On the 29th Plenary and 30th anniversary of the ICMLPO

Originally posted November 17th at:  www.evrensel.net/haber/534287/cipoml-29-konferansi-dunya-barisinin-yolu-kapitalist-emperyalist-sisteme-son-vermek

November 13th:  "XXIX International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations, ICMLPO" -- www.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13472

November 13th:  "Declaración Final de la XXIX Plenaria de la Conferencia Internacional de Partidos y Organizaciones Marxista-Leninistas — CIPOML" -- www.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13474

Available in English, Spanish, and Turkish, posted November 13th:  cipoml.net/en/final-declaration-of-the-xxix-plenary-session-of-the-international-conference-of-marxist-leninist-parties-and-organisations-cipoml/ , plus conference documents

Also:   "Enver Hoxha, brave defender of Marxism-Leninism" -- www.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13437 (October 22nd)

En Marcha #2116, November 12-18, 2024
Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador

Celebration of the 30th anniversary of the ICMLPO

[Photo]

In Hamburg, Germany, the twenty-ninth Plenary of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations, ICMLPO, which is the highest body of the Conference, was held.

This year's agenda analyzed the international situation and assessed the experiences of the 30 years of the Conference's existence. Each party and member organization presented its activity report. The debates strengthened ideological and political unity; the reports allowed us to see the richness of the activity that the ICMLPO carries out in each country. In the end, the resolutions were passed. The Conference in this event reaffirmed its will and commitment to advance, expand its influence and presence and ratified the impulse of international events and actions that are already being carried out, such as the Youth Camps and the Unity and Struggle journal, whose 49th edition is a few days away from its publication.

Later, in a public festival, the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the ICMLPO was celebrated, which was attended by more than 600 people, where important interventions were made, among which we can point out the following:

Diethard Möller, representative of the Organization for the Reconstruction of the Communist Party of Germany, recalled that the ICMLPO was founded in 1994 with the participation of 15 parties and that it is now continuing its revolutionary path with about 30 parties from different continents. "The 30-year history of the ICMLPO, in the struggle against exploitation, against imperialism and war, is the history of the struggle for socialism. But this is not enough for us, we will not stop in any way. We are determined to continue this fight until the end," he said.

For her part, Sevda Karaca, Vice President and MP of the Party of Labor of Turkey (EMEP), stated that: "The proletariat is an international class that cannot be content with international solidarity alone, it has to organize itself as an international class. While it is obliged to fight within the national state borders, it cannot neglect the international dimension and organization of its struggle." In addition, she ratified the idea that the Conference, at the present time, is the most advanced and revolutionary form of international organization of the proletariat. "For our part, we are working and will work to strengthen the ICMLPO and extend its organization to all countries. First of all, of course, we know that we can successfully fulfill this duty by turning factories into our strongholds and maintaining strong positions against the bourgeoisie in our own country," he said.

Pablo Miranda, on behalf of the delegation of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador (PCMLE), said: "The responsibility to work for the unity of communists on an international scale has always been a necessity. We and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Parties, those who were present and those who were not, at the founding meeting of the ICMLPO, which took place in Quito on August 1, 1994, faced this task."

Miranda emphatically reminded the Marxist-Leninist communists of the international obligation to rebuild the Communist International, in which the Conference plays an important role. "We have come a long way, but we still have to go further and faster," he concluded.

Source: Evrensel Newspaper

Final Declaration of the 29th Plenary of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations — ICMLPO

[Photo]

Below, this weekly reproduces the Final Declaration of the 29th Plenary of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO).

Imbued with the revolutionary vitality that characterizes the actions of the parties and organizations that make up the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations, ICMLPO, its 29th Plenary Session has met. Its work has been developed in an atmosphere of camaraderie, objective and critical analysis of the characteristic elements of the economic, political and social scenario worldwide. We have also analyzed the fulfillment of our responsibilities aimed at organizing and leading to victory the struggle of the working class and the peoples for revolution, socialism and communism.

The world is going through a complex time, characterized by the sharpening of the general crisis of the capitalist system. The inter-imperialist confrontation, the contention among the monopolies and the states of the most developed capitalist-imperialist economies have developed to the point that they have seen in war the means to resolve their differences.

The inter-imperialist war that is taking place in Ukraine is not the only military conflict today, more than fifty local wars are spreading in different parts of the planet, in all of them the interests of one or another imperialist country, of one or another capitalist-imperialist bloc are at stake. In all these conflicts, the workers and peoples are the main victims. Inter-imperialist wars among capitalist states and aggression against the peoples are phenomena of capitalism, this system must be put to an end in order to achieve world peace.

The aggressive and criminal nature of imperialism manifests itself openly and cynically in the genocide facing the Palestinian people, now spread to the people of Lebanon.

Israeli Zionism, US imperialism and their allies are responsible for these crimes that are claiming the lives of thousands of children, young people, women and the elderly.

The workers, youth and peoples of the world reject genocide, we show it in massive mobilizations that are taking place everywhere. Banners for peace are flying alongside condemnation of Israeli Zionism and its supporters.

The negative social effects caused by capitalist exploitation are repudiated by the workers, youth, women and the peoples. Massive mobilizations, workers' strikes and popular uprisings are taking place against the austerity policies implemented by the governments of the bourgeoisie, whether they are liberal, neoliberal, social democratic or "progressive". In the midst of the struggle for employment, better wages, quality public education, health care, and social security, in defense of the environment, among other aspects, the feeling of repudiation of capitalism and the desire for change are growing among the peoples. However, this discontent of the masses is being exploited by the very people responsible for its existence: the bourgeoisie and the oligarchies.

We note the dangerous growth of the right and extreme right in some regions of the planet; fascist and pro-fascist forces have had the ability to manipulate the consciousness of the masses and capture governments in several countries, with their apparently anti-system discourses, but in reality, they are sustained by reactionary, racist, xenophobic and misogynistic points of view. Fascism today constitutes a real danger to all the democratic gains of humanity. As already demonstrated in the last century, it is a return to barbarism.

We warn the workers and peoples about this danger, but we must also do so in the face of the apparently revolutionary and left-wing political positions, such as "progressivism", which in reality represent the economic and political interests of bourgeois factions and imperialist powers.

The 29th plenary session of the ICMLPO confirmed the development experienced by our parties in this period. In our daily work, we have demonstrated our revolutionary commitment to the workers and peoples. However, we are fully aware that we must work better and do much more to fulfil our historic political responsibility.

Our Conference met, coincidentally, together with the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the ICMLPO and, 30 years after its formation, we continue to raise the banners of Marxism-Leninism and the proletarian revolution with the same optimism and commitment. Only the social revolution of the proletariat will liberate the workers and peoples from capitalist-imperialist exploitation.

Hamburg, November 2024.

With Marxism-Leninism, for revolution and socialism!
29th Plenary of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations — ICMLPO

Scintilla: Alexandra Kollontai, Communist Revolutionary

Originally posted November 13th at:  piattaformacomunista.com/index.php/aleksandra-kollontaj-rivoluzionaria-comunista/ ; slightly edited.

Scintilla n. 149, November 2024

edited by Piattaforma Comunista – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy

Alexandra Kollontai, Communist Revolutionary

It is not easy to summarize the life and work of a woman like Alexandra Kollontai, who dedicated all her energies to the struggle against capitalism, the exploitation of the proletariat and the oppression of women, for socialism. A communist to whom women and feminist movements owe a lot.

She is deliberately cited as the proponent of "free love", thus reducing her work on the family and marriage to an erroneously libertine vision of relations between the two sexes, when instead the new communist morality always opposed bourgeois licentiousness and hypocrisy.

For Kollontai, bourgeois marriage is a chain that binds women to traditional values, values that oppress them and do not emancipate them. Marriage, which capitalism had transformed into a mere economic contract, would thus be transformed into the union of two people in love, ready to respect each other and with equal rights and duties in the family.

Aleksandra Kollontai was born into a wealthy family in St. Petersburg on March 31, 1872. She refused a marriage of convenience with a high officer who was the tsar's attendant and in 1893, against her parents' wishes, she married a distant cousin, the engineer Vladimir Kollontai, with whom she had a son Mikhail. They separated after 3 years because she considered an exclusive life as a wife and mother suffocating.

In August 1898 she moved to Zurich to attend lectures on political economy by Heinrich Herkner, a Marxist. Here she joined the social democratic movement. In 1904 Lenin called her to collaborate with a Bolshevik periodical and in November Kollontai definitively joined the Bolsheviks and also started courses in Marxism for the workers. On January 9, 1905, Kollontai was among the workers who marched to the Winter Palace and took part in the days that followed, where she distinguished herself as a brilliant orator.

In the same period she began to deepen her commitment to the question of women's emancipation and liberation by publishing "The Social Elements of the Woman Question". In 1905, in Mannheim, she participated in the Fourth Women's Conference of German Social Democracy and two years later in Stuttgart, in the Women's Conference of the Socialist International, with her friend Clara Zetkin, supporting women's right to vote. In 1908 she was tried twice on charges of anti-government activity among the textile workers and of calling for revolt in the pamphlet "Finland and Socialism". She was then forced to emigrate from Russia and go underground.

She spent her years abroad in intense political activity. In Germany she helped the Social Democratic Party in propaganda and agitation; in England she fought with the workers for universal suffrage; in Paris she organized a strike of workers for the Socialist Party; she took part in workers' struggles in Belgium, Sweden and Norway.

In 1910 she participated in the 8th Congress of the Second International. She wrote many works including "Woman and Motherhood" and "The Social Basis of the Woman Question" and worked intensively for the newspapers Rabotnitsa and Pravda.

At the International Socialist Congress in Basel in 1912, Alexandra Kollontai implemented a maternity care plan that was largely adopted in Russia in 1918. In 1915, at the outbreak of war, she took part in the Zimmerwald Conference advocating the need to boycott the war, and wrote the pamphlet "Who Needs the War?", intended for soldiers. Between 1915 and 1916 she traveled throughout the United States to plead the socialist cause and held anti-war conferences.

In February 1917, when the tsarist regime was overthrown, Kollontai returned from exile. Before leaving, Lenin sent her a pamphlet, "Letters from Afar", in which he explained that the events of February were only the first phase of the revolution and that the way to achieve peace was the seizure of power by the proletariat. She was therefore elected – first among women – to the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. It was she who organized Lenin's return to Russia and immediately supported the "April Theses".

She actively participated in the meetings of the Central Committee, including the one on October 10 in which the armed insurrection against the bourgeois government was decided. On the night between October 24 and 25 1917 she was in Smolny, the headquarters of the October Revolution.

With the seizure of power, Kollontai joined the revolutionary government and was appointed People's Commissar for Social Welfare, the first woman in the world to be a government minister.

During her tenure, she decreed the distribution of land belonging to monasteries to the peasants, the establishment of state nurseries, the creation of canteens, social laundries and maternity care. The socialization of housework would free women from gender oppression.

In 1918 Kollontai was one of the organizers of the First Congress of Russian Working Women from which the Żenotdel was born, an organization for the promotion of women's participation in public life, for social initiatives and the fight against illiteracy.

Thanks to her commitment, women obtained not only the right to vote and be elected, but also access to education, equal pay and in 1920 divorce and the right to abortion. Kollontai criticized the introduction of the "New Economic Policy" (NEP) and in 1920-21 with Alexander Shlyapnikov formed a current known as the "Workers' Opposition", which was dissolved when it lost the party congress.

After this defeat, according to the detractors of socialism, she withdrew from political life because she was no longer welcome to Lenin. In reality, since with the emergency of the civil war it was impossible for her to implement her political program, she responsibly considered it right to put herself at the disposal of the socialist cause wherever her skills were needed.

Thanks to her knowledge of languages, in 1923 she first became a member of the Soviet trade delegation in Oslo and, when Norway officially recognized the USSR, as ambassador, she became the first female ambassador in the world. In 1926 she held the same post in Mexico and in 1930 she was at the embassy in Stockholm. In 1933 she obtained from Sweden the return of the gold reserves that the anti-Bolsheviks had hidden there after the revolution. In the same year she was awarded the Order of Lenin for her activity. From 1934 to 1938 he was a member of the Soviet delegation to the League of Nations in Geneva.

The revisionists claim that she was disliked by Stalin and therefore sent abroad. She was certainly an extraordinary woman with a strong personality, who refused any relationship with the Trotskyites and other enemies of Soviet power.

It was to her that Stalin in 1939, while Nazism was about to enter the war and the USSR was still trying to negotiate with the British and French, entrusted these important words: "Many issues of our party and our people will be distorted and abused, especially abroad and, yes, also in our country. Zionism [Nazism?], in its desperate rush to gain world supremacy, will be hard on us and will retaliate because of our successes and achievements. They still consider Russia a barbaric country, a reserve of raw materials. And even my name will be calumniated; it is slandered even now. They will attribute many crimes to me".

Alexandra Kollontai died in Moscow in 1952, without ever having betrayed socialism and the Bolshevik Party, supporting the cause of the definitive emancipation of working men and women to the end.

To learn more about her person and her work, little known in our country, we recommend the following writings and books: Communism and the Family [1918, available from redstarpublishers.org ]; Conferences on the Liberation of Women (1921); Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman; the novel Vassilissa (published in Italy in 1978) which tells the story of a militant communist worker, her path to emancipation as a woman and as proletarian revolutionary.

Scintilla: The women of the October Revolution

Scintilla #149 was posted November 13th at:  piattaformacomunista.com/index.php/leggete-scintilla-n-149-novembre-2024/ ; the article below was slightly edited.  Some of their works are available at redstarpublishers.org or elsewhere online, such as at marxists.org 

[October 23-24, 1923 in Hamburg, Germany:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_Uprising ; there was an earlier uprising March 17-April 1, 1921 in the former Province of Saxony, Prussia:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_Action ]

[November 10-27, 1924 in Estonia:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_the_149  Jaan Tomp was executed November 14, 1924 in Tallinn:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Tomp ]

Scintilla n. 149, November 2024

edited by Piattaforma Comunista – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy

 

The Women of the October Revolution

In 1917, on the eve of the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks had about 2,500 women members, 36.8% of whom were workers or peasants. This is a remarkable fact, the reason for which is mainly to be found in the fact that for the Bolsheviks the equality of women and men was not merely formal. For Bolshevism, proletarian revolution and women's liberation were integrally connected.

The history of the Revolution is full of examples of dedication, enthusiasm and courage shown by Russian workers and peasants in those 10 days that shook the world, who gave their lives to defend socialism and the social and civil achievements won from the counter-revolution, but which today's narrative often forgets.

To pay tribute to them and express our gratitude, we will briefly talk about some of them. Nadya Krupskaya was not only Lenin's wife and an ardent revolutionary, she was above all a great pedagogue. During her years of exile around Europe she coordinated the various Bolshevik organizations and was editor of the newspaper Iskra. Close to Makarenko's ideas, she expressed her theories in numerous writings. She theorized that the "school of work" was to develop solidarity and collaboration through "working together", whose aim was to create the Soviet "new man".

Elena Stassova had mainly roles on technical aspects such as finding the place to hold clandestine meetings and in the distribution of the press that arrived in Russia clandestinely, an activity that continued even when she was imprisoned. After the Revolution she became secretary of the party's Central Committee and in 1921 president of the international Red Aid, a solidarity organization for revolutionary fighters that spread throughout the world thanks to her tireless work.

In the years before the Revolution, Inessa Armand became secretary of the Coordinating Committee of the Bolsheviks in Western Europe. In 1912 she was arrested in Russia while organizing the campaign for the election to the Duma. She was one of the founders of the newspaper Rabotnitsa, the Woman Worker. She took sides against the war and in 1915 organized the International Peace Conference of Socialist Women. She died in 1920 and was buried under the walls of the Kremlin, next to John Reed.

An Italian woman also participated in the socialist revolution: Beatrice Vitoldi. She had moved to Riga with her parents as a child. She was secretary of Proletkult, the proletarian cultural-educational organization. We remember her for the role of the mother who plays in the famous scene of the Odessa steps in the film "The Battleship Potemkin" by Eisenstein. In 1931 she worked at the Soviet embassy in Italy.

Many other names could be mentioned, but we remember them all with the words dedicated to them by Aleksandra Kollontai: "It is impossible to list them all, how many remain nameless? The heroines of the October Revolution were a whole army and although their names may be forgotten, their altruism lives on in the victory of that revolution itself and in all the achievements and results that working women in the Soviet Union now enjoy. It is a clear and indisputable fact that, without the participation of women, the October Revolution could not have brought the Red Flag to victory. Glory to the working women who marched under the Red Flag during the October Revolution. Glory to the October Revolution that liberated women!"

From the ADC – Take Action: Senate to Vote on Blocking Weapons to Israel

From memory, around mid-week the BBC's headlines juxtaposed a report saying something like the gravest of crimes are being committed in Gaza, and the Biden-Harris administration's finding that the aid situation is inadequate, but Israel has taken some steps to improve it, so the flow of weapons will continue, post-election, as might have beeen expected.  Would Sanders' Joint Resolutions of Disapproval be non-binding?  The media portrays Trump as prone to lying and criminality, but the Biden administration breaking US if not international law to protect and arm Israel passes without comment (see the accusations in a recent Veterans for Peace press release, etc.).

Trump made some statements to appeal to anti-war sentiment and Muslim and Arab-Americans during the campaign, but he is putting forward extreme pro-war appointees now, though it is possible that he will do something like Nixon's normalization of relations with China, though maybe not with China.  Trump might have trouble getting his nominees approved even with Republican control of Congress in 2025, though they might oppose RFK Jr, etc. as being too much on the left.  It has been suggested that Trump and the Republicans in general want to improve relations with Russia and maybe DPR Korea so they can more easily target China and maybe Iran.  All four countries have been pushed together to counter aggressive US foreign policies, economic warfare, and hostility, especially under Biden.  Negotiating an end to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, followed by a "pivot to Asia," might be harder than Trump seems to think.

[Charlotte Kates, Samidoun's international coordinator, was arrested again, and in an irregular way, the morning of November 16th in Canada:  diario-octubre.com/2024/11/17/policia-canadiense-allana-de-manera-violenta-casa-de-activista-antisionista-en-vancouver/ 

diario-octubre.com/2024/11/17/condenan-otro-asesinato-de-periodista-palestino-en-gaza/

diario-octubre.com/2024/11/17/inauguran-museo-de-palestina-en-el-salvador/ 

Some Palestine action campaigns are going on in mid-November, around Netflix, FIFA, etc.; see an earlier post.]

Take Action: Senate to Vote on Blocking Weapons to Israel

For Immediate Release

ADC Contact: media[at adc org]

 

Washington, DC | www.adc.org | November 15, 2024 – We need you to take action. Next week, for the first time, the Senate will vote on directly blocking weapons from being sent to Israel through Senator Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) six Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRD). As the Israel’s genocide continues to decimate Gaza and its war of aggression in Lebanon continues unabated, Congress must send a message to Israeli war criminals that we will no longer give them unquestioning support. ADC is pushing every Senator to vote for the JRD’s, your voice can make the difference.

 

Take Action Now: Demand That Your Senator Support the JRD

 

On October 13, Secretaries Blinken and Austin sent a letter demanding that Israel take concrete steps to address the humanitarian crisis it created in Gaza. The letter gave Israel 30 days to make certain specific changes or face potential disruptions in US aid. 

 

Despite Israel receiving a failing grade from major humanitarian organizations on meeting the US conditions, the State Department this past Tuesday refused to follow through on its threats. There is no doubt that US law is not being followed, and Israel should not receive one dollar more in US support. When the Senate votes on the JRD's, it will mark the first time that Congress will vote on stopping weapons to Israel, making your voice more important than ever.

 

The Biden Administration has lost all credibility when it comes to its complicity and participation in Israel’s genocide, going so far as to completely ignore US law. It is long past time for Congress to step in and do what President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and Secretary Austin will not – enforce US law and say no more weapons for Israeli genocide. Join with ADC and thousands across America in demanding that every Senator vote for all six JRD’s.

About the ADC

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the U.S., founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk.  ADC’s mission is to defend and promote the human rights, civil rights, and liberties of at least 3.7 million Arab Americans residing in the United States. Through its work, the ADC fights discrimination in the U.S., enhances public understanding of Arab history and culture, and partners with marginalized communities globally to advance social justice.

ADC – Breaking: House to vote on bill (HR 9495) targeting pro-Palestine organizations

Breaking: House to Vote on Bill Targeting Pro-Palestine Organizations

For Immediate Release

ADC Contact: media[at adc org]

 

Washington, DC | www.adc.org | November 11, 2024 – The attacks on pro-Palestinian voices continue unabated. As early as tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives is planning to vote on H.R. 9495, a bill that would grant the White House unprecedented and unchecked power to shut down any nonprofit organization – including civil liberties organizations, universities, media organizations, and religious institutions such as churches – based on a unilateral accusation of wrongdoing and without due process. Pro-Palestinian organizations will be the first targets, but indeed not the last. This legislation threatens all tax-exempt organizations, and it must not pass.ADC is vehemently opposed to this legislation, just as we were this past April when Members of Congress attempted to pass an earlier version of this bill.

 

Take Action: Demand that the House Reject H.R. 9495

 

This bill authorizes broad powers to the executive branch. It grants the Secretary of the Treasury virtually unfettered discretion to designate a U.S. nonprofit as a “terrorist supporting organization” and to strip it of its tax-exempt status if the Secretary claims that the organization has provided material support to a terrorist group. The legislation does not require disclosure of the reasons or evidence for the decision, nor would the government be required to provide any evidence in its possession that might undermine its decision. This leaves nonprofits entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as material support, preventing them from defending themselves in any way from what likely will be baseless accusations.

 

ADC National Government Affairs and Advocacy Director Chris Habiby said, “By threatening the tax-exempt status of advocacy organizations, the House of Representatives is arming the White House with a powerful tool to suppress freedom of speech and undermine the health of our civil society. Organizations advocating for Palestinian rights may be the first targeted, but they will not be the last. This bill threatens the tax-exempt status of universities, media organizations, and even religious institutions like churches. Congress must protect the fundamental freedoms that uphold our democracy, and reject this blatant attempt to demonize and silence voices that challenge or discomfort them, ”

 

Members of the House must vote NO on H.R. 9495 to protect the rights of all Americans. Both House and Senate members need to hear from constituents that this effort is a clear tactic from the authoritarian playbook, aimed at suppressing critical voices and political dissent. Now, more than ever, the work of organizations like ADC is essential.

 

Demand that members of the House vote NO on H.R. 9495 to ensure that the rights of all Americans are protected.

About the ADC

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the U.S., founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk.  ADC’s mission is to defend and promote the human rights, civil rights, and liberties of at least 3.7 million Arab Americans residing in the United States. Through its work, the ADC fights discrimination in the U.S., enhances public understanding of Arab history and culture, and partners with marginalized communities globally to advance social justice.

[An email sent out by the ANSWER Coalition the afternoon of November 16th [Take a stand against the repression of pro-Palestine activism]:

The ANSWER Coalition is circulating the following important appeal from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and The Center for Protest Law and Litigation. HR 9495 is a grave assault on the right to speak out for Palestine and against the genocide in Gaza. Especially as the Trump administration begins to take shape, stopping this bill is a crucial part of the broader fight to defend the right to protest against war and racism. Click here to get the contact information for the Congressional representative in your area.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund is calling on all those who care about free speech and the right to dissent to take immediate action to contact Congress and demand they oppose H.R. 9495, a proposed new law that would grant President-Elect Donald Trump the ability to strip the tax-exempt status of non-profit organizations engaged in free speech.

H.R. 9495, dubbed the “nonprofit killer” law, would enable the Secretary of the Treasury to revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofit organizations by designating them as “terrorist supporting.” The designation can be issued without evidence, without due process, and with no meaningful opportunity to challenge the designation.

“We know that, straight-away, this will be used to revoke the tax-exempt status of lawful non-profit organizations who speak out on issues related to Palestine, who oppose the genocidal slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza, their forced ethnic displacement, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. They will first target groups who protest against the US support of the genocidal war against Palestinians. They will not stop there,” warned Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and its project The Center for Protest Law & Litigation.

“This law will be used to widely target those who dissent, those who protest and organize mass opposition and stand up for fundamental principles of justice. This law will be used as a tool for retribution and suppression as a matter of policy against those who democratically dissent. "

On Tuesday night, H.R. 9495 narrowly fell short of a two-thirds majority required for expedited approval. This following week, it is expected to be re-introduced to the House using a procedure that requires only a simple majority.

Last month the Center for Protest Law & Litigation and the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund joined 100 civil rights and civil liberties organizations in a letter to Congress opposing these McCarthyist tactics that, as the letter said, “would empower the government to target civil rights, humanitarian, journalistic, and advocacy organizations based on their political positions, without providing meaningful opportunities to contest these opaque and potentially politically motivated determinations.”

Demand that your Congressional representative vote no on HR 9495

A few more statements on the martyring of Yahya Sinwar and the blacklisting of Samidoun

The chairman of the Political Bureau and overall leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement or Hamas, Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar, fell in battle in the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp in Rafah, Gaza Strip on October 16, 2024.  It had been speculated that Sinwar was in an underground bunker, with many Israeli hostages as human shields, but he was killed while travelling on foot, as a uniformed, and injured, soldier, armed with an AK-47 and grenades.  It is being reported that he died of a gunshot to the head, not from tank fire -- how did that happen, assuming that the Israelis are being truthful?  Even BBC coverage at 9am on October 17th seemed very respectful.  Did Biden, Harris, the UK, NATO, etc. praise the killing highly to get Israel to agree to a ceasefire, or were they just voicing their shared war aims?  Netanyahu quickly denied that it was a stopping point for the war, though it was played up as a great victory and very damaging for Hamas.  "Yahya" is apparently the Arabic form of "John:"  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Sinwar , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Yahya_Sinwar , and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_(name)  Yahya Sinwar was born October 29, 1962 in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, at the time controlled by Egypt.  samidoun.net/2024/10/prisoner-leader-martyr-yahya-sinwar-the-great-hero-of-palestine/ and mpr21.info/el-hombre-que-fue-asesinado-por-casualidad-yahya-sinwar/  On the Time magazine red X cover:  diario-octubre.com/2024/10/19/degenerados/ ]

I'll try to add some of the images after posting the text.  I plan further posts on these topics in November and as events occur.

Related posts:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/11/unac-end-attacks-on-samidoun-and-all.html

There was a problem with the coding here and I re-posted some of it in the current post:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/11/on-blacklisting-of-samidoun-palestinian.html ]

[An irregular arrest the morning of November 16th in Canada:  diario-octubre.com/2024/11/17/policia-canadiense-allana-de-manera-violenta-casa-de-activista-antisionista-en-vancouver/ ]

Take action: Follow our new Telegram channel after imperialist censorship!  

Posted by Samidoun on October 31st at:  samidoun.net/2024/10/take-action-follow-our-new-telegram-channel-after-imperialist-censorship/

From Spain — Liberate Palestine, confront repression: Samidoun is under attack

Posted October 28th at:  samidoun.net/2024/10/from-spain-liberate-palestine-confront-repression-samidoun-is-under-attack/

A second Samidoun article posted October 28th:  samidoun.net/2024/10/far-right-spanish-party-vox-tries-to-silence-activists-for-palestine-in-the-spanish-high-court/

Resistance Organizations Continue Courageous and Steadfast Actions to Defeat

U.S./Israeli Zionists

cpcml.ca/ITN2024/TI5442.HTM#1 ]

Worldwide Opposition to U.S./Zionist Genocide Continues Undeterred

cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/MS5451.HTM ]

The Sacrifice of the Resistance Forces Knows No Limits

cpcml.ca/ITN2024/TI5436.HTM#1 ]

September 9th, but came to light October 27th, and more:  samidoun.net/2024/10/the-attack-on-marwan-barghouti-and-the-leaders-of-the-prisoners-movement-act-and-organize/ 

samidoun.net/2024/10/occupation-issues-100-administrative-detention-orders-in-one-day-jailing-palestinians-without-charge-or-trial/ 

samidoun.net/2024/10/islam-jamil-odeh-former-prisoner-martyred-in-assassination-raid-fighting-for-palestine-until-his-last-breath/ 

samidoun.net/2024/09/solidarity-statement-with-booker-omole-of-the-communist-party-of-kenya-against-ongoing-repression/ 

samidoun.net/2024/09/a-salute-to-suzanne-le-manceau-a-life-in-struggle-for-liberation-for-georges-abdallah-and-for-palestine/ 

samidoun.net/2022/04/victory-for-palestine-french-state-council-suspends-dissolution-of-collectif-palestine-vaincra/ 

samidoun.net/2024/10/gaza-will-never-carry-the-white-flag-of-surrender-georges-abdallahs-statement-to-lannemezan-march/ 

robertjprince.net/2024/09/30/sayed-hassan-nasrallah-presente-and-he-was-a-teacher-la-lutta-continua/ 

The unfolding failure of US, EU, NATO, Israel, etc. strategies to dominate the Middle East, revealed by the resisting Palestinian forces, etc.? --  herecomeschina.substack.com/p/israel-china-and-the-world 

On the assassination of Yahya Sinwar and afterward:

robertjprince.net/2024/11/02/i-am-yahya-the-son-of-a-refugee-who-turned-exile-into-a-temporary-homeland-and-turned-a-dream-into-an-eternal-battle-yahya-al-sinwars-will-my-will-to-you-starts-here-from-th/ 

November 4th:  mpr21.info/testamento-del-martir-yahya-sinwar-para-el-pueblo-palestino/ 

mpr21.info/el-hombre-que-fue-asesinado-por-casualidad-yahya-sinwar/

diario-octubre.com/2024/10/19/degenerados/

October 26th report, with many photos:  samidoun.net/2024/10/northern-gaza-will-not-kneel-take-action-in-days-of-rage-against-zionist-massacres-and-starvation-policy-in-gaza/ 

This was originally posted October 18th at:  samidoun.net/2024/10/prisoner-leader-martyr-yahya-sinwar-the-great-hero-of-palestine/ 

Prisoner, Leader, Martyr: Yahya Sinwar, the great hero of Palestine 

[A photo/meme, to be added later.]

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the leadership, martyrdom and heroism of the great Palestinian leader, Yahya Sinwar, Abu Ibrahim, martyred in battle against occupation forces on 17 October 2024. Sinwar, who was martyred as he fought until the last breath alongside his comrades, advancing and not retreating, wounded, forcing a whole battalion of occupation soldiers to retreat, resisting still as they fired tank shells at him, throwing debris at a drone targeting him even though he had already lost an arm, epitomized the courage, heroism and bravery of the resistance fighter in battle against the colonialist, imperialist oppressor.

Chair of the Political Bureau of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, commander of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, son of the Palestinian popular classes and Khan Younis refugee camp, liberated prisoner and leader of the prisoners’ movement, struggling mujahid, refugee denied his right to return home, resistance fighter and organizational and grassroots leader, Sinwar was and remains renowned on the Palestinian, Arab and international level for his brilliance, strategic thinking, and deep commitment to the liberation of Palestine, its prisoners, its people and its land. 

We extend our condolences and congratulations to the Palestinian people, Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement and its leadership, members and supporters, the resistance fighters on the front lines, all of the forces of resistance in the region, the revolutionary movements of the world, and his family and loved ones on the martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar, the hero of Palestine. He arose as a leader from the prisoners’ movement, through 23 years in Zionist prisons, and liberated by the resistance exactly 13 years ago today. In his strategic approach, his unremitting courage and heroism, his broad national approach and his refusal to abandon or compromise the principles of Palestinian liberation, he represented the promise and the role of the prisoners as leaders of the resistance and of the liberation struggle as a whole.

[A video, see Samidoun's website.]

Yahya Sinwar was born on 29 October 1962 in Khan Younis, a Palestinian refugee from Majdal Asqelan, whose parents were forced from their homes and lands in al-Nakba, one of the over 70% of the Palestinian people in Gaza who are themselves refugees denied their right to return home. He grew up in Gaza, a cradle of resistance throughout the years and decades, where in the 1960s and early 1970s, Mohammed al-Aswad, “Guevara Gaza,” and his resistance fighters protected and controlled the Strip by night even as occupation forces aimed at control it by day; on his road to leading the resistance in Gaza to a great battle that has already changed the world.

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Sinwar was part of the founding generation of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, in Gaza, from his student days in the early 1980s, when he first became active in the Islamic Bloc at the then-new Islamic University of Gaza, the first higher education institution founded in the Gaza Strip. He was Secretary of the Bloc’s Technical Committee, then the Sports Committee of the Student Council, before becoming Vice-President and then President of the Council. It was for his student activities and leadership that he was first arrested by the Zionist regime at the age of 20; he was ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial, for four months. After he was released, he was abducted once again only one week later and ordered again to six months of administrative detention. This is the same policy of pursuit of the leadership of the student movement that the occupation continues to pursue, 40 years later, on campuses throughout occupied Palestine, seeing the student movement as a site of development of the future national leadership of the Palestinian liberation movement. Again in 1985, he was arrested and held for 8 months in Zionist prisons.

In 1986, prior to the launch of the Hamas movement in December 1987, he founded Majd alongside Khaled al-Hindi and Rawhi Mushtaha, at the behest of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leading founder of Hamas. Majd was a security framework that would develop into the movement’s internal security, tracking Zionist intelligence officers, security services, and collaborators and agents engaged in dealings with the enemy, in order to protect the people and the resistance.

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He was once again seized by occupation forces on 20 January 1988, less than two months after the announcement of the formation of the Islamic Resistance Movement and some of its early operations, including the liquidation of two occupation soldiers. Sinwar was accused of leading and directing the operation to attack and kill the soldiers as well as four collaborators arrested by the resistance for spying and conspiring against the Palestinian resistance.

At that time, a zionist interrogator who was tasked with questioning Sinwar remarked that he was told defiantly, “You know that one day you will be the one under interrogation, and I will stand here as the government, as the interrogator. I will interrogate you.” After the launch of the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023, Ha’aretz published a self-congratulatory interview with one of Sinwar’s former torturers. While it, as always, aims to demonize Sinwar as a confident, brave leader of the resistance who refused to crumble in the face of the interrogators, the reality of anti-colonial revolutionary consciousness nonetheless shines through in the narrative:

“He was not in awe of the interrogator – on the contrary: He was defiant all the time. I can read you what I wrote about him in the first interrogation. I kept it. ‘Definitely an anomalous figure in his personality, wisdom and level of intelligence. Religiously extreme, a believer, one who is at peace with his words and his deeds.’…He is super-intelligent…The fact that he was placed behind bars didn’t undermine his leadership abilities or affect his determination to take action against the Zionist enemy. On the contrary: In prison he simply kept working. He activated people, recruited militants.”

Sinwar endured decades of torture and brutality in the zionist prisons. Rather than allowing his soul and spirit to be crushed by the abhorrent circumstances in which he found himself in, Sinwar turned prison into a trench of combat. He withstood interrogation, torture and took the opportunity to study the enemy. During his time in prison, Sinwar achieved the remarkable feat of teaching himself Hebrew, and engaging in an extensive study of the enemy’s security system and repression apparatus. He knew well the tactics of the colonizer and its vulnerabilities and was determined to share this knowledge to develop the resistance movement as a whole. Deeply dedicated to the advancement of the Hamas movement on the structural, political and military level, he was also deeply committed to Palestinian, Arab and Islamic national unity in confronting the occupation, pursuing the development of joint resistance across all factions and advancing the relationship of Hamas with all of the resistance forces in the region, primarily those that make up the Camp of Resistance: Hezbollah and the Lebanese Resistance, the Iraqi Resistance, Yemen and its people, government, armed forces and the AnsarAllah movement, Syria and Iran. His commitment to unity in resistance and in the liberation struggle was partially developed through his time as a leader in the prisoners’ movement across political lines in confrontation with the colonizer.

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He led the Higher Leadership Committee of Hamas prisoners within the Zionist prisons for two terms and was part of the leadership of collective hunger strikes in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. He was held in multiple prisons, including Majdal, Hadarim, Bir al-Saba and Nafha prisons. He attempted to escape on multiple occasions, digging a hole in the wall of his cell in Majdal prison with a wire and a small saw, and cutting the bars from his window in Ramla prison. After these attempts, he was held in solitary confinement for four years and deprived of family visits; his father visited him twice in 13 years, while his brother was prevented from visiting him for 18 years. During his imprisonment, he survived brain cancer; later, the Zionist regime and its spokespeople publicly lamented the fact that he received medical treatment behind bars.

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He aimed to translate some of the books of the occupiers, particularly on security and intelligence into Arabic, such as “Shabak Among the Ruins” by Carmi Gillon, and “Israeli Parties in 1992,” which introduced Zionist political parties. He wrote “Hamas: Trial and Error” on the development of the Hamas Movement, and the book “Al-Majd”, detailing the occupation’s security apparatus and intelligence efforts. It is in this book he also wrote about methods of interrogation of Palestinian political prisoners and the role of colonial intelligence agencies in planting and recruitng agents, in order to develop the level of knowledge and resilience within the liberation movement to resist such efforts. Sinwar was a shining example of the struggle for freedom of political prisoners. His freedom from zionist prisons was a result of his incredible will behind the bars of occupation, and the political victories brought by the resistance.

In 2004, he published his novel while in Bir al-Saba prison, “Thorns of Carnations,” which told a fictionalized personal narrative of the Palestinian struggle between 1967 and the development of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, amid the rise of the Hamas movement in its social context. Haneen Odetallah writes:

“The choice of the writer, primarily a political and military figure, to document this pivotal stage in the history of armed resistance and transmit it in this creative, novelistic form indicates that it is an attempt that goes beyond merely recounting history and its events. The historical novel is not just a reflection of the events of the past; it is a deep exploration of the philosophical and moral forces that shape historical movements….As for the writer, he is one of the pioneering figures in Hamas who witnessed its inception and contributed to its formation and development from youth to the present day. His departure from the confines of traditional historiography to address innovative dramatic struggles in history allows him to explore its philosophical dimensions; specifically, the impact of beliefs on history. In the context of the history of Hamas, this enables him to formulate a philosophy for the Islamic Resistance Movement.”

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Yahya Sinwar was liberated from Zionist prisons on 18 October 2011, exactly 13 years ago today, in the Wafa’ al-Ahrar — “Loyalty of the Free” — prisoner exchange, alongside 1,026 fellow Palestinian prisoners, in exchange for Gilad Shalit, the occupation soldier captured by the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Nabih Awada captured the leadership role Sinwar played in the exchange from behind bars, including thwarting attempts by the occupation to divide the prisoners from each other, and his commitment to achieving the liberation of all of the heroic fighters serving long sentences in Zionist jails, like Ibrahim Hamed, Hassan Salameh, Ahmad Sa’adat, and Abdullah Barghouthi. “Sinwar specified from inside his prison the price for the release of Gilad Shalit. The agreement was concluded on October 11, 2011, with the Netanyahu government announcing its approval of the deal with Hamas which achieved the liberation of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar,” Awada wrote. Sinwar always firmly recognized the necessity of and remained committed to securing prisoner exchanges in order to liberate all of the Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist jails. In 2015, he was officially appointed by Hamas to hold the file of prisoner exchanges and captives held by the resistance.

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When he exited the Zionist prisons, he was greeted with a hero’s welcome, and resumed his leadership role in the resistance, directly from his leadership in the prisoners’ movement. Upon his release, he married Samar Mohammed Abu Zamar and had one son, Ibrahim, and immediately took up tasks of leadership. In 2012, he was elected  member of the Political Bureau of Hamas, with responsibility for its military wing, the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and coordinating between the political and military leadership of the movement, playing a particularly distinguished role in resisting the 2014 zionist assault on Gaza. In 2017, he was elected as the chair of the Hamas movement in Gaza, and re-elected in 2021. His home was bombed and destroyed by occupation airstrikes in 2012, 2014 and again in 2021, yet he refused to retreat in his positions in any way and frequently spoke publicly about his commitment to remain on the front lines of struggle and his welcoming of martyrdom for Palestine. As was befitting of his status as a son of the popular classes of Palestine, he lived a modest life like that of his people. He was filled with compassion for his people and all of the oppressed of the world at the same time that he confronted the oppressors with fiery speeches and escalating military developments.

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Sinwar was one of the leaders and originators of the Great March of Return in 2018-2019, the mass marches of Palestinians to the colonially imposed “border” to demand their natural and internationally recognized right of return. As demonstrated in his commitment to the liberation of the prisoners, here he once again emphasized the fundamental principles of the Palestinian cause — breaking the siege on Gaza, yes, but inextricably linked to the return of Palestinian refugees expelled from their lands during al-Nakba (the catastrophe), the liberation of the people and the land. This popular mobilization also emphasized his commitment to the unity of resistance, including popular mass mobilization and led by the armed struggle, in a comprehensive resistance and revolutionary effort for the liberation of Palestine and the defeat of Zionism and imperialism.

In 2021, in the Battle of Seif al-Quds/the Unity of the Fields, Sinwar, his movement, and the Palestinian people in Gaza joined the battle taking place in Jerusalem to defend the land against settlers and to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque against repeated attacks and incursions. The resistance in Gaza responded to the call of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and were joined by an uprising in occupied Palestine ’48, marches of return from Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria approaching Palestinian borders, and worldwide mobilization of the Palestinian refugees in the diaspora and supporters of the Palestinian struggle, in a heroic moment of the battle that reaffirmed once more the unity of the Palestinian people and land despite over seven decades of occupation and colonialism.

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The launch of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023 was a pivotal moment in the history of the Palestinian cause, of the Arab revolution, and of the international struggle against imperialism. When the time was right, in the midst of social strife in the occupation state stemming from conflict over Netanyahu’s rule, Sinwar and the Al-Qassam Brigades launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to break the siege, make way for a prisoner exchange, and open the road to the liberation of Palestine. In mere minutes, the billions of dollars in defenses, “elite troops”, and “iron walls” that were supposed to keep Gaza locked up ended up being destroyed. The world once again saw the power of the Palestinians when they fight. The operation was planned in detail and brilliantly executed, targeting key military sites and, in particular, the intelligence divisions of the occupation military besieging Gaza. The genocidal assault of the Zionist regime we have witnessed since then is an attempt to complete the always-genocidal intentions of the colonial occupation of Palestine and an attempt to erase the victorious power of the Palestinian people and their heroic Resistance, revealed before the world on 7 October. It became clear on that day that it was indeed possible for the resistance to defeat the zionist military and create a Palestine free of Zionist colonialism — and for the forces of resistance in the region to liberate the Arab nation, Iran and the entire region from imperialist hegemony. The imperialist-Zionist alliance has since unleashed a bloodbath in an attempt to render that future impossible.

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However, their vicious and bloody assault has done nothing to erase the Palestinian people and their commitment to struggle and to liberation. Their assassinations of great leaders like Saleh al-Arouri, Ismail Haniyeh, Fouad Shukr, Ibrahim Aqil, Ali Karaki, and Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has failed to achieve their military goals and kill the resistance; instead, their martyrdom has inspired and urged onward a new generation of resistance fighters confronting the occupier, burning their tanks, and repelling their assaults. Hezbollah, leading the Lebanese resistance, is once again creating a graveyard for Merkava tanks, even as Germany shoots down its drones and the US sends over THAAD missiles, joining even more overtly the battle for the imperialist outpost in the region.

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The assassinations of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Dr. Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi, Yahya Ayyash, Abu Ali Mustafa, Ghassan Kanafani, Fathi Shiqaqi, Samir Kuntar, Abbas al-Musawi, Imad Mughniyyeh, Sheik Khader Adnan, Kamal Nasser, Mohammed al-Najjar and Wadie Haddad did not kill their cause nor the Palestinian and Arab liberation movement; the resistance is more deeply rooted than ever before, while the Zionist project remains a fragile implantation, imposed at the force of billions of dollars in colonial weaponry on a daily basis. Of course, we know also that his martyrdom came on 17 October 2024, 23 years after the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine assassinated the infamous racist tourism minister of the occupation, Rehavam Ze’evi, in response to the assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa, to impose a mechanism of justice and accountability — and the prisoners of the 17 October operation are among those that the Resistance is currently seeking to liberate in a prisoner exchange.

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As in all anti-colonial resistance struggles, assassinations can never kill the resistance, but only confirm the immortality of great leaders who give their lives in struggle. Yahya Sinwar’s martyrdom was unique, joining his comrades and fellow resistance fighters on the front lines of struggle, advancing to confront the genocidal invaders, wearing a kuffiyeh and military gear, his gun in his hand, a legendary image and material manifestation of the collective unyielding will to liberate Palestine. 

Yahya Sinwar was martyred like Sheikh Izz el-Din al-Qassam himself in November 1935, in a firefight with the occupier — then the British, now the Zionist colonizer. Today’s Qassam, will, too, inspire generations to rise, until the defeat of zionism and imperialism and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. 

The zionist entity and the imperialists have released images of Sinwar in his final hours in hopes of demoralizing the Palestinian resistance and its people. From “Genocide Joe” Biden and “Holocaust” Kamala Harris, to Justin Trudeau, to Anthony Albanese, Keir Starmer, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron, imperialist officials saluted, praised and boasted about Sinwar’s death, making clear once again that the genocide in Palestine is a US-led imperialist priority.

The image of a great political and military leader, fighting on the front lines for his people, living to fight again despite their bullets, their drones and their tank shells, engaged as a field commander until his last breath, stands before the Palestinian people, the Arab people, and all free people of the world, as one of unparalleled courage, self-sacrifice and bravery.

These images will serve as a beacon of heroism and inspiration for the resistance of today and future generations. Unlike the cowardice that marks the leaders of the zionist entity and the imperialists who cower at the face of the resistance, Sinwar was unyielding in facing the enemy head-on. Shattering all myths that the resistance “hides behind civilians”, the images and circumstances of Sinwar’s martyrdom proves that the resistance is on the frontlines against the enemy, acting as the first barrier between genocidal forces and the whole Palestinian people. Sinwar’s martyrdom proved beyond doubt his incredible courage and will, fighting with blood and soul until the very end.

He is an international icon of resistance, of refusal to submit to colonialism, of readiness to act in all circumstances, of commitment to sacrifice for God, the people and liberation, of the march of martyrs, from Che Guevara to Chris Hani to Sayyed Nasrallah to Yahya Sinwar.

The al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement issued today:

“When the resistance factions, with Hamas at the forefront, decided to enter this major, decisive battle in the history of the Palestinian people’s struggle and our nation’s journey, they knew the price of liberation was very high, a price all nations paid before freeing themselves from their occupiers. They were ready to lead the ranks of the sacrificers, offering both leaders and soldiers, refusing to submit to the enemy or remain silent about its oppression and theft of our people’s legitimate rights….This criminal enemy is delusional if it thinks that by assassinating the great leaders of the resistance such as Sinwar, Haniyeh, Nasrallah, Al-Arouri and others, it can extinguish the flame of the resistance or push it to retreat. Rather, it will continue and escalate until the legitimate goals of our people are achieved. Martyrdom is the highest thing our leaders desire, and their blood will be a beacon that lights the path to liberation and a fire that burns the aggressors.”

Yahya Sinwar’s life, struggle and commitment live on, until the defeat of the Zionist regime and its imperialist partners and sponsors, and until victory: the liberation of Palestine, and the liberation of the Arab people and the region from Zionism, imperialism and their agents and collaborators.

Glory to the martyr Yahya Sinwar and all the martyrs of Palestine and the Resistance. Return, liberation and victory to Lebanon, to Yemen, to all of the forces of the Resistance. Victory for Palestine, all of Palestine, from the river to the sea. 

[Three photos/memes]

This was originally posted October 20th at:  masarbadil.org/en/2024/10/5318/

Masar Badil: Our pledge to the leader Yahya Sinwar, to resist Zionism and colonialism until the defeat of the Zionist entity and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea

10/20

[An image, to be added later.]

Masar Badil: Our pledge to the leader Yahya Sinwar, to resist Zionism and colonialism until the defeat of the Zionist entity and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea

The Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement affirms to the Palestinian people, our Arab and Islamic peoples, and all of the free people of the world, and to the brothers and sisters in the leadership of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, that it will remain in its Palestinian, Arab and international position striving to achieve the goals for which the great national leader, the heroic brother Yahya Sinwar, Abu Ibrahim, was martyred, no matter what difficulties or challenges we face. 

As we in our movement mourn this great Palestinian leader, the leader of the Hamas movement, we renew our commitment to this exceptional revolutionary symbol, immortal forever in the conscience of his people, who fought the Zionist enemy for decades, from inside the dungeons and prisons of Zionism until the last bullet and last breath in the Gaza Strip, to remain faithful to the pledge and walk upon the same path, the path of Jerusalem, loyal to his national and revolutionary path, and committed to the rights of the martyrs who marched on the path of al-Quds, of return, and of liberation, refusing to compromise or bargain on the rights of the exiled and displaced refugees and their right to return to their homes and homeland. We will not give up a single grain of soil of Palestine, and we will work with all of our energy with all of the revolutionary forces in Palestine and in the world to confront imperialism and Zionism everywhere and to confront the fascist and reactionary forces that created the tragedy of the Palestinian people, committing massacres and genocide against our people and humanity as a whole.

The great national leader, the martyr Yahya Sinwar, has proven, as he follows the path of Izz al-Din al-Qassam and the martyrs of the Palestinian people, the Arab and Islamic nations and the free people of the world, that the will of the people is not broken and the Palestinian cause will not die, until our great people achieve victory, with all of their national and human goals and aspirations. Our Palestinian people have also proven through their heroic resistance, long struggle, and the launch of the glorious battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023, that resisting the siege, occupation and colonialism is a realistic and possible matter even in the most difficult of circumstances, and that the path to the inevitable and decisive victory over the Zionist entity is inevitable. The overthrow of the system of imperialism, capitalism, plunder and exploitation run in Washington, Berlin, London, Paris and elsewhere is a matter of time. The historic victory of the people is certain and coming, no matter how long it takes.

We are fully confident that the policy of genocide, mass killing, displacement, starvation, siege and assassination practiced by “Israel” against the Palestinian and Lebanese people and our peoples in the Arab region, supported and directed by the United States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and others, will not achieve its goals and will be doomed to disappointment and failure. The Palestinian people, who have fought settler colonialism since 1917 and launched popular and armed revolutions and uprisings, have been able to renew their liberation movement and are leading the global front of liberation movements around the world. They present an inspiring revolutionary model for peoples seeking liberation and true self-determination, and create hope for humanity in building an alternative, new world, a world governed by the values ​​of justice, solidarity and liberation, as against the brutal regime that imperialism and Zionism seek to impose through wars, massacres, exploitation, deception, lying and misleadership.

As we enter a new year in building our movement, we in the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, draw lessons from the steadfastness and courage of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples, the path of the great martyr leader Yahya Sinwar and the international martyr leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and from our loyal brothers in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, from the struggles of our comrades in the Philippines, Bolivia, Venezuela and Iran, the determination of the struggling peoples in Africa and all global liberation forces, foremost among them the liberation movement of Black and Indigenous peoples everywhere.

We reaffirm our rejection of the unjust laws that the United States, Canada, Germany and other Western imperialist regimes are trying to impose on our movement through smear campaigns and the inclusion of our organizations and the names of our comrades on so-called “terrorist lists.” Accordingly, we stand by our comrades in Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which is being targeted by the Zionists and their agents in the imperialist West after Samidoun became the voice of the radical revolutionary movement defending the prisoners’ movement in the Zionist dungeons and supporting the Palestinian and Arab resistance. We also call on all forces and movements in solidarity with our people to express their support for Samidoun and protect its leading role so that it can continue its struggle until return and liberation.

The flag of resistance will not fall: The pledge to the martyr leader Yahya Sinwar and all the martyrs

Down with imperialism, Zionism and reaction

We continue our revolutionary path towards a liberated Palestine from the river to the sea!

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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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.

[Samidoun's Telegram channel linked here]

This was originally posted October 19th at:  samidoun.net/2024/10/palestinian-prisoners-movement-statement-mourning-the-martyr-leader-yahya-sinwar/ 

Palestinian prisoners’ movement statement mourning the martyr leader Yahya Sinwar

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The Palestinian prisoners’ movement issued a statement in honour of Yahya Sinwar, the martyred leader of the Palestinian movement and liberated prisoner, on 18 October 2023. We are republishing the statement below. 

The Prisoners’ Institutions and the National Prisoner Movement in Occupation Prisons Mourn the National Leader Martyr Yahya Sinwar

The Prisoners’ Institutions, the National Prisoner Movement in Occupation Prisons, and the freed prisoners at home and abroad mourn to our great people the martyr and national leader Yahya Al-Sinwar (chair of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas), who ascended as a martyr after a life full of struggle and giving until the last moment of his life.

In a statement, the institutions said, “Today, we mourn, on behalf of the prisoner movement in the ‘israeli’ occupation prisons, our companion in imprisonment and leader who dedicated his life to the freedom of his land and people. He is the prisoner, the freed, the martyr, and the martyr whose body remains held, alongside hundreds of martyrs in the cemeteries of numbers and the occupation’s refrigerators.”

The Prisoners’ Institutions pointed out that Al-Sinwar spent more than 23 years of his life in the occupation’s prisons, with his first arrest in 1982, followed by his arrest in 1985, and then again in 1988. He was sentenced to four life terms by the occupation and remained imprisoned until his release in the Loyalty of the Free (Wafa’ al-Ahrar) exchange deal in 2011. Today marks the 13th anniversary of the Loyalty of the Free deal, in which the martyr Al-Sinwar was among those released.

The Prisoners’ Institutions emphasized that the martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar will not deter our people from continuing the path of struggle for their freedom, the freedom of their land, and their right to self-determination.

The institutions also called on our people, wherever they are, to rise in support of the blood of the martyrs and the suffering of the prisoners in occupation prisons, who are facing systematic and unprecedented levels of killing and torture since the start of the ongoing war of genocide.

Glory to the martyrs of Palestine and freedom to the prisoners

18/10/2024

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

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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!

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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