Archives: Endorsements

In just one week, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. Please join Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, Setsuko Thurlow, Oliver Stone, and many others in signing our Open Letter to President-elect Trump, calling on him “to choose the course of negotiations for a nuclear weapons-free world.”

The Open Letter advises Trump of the U.S. obligation under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to negotiate in good faith for an end to the nuclear arms race and for nuclear disarmament. It explains that nuclear deterrence is based upon on the willingness of political leaders to act rationally under all circumstances, even those of extreme stress. It goes on to say that nuclear proliferation and a renewed nuclear arms race would both make for a far more dangerous world.

As President-elect Trump prepares to take office, let’s send him a strong message that nuclear disarmament must be on the agenda.

 

Sign and share the petition: https://www.change.org/p/international-officials-pressure-israel-to-free-nael-barghouthi 

Palestinian prisoner Nael Barghouthi, 59 has been imprisoned for 36 years in Israeli jails, and he is the longest-held Palestinian political prisoner. Today, on the basis of so-called “secret evidence,” he is threatened with the re-imposition of life imprisonment with no charges and no legitimate trial.

Along with over 1,000 fellow prisoners, he was released in 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. While he married after his release and returned to his life, in 2014, he was swept up with other former prisoners in a series of arrests. Under Israeli military order 1651 – violating the release agreement – re-arrested prisoners can have their former sentences reimposed upon them by a military committee on the basis of secret evidence. This secret evidence is denied to both the prisoner and their lawyer.

Sign and share the petition: https://www.change.org/p/international-officials-pressure-israel-to-free-nael-barghouthi

Even with this secret evidence, Nael Barghouthi was ordered to 30 months in prison, a sentence that ended in mid-December. He has remained in prison due to an appeal by the military prosecution, seeking the re-imposition of a life sentence on the basis of so-called secret evidence. Barghouthi continues to be denied visits from his wife, Iman Nafie, as she is also a former political prisoner in Israeli jails.

The next hearing in his case will take place on 3 January and his case will continue to the highest levels. Iman Nafie has pledged to pursue this case in all legal venues to demand freedom for her husband.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network are joining in this urgent call for action to pressure Israel to release Nael Barghouthi, being held as a political hostage by the Israeli government.

TAKE ACTION:

Sign and share the Change.org petition to urge international officials to take action for Nael Barghouthi’s release: https://www.change.org/p/international-officials-pressure-israel-to-free-nael-barghouthi
Organize a protest, demonstration, speaking event or banner drop in your city, community or campus calling for freedom for Nael Barghouthi and his fellow Palestinian prisoners.

Come out in New York City! Join the protest to free Nael Barghouthi.
Friday, January 27, 5:30 pm. Best Buy Union Square, 52 E. 14th St, NYC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/580702052134943/

Send your own protest details to: samidoun@samidoun.net, or get involved with our NYC action!

Write to Israeli officials to demand Nael Barghouthi’s release. Write a message and email or fax it to the officials below. Contact information and sample letter follow:
Contact information:

Minister of Defence
Avigdor Liberman
Ministry of Defence
37 Kaplan Street
Hakirya
Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: +972 73 323 3300
Email: minister@mod.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister

Minister of Justice
Ayelet Shaked
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem, 91010, Israel
Fax: +972 2 640 8402
Email: sar@justice.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Ministe

Attorney General
Avichai Mendelbilt
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Fax: +972 2 530 3367
Email: ishkat-yoetz@justice.gov.il

Military Judge Advocate General
Brigadier General Sharon Afek
Hakirya, Tel Aviv, Israel
Fax: +972 3 569 4526
Email: Mag@idf.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Judge Advocate General

Commander of the IOF – West Bank
Major-General Roni Numa
GOC Central Command
Military Post 01149, Battalion 877
Israel Defense Forces, Israel
Fax: +972 2 530 5741, +972 2 530 5724
Salutation: Dear Major-General Roni Numa

Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan
Kiryat Hamemshala
PO Box 18182
Jerusalem 91181, Israel
Fax: +972 2 584 7872
Email: gerdan@knesset.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister

Sample Letter:

Dear Ministers,

I write today to demand immediate release of the longest-held Palestinian prisoner Nael Barghouthi, held for a total of 36 years in Israeli prisons. Nael Barghouthi is being threatened with the re-imposition of his life sentence on the basis of so-called “secret evidence” by an arbitrary Israeli military committee.

Nael Barghouthi was released with over 1,000 prisoners in the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange. In 2014, along with dozens of fellow released prisoners, Barghouthi was re-arrested. Under Israeli military order 1651 – that contravenes the term of the prisoner release – re-arrested prisoners can have their former sentences reimposed upon them by a military committee on the basis of secret evidence.

Barghouthi was originally sentenced to 30 months on the basis of secret evidence, yet the Israeli military continues to pursue him and seek the re-imposition of his life sentence. He has also been denied family visits with his wife on the pretext of “security” as she is a former prisoner.

I demand the immediate release of Nael Barghouthi and an end to the re-imposition of former prisoners’ sentences on the basis of so-called secret information. This is an attempt to use Palestinian former prisoners as political hostages in future prisoner exchanges and to violate the exchange agreement itself. His continued detention is arbitrary and unjust, and I demand his immediate freedom.

Sincerely,

Help support Samidoun’s work. Click to donate here!

Activists around the world are gearing up for international days of action to free imprisoned Palestinian leader Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners.

Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is currently imprisoned in Israeli jails serving a 30-year sentence for “incitement” and membership and leadership of a prohibited organization, his political party. On 15 January 2002, Sa’adat was arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces after attending a private meeting; the PA arrested Sa’adat and his comrades at the behest of Israel, the United States and the UK under the policy of “security cooperation.”

Sa’adat was imprisoned in a Palestinian Authority jail in Jericho until March 2006, when the prison itself was attacked in a violent Israeli occupation military raid and Sa’adat and his comrades abducted.

The call to action was endorsed by over 60 organizations around the world. A series of events and actions are being planned in occupied Palestine and in cities around the world, including New York, London, Manchester, Toulouse, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Padua, Florence, Brussels, Albuquerque, Hilton Head and Copenhagen, as well as events coming up in Canada, Ireland and elsewhere.

Materials and resources for use are available for download.

Original Call from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat: Read in English | Arabic | French | Italian

We invite your organizations, groups and coalition to endorse this call to action and participate in the events of January 13-15, 2017. Thank you! Please use the form or email samidoun@samidoun.net to sign on.

Events are already being scheduled in cities around the world. Please share your event with us or email samidoun@samidoun.net.

January 13-15, 2017 marks the 15th anniversary of the seizure of Palestinian political leader, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Sa’adat, by the Palestinian Authority under the policy of “security cooperation,” at the behest of Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom. Today, after a 2006 attack on the Jericho prison by Israeli occupation forces, Sa’adat is serving a 30-year sentence in occupation prisons, convicted in a military court of leading a prohibited organization and incitement.

Ahmad Sa’adat is a leader of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and a leader of the Palestinian national liberation movement, held behind bars with 7,000 fellow leaders of the Palestinian people. There are thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, on the front line of the struggle for freedom. In the past year, over 6,000 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli occupation forces. These Palestinian political prisoners are the leaders of resistance to occupation, targeted for their role in refusing racism, colonialism, apartheid and occupation.

The imprisonment of Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow Palestinian political prisoners is aided and assisted by the complicity of international states and major corporations. The United States and United Kingdom guarded Sa’adat in a Palestinian Authority prison and cleared the way for an Israeli attack, ensuring Sa’adat and his comrades came under fire. And the political, military and economic support these and other states, including the European Union and Canada, provide to the Israeli occupation allows the continued imprisonment and extrajudicial execution of Palestinians with impunity. Further, corporations like Hewlett Packard (HP) profit from the imprisonment of Palestinians by selling their services to the Israeli Prison Service.

On January 13-15, 2017, we join in a collective call for international action for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners. We demand an end to the internationally-mandated policy of Palestinian Authority “security coordination” that undermines the Palestinian struggle for freedom. And we urge the escalation of the campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli state and complicit institutions and corporations, including HP, to create, as Sa’adat said, “a real economic cost for the industries of colonization.”

We echo the call to organize events, actions and protests in cities, town squares, campuses and public spaces to break the isolation of the prisoners, and demand freedom now for Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners.

Endorsing organizations:

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Handala Center for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners
Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee
Coup Pour Coup 31
International Red Aid / Secours Rouge International
Collectif pour la Libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah – Paris
32CSM International Department
ACAT France
Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (National)
Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Alternative Information Center
ANPI Torre del Greco
Asociacion Biladi
Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR)
Association Switzerland Palestine
BACBI (Belgian Academic and Cultural Boycott)
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israeli citizens for BDS)
Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver
Cátedra de Estudios Palestinos “Edward W. Said” – Facultad de Filosofía y Letras- UBA
Communist Party (Sweden)
Corvallis Palestine Solidarity
De-Colonizer
Demokratische Komitees Palästinas – Berlin
éirígí
Exeter PSC
Filipino Refugees in the Netherlands
Freedom Archives
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Fronte Palestina
Global Campaign for Palestinian Political Prisoners (GCPPP)
Groupe Non-Violent Louis Lecoin
Hilton Head for Peace
ILPS in Canada (Country Chapter)
International Action Center
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Internationalt Forum – Middle East Group
Invicta Palestina
Izquierda Unida
Jewish Voice for Peace, San Diego
Justice for Palestine Matters
Le Cri Rouge
Mouvement Citoyen Palestine
National Jericho Movement
NYC Students for Justice in Palestine
Palestina Rossa
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
Partido Comunista de España
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
Red Sparks Union
Revolutionary Communist Group
Solidarity with Novorossiya & Antifascists in Ukraine
Students for a Democratic Society (National)
The New Jewel Movement
Unadikum Association
Union juive française pour la paix (UJFP)
Unione Democratica Arabo Palestina (UDAP) – Italy
United National Antiwar Coalition
Vlaams Socialistische Beweging

We invite your organizations, groups and coalition to endorse this call to action and participate in the events of January 13-15, 2017. Thank you! Please use the form or email samidoun@samidoun.net to sign on.

Help support Samidoun’s work. Click to donate here!

Scheduled Events:
New York City – Thursday, January 12, Meeting on anti-inauguration marches, Palestinian political prisoners. 7:00 pm, Solidarity Center, 147 W. 24th St., NYC

New York City – Friday, January 13, Protest to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and Stop HP! 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm, Best Buy Union Square (53 E. 14th St.) , NYC. Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/362798944095466/. Organized by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Albuquerque – Friday, January 13, Free Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian Prisoners. 6:00 pm, SouthWest Organizing Project, 211 10th St SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1917752155121856/. Organized by Irish Americans for Socialism and Liberation

Brussels – Friday, January 13. Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat! 7:30 pm, Local Sacco Vanzetti, 54 chaussee de Forest, Brussels 1060. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1334357123293510/. Organized by Secours Rouge and Samidoun, endorsed by Mouvement Citoyen Palestine

Copenhagen – Friday, January 13. Solidarity with Ahmad Sa’adat, PFLP’s general secretary,
and all Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Prisons. 5 pm, Solidaritetshuset, Griffenfeldsgade 41, Nørrebro (the shop)

Toulouse – Friday, January 13. Table of Information for Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian Prisoners. 6:00 pm, Metro Jean Jaures, 31000 Toulouse, France, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/996856710418892/

Manchester – Saturday, January 14. Boycott Barclays Protest! 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm, Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1279998228726828/. Organized by Manchester Boycott Israel Group

Hilton Head – Saturday January 14. Vigil for Ahmad Sa’adat. 10 am, Highway 278 at HH Library, Hilton Head, South Carolina

London – Saturday, 14 January. Tabling to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and Palestinian Prisoners. 12:00 pm, Court Street, Whitechapel, E1, London. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1750880001895240/ Organized by the East London Revolutionary Communist Group

Milan – Saturday, 14 January. Vigil under the prison of Opera, in solidarity with all prisoners, against isolation (in Italy named 41 Bis), for the liberation of Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. Organized by Fronte Palestina – Details to come

Florence – Saturday, 14 January. Campi Bisenzio – leafleting for the release of Palestinian prisoners and Ahmad Sa’adat, during the vigil to remember Operation Cast Lead. Organized by Fronte Palestina – Details to come

Padova – Saturday, 14 January. display of banners in the city and a radio broadcast about the Palestinian prisoners situation and Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat in the evening broadcast of Radiazione Web radio. Organized by Fronte Palestina – Details to come

Berlin – Sunday, January 15. Palestinian Contingent in the Liebknecht-Luxemburg-Lenin March. 9:30 am, gather at U-Bahnhof Frankfurter Tor. Organized by the Democratic Palestine Committees-Berlin.

Paris – Sunday, January 15. Protest gathering for freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat. 3:00 pm,
Ménilmontant (Paris Métro), 75020 Paris, France, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/252049355226418/

MORE EVENTS TBA in Italy – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1739069739753137/, Ireland, and more. We urge you to organize events and please share your event with us or email samidoun@samidoun.net.

Help support Samidoun’s work. Click to donate here!

Take Action and Join the Protest:
Take action: Call the White House to urge commutations for the Holy Land Five
TAKE ACTION: Urgent call to free Nael Barghouthi, longest-held Palestinian prisoner
News about Palestinian Prisoners:
Israeli charges against Palestinian aid workers al-Halabi and Bursh disintegrate as international funds remain frozen
Palestinian child prisoner Natalie Shokha, 15, denied family visits once again
Nael Barghouthi, longest-held Palestinian prisoner, transferred to Gilboa prison
Omar Nayef Zayed’s family wins re-opening of investigation into his death
Palestinian cancer patient Moatassem Raddad enters 11th year in prison with worsening health
Israeli occupation issues 34 more orders to imprison Palestinians without charge or trial
Trial of Palestinian mother seized at Gaza crossing continued until February
Abu Hanish wins release from isolation following plans for collective strike; 15 prisoners in solitary confinement
Palestinian child prisoner Tasneem Halabi sentenced to one and one half years in Israeli prison
NYC protesters take to the streets to free Palestinian child prisoners and boycott HP
Articles and Writing on Palestinian Prisoners:
Palestinians celebrate release of hunger striker Bilal Kayed, Joe Catron, Workers World, 2 January
Palestinian child detainee has leg amputation after being hit by an Israeli jeep, Addameer, 10 January
Why Palestinian prisoners have the right to cell phones, David Cronin, Electronic Intifada, 10 January
Remembering “Archbishop of the Arabs” Hilarion Capucci, Abed Awad, Electronic Intifada, 6 January
Interview with Itiraf Rimawi on administrative detention, Solidarite Socialiste, 6 January

Help support Samidoun’s work. Click to donate here!

Stop the attacks on Indigenous Peoples!

Over the past few years we have seen the intensifying corporate plunder of Indigenous Peoples’ land and resources and the state-sponsored attacks against their resistance and struggles.

It is a cruel irony that the women and men who stand as the protectors of the Earth’s last frontier are being threatened, criminalised, and murdered with impunity.

According to Global Witness’ report, there were 185 killings of Indigenous Peoples across 16 countries in 2015. This is by far the highest annual death toll on record. Conflicts over mining were the number one cause of killings, with agribusiness, hydroelectric dams and logging also key drivers of violence.

We welcomed the year 2016 feeling outraged at the dastardly murder of indigenous leader Berta Caceres in Honduras. Berta was at forefront of campaign against the construction of a hydroelectric project that would have caused severe environmental damage and displacement of Indigenous Peoples of Lenca.

The attacks have only continued and escalated since.

In North Dakota, USA, on Oct. 22, over 100 people, who call themselves protectors, were arrested at a peaceful march after they were confronted by police in riot gear, carrying assault rifles. For months, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota has been waging a pitched battle against a proposed oil pipeline that would run near their reservation. The $3.8 billion project can endanger both their water supplies and sacred sites. Last September, private security for the company building the pipeline attacked the Native American protesters blocking the bulldozers using dogs and pepper spray.

In the Philippines, the police’ brutal dispersal of the peaceful assembly of our Indigenous and Moro sisters and brothers in front of the US Embassy in Manila on October 19, 2016. Scores were hurt and arrested (including a former Peace for Life consultant) as authorities charged at protesters with truncheons, water cannons, and a rampaging police vehicle that run over the crowd. The demonstration sought to bring to public attention the militarisation of their communities, the occupation of their ancestral lands by extractive business, and outright government discrimination and neglect.

In West Papua, Indonesian authorities continue to repress West Papuan’s self-determination efforts through censorship and force, violating human rights in the process. In the last three years, 27 West Papuans have been killed. They are prohibited from holding protests and organizing social movements, and many have been arrested and detained for campaigning against extraction and plantation activities. Such arrests have reportedly increased since the beginning of 2016 amounting to 4000 between April and June 2016 and have included human rights activists and journalists.

Indigenous Peoples inhabit lands that are rich in natural resources, but they are among the poorest populations due to economical exclusions and deprivation of basic social, cultural and political rights and fundamental freedoms including rights to their lands, territories, and resources.

Today, land ownership remains an urgent issue for indigenous peoples. Ancestral domain is a crucial element in preserving indigenous culture and for their very survival. In the era of neoliberal globalization, however, land has also become the curse that has brought them tremendous suffering and pain.

According to estimates, as much as 50% of the gold produced between 1995 and 2015, and up to 70% of copper production by 2020, will take place on the territories of indigenous peoples. New trade and investments deals push for the appropriation of previously inaccessible territories to extractive business. As a result, indigenous populations are expelled from their ancestral domains, depriving them of their living spaces, resources, and livelihoods, all in the name of economic growth and development.

The current thrust of governments to reduce public spending for basic social services and the privatisation of health, education, and other critical infrastructures aggravate the marginalization and exclusion of indigenous populations. They suffer from poor health, limited educational opportunities, and shorter life expectancy.

Indigenous Peoples are denied their right to self-determination. Although they have their distinct economic, social, religious, historical, and cultural heritage, they have no status as states and no representation.

Indigenous Peoples have been cultivating and developing their local plant life for centuries, but western legal regimes such as TRIPS that allow big corporations to acquire monopoly patents over life forms and life creating processes criminalise Indigenous Peoples for practicing their customs and traditions.

The current climate crisis further aggravates the vulnerability and marginalisation of Indigenous Peoples. The unsustainable production and consumption patterns promoted by Northern governments, big corporations and multilateral institutions have led to the erosion of the environment and climate change. They have refused to honour their historical responsibilities to reduce emissions and pay reparations and are even pushing through with new plans for expanded resource extraction through new free trade and investment deals. Meanwhile, indigenous peoples, who contributed the least to global warming, are bearing the brunt of human-induced climate disasters.

Indigenous peoples have suffered from a long history of dispossession exploitation carried out by colonizers. In the era of militarised globalization, indigenous peoples find themselves anew on a face to face battle with transnational corporations, investors, governments, and multilateral institutions seeking to bleed their resources, tradition, and life dry in the name of development and profit.

But Indigenous Peoples’ are fighting back and reclaiming their right to their resources, their traditions, beliefs, and self-determination. Their collective resistance continues to be one of the most endurable and potent in challenging the hegemony of capitalism and imperialism.

We are called upon to proclaim and translate into concrete reality God’s inclusive love to promote compassion, generosity, and respect for diversity. In these times of crisis, our spirituality demands that we stand for justice and human dignity for all, but especially for our Indigenous sisters and brothers who are being deprived of their voice, rights, and lives.

We condemn and call for an end to militarisation and occupation of ancestral lands and the political repression, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and all forms of human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples and activists. We call on governments to uphold and respect the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples, the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Peoples, and other relevant international conventions.

We join our indigenous sisters and brothers in defending their land against development aggression and plunder of their resources by extractive business. We resist new free trade and investment deals that seek to monopolise indigenous peoples’ resources and wealth, knowledge and practices. We are one with them in their struggle to shift away from neoliberal and capitalist development models and to build a new system based on the rational, collective, and democratic management and use of resources in the interest of the people and the wellbeing of the planet.

We endeavour to promote an inclusive development process that respects the rights of all socio-cultural groups, minorities, indigenous peoples, religions etc. over their cultural heritage and natural resources and respecting their right to define and pursue their own development aspirations.

We support the struggles of Indigenous Peoples for self-determination, liberation and sovereignty. We pledge to participate and support campaigns and initiatives in pursuance of these goals.

Stop the attacks on Indigenous Peoples!

End the corporate plunder and militarisation of Indigenous Peoples’ lands!

Fight for Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination and liberation!

 

 

 

Dear Peace for Life members and allies,

Recent protest actions and mobilizations in Standing Rock, North Dakota USA and Manila, Philippines brought into public consciousness the plight of our indigenous brothers and sisters. Globally, corporations are occupying indigenous territories, bleeding dry the environment, destroying indigenous community and culture, and displacing Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral domain. Authorities have not only remained silent to the cries for justice of the Indigenous Peoples, but have also colluded with big extractive business in pushing for new trade and investment deals that would scale up and legalize the recolonization of indigenous territories. In instances where Indigenous Peoples take the route of resistance, they are met with brutal repression from the police, army, and paramilitary groups.

We as peoples of faith are once again challenged to speak up and make our voice heard: We rise against corporate plunder and militarisation of Indigenous Peoples’ resources and communities!

We invite you, as individuals and/or as representative of your respective organizations to join this call and sign-on to our unity statement below (also available on our website here). We are also circulating the statement among various civil society networks to gather more endorsements.

This civil society sign-on statement is our small way of expressing our solidarity to our Indigenous brothers and sisters in Standing Rock, the Philippines, Honduras and in many other parts of the world where oppression and exploitation of Indigenous Peoples occur.

Should you wish to sign and endorse the statement, please reply to this email or contact Ivan Phell Enrile of Peace for Life Global Secretariat office thru email at ivanenrile@gmail.com

In solidarity,