Canada and the US simultaneously banned Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network October 15, 2024 as a front for the Palestinian Marxist-Leninist national liberation organization PFLP. The US government listed Samidoun as "Specially Designated National" or a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" under the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The parliament in the Netherlands apparently recommended that Samidoun be banned as a terrorist group October 1st; it has not been so listed, but is facing government repression anyway (see below). Germany banned the organization by November 2, 2023 and Israel did so in 2021. Apparently the FRG banned the organization just for having allegedly passed out candy, somewhere, in celebration of Operation al Aqsa Flood. If I'm not mistaken, senior US and maybe EU diplomatic staff gave sweets to demonstrators during the violent 2014 Euromaidan coup in Ukraine (Wikipedia: November 21, 2013-February 22, 2014: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromaidan ; and there is: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity ) Apparently I briefly met people named on Wikipedia as leaders of the organization -- dangerous to say in the USA under Biden, Harris, and Trump? -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samidoun , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Front_for_the_Liberation_of_Palestine , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specially_Designated_Global_Terrorist , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Foreign_Assets_Control , and samidoun.net -- which worked, but might have been very slow, October 17th or 18th, and worked today. When the ban was first imposed I thought that the website might be in danger of removal. I haven't heard anything about this in the media, etc., other than something from NBC News. I wondered about the whereabouts of the leadership, were they people languishing in a Canadian jail, for anti-war speech, as in the WWI era? But there was a talk by Charlotte Kates at the Institute for the Critical Study of Society at 10:30am Pacific Time on October 27th:
"Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network International Coordinator Charlotte Kates was arrested and charged by the Vancouver Police Department for a speech she gave on April 26 expressing support for the Palestinian resistance and calling for the Palestinian and Arab resistance – Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hezbollah – to be removed from so-called ‘terrorist lists’ in Canada and elsewhere.
VPD officers arrested Kates while she was on the bus riding home after attending the establishment of the Palestine solidarity encampment at the University of British Columbia, and charged her with “public incitement of hatred” and “willful promotion of hatred”. After two hours of questioning she was released with the condition “not to attend any protests, demonstrations and assemblies”.
The attack on Kates is an attack on Samidoun and our work in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian struggle for liberation. The attack on Kates is an attack on the Palestinian people, part of a longstanding effort by Israel and its imperialist allies to criminalize and de-legitimize Palestinian people, their political organizations and their allies. The attack on Kates is an attack on working class and oppressed people in Canada, signalling that our ‘liberal democratic rights’ will only be tolerated so long as they don’t present any meaningful challenge to the establishment. The attack on Kates is an attack on the people of the world who everywhere are rising up and demanding an end to the Israeli genocide and an end to imperialism and colonialism and are being met with criminalization, repression, expulsion and slander!
Charlotte Kates is the co-founder of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. (https://samidoun.net/)"
Posted on YouTube: icssmarx.org/increasing-repression-of-and-resistance-by-the-palestine-liberation-and-solidarity-movement-charlotte-kates-october-27-2024-1030-am-pacific-time/
More information and solidarity links will be put in a future post and/or added here, but a technical problem has cropped up.
This was originally posted October 16th at: samidoun.net/2024/10/we-keep-resisting-us-and-canada-sanction-samidoun/
We keep resisting: US and Canada sanction Samidoun
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| Samidoun October 16, 2024 image |
On October 15, the United States and Canada sanctioned Samidoun in an attempt to repress political organizing in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle against genocide, colonialism and occupation, and the more than 10.000 Palestinian political prisoners that are being tortured and killed by the Zionist entity. In the US, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the sanctions, while the Canadian governmenthas listed Samidoun as a “terrorist entity” under its criminal code.
These decisions come at a time when the Zionist entity continues its genocide and massacres in Gaza, all of Palestine and Lebanon with full support from the US, Canada and the European Union. It is a coordinated attempt by the enemies of the Palestinian people to stop every form of solidarity with the Palestinian people and political organizing efforts to end Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and occupation.
Our response to this designation is clear: we will keep struggling to stop the genocide, stop imperialist support for Israel, until the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.
Besides sending weapons and money to the Zionist entity, imperialist powers are repressing the Palestinian diaspora, Arab community and international activists for Palestine that are resisting these countries’ support for the occupation. Thousands of activists in North-America and Europe have been arrested, their houses raided or imprisoned. Palestinians in various countries have received deportation orders for their political activism. In Germany, a ban has been implemented against the slogan “from the river to sea, Palestine will be free”.
This designation and sanctions should be of serious concern to all who carry out political work, especially for Palestinian liberation, just like the banning of Samidoun in Germany in November 2023. It is meant to introduce a norm in which organizations may be designated as “terrorist” for organizing demonstrations, lectures, publishing posters and engaging in entirely public and political work that challenges imperialist states’ complicity in Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ongoing genocide in Gaza. It comes at a time when more people than ever are speaking out for justice and liberation in Palestine and is meant as an attack on the movement as a whole.
We also express our strongest solidarity with Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and executive committee member of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, who was targeted by the US in the same order as a “specially designated global terrorist.” This is meant to silence his effective work and activity in organizing Palestinians in exile and diaspora in the struggle for return and liberation for Palestine.
The repression of Samidoun is part of a larger attack against the Palestinian diaspora, the Arab community and all internationalists that struggle for Palestine. All mainstream political parties, from Democrats to Republicans, and from social democrats to the extreme right-wing, have used the past year to propagate more racist, Islamophobic and repressive measures against the Palestinian people, Arabs, Muslims, refugees, migrants and activists. This repression reflects the interests of the US and Canada, themselves settler-colonial states built on genocide, ethnic cleansing and continued oppression of the Indigenous peoples, and Europe, the birthplace of the Zionist movement.
It is part of the global struggle against colonialism and imperialism that will continue until the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, the right of return for all Palestinian refugees and the liberation of all oppressed peoples and nations.
Like the Zionist entity fears the Palestinian resistance, so do the imperialist powers fear the Palestinian diaspora and their supporters that have been rising up again and again, especially since the start of operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the Zionist genocide. They fear a strong, popular movement that threatens their economic and political interests in Palestine and the region.
The repression is a sign of strength for the Palestinian movement and the international solidarity movement. This movement has mobilized the largest demonstrations for Palestine in history, has costed Israeli and Zionist companies billions of dollars in losses, it has united millions of people from across the world, and it has united virtually all social movements in every country for the Palestinian liberation struggle.
Samidoun is particularly targeted because of our political and vocal support for the Palestinian prisoners movement and the Palestinian people’s right to resistance. While the US and Canada are two of Israel’s biggest material supporters with weapons and money and repress the Palestinian movement in their own countries, their official outposts abroad have frequently sought to influence and direct Palestinian politics through conditional funding and similar colonial enterprises. Through these sanctions, the US and Canada wish not only to support genocide but to criminalize even verbal resistance to that genocide. The Palestinian people, like all colonized and oppressed peoples, have the right to resist to liberate themselves and their land from colonialism and occupation, from the river to the sea. Those who resist occupation and oppression — the Palestinian resistance — are not only heroes of the Palestinian people, they are defenders of all of humanity.
As Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, we reiterate our support for the Palestinian people, the prisoners and the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic resistance, who are confronting the genocide and occupation on a daily basis.
At the same time, we want to stress that Samidoun does not have any material or organizational ties to entities listed on the terrorist lists of the United States, Canada or the European Union.
We reiterate our words upon German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ announcement of the demand to ban Samidoun: In Arabic, the word “Samidoun,” means those who are steadfast. We use this name to refer to the Palestinian prisoners, who remain behind bars, struggling for freedom. Today we affirm that we shall remain steadfast and committed to the Palestinian people, until victory, return and liberation.
[Join the @samidounnetwork channel on Telegram]
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Sent out by email October 22nd:
NLG Condemns the US Government Attack on Samidoun and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, Calls for an End to Resurgent McCarthyism
The National Lawyers Guild strongly condemns the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designation of Samidoun as “a sham charity
that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization,” and the listing of long-time Palestinian-
Canadian activist Khaled Barakat “as associated with terrorism.”
Done in coordination with the government of Canada, this designation will have a broad
chilling effect on Palestine solidarity work in North America. Above all, it is designed to
disrupt the unprecedented global tidal wave of support for the liberation of Palestine.
The crack down on our constitutionally protected speech is a worrisome development at
any moment in time but in particular right now as social movements confront the US-
backed Israeli genocide in Gaza, the Israeli war on Lebanon, and the general global
trend toward fascism.
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) has a proud legacy of defending first amendment
rights, standing against the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and Cold
War repression during the McCarthy era. From representing the Hollywood Ten and the
Rosenbergs to supporting the Black Liberation Movement and Landback struggles
waged by Indigenous peoples, the NLG has fought tirelessly against government
repression—an effort we continue today as we confront the latest iteration of
McCarthyism with claims of terrorism being the new anti-communism. Established in
1937, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is the nation’s oldest and largest progressive
bar association and was the first one in the US to be racially integrated. Our mission is
to use law for the people, uniting lawyers, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse
lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people by valuing human
rights and the rights of ecosystems over property interests.
As the beating heart of the international anti-colonial and anti-imperial struggle, the
Palestine solidarity movement has faced violent repression in North America since its
inception. A recent report by the Center for Constitutional Rights demonstrates how
U.S. antiterrorism legislation evolved to oppose Palestinian liberation struggles, as early
as the 1960s. The first U.S. federal mention of “terrorism” in 1969 specifically targeted
humanitarian aid to Palestinians, establishing a pattern of associating Palestinian life
and Palestinian existence with terrorism. Subsequent laws and policies, including the
first terrorism blacklist and the unique congressional designation of the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) as a terrorist group in 1987 reinforced this connection.
Financial sanctions against Palestinian factions were instituted in response to Israeli
demands, and Palestinians were a major focus of post-1995 anti-terrorism provisions.
This historical context highlights pre-existing bias against Palestine solidarity
organizations within U.S. anti-terrorism legislation. It also reflects ongoing anti-
Palestinian racism on the part of the U.S. government and its allies, which is used to
drum up support for the genocide of Palestinians; we reject this racist genocidal project
and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation movement.
The unjust targeting of Samidoun mirrors the Los Angeles 8 case, litigated by NLG and
other organizations. In 1987, eight Palestinian and Palestine solidarity activists were
brutally arrested by the FBI in Los Angeles and held in jail for three weeks before being
released. They too were wrongly accused of association with the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, and their so-called crimes were distributing Palestinian
magazines and fundraising for humanitarian relief. Mainstream media relentlessly
called them terrorists, causing a chilling effect across left social movements throughout
North America. Shortly thereafter, the National Lawyers Guild and other organizations
filed a lawsuit against the US government for its unconstitutional arrests and bogus
charges. Twenty years later, Judge Bruce Einhorn dismissed the lawsuit, calling the
government’s actions in the prolonged case “an embarrassment to the rule of law.”
The use of the law to criminalize and delegitimize freedom fighters from Indigenous,
Black, Puerto Rican and other liberation struggles has a long history in this country. In
the years following 9/11, US anti-terrorism and related laws have increasingly targeted
not just Palestinian solidarity organizing, but all social movements in the US. The US
government is now using anti-terrorism legislation to target the Indigenous landback
movement and environmental justice movements, and following the George Floyd and
Breonna Taylor uprisings, anti-police brutality activists challenging Cop City in Atlanta
face RICO charges. In 2021, Jessica Reznicek, an environmental activist, was
imprisoned for “sabotaging” construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. She received
an eight-year sentence, which included a terrorism enhancement.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is an international coalition of
activists dedicated to supporting Palestinian prisoners in their fight for freedom,
stemming from the 2011 hunger strike of prisoners in Israeli jails, and has no ties to any
so-called designated terrorists. The organization aims to raise awareness of the
conditions, rights and demands of Palestinian political prisoners. Palestinian prisoners
are at the heart of the broader struggle for Palestinian national liberation, confronting
Israeli oppression daily and leading the movement for justice. The number of
Palestinian held captive in colonial jails has expanded exponentially during the ongoing
genocide, with close to 11,000 Palestinian imprisoned since October 7th, highlighting
the importance of Samidoun’s work.
The National Lawyers Guild is outraged by the expanded use of anti-terrorism laws to
attack social movements. Like the L.A. 8, this targeting of Samidoun, Khaled Barakat
and the Palestinian liberation movement is also an embarrassment to the rule of law,
and we call on all peoples of conscience to stand with us as we defend human rights
advocates and social movements that practice their constitutional right to freedom of
speech, against the genocide of the Palestinian people. We must fight back before it is
too late. An attack on one is an attack on all!
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| NLG image |
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This was originally posted October 26th at: samidoun.net/2024/10/hands-off-palestinian-activists-netherlands-imposes-entry-ban-on-samidouns-europe-coordinator-mohammed-khatib/
Hands off Palestinian activists: Netherlands imposes entry ban on Samidoun’s Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib
[Mohammed Khatib image]
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network strongly condemns the Dutch state decision to ban Samidoun’s European Coordinator Mohammed Khatib from entering the Netherlands for a period of two years. We believe this decision has no legal ground, just like civil servants of Dutch anti-terror and immigration institutions who advised against issuing this ban.We are fighting this ban on a legal and political level and we call upon the Palestinian people and their friends and supporters in the Netherlands to continue and intensify the struggle to end the genocide, end the occupation and liberate Palestine from the river to the sea.
The entry ban issued against Mohammed comes while the Zionist genocide in Gaza is killing tens of thousands of Palestinians with unlimited support from the Dutch government. This repression is another form of support for the genocide and an attempt to shut down every voice of opposition to Dutch complicity with the occupation. Furthermore, the ban is a racist and colonial tool used to limit the freedom of movement of a Palestinian refugee who already cannot enter his homeland. It is also intended as an attack on the Palestinian liberation movement as a whole and specifically on the thousands of Palestinian prisoners struggling and organizing under torture and severe abuse from the Zionist regime inside its colonial jails.
The Dutch Minister of Asylum and Migration, Marjolein Faber, belongs to the PVV, the most outspoken Zionist party in the Netherlands and the largest party in the current governing coalition. The PVV is a supporter of implementing occupation-style administrative detention, meaning imprisonment without charge or trial, in the Netherlands. The party has close ties with the most extreme “Israeli” political parties.
The decision to bar Mohammed Khatib from entering the Netherlands is not only an attack against him personally, but against the Palestinian diaspora and people as a whole. It is an attack on refugees and immigrants that speak out against the colonial and imperialist interventions in their home countries. Amid a time that millions of Palestinians, Arabs and internationals around the world are confronting the genocide, the imperialist states feel the need to not only support Israel with money and weapons, but to actively repress any dissenting voice. The repressive attacks on the movement around the world, especially in the imperial core, are part and parcel of the full imperialist participation in the genocide in the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, the Netherlands and elsewhere.
Mohammed Khatib was invited to speak at Radboud University Nijmegen this Monday, 28 October, about “Criminalisation, Diaspora & Starvation,” ironically made even more relevant by the decision to deny him entry to the Netherlands. As Samidoun, we reiterate our support to the Student Intifada and all those who are standing up against genocide, Zionism, colonialism and imperialism. We invite everyone to come to Radboud University this Monday 28 October at 12:15 pm.
From Nijmegen to Palestine: resistance is not a crime!
Hands off Palestinian Activists! Defend Palestinian Resistance!
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This was originally posted October 31st at: samidoun.net/2024/10/take-action-follow-our-new-telegram-channel-after-imperialist-censorship/
Take action: Follow our new Telegram channel after imperialist censorship!
[Arabic logo image]
On Tuesday, 29 October, the primary Telegram channel of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network has been banned in the US, Canada, and some European countries, following the sanctions imposed on Samidoun by the United States and Canada.
We urge all to follow our NEW CHANNEL:
https://t.me/samidoun_network
Follow in Spanish:
https://t.me/solidaridadpresaspoliticas
The attempt to silence Samidoun on Telegram is part and parcel of the attack on the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the Palestinian resistance. It comes hand in hand with attacks that aim to suppress Resistance News Network, media outlets and all organizations confronting Zionist/imperialist genocide and upholding the resistance!
This ban comes after baseless sham accusations by the US, Canada, Netherlands, and zionist entity, all aimed at silencing the liberation movement and scaring other organizers. Framing Samidoun’s activities in support of Palestinian prisoners for the last 13 years “terrorism” is part of an increasingly aggressive stance that seeks to criminalize Palestinian solidarity, undermine grassroots mobilization, and obscure the injustices and genocide faced by the Palestinian and Arab peoples, especially the prisoners’ movement.
We urge all to resist censorship and silencing of the movement for Palestinian liberation! Join our new channel and also follow the channels below for important information and updates on the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.
We urge all to follow our NEW CHANNEL:
https://t.me/samidoun_network
A second article posted October 28th: samidoun.net/2024/10/far-right-spanish-party-vox-tries-to-silence-activists-for-palestine-in-the-spanish-high-court/
This was originally posted October 28th at: samidoun.net/2024/10/from-spain-liberate-palestine-confront-repression-samidoun-is-under-attack/
From Spain — Liberate Palestine, confront repression: Samidoun is under attack
[Image]
One year after the launch of the intensified new phase of genocide against the Palestinian people, we see how people of conscience within the Spanish State continue to stand up against injustice and barbarism. The escalating violence and oppression by the Zionist entity towards the Palestinian people and other peoples in the region runs parallel to the alarming escalation of repressive measures against the international solidarity movement with Palestine, in which Spain is no exception.
Toa dvance and protect its colonial project in Palestine, the Israeli entity not only seeks to exterminate the Palestinian people in Gaza and throughout Palestine, but also to silence the voices of millions everywhere who continue to believe in and fight for a free Palestine. To that end, the occupation regime has, through Zionist lobbying organizations and its alliances with reactionary governments and political forces, deployed all available resources to silence, demobilize, marginalize, and eradicate the voices of the people’s movement.
Alongside many Palestinian and pro-Palestinian collectives and individuals worldwide who have been subjected to some or all of these repressive tactics, Samidoun is currently a direct target of the Zionist-reactionary alliance. On 15 October, Canada and the United States launched a coordinated campaign to sanction Samidoun, following the example of Germany or the French Ministry of the Interior’s attempt in 2022 to dissolve the Collectif Palestine Vaincra. In all cases, these bans have stemmed from political decisions that have not bothered to substantiate their accusations through legal processes that require meaningful evidence.
It is ironic that the imperialist countries and reactionary forces most supportive of Israel’s genocidal military machinery would list grassroots Palestinian groups like Samidoun, which oppose Israeli terror and that of its allies, as “terrorists.” This is part of a strategy to criminalize political opposition and weaken the growing social movements that not only oppose Israel’s genocidal project in Palestine and across the Arab Levant but also the Atlantic imperialist axis’s project to impose a new world order, whose first victims will be the peoples of the region.
This repressive context has already reached Spain, where state institutions, together with reactionary movements, have taken a further step by targeting Samidoun activists. In collaboration with reactionary political forces and the Israeli lobby, they seek to prosecute us simply for explaining to society why anticolonial resistance is legitimate, even under current international law, and for defending the rights of all Palestinian political prisoners. Alongside these investigations, other repressive strategies we have seen in international settings are also being implemented, such as:
- Using legal frameworks and opening procedures to restrict freedom of expression and political action in the name of counterterrorism, public security risks, or combating antisemitism.
- Instrumentalizing bureaucratic repression and economic violence to stifle activists, imposing administrative sanctions during protests to demobilize and financially exhaust them.
- Smearing activists and media pressure as a form of collective and individual targeting and creating false narratives, through massive dissemination and distortion by the Zionist lobby and the far right.
- Monitoring and tracking activists in their political activities and private lives as a form of psychological pressure and intimidation.
- Censoring the organization’s communication channels and the closure of Samidoun’s social media accounts.
In the face of this unprecedented offensive in the recent history of the Palestine solidarity movement, we reiterate that Samidoun is an independent, self-managed collective rooted in social movements and based on building grassroots solidarity with Palestine. Samidoun receives no public funding of any kind and is not part of the structure of any Palestinian or international party or faction. From this position, we speak of the Palestinian people’s cause, their political prisoners, and the right to defend, resist, and liberate themselves from occupation and colonialism.
Now more than ever, we call for solidarity and unity among social movements, specifically Palestinian and pro-Palestinian organizations, against repression.
The attacks on any group working for the liberation of Palestine should be a concern for all those engaged in emancipatory political work. Beyond slogans, history has forcefully shown us that, indeed, when they come for one of us, they come for all of us. Therefore, we encourage all friendly and supportive organizations of the Palestinian cause to endorse this statement, to express their rejection of this wave of repression aimed at silencing anti-Zionist political action.
In Arabic, the word Samidoun means “those who stand steadfast.” We use this idea to refer to Palestinian political prisoners, who are fighting for freedom from behind bars. Today we affirm that we must stand firm and committed to the Palestinian people until victory, return, and liberation.
Long live Free Palestine!
We are gathering endorsements from organizations. If you support this statement, please leave your signature: https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/IqglaCBU9l2Kg0S1QI9Gg1vO1byFY49+7WhfEpXfaUE/
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Slightly edited statement from Toufan ( www.toufan.org ? From Facebook?), received October 26th:
Statement of the Party of Labour of Iran (Toufan)
We strongly condemn the criminal aerial attack of the Zionist regime of Israel on Iran.
Finally, this morning, the Zionist and warmongering regime of Israel, after weeks of procrastination and psychological warfare, has launched an airstrike against military centers in Tehran, Khuzestan, and Ilam provinces with the approval and cooperation of the U.S. imperialists.
Although there is no detailed information about the size of attack and the damage caused to Iran yet, but this terrorist attack, which could be the beginning of a major regional war, is illegal and in violation of Iran's national sovereignty.
The purpose of the Israeli attacks on Iran have been to weaken the just struggles of the resistance front against the Zionist genocide of the Palestinians and Lebanese. We strongly condemn the Israeli aggressions.
The war that Israel has waged against Iran, in various forms for a long time, is an aggressive, illegal, unjust and bandit war that violates all international laws. It has been carried out to defend imperialist interests and reactionary and colonial order.
Iran's military response to the Zionist regime of Israel is defined as a defensive, legitimate and just. Iran, according to all recognized international laws, has the right to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
No to the military aggression of the Zionist regime of Israel against Iran!
U.S. imperialists and Israeli Zionists, hand off Iran and the region!
The Party of Labour of Iran (Toufan)
October 26, 2024
Originally posted October 13th at: www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2024/10/13/end-washingtons-new-mccarthyism ; slightly edited --
End Washington's New McCarthyism!
In April, the U.S. House passed H.R. 6408: “An Act To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to terminate the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations.” It was introduced in the Senate as S. 1436.
It sounds benign, but it reaches well beyond any narrowly defined or momentarily intended targets. If enacted into law, it can be used against any non-profit which engages in any issue not favored by whatever Administration is in power in the future.
The Act details procedures for the Secretary of the Treasury to designate organizations as having provided material support to groups deemed to be terrorist organizations. Section (C) (ii) provides “Opportunity to Cure” procedures. In addition to this being “guilty until proven innocent,” Section (F) states “ the United States district courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to review a final determination with respect to an organization’s designation as a terrorist supporting organization.” Thus, if the Administration wants to silence some voices it can simply do so unless the courts intervene.
This bill legislates broad Executive authority to suspend normal due process, allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to strip US groups of their non-profit status in a peremptory manner with virtually no limitations, accountability, or meaningful recourse.
Immediate support for the bill is related to the present crisis in Gaza, but it can be used in any manner in the future. It also has a three year “look-back” feature, which means the government can designate an organization or country as "terrorist," and then look back at any non-profit which has donated or supported that organization or country in the last three years.
The definition of "support" is also vague. If a non-profit calls for a mutual ceasefire and negotiations in Gaza (or any other future conflict), is that support for only one side? Some in Washington and elsewhere currently frame it that way.
Here is a sign-on letter opposing the bill, from numerous organizations: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScICili7mzBYpeE2cZk4AWcSlo5QNj7CeSzH_Ti66uhjqbpRg/viewform
And there’s a larger context here, provided by a recent Veterans For Peace statement:
California Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's recent claims that Code Pink and other peace protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza are either Russian or Chinese funded is absurd and insulting, and Veterans For Peace calls on her to withdraw such allegations and apologize.
In October of 2023, Pelosi told a group of Code Pink protesters (all of whom were White American women), to "Go back to China where your headquarters is." Then in January of 2024, Pelosi said in an interview, “I think…some of these protesters are spontaneous and organic and sincere… Some, I think, are connected to Russia. And I say that having looked at this for a long time now, as you know.”
When asked whether she thought some pro-Palestinian protests were Russian plants, the responded, “I don’t think they’re plants…I think some financing should be investigated…and I want to ask the FBI to investigate that.”
Now that the US has declared Russia and China to be our latest enemies, Pelosi is trying to connect dots that simply aren't there.
On August 5, 2023, the New York Times attacked Jodie Evans, Code Pink and other peace groups in an article entitled, “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul.” But if one reads the article carefully, the evidence shows the headline was false. The American tech mogul in question made all his money in America and is donating his American money to American and international peace organizations.
Following the NYT article, Republican US senator Marco Rubio asked the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into Code Pink and other entities for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Then in November of 2023, ten Republican House members of Congress signed a letter saying that they are 'deeply concerned' with Code Pink's ties to the Communist Party of China and requesting documentation.
The federal government has expanded its use of FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) to target Black liberation activists and Chinese Americans working for peace with China. Examples include the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement, where three individuals were charged with acting as foreign agents of Russia based only on normal international exchange and collaboration between peace and justice advocates from different nations, something Veterans For Peace and other organizations often do, as do businesses and trade organizations. It is normal human communication and networking.
In another example, Boston-area trade unionist Li Tang “Henry” Liang, a Chinese American activist and union member and advocate for peace between the US and China, has also been arrested and indicted under FARA.
The US has used FARA to repress peace and justice organizers going all the way back to the 1951 prosecution of W.E.B. DuBois and the prosecution of the Cuban Five. From 2018 to 2022, the FBI arrested and prosecuted Chinese American scientists under the “China Initiative.” Most were found innocent, and the “China Initiative” was finally dropped due to apparent racial profiling. But Chinese American scientists can still be arrested under other criteria, and there is currently an effort under way in Congress to reinstall the “China Initiative.”
On September 3, 2024, the Washington Post published an article claiming that the crowds of Chinese Americans who turned out to welcome China’s president Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit were “non-state actors to further China’s political goals overseas,” who had violently attacked Tibetan and Hong Kong anti-China protesters to silence them. But the Post relied almost exclusively on the Tibetan and Hong Kong protesters’ reports and videos. There is no evidence that the welcomers attended the event intending to create disturbance, and in fact a majority of them were older retired persons with no history of violence or law breaking of any kind. There is more reason to believe the anti-China demonstrators were the ones intending to create negative publicity for propaganda purposes. The Hong Kong protesters included leaders from the Hong Kong Democracy Council, a group with a history of violence during the 2019 Hong Kong riots who were funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, a CIA offshoot.
One should also note the establishment looking the other way when violent right wing counter-protesters using weapons physically attack peaceful university protesters against the Gaza genocide. The police have let the attacks happen, then arrested the peaceful protesters.
Other recent events have highlighted the increasing suppression of activists and independent voices by imperial authorities, underscoring a troubling trend towards authoritarianism.
In the US, the FBI raid on former Marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter’s home and the intense questioning of Jacob Berger, following his humanitarian mission to Egypt, reveal a similar clampdown on critical voices. Ritter’s home was invaded in a bid to silence his outspoken criticism of US foreign policy, while Berger’s scrutiny highlights the dangerous repercussions for those engaged in humanitarian work abroad.
Regardless of whether we agree or disagree with these voices, it is imperative to protect their free speech rights if we want to live in an open society where diverse perspectives can be freely expressed and debated.
These incidents collectively demonstrate an alarming trend of targeting and silencing individuals who challenge power and advocate for the vulnerable and dispossessed. The suppression of these voices not only undermines democratic principles but also threatens the very foundation of free expression and critical engagement. It is crucial to stand in solidarity with those being targeted, defend the freedoms of speech and action, and resist this encroaching wave of authoritarianism we are facing.
Remember Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous quote about Nazi Germany which began, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out…?”
Today, they come for Black Socialists, then Chinese Americans, then White CODEPINK women, then retired military officers, then peace activists in allied nations, and then for the peace non-profits.
Either we all stand together, or we will all fall separately.
END WASHINGTON’S NEW MCCARTHY PERIOD!
Originally posted October 22nd at: www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2024/10/22/veterans-peace-applaudsisraeli-soldiers-who-refuse-fight-gaz
Calls for GI’s to Resist Illegal Wars and War Crimes
Veterans For Peace applauds the Israeli military reservists who are calling for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, and who say they will not participate in genocide. You are doing the right thing. Your courageous stance may be answered by official threats and even imprisonment. But you will never regret refusing to kill innocent Palestinian men, women and children.
Palestinian Lives Matter. Yet Palestinians are being systematically slaughtered before the eyes of the world. The ongoing US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza is unacceptable. It is a stain on human history. And it must be ended.
Veterans For Peace has consistently called for an end to the genocide in Gaza, for a permanent ceasefire, and most importantly, for an end to US arms shipments to Israel. When U.S. bombs stop falling on Palestinian children, the genocide will have ended. Veterans For Peace has meticulously documented the US laws that the Biden Administration is breaking when it sends weapons to Israel while it is bombing and starving innocent civilians. As the slaughter in Gaza has continued and escalated, we have sent Open Letters to the State Department, to President Biden, to Vice President Harris and to the Justice Department.
One thing is very clear – this is genocide, a deliberate sustained campaign to wipe out an entire nation of people. This genocide is now being intensified. And it is illegal a thousand times over.
As veterans who have participated in too many illegal and immoral wars, we also want to address our young sisters and brothers, daughters and sons in the U.S. military. The U.S. has 40,000 troops deployed on ships and at bases throughout the Middle East. President Biden recently sent 100 U.S. troop to be stationed in Israel just as Israel is preparing to attack Iran and is bracing for Iran’s promised response.
The U.S. is also backing Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. The U.S. military itself has recently dropped bombs in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Now there is active discussion about waging war on Iran!
Are U.S. troops being purposely deployed where they will be targets and casualties? Is this the way that the Biden Administration will back us into a war with Iran? Such a war is not in the interests of the people of Iran, nor of Israel, nor of the United States. This is a bold war of colonialism and empire – fought for control of other people’s land and resources.
Veterans For Peace has joined with several other organizations to promote the Appeal for Redress (v.2), an opportunity for active-duty GI’s to safely present their concerns to their Congressional
representatives. We refer GI’s who are thinking about becoming Conscientious Objectors to the Center on Conscience and War. We can put you in touch with a GI Rights lawyer if needed.
Remember, it is right to resist unjust wars and illegal orders. And when you do, you will have the support of Veterans For Peace.
STOP THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA – No More US Weapons to Israel
REFUSE TO FIGHT ILLEGAL WARS – No War with Lebanon or Iran
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