Archives: Endorsements

This call out is open for organizational endorsements. Thank you! Please use the form or email samidoun@samidoun.net to sign on.

On 13 June, Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed was slated for release after 14 and one-half years in Israeli prison. His family was waiting for him, as were his comrades and friends; however, Bilal never came – because instead of being released, he had been ordered by the Israeli occupation military to six months in administrative detention without charge or trial. He is now on an open hunger strike which he launched the morning of 15 June – demanding his freedom and an end to administrative detention.

Bilal Kayed, 35, is one of approximately 750 Palestinians imprisoned without charge or trial on the basis of secret evidence under administrative detention, and 7,000 Palestinians total in occupation prisons. Administrative detention orders are indefinitely renewable – Palestinians can spend years in administrative detention at a time, never knowing when they will be freed.

Kayed is known as a leader among Palestinian prisoners – as the representative of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine prisoners in Megiddo prison, he was targeted for solitary confinement for one and a half years. His fellow Palestinian prisoners are engaged in a series of protests and actions to demand his release and will be conducting their third two-day hunger strike on 24 and 25 June, returning their meals to demand Kayed’s freedom and and an end to administrative detention.

This is an attempt to impose a precedent for all Palestinian prisoners – that on the date of release, after five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years in prison, rather than being released, Palestinian prisoners be held indefinitely without charge or trial, ordered to administrative detention. The denial of Bilal Kayed’s freedom is a threat to the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners.

The detention of Kayed, a prisoner leader, scheduled for release; Mohammed Abu Sakha, circus performer and teacher; Jerusalemite human rights defender Hasan Safadi; youth organizer Bilal Abu Diab; members of the Palestinian Legislative Council such as Abdel-Jaber Fuquha and Hatem Kufaisha; journalist and union leader Omar Nazzal – amid hundreds more, indicate the level of Israeli state impunity to lock away Palestinian emerging leaders and prominent community figures without charge or trial. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have put their bodies and lives on the lines in extended hunger strikes to demand an end to administrative detention.

We raise our voices around the world to join the call to free Bilal Kayed and all of his fellow administrative detainees and bring an end to the practice of administrative detention. We call for the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners – and for the cause for which they struggle, the freedom of Palestine and its people.

We join the call for protests, actions and events around the world on 24 and 25 June in support of the Palestinian prisoners striking for freedom and urge organizations and people of conscience everywhere to join in actions to demand freedom for Bilal Kayed and his fellow prisoners, including building the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to internationally isolate Israel, its institutions, and the corporations – like G4S -that profit from imprisonment, occupation, racism, colonialism and injustice.

Free Bilal Kayed and all Palestinian Prisoners!
End Administrative Detention!

Signed:

This call out is open for additional organizational endorsements. Please use the form or email samidoun@samidoun.net to sign on.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Abna’a el-Balad Movement – Palestine
ACAT France
Actions4Palestine – Toronto, Canada
AFPS Association France Palestine Solidarité
Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition NY
Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition – US
Alternative Information Center
Asociación Palestina BILADI
Association Belgo-Palestinienne
Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) – India
Association of Academics for the Respect of International Law in Palestine – AURDIP
Association of the Palestinian Community in Scotland
Associazione Amicizia Sardegna Palestina
BAYAN USA
BDS Action Calgary
BDS Austria
BDS Berlin
BDS Slovenija
BDS Turkey (Filistin Için Israil’e Boykot Girisimi)
BDS Vancouver
Belgian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BACBI)
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within (Israeli citizens for BDS)
Byron Friends of Palestine
Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon
Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
Campaign to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
Canada Palestine Association
CAPJPO – EuroPalestine
Cátedra de Estudiso Palestinos Edward W. Said
Citizens International – Malaysia
Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (Sydney)
Collectif Judeo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine
Collettivo Autogestito CASAROSSA40
Comité Palestina Libre / Uruguay
Comite Salta de solidaridad con Palestina
Committee of the Greater ABC/SP of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Brazil
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Committees for a Democratic Palestine – Brazil
Communist Party, Sweden
Contemporary Lawyers Association (Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği)
Corvallis-Albany Palestine Solidarity
Coup Pour Coup 31
Democratic Lawyers’ Alliance – Palestine
Democratic Palestine Committees – Germany
docP (Diensten en Onderzoek Centrum Palestina , Netherlands)
Education Equals Making Community Connections
European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP)
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor
Faculty for Palestine (Canada)
February 20 Movement – USA
Filipino Refugees in the Netherlands
Finnish-Arab Friendship Society
Football Against Apartheid
Freedom Archives
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Friends of Ain el-Helweh, Grenoble
Fronte Palestina
Gaza Action Ireland
Gerechtigkeit und Frieden für Palästina
Gesellschaft Schweiz Palästina
Groupe Non-Violent LOUIS LECOIN
Grupo de Tecnología Alternativa S.C.
Gruppo Azione Palestina – Parma
Handala Center for Prisoners and Former Prisoners
Handala Cultural Center – Vienna
Hilton Head for Peace
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (Türkiye Insan Haklari Vakfi)
Human Rights Institute – Bratislava, Slovakia
Human Rights March – Denmark
Hunter College Students for Justice in Palestine
Initiative for a Just Peace in the Middle East – Slovakia
Inminds.com
International Action Center
International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
International League of Peoples Struggle in Canada
International Solidarity Movement – Palestine
International Solidarity Movement – Northern California
International Solidarity Movement Czech Republic group
Internationale Socialisten
Internationalt Forum/Middle East Group
InvictaPalestina – Torino
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Jewish Voice for Peace, San Diego
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Labor for Palestine
LADH (Liga Argentina de los Derechos del Hombre)
Landless Workers ‘ Movement (MST) – Brazil
Lefterianews – Greece
Left Perspective – Czech Republic
Leuvense Actiegroep Palestina
Libertarian Lawyers Association (Özgürlükçü Hukukçular Derneği)
London Palestine Action
Los Otros Judios
Merton PSC – London
MRAP Vaucluse
Mouvement Citoyen Palestine
National Jericho Movement
National Lawyers Guild – Palestine Subcommittee
New York City Students for Justice in Palestine
Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition
NY 4 Palestine Coalition
NYC Free Peltier
NYC Friends of MOVE
Palästinensische Kulturzentrum Schweiz
Palestijnse Gemeenschap in Nederland
Palestina Kommitee Rotterdam
Palestina Rossa
Palestina Solidariteit
Palestinian Arab Cultural Center in Brazil – Rio Grande do Sul
Palestinian Arab Cultural Center in Brazil – Sao Paulo
Palestinian Arab Society – Corumba (Brazil)
Palestinian Child and Youth Institute – Lebanon
Palestinian Democratic Coalition – Chicago
Palestinian Documentation Center
Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee – Palestine
Palestinian Youth Organization
Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine
Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association
Progressive Palestinian Youth Union – Palestine
Progressive Student Labor Front – Palestine
Proletaren FF, sports club, Sweden
Raja’een Folkloric Dance Troupe
Red Sparks Union
Release Aging People in Prison
Resistance for Free Palestine – Greece
Revolutionaire Eenheid
Revolutionary Communist Group/Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
Revolutionary Communist Youth, Sweden
Sawt al-Shaab (Voice of the People Radio) – Palestine
SODePAZ Balamil
Solidarity with Novorossiya and Antifascists in Ukraine – NYC
Stichting Groningen-Jabalya
Studenten Voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina- Nijmegen
Studenten voor Rechtvaardigheid in Palestina (SRP) – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
SJP at Sacramento State University
Students for Justice in Palestine – Maastricht
Students for Justice in Palestine at the College of Staten Island
UDAP – Unione Democratica Arabo-Palestinese
UJFP French Jewish Union for Peace
Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees – Palestine
United for Palestine
USC Students for Justice in Palestine
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
Vlaams-Socialistische Beweging
Voice of Palestine
West Valley Neighborhoods Coalition
Women In Black International(Seattle USA chapter)
Women in Black (Vienna)
Women in Black The Netherlands

Next Friday, May 27, President Obama will visit Hiroshima. This will make him the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the city on August 6, 1945.

The White House has been aggressively downplaying expectations for this visit. Recent reports have said that President Obama will not “have time” to meet with survivors of the atomic bombing (hibakusha) while he is in the city. Please join us in urging the president to make time for this, as the hibakusha are powerful witnesses to the scars left by the atomic bomb and the need for a nuclear weapons-free world.

Over 6,000 NAPF supporters have already contacted President Obama to encourage him to make significant substantive contributions to nuclear disarmament while he is in Hiroshima. Even if you have already written to him about this, please take a moment to send another message about the importance of meeting with hibakusha.

For our supporters outside of the U.S., please sign this petition instead of clicking the “take action” button below. The White House’s electronic contact form is limited to people with a U.S. address. We will send the petition signatures to the White House separately.

 

Urgent appeal to support activists in Odessa, Ukraine:

Join Ramsey Clark, Cynthia McKinney,
John Pilger, Sara Flounders & more!

The International Action Center endorses this appeal from the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) on behalf of besieged activists and family members in Odessa, Ukraine. We urge you to support UNAC’s delegation to Odessa and share this information widely.

From UNAC Co-coordinators
Marilyn Levine & Joe Lombardo:

 

It’s been nearly two years since the world was shocked by reports of the deaths of scores of pro-democracy activists at the hands of extreme right-wing forces in the city of Odessa, Ukraine.

It was barely three months after a violent, right-wing coup overthrew the elected Ukrainian government. The activists had set up a tent city in Odessa’s historic Kulikovo Square to publicize their demand for a national referendum to decide the legitimacy of the coup.

On May 2, a large mob led by organized fascist groups set fire to the camp, forcing the activists to retreat into the nearby five-story House of Trade Unions. The building was then set on fire. Many died of smoke inhalation or were burned alive. Some jumped to their deaths. Some of those attempting to flee the building were shot or beaten to death. One pregnant woman was strangled. At least 46 activists were killed and many more were injured. (You can find many Internet videos. A good overview is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yflMScowPfk)

Every week since the massacre, family members, friends and supporters, organized as the Mothers Committee for May 2, have held memorials in Kulikovo Square. These memorials are often harassed by the same or similar right-wing thugs, many of whom belong to neo-Nazi organizations.

The Mothers Committee is now planning a large memorial for this May 2 to mark the second anniversary of the massacre. The fascist organizations have publicly declared that they will not allow the memorial to take place.

In response to this very serious situation, and in consultation with our contacts in Odessa, UNAC is working to re-focus the world’s attention on Odessa, in the hope that this might help convince the U.S. and Ukrainian governments that allowing an attack on the memorial would not be in their best interests.

As part of this effort, UNAC will be sending a delegation of U.S. human rights activists to Odessa to monitor the memorial. We also sent a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Committee endorsing the call by the Mothers Committee for an international investigation into the 2014 massacre. Significantly, one of the leading fascist organizations, called Maidan, has formally asked the U.N. to deny this request.

 

YOU CAN HELP!

We also have drawn up the attached statement calling on the city government of Odessa, the federal government of Ukraine and the U.S. government to ensure that the civic rights of those attending the May 2 memorial, including the U.S. monitors, are respected. The statement also again endorses the Mothers Committee’s call for an international investigation into the events of May 2, 2014.

We are now appealing to human rights and progressive organizations and prominent individuals to sign on to this statement. We are asking you to help with this effort. Please send endorsements to:

UNACpeace@gmail.com.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

In order to be effective, we will need to send the statement to the Odessa, Ukrainian and U.S. authorities as soon as possible. At the same time, we will be releasing the statement to the world media.
————————
Statement in support of May 2 memorial in Odessa and for a United Nations investigation into the tragic events of May 2, 2014

On May 2, 2016, a memorial will be held in Odessa, Ukraine, to honor the memory of scores of pro-democracy activists who were brutally murdered on that date in Odessa two years ago. There is no reason for the City authorities to forbid a peaceful memorial, but right-wing radicals – some of whom are believed to have been involved in the events of 2014 – have declared that they will not allow it to proceed.
Partial list of endorsers:
Ramsey Clark – Former U.S. Attorney General; Human Rights Activist
Cynthia McKinney, Ph.D – Former Member, U.S. Congress;
2008 Green Party U.S. Presidential Candidate
John Pilger – Award-winning Journalist
Marilyn Levin & Joe Lombardo – Co-Coordinators, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
Ray McGovern – Former CIA Analyst; Co-Founder,
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Margaret Kimberley – Editor and Senior Columnist, Black Agenda Report
Bernadette Ellorin – Chairperson, Bayan USA
Ana Edwards – Chair, Virginia Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project, Richmond, Virginia
Sara Flounders, Co-Director, International Action Center
U.S. Peace Council
See full list here: http://nepajac.org/ukrainepetition.htm

This statement was initiated by the United National Antiwar Coalition, a broad coalition of peace and justice organizations in the United States. UNAC encourages the circulation of this petition among human rights organizations all over the world. Please send all new endorsements to: UNAC, PO Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054 USA; Phone: 518-227-6947; Email: UNACpeace@gmail.com; Web: www.unacpeace.org/

International Action Center
c/o Solidarity Center, 147 W. 24 St.,
Suite 2, New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212-633-6646
IACenter.org
No2NATO.org

IAC Solidarity Center
147 W 24th St
2nd FL
New York, NY 10011

212-633-6646

IACenter.org

 

Dear President Park:

We have learned that your government, the South Korean Navy and Samsung Construction division are currently demanding damages from local groups and residents on Jeju Island for the alleged costs incurred due to the residents’ opposition to the Navy base construction: US $2.9 million. Your government has listed the Gangjeong village association, five groups and 116 residents and activists as the defendants.

The insistence that the construction delay was caused by residents is groundless. There are multiple complex reasons for the delay in the construction schedule. The principal reasons include disputes and controversy over the legality of the work, suspension orders issued over illegal construction work, losses and damage to structures caused by the natural environment, the strong wind and waves of Gangjeong’s coastline, Typhoon Bolaven, Typhoon Neoguri, etc. It is sophistry and exaggeration to claim that the residents blocking construction vehicles from entering and leaving the base for only a few minutes at a time caused the delay.

The responsibility lies solely with the state for threatening citizens’ right to a peaceful existence and causing their pain by enforcing this wrongful government policy. There is no one else as responsible for this as the government. The state rather than the residents bears the responsibility. Without mentioning a word about their own responsibility, it is the height of irresponsibility for the state to shift the blame for the delays in the construction onto individual citizens. The state that should be protecting the basic rights of its citizens is instead declaring war against them.

The biggest crime of all is that the ROK government and the Navy rejected the will of the Gangjeong villagers and have destroyed a 500-year old community. In addition the environmental ‘special preservation area’ is being destroyed as well – violating your own government’s environmental protection designation.

Our international membership stands with Gangjeong villagers and we demand that these outrageous and illegal charges be immediately dropped.

We eagerly await your positive response.

In peace,

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Front Page

http://space4peace.blogspot.com (blog)

 

Your Excellency,

Peace.

I hope this letter finds you well.

I am writing in support of the people of Gangjeong in Jeju Island, South Korea who for many years have been defending their community from destruction brought about by the building of a naval base which will be part of the US military network in the Asia-Pacific region.

The peaceful protest of the villagers is a legitimate form of democratic action. It is an expression of the will of the people. It is therefore wrong of the government of South Korea, the South Korean Navy and the Samsung Construction Division to demand damages from local groups including the Gangjeong village association to the tune of US 2.9 billion dollars for allegedly causing delays in the construction of the base. Democratic protest anywhere in the world should not be subjected to such pressure and punishment.

The lawsuit is a travesty of justice. It is a blatant misuse of the legal process. The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) of which I am President demands that the lawsuit be dropped.

JUST also condemns various unjust measures adopted in the construction of the naval base.

I am attaching a letter sent to Her Excellency the President of South Korea by Bruce K. Gagnon, the Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.

It is my hope that your Excellency will transmit this letter from JUST and the attachment to the President of the Republic of Korea and the Korean government.

Thank you very much for reading this letter.

Warm regards,

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar,

President,

International Movement for a Just World (JUST).

 

The war on Afghanistan enters Year 15 this week.

We hoped that 250 people would raise their voices in opposition on the Thunderclap planned for Wednesday, but already 1,000 have — and rising! Join here.

Almost 6 years after President Obama’s 2009 “surge,” there remain close to 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with the Pentagon talking up the need to keep those troops there and add more.

Our friends at Voices for Creative Nonviolence are mobilizing activists to gather in front of hospitals around the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, under the message, “Dropping Bombs Here would be a War Crime!” and “The same is true in Afghanistan.”

Our allies will be protesting in Chicago on Tuesday, October 6, at 3 p.m. in front of Stroger Hospital (at Ogden and Damen).

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., CodePink is inviting everyone who’d like to help to protest at the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Tuesday. Meet 8 a.m., Tuesday, October 6, 2015, at Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room G-50. Contact: mailto:Michaela@codepink.org?can_id=a4f488f42ad134d4357acc4bfa4bb613&source=email-protest-bombing-hospitals&email_referrer=protest-bombing-hospitals

Listen to a discussion of the hospital bombing and the consciences of soldiers here: Talk Nation Radio: Maria Santelli on Conscience and War.

Read Ruminations of an Afghan Girl Burning to Death in a Hospital Bed.

Watch this video: How ‘Anti-War’ is the United Nations? – David Swanson (World Beyond War)

Sign the Declaration of Peace.

#Enough! : A campaign to abolish war

Building a critical mass of nonviolent relationships for a green and equal world without war.

#Enough!

#Enough wars!

Enough global warming and inequality!

On the 21st of September 2015, the International Day of Peace, we will launch a campaign to abolish war, a campaign called #Enough!

Our hope is to encourage all members of the human family to sign an agreement never to wage war again. In ‘The People’s Agreement to Abolish War’, we’ll work to ban wars person by person. It’s not a petition, because we don’t need permission to live without war. And we won’t wait for the elite, as they’re the ones who keep waging wars.

We’re aware that to abolish war, we must also reverse global warming and inequality, because these crises are driven by the same elite who rule us by force.

We also recognize that abolishing war may take a few generations, and that it’s going to take all of us.

Below is a Flyer for #Enough! and the text for ‘The People’s Agreement to Abolish War’. A multimedia website for #Enough! is under construction – we’ll post an update as we approach the campaign’s launch date on the 21st of September 2015.

#Enough!

We agree to abolish war. We invite you to sign ‘The People’s Agreement to Abolish War’.

We opt out of today’s warring systems by building another world of people who agree to ban weapons and war.

We’re tired of wars.

Wars don’t work.

The Afghan Peace Volunteers are ordinary people with no political agenda.

#Enough! is organized entirely by unpaid volunteers.

We’re tired of wars! Almost every Afghan family has lost a loved one to wars. We have no jobs, our air is polluted and our land has been stripped of trees. Poverty, corruption and terrorism are worsening.

We’ve tried to bring peace by waging war for more than 40 years. War has not worked.

So the Afghan Peace Volunteers have formed a community at the Borderfree Nonviolence Community Centre in which weapons and war are banned!

We reject hatred, revenge and killing because we believe that nonviolent friendships can change Afghanistan and the world.

We’ll wear the Borderfree Blue Scarf to remind ourselves that ‘all human beings live under the same blue sky’.

Person by person, we’ll nurture a critical mass of nonviolent friendships to form another world!

#Enough! The People’s Agreement to Abolish War

#Enough!

We, the people of the human family, agree to abolish war.

Like you, we Afghans are tired of wars. War costs us everything and resolves nothing. War has increased ‘terrorism’. Wars risk spiraling into our destruction by nuclear weapons.

To abolish war, we form small, local peace circles or communities of two or more persons in which we agree to ban weapons and war and to build nonviolent systems for every aspect of life.

With autonomous alternatives, we no longer need to participate in today’s warring systems. We opt out, and we withhold support and money from any individual or group that uses war.

We begin to heal and live differently. Students learn better, laborers and farmers work better, mothers worry less, and basic human resources are better shared.

We nurture egalitarian relationships with nature and all human beings and connect to form a critical mass that’s free of borders, going beyond our separate causes and working together for a green and equal world without war. A critical mass is crucial as we can’t abolish war without reversing global warming and inequality; these are global crises driven by the same elite who rule over us by force. We abolish war person by person. We won’t wait for the elite, because they’re the ones who keep waging wars.

We make no distinction as to who wages the war, the scale of the war or the individual justifications for the war. We renounce all violence and wars and agree never to resort to war in any circumstance.

We, the people of the human family, agree to abolish war.

#Enough!