Call to Action! Week of Palestinian Struggle, 15-22 May 2020

13/05/2020

8 May 2020

View this call to action in French: https://palestinevaincra.com/2020/05/du-15-au-22-mai-rejoignez-la-semaine-de-lutte-palestinienne/

On 15-22 May 2020 Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all organizations, activists and movements to join us in a collective Week of Palestinian Struggle.

On these days, we remember the Nakba, the theft of Palestinian land and the dispossession of the Palestinian people. At the same time, we celebrate, affirm and pledge to continue over 72 years of Palestinian resistance for liberation and return.

For decades, the Palestinian people’s movement has commemorated 15 May and the week that follows as a week of solidarity, resistance and struggle, affirming a revolution that will continue until victory. This week marks the Palestinian, Arab and international struggle for justice and liberation, a struggle that has continued for 72 years and continues every day. As the Nakba continues, the resistance continues!

Join us in a week of virtual and in-person actions to stand with the Palestinian people through 72 years of struggle confronting Zionism, imperialism and reaction and for the liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!

Click here to endorse the week of action or send us your activities.

We know that the Zionist ethnic cleansing project did not begin on 15 May 1948 – it was mostly completed by this point throughout 78% of historic Palestine after its launch the previous December. More than that, it was built upon decades of military escalation and European colonization in Palestine and throughout the region more broadly, particularly the British colonial mandate and its Balfour declaration. This week of struggle requires confronting the racist, imperial ideology of Zionism on which the colonial regime in Palestine has been constructed.

There are over seven million Palestinian refugees and over 13 million Palestinians in exile and diaspora. The implementation of the right of return to Palestine is a collective and individual right that is at the core of the liberation of Palestine. In recent years, the attempts to liquidate the right of return have intensified, culminating in the so-called “deal of the century.” This week of action pledges to intensify the struggle everywhere for the right to return to Palestine.

This struggle for return and liberation has meant that Palestinians have been on the front lines fighting imperialism for over 72 years, fighting alongside comrades in Ireland, the Philippines, Turkey, South Africa, the indigenous Americas and elsewhere. This week of Palestinian struggle is also a week of struggle against imperialism, especially as the U.S. attempts to impose its “deal of the century” and liquidate the Palestinian cause. Imperialist powers use “anti-terror” laws and repressive measures to repress the struggle for Palestine within their borders as well, from the imprisonment of Georges Abdallah in France to the Holy Land Five in the US, to the targeting of Palestinian activists like Khaled Barakat in Germany for political bans.

Every victory that is achieved for people’s struggles around the world is a victory for Palestine, and every attack on those movements – such as the attempts to foment a coup in Venezuela or blockade Cuba – is also an attack on the Palestinian people. The siege on Gaza is not simply an Israeli siege but also a U.S. and European siege in which Arab reactionary regimes are complicit. During this week of action, we struggle to break the siege on Gaza, bring an end to imperialist sanctions and fight all forms of repression.

Of course, Israel is not the only racist settler colony built on dispossession of indigenous peoples and extraction of their resources; the sponsors of Zionist policy in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. We stand with all oppressed peoples and indigenous movements defending their land from the ravages of settler colonial capitalism.

Just as the Palestinian cause is an international struggle, it is also deeply linked to the fight against imperialism throughout the Arab world and the region more broadly. Arab reactionary regimes like those in Saudi Arabia and Egypt work hand in hand with Israel and the United States to promote normalization, besiege the Palestinian people and squander an independent future for the peoples of the region – and this is reflected in their attacks on the Palestinian movement. We stand with the Arab people and the peoples of the region who continue to fight back and defend their sovereignty and their future against imperialism and reaction.

Days of Action

Below are themes for each day through the week, although events may reflect any or all of these themes at any time! Samidoun’s social media will focus on these topics through each day. We encourage you to schedule events and actions on any day during the week, regardless of theme or topic, focusing on the Palestinian liberation struggle and 72 years of continuing resistance. We also present a schedule of the events we know of taking place during the week.

We want to add yours! Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or use the form below to send in your events and actions!

Suggested Actions

Videos and selfies are a great way to express solidarity online! Create a short video clip or hold up a sign supporting the Palestinian people and their resistance through 72 years of ongoing Nakba. Your Tweets, Facebook, Instagram and other social media posts throughout the week can emphasize the critical importance of the Palestinian struggle! Use the hashtags #Nakba2020 #PalestinianResistance #PalestinianStruggle and tag us at @SamidounPP on Twitter so that we can re-share and boost your solidarity efforts.
If you cannot hold an in-person demonstration or action during this week, we encourage you to consider a car caravan. Of course, you can still support the prisoners with an online action or event! Several online meetings are listed below. Host a webinar or online meeting about Palestine and the prisoners’ struggle over Zoom, Facebook Live or a platform of your choice. Send your event details – in any language – to Samidoun at samidoun@samidoun.net and we will include them in our list of activities.
Call in for action. Governments around the world, specifically imperialist powers and reactionary regimes, are fully complicit in Israeli crimes against humanity. Even if you have to leave a message, call your government officials and demand they stop funding and supporting Israel’s ongoing Nakba with military, diplomatic and political support. Express your disgust at these governments’ ongoing support for Israeli colonialism. Call during your country’s regular office hours:

- Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne: + 61 2 6277 7500
- Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne: +1-613-995-4895
- European Union Commissioner Josep Borrell Fontelles: +32(0) 470 18 24 05
- New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
- United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab: +44 20 7008 1500
- United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111

Boycott, Divest and Sanction. It’s just as important to boycott Israel when buying online! Join the BDS campaign to highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.
Share history and record oral history. It is vitally important to recall the history of Palestinian struggle and share the stories of Nakba survivors and generations of Palestinian strugglers. Share your story, that of your family and loved ones, or that of your comrades. Tag us at @SamidounPP so that we share your story further!