations in the city (BDS 42 , JC de la Loire, LJR ) organized a support rally bringing together dozens of people. Several posters also demanded the immediate release of Salah Hamouri, a French-Palestinian lawyer imprisoned by the Israeli occupation since March 7.
On 2 October, the Young Communists of the Loire organized a new screening of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” in front of an attentive public eager to better understand the political and judicial history of this case. This film was also screened on 24 September at the closing night of the Mahmoud Darwish fortnight.
On Friday 21 October, the Communist Party of France of Divion and Houdain organized a meeting in solidarity with Georges Abdallah in the presence of activists from various trade union and political organizations.
In Chaumont and Langres in Haute-Marne, two screenings of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” were organized on 29 and 30 September by the Palestine 52 Association in the presence of the Collectif Vacarme(s) Films and the Collectif Palestine Vaincra.
Rennes
In Rennes on 22 October, the Jeunes Revolutionnaires organized a screening of “Fedayin” in order to reaffirm their solidarity with the man who has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance.
Brest & Guingamp
Posters were displayed in these two Breton cities in support of the release of Georges Abdallah during this month of mobilization.
Lanester
During the Fête de l’Humanité in Brittany on October 22 and 23, displays on various stands called for the release of Georges Abdallah.
Limoges
The Student Union Federation and several associations organized a rally for the release of Georges Abdallah on 15 October.
LEBANON
Saida & Beirut
On October 22 and 23 in Saïda and Beirut, Lebanon, several rallies were organized for the release of the Lebanese communist Georges Abdallah, imprisoned in France since 1984.
These rallies were organized by groups including the Lebanese Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah and the Democratic Popular Party.
Many Palestinian and Lebanese organizations were present alongside the family of Georges Abdallah to denounce the continued detention of the longest-held political prisoner in Europe. Former prisoner and leader of the Lebanese resistance Anwar Yassine was also present in Saida.
On the occasion of a screening of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight” organized by Samidoun Vancouver on October 18, supporters took a solidarity photo calling for Abdallah’s liberation.
Toronto & Montreal
The Palestinian Youth Movement – PYM, Palestinian and Jewish Unity, SPHR McGill, the Arab Left Forum, Actions 4 Palestine and various organizations organized rallies in support of Georges Abdallah on October 22 in Toronto and Montreal.
GERMANY
Berlin
During October, Samidoun Deutschlandorganized several information stands in the streets of the German capital, highlighting its support for the release of Georges Abdallah.
Hamburg
On October 7, Bündnis gegen imperialistische Aggression (BgiA) in Hamburg organized a rally with Samidoun Deutschlandin a popular district of the city in support of Georges Abdallah.
The evening before, the Network for Freedom for all Political Prisoners organized an evening of information and discussion in solidarity with Georges Ibrahim Abdallah. A representative of Samidoun and a representative of Ak Palestine intervened at the event.
During an anti-colonial demonstration on 12 October in Madrid, the contingent of Samidoun España displayed several banners in support of Palestine and posters for the release of Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Abdallah. In addition, Samidoun Spain also organized a new Madrid screening of “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight”on 8 October with CGT Metal, the metalworkers trade union.
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam
At the end of a screening of “Fedayin” on 14 October in solidarity with Georges Abdallah, supporters of Samidoun Nederlandtook a photo to reaffirm their solidarity with the Lebanese communist activist unjustly imprisoned in France.
During an event of the Anarchist Federation of Belgium, solidarity with Georges Abdallah was displayed.
SWITZERLAND
Zürich
The Revolutionary Youth of Zurich – RJZ produced a mural calling for the release of Georges Abdallah as part of the month of international mobilization.
Geneva
On October 11, during a conference organized by Secours Rouge Geneva with Mohammed Khatib, the European coordinator of Samidoun , solidarity with Georges Abdallah was reaffirmed as part of the international mobilization of October 2022.
ITALY
Bologna
Giovani Palestinesi d’Italia organized a contingent for the release of all Palestinian prisoners during a demonstration in Bologna on 21 October. On this occasion, posters for the release of Georges Abdallah were displayed along the route as part of their participation in theInternational Week of Support for Palestinian Prisonersinitiated by the Palestinian Youth Movement.
GREECE
Athens
During the month of international mobilization for the release of Georges Abdallah, several initiatives were organized in Athens. On September 22, the organization Action Populaire unfurled several banners in support of the Lebanese communist in the Greek capital.
On October 7, the Anti-Imperialist Front organized a screening of “Fedayin” in the presence of Mohammed Khatib from Samidoun and Jalil Muntaqim, a former political prisoner of the Black Panther Party for 49 years, bringing together more than 170 people.
The next day, Friday October 20, a rally was organized in front of the French Embassy in Athens with the support of many organizations. This brought together over 100 people who chanted slogans in Greek and French to free Georges Abdallah, who has become a symbol of the anti-imperialist struggle in the world.
IRELAND
Arklow
Irish socialists from the town of Arklow took a solidarity photo for the release of Ahmad Sa’adat and Georges Abdallah.
The Friends of Palestine Against Imperialism and Zionism organized a screening of “Fedayin” in the premises of the DIP in Istanbul on 22 October. On this occasion, the participants wrote several support cards and took a photo to underline their commitment to the liberation of the Lebanese communist.
This overview of actions and initiatives for the release of Georges Abdallah during this month of October 2022 is certainly incomplete. Nevertheless, it shows the immense diversity of support for the Lebanese communist struggler for Palestine throughout the world. The month of international mobilization for his release is coming to an end but the initiatives will multiply until his release, including in Brussels on 29 October, where thousands marched through the European capital to support the Palestinian resistance and its imprisoned fighters, including Georges Abdallah!
The following message by Georges Ibrahim Abdallah was read out to the march at Lannemezan prison demanding his liberation on 22 October 2022 by Suzanne LeManceau, longtime activist for his liberation. The annual protest drew over 1,000 people to call for the freedom of the Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine imprisoned in France for over 38 years:
Dear comrades and friends,
At the dawn of this 39th year of captivity, knowing that you are gathered here brings me a lot of strength and warms my heart. No matter what those who are watching and spying on this gathering think, the warmth of your mobilization and the enthusiasm of your commitment make light of these abominable walls, this barbed wire and the watchtowers; they collide with the deadly everydayness of the cells and allow us to glimpse glimmers of victories taking shape on the horizon.
Comrades and friends, your various solidarity initiatives that you have developed in this international month of action, bring a scathing refutation to those who bet on the breathlessness of your mobilization.
Certainly in this international campaign, “Ofer” and the other Zionist jails have your full attention and the expression of your active solidarity is always even more invigorating for those who have been imprisoned for so many years.
Dear Comrades, dear friends, the inter-imperialist contradictions occupy the forefront of the international scene, against the background of the global crisis of the world capitalist system. They are exacerbated more and more and are spreading on a planetary level, and as always in such circumstances, imperialist propaganda is in full swing. It seems pointless to dwell at length on the pseudo-arguments about the wicked aggressors and the poor victims. But comrades, let’s not lose sight of the fact that imperialist and inter-imperialist wars are inscribed somehow in the genetic code of capitalism. That is why, in the space of a century, capitalism is pushing humanity to the brink of world war for the third time. The crisis of this moribund capitalism in its phase of advanced putrefaction is the crisis of truly existing globalized capitalism, and its agony will only end in a victory for communism…
Comrades, certainly there is room for other futures than submission to the criminal dictates of capitalism and the barbarity of imperialist and inter-imperialist wars.
Dear comrades, dear friends, let’s not allow the imperialist propaganda unleashed these days to obscure what is happening in Palestine in full view of everyone. Faced with the emergence and affirmation of a new generation of Resistance fighters, particularly in the West Bank, the Zionist military indulges in the worst excesses, killing young and old alike every day, destroying homes, confiscating new lands under false pretenses, and lately encircling towns with a complete blockade. The Resistance confronts! It is up to men and women of good will to do the same at the regional and international level.
May a thousand solidarity initiatives flourish in favor of Palestine and its promising Resistance!
Solidarity, all solidarity with the Resistance fighters in Zionist jails and solitary confinement cells in Morocco, Turkey, Greece, the Philippines and elsewhere around the world!
Solidarity, all solidarity with the proletarians in struggle!
Honor to the martyrs and to the popular masses in struggle!
Down with imperialism, its Zionist watchdogs and the Arab reactionaries!
Capitalism is nothing but barbarism, honor to all those who oppose it in the diversity of their expressions!
Together, Comrades, and it is only together that we will be victorious.
To all of you Comrades and Friends my warmest communist greetings.
Israeli occupation officials have once again violated an agreement with a Palestinian prisoner, renewing the detention of Raed Rayan for another 6 months without charge or trial. 
He also discussed the role of Europe’s gas deals with the occupation, emphasizing the importance of campaigning to end the colonial plunder of Palestinian and Lebanese resources at the hands of the occupation for trade with Europe.
The rally was closed with comments by Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. She spoke about the denial of entry that she and Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat, co-founder of the Masar Badil, faced when they attempted to 
The Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member organization of the international Samidoun network and a leading force in the campaign to free Georges Abdallah, organized numerous stands in the city center of Toulouse and in the working-class district of Bagatelle and at the University of Mirail, distributing more than 12,000 flyers. Despite 
At the same time, the CPV initiated 
