The University of Minnesota is lying to the public about the cancellation of a speaking event featuring Nkosi Mandela – anti-apartheid activist, member of the South African National Assembly, tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council, and grandson of Nelson Mandela. Chief Zwelivelile Mandela had been scheduled to speak at the Cowles Auditorium in the Humphrey School for Public Affairs on the UMN campus on May 16. Several grassroots activist organizations in the Twin Cities, including the Center for American-Islamic Relations, the Anti-War Committee, and the Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice for Jamar, had helped organize this event. This event was a part of a larger nationwide speaking tour – sponsored by the US Palestinian Community Network and NAARPR – on the occupation of Palestine and the oppression of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government.

The day before the event, University administration informed the organizers that it was canceled due to a violent threat from a white supremacist. Admin demanded that the organizers provide their own security for the event if they still wanted to host it at the Humphrey School, despite the immense security resources at the University’s disposal. The organizers, with little time to prepare, moved the event and Chief Mandela’s speech to a different venue, where the event occurred as planned. The University outright lied in a statement to the Star Tribune, placing the blame for the event’s cancellation at the feet of the organizers, claiming that they were the ones who canceled the event at the U. This is unequivocally false and a complete lie; the University abruptly canceled the event and made ridiculous demands of the organizers.

It is incredibly shameful that the University of Minnesota has lied to the press, the public, and the UMN community about this issue and attempted to shift the blame to grassroots Twin Cities organizations that form a valuable part of the city community and carry out important activist work. SDS demands that admin acknowledge and unequivocally apologize for lying about the event’s cancellation.

Free, Free, Palestine!

End Israeli Apartheid!

Solidarity Forever!

#MinneapolisMN #Minneapolis #Palestine #Apartheid #SouthAfrica

“…even in the deepest moments of our struggle for liberation Mama Winnie was an abiding symbol of our people to be free…”-- Cyril Ramaphosa, president of the Republic of South Africa.

Winnie Nomazamo Madikizela-Mandela, an icon and a great woman-warrior in the South African freedom struggle joined the ancestors April 2, 2018 at the age of 81. We send our heartfelt condolences to the family, comrades in the liberation movement and the people of South Africa. We solemnly dip our banners of struggle, saluting this freedom fighter, this stalwart and icon of African liberation, this dedicated revolutionary. As they say in Africa: “A gigantic tree has fallen.”

When Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for defying the fascist, apartheid regime, Winnie said: “Part of my soul went with him.” The other part of her soul and her heart stayed with the struggle against apartheid and against those racist monsters who ruled South Africa.

When they arrested her and tortured her she cried out in defiance: “When you strike a woman, you strike a rock.” And for all those years she was banned, the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the U.S. and around the world stood in unconditional solidarity with Winnie, demanding her freedom. We loved her and supported her through all those trials and tribulations and never doubted for a minute her dedication. She endured years of being banned and 27 years of forced separation from her husband Nelson Mandela, and she never faltered, never flinched one time in the face of the enemy.

As a revolutionary internationalist, Winnie Nomazamo Madikizela-Mandela was a comrade and sister to all progressive humanity and we will always hold dear her legacy and memory in hearts as we continue to fight for freedom.

#UnitedStates #Remembrances #Apartheid #SouthAfrica #WinnieMandela

Salt Lake City, Utah – Students and international solidarity activists held a protest, May 15, to mark the 66th anniversary of Al Nakba. The students called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and demanded justice for Palestinian American activist Rasmea Odeh. Protesters stood on the corner of the William Bennett Federal Building during rush hour waving signs and holding Palestinian flags. The protest featured speeches by local anti-war, Palestine solidarity and Palestinian activists. The rally, organized by the Utah Valley University Revolutionary Student Union, united groups that want to cut U.S. taxpayer money that goes to war and occupation.

May 1948 marks the Zionist establishment of Israel. For Israelis, it's a time of celebration. For Palestinians and Arabs it commemorates a time they call Al Nakba – Arabic for “the Catastrophe.” During the 1948 war, at least 750,000 Palestinian men, women and children were ruthlessly attacked, massacred and driven from their homes into refugee camps by Zionist terror groups. In a gross violation of international law, Palestinians continue to be denied the right to return to their own land. At the same time, the establishment of Israeli settlements steals more Palestinian land every day. The U.S. government does nothing to stop it.

Bill VanWagenen, representing The Mormon Worker explains, “Though the Israeli government constantly demands that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, we must of course wonder when Israel will recognize the crimes which allowed the Jewish state to come into existence. Also the crimes Israel has committed since that time to keep the Jewish state in existence that allows it to continue to confiscate and colonize more and more Palestinian land each year.”

After outlining possible ‘solutions’ to the conflict, Utahns for a Just Peace in the Holy Land member Mahan Khalsa said, “Israel will be an apartheid state until 100% of the people have access to 100% of the land. Apartheid is a legal crime against humanity.”

Protesters also demanded justice for Rasmea Odeh, a leader of Chicago’s Arab community who faces serious charges in a case that is part of a long-standing campaign of repression against Palestinians and those who work in solidarity with them. Her case is tied to the FBI and grand jury investigation of the Antiwar 23 and others. Rasmea Odeh’s case is set to come to trial in Detroit on June 10.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization member Chris Manor said, “It’s outrageous that the U.S. government arrested and is prosecuting Rasmea Odeh for refusing to recognize the military occupation of her country. It’s important that people understand what she’s facing. We need to stand in solidarity with Rasmea Odeh as she goes to trial. We need to stop U.S. taxpayer funding of Israeli apartheid.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #PalestineSolidarity #alNakba #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Apartheid #RevolutionaryStudentUnion #IsraeliOccupation #RasmeaOdeh

Nelson Mandela, a leader of the South African struggle for national liberation, passed away today, Dec 5. Mandela led the African National Congress, and along with South African communists, founded the armed struggle group Umkhonto we Sizwe, After 26 years in prison, the national liberation movement of the African masses, supported by a broad international anti-Apartheid movement, won his freedom. The official racial segregation and discrimination of Apartheid was brought down and Nelson Mandela elected president of South Africa.

The U.S. government supported Apartheid and opposed Mandela – keeping President Mandela on the U.S terrorism list up until 2008. The U.S. government has instituted laws such as the Patriot Act and NDAA and reversed other civil rights laws like the Voting Rights Act of 1964, reminiscent of apartheid South Africa.

It is important to study and understand Nelson Mandela the freedom fighter in his own words:

http://www.anc.org.za/list_by.php?by=Nelson%20Mandela

Mandela On Struggle:

“Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.”

“It is revolutionary…precisely because the changes it envisages cannot be won without breaking up the economic and political set-up…to win the demands calls for the organization, launching, and development of mass struggles on the widest scale.”

“The most vital task facing the democratic movement in this country is to unleash such struggles and to develop them on the basis of the concrete and immediate demands of the people from area to area. Only in this way can we build a powerful mass movement which is the only guarantee of ultimate victory in the struggle for democratic reforms”.

“The majority of South Africans, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future. It has to be ended by our own decisive mass action in order to build peace and security. The mass campaign of defiance and other actions of our organization and people can only culminate in the establishment of democracy.”

Mandela on Apartheid, Racism, and Discrimination:

“The Government takes measures to protect White people in one way and Black people not at all.”

“Our most potent weapon against this [AIDS] virus is education. We have, perhaps, for some time, allowed ourselves to believe that like other epidemics it will come and go; that the great advances of our time in science and technology will offer us appropriate quick intervention. The key to our success is our own collective effort. The time for rhetorical arguments and victim blaming has passed. Now is the time for action.”

“As long as…people are denied the democratic vote, they shall have to vote with their feet.”

Mandela on Freedom:

“No power on earth can stop an oppressed people determined to win their freedom.”

“We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Mandela on the U.S.:

“If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.”

“What I am condemning is that one power, with a president [George W. Bush] who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.” -- Iraq War speech (2003) Mandela On Workers:

“I think we may sometimes be at fault in not stressing and repeating the importance of the organized participation of workers in our struggle.”

“What has characterized workers in our country, has been the determination not to be isolated from the rest of society, not to be misled that Unions must only concern themselves with shop-floor issues.”

Mandela on Communism:

“Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements.”

Mandela on Armed Struggle:

“I admit immediately that I was one of the persons who helped to form Umkhonto we Sizwe, and that I played a prominent role in its affairs until I was arrested in August 1962.”

“50 years of non-violence had brought the African people nothing but more and more repressive legislation, and fewer and fewer rights.”

“Secondly, we felt that without violence there would be no way open to the African people to succeed in their struggle against the principle of white supremacy. All lawful modes of expressing opposition to this principle had been closed by legislation, and we were placed in a position in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority, or to defy the Government. We chose to defy the law. We first broke the law in a way which avoided any recourse to violence; when this form was legislated against, and then the Government resorted to a show of force to crush opposition to its policies, only then did we decide to answer violence with violence.”

“As violence in this country was inevitable, it would be unrealistic and wrong for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the Government met our peaceful demands with force.”

#UnitedStates #Remembrances #AntiRacism #Apartheid #SouthAfrica #NelsonMandela #Communism #UmkhontoWeSizwe #AfricanNationalCongress

West Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition organized actions outside Target in West Milwaukee, calling on the store to drop illegal settlement products. The protest was coordinated with an international day of action organized by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

Activists rallied in front of the store with signs reading “Boycott Soda Stream” and “No money for apartheid.” Some activists entered the store to hand out educational fliers detailing the case against SodaStream.

SodaStream operates a factory on stolen Palestinian land, in an Israeli settlement condemned by the international community. In the past year, the company has emerged as one of the primary targets of the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement for its involvement in Israeli occupation and apartheid.

#WestMilwaukeeWI #PalestineSolidarity #Apartheid #IsraeliOccupation #BDS #SodaStream #MilwaukeePalestineSolidarityCoalition

Minneapolis, MN – On Sept. 19, activists with the Minnesota Coalition for Palestinian Rights will return to the downtown Minneapolis Target store, urging shoppers not to buy products from SodaStream. This will follow a successful Aug. 15 mobilization, where 30 people held signs, chanted and passed out informational flyers to hundreds of pedestrians.

Sold at Minnesota-based Target stores, SodaStream is a company that manufactures home carbonation systems at a plant in the largest Israeli Jewish settlement on the West Bank. The construction of hundreds of settlements in the West Bank has been condemned by numerous human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, for violating international law and Palestinian human rights.

“We met with a positive response from the hundreds of people walking on Nicollet Mall at rush hour,” said Meredith Aby of the Anti-War Committee. “Minnesotans don’t support a company that makes its profits from stolen Palestinian land and the system of Israeli apartheid.”

The Minnesota campaign opened a few months ago with a letter initiated by Jewish Voices for Peace, which called on Target to discontinue sales of SodaStream products because the company is in violation of international law and in violation of Target’s ethical standards and Social Compliance Program.

This is effort is part of an international campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights. A truly global movement against Israeli Apartheid is rapidly emerging.

#Minneapolis #MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Occupation #Palestine #MinneapolisAntiwarMovement #Apartheid #SodaStream #AntiIsraeliApartheid #JusticeForPalestine #MiddleEast

To us as a democratic movement, the lesson of our history is very clear. It is what the peoples of Europe learnt during the turbulent decade of the 1930s, when fascism began its assault on democracy by launching a violent offensive against the Communists.

It is the same lesson that the people of the United States learnt during the decade of the nineteen fifties, when the forces of Macarthyism launched an assault aimed at undermining the democratic heritage of the American people, by conducting a virulent offensive against Communist and left opinion.

Theologians of the German Church understood these processes very well when they said the Christian Church did nothing when the Nazis attacked the Communists. And again the Church did nothing when the Nazis turned their brutal attention to the Socialists. And when the Nazis turned against Christian men and women of conscience, the Church found that there was nobody to defend it.

This is a mistake the ANC never made, because we understood that the banning of the Communist Party in 1950, was but a prelude to the suppression of all democratic opinion in our country. This is a lesson that those within the National Party, who consider themselves to be Democrats, need to learn very quickly.

Mandela: We are here today to participate with you in the public launch of the Communist Party, 40 years after it was banned. We do this because during the nearly 70 years of its existence, the Communist Party has distinguished itself as an ally in the common struggle to end the racial oppression and exploitation of the black masses of our country. It has fought side by side with the ANC for the common objective of the National Liberation of people, without seeking to impose its views on our movement.

Mandela: Because we have an urgent task to attain our emancipation, we insist that the talks must go on. Our freedom should not be postponed or denied simply because some people have a secret agenda to sustain an anti-democratic crusade against Communist opinion.

#SouthAfrica #Apartheid #NelsonMandela #SouthAfricanCommunistParty #Africa

Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition rallied outside the Israel Bonds Awards Dinner, June 13, saying “Don't award apartheid!” Inside the high class downtown Pfister Hotel, Israeli government ministers were presenting an award to a Park Bank CEO for his monetary support to the apartheid state of Israel. But while Israel and their 1% supporters met behind the protection of police stationed in the hotel lobby, activists representing at least seven community organizations rolled out their own red carpet.

“I came out to educate myself more on the issue as well as support the cause,” said Angie Ortiz, “I will definitely go to the ceremony again next year.”

With “Free Palestine” scrawled across the sidewalk at the hotel entrance, a makeshift stage and red carpet mocked the award ceremony inside. But instead of awarding the elite U.S. supporters of Zionist apartheid and occupation, awards were given to each Palestine solidarity activist rallying in support of Palestinian human rights. The final award was given to the courageous Palestinian hunger strikers.

The counter-awards ceremony called for support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) by divesting from Israel bonds. Activists also called on Alicia Keys to cancel her scheduled tour date in Tel Aviv, Israel. This week over 12,000 signatures were delivered to Keys' charity “Keep a Child Alive” in New York, demanding she join the likes of Alice Walker, Roger Waters, Stevie Wonder, Desmond Tutu and Stephen Hawking to stand up for the rights of Palestinians living under occupation and apartheid.

The brand new Palestine Solidarity Coalition consists of several groups doing Palestine solidarity work in Milwaukee. The coalition is planning a city-wide campaign to boycott Israeli goods and end civilian and government aid to Israel from the U.S. That aid includes over $3 billion a year in government support alone.

#MilwaukeeWI #Palestine #Boycott #Apartheid #IsraeliOccupation #BDS #PalestineSolidarityCoalition #MiddleEast

Here in the U.S., the working class continues suffering from right-wing anti-worker policies – cutbacks and privatization of public services and education, giveaways to for-profit health care and insurance corporations, outlawing collective bargaining and unions, curbing voting rights, etc. Few of us among the working class would mourn the death of right-wing figureheads like ex-President George Bush, or Wisconsin Governor Walker, or Florida Governor Rick Scott. Nor should we mourn for Margaret Thatcher after what she did to the working class in Britain.

Under her rule, the coal miners were some of many victims, with Thatcher declaring the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as “the enemy within.” In 1984, the NUM waged a militant strike for over a year, fighting Thatcher’s privatizations and the closing of coal mines. In Thatcher’s Britain, a militarized police force beat the miners and their supporters off the streets. At least six picketers were killed during the great miners’ strike of 1984-85. Thatcher’s domination of the National Coal Board meant no work agreement, numerous mines closed and more than 20,000 miners losing their jobs. The NUM was gutted.

This should stand as a stark reminder to workers here in the U.S., union and non-union, where we have such a deep-rooted history of militant labor unionism amongst coal miners. The government is in the hands of the wealthy, they will use whatever means necessary to serve the rich.

Thatcher’s policies overseas were even worse. In response to the decline of the British Empire, Thatcher revived a racist and colonial foreign policy. This is the other great tower of her ‘contributions’ to humanity. For example, Prime Minister Thatcher declared the African National Congress a terrorist organization, opposed sanctions on racist apartheid South Africa and, in 1987, Thatcher’s spokesperson said in responding to a reporter that anyone who believed the ANC would ever rule South Africa was “living in cloud-cuckoo land.”

Thatcher was unlikely to win a second term as Prime Minister until she launched a completely unnecessary, but bloody war against Argentina over the tiny Malvinas islands, thousands of miles from Britain and right next to Argentina. Thatcher revived jingoism, the extreme nationalism of British imperialism, and won big in the next elections. In terms of arrogance, she puts the American Republican Party to shame.

So too Thatcher amped up the war on the people in the occupied six counties of Ireland. She unleashed death squads and brought in the shoot to kill policy, but Irish Republicans adapted. It was Thatcher who forced the Irish Hunger Strike, soon broadening sympathy and support for the Irish Republican movement throughout Ireland and the world. Bobby Sands and his comrades are being remembered throughout the world, and especially in Palestine, today.

Due to her anti-worker policies in Britain and her colonial approach to the rest of the world, Maggie Thatcher leaves a legacy of repression, misery and bloodshed. There is no sadness in her death, only the feeling of a burden being lifted and giving new energy to our determination to organize working people and the oppressed to take control of our destiny.

#UnitedKingdom #Imperialism #Remembrances #Europe #Ireland #Argentina #britain #Apartheid #workersStruggle #coalMiner #MargaretThatcher #NationalUnionOfMineworkers

St. Paul, MN – On May 6, Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Wabasha) introduced a bill in the Minnesota House of Representatives that would bring Arizona's new racist anti-immigrant law SB 1070 to Minnesota. This comes on the heels of Minnesota Republican Gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer saying he thinks Arizona's racist law is “wonderful”.

Rep. Drazkowski's Minnesota bill imitates the Arizona law which institutionalizes racial profiling, by mandating local police to check proof of citizenship of anyone they encounter who they think might be undocumented. So in Arizona, anyone who the police might think looks Latino must now carry their identity documents with them at all times or be immediately suspect and subject to police harassment and arrest. Many people have compared Arizona's new law to the Pass Laws in South Africa under apartheid. Those laws required Black South Africans to carry their pass books with them whenever they left their ‘designated’ areas. If they didn't produce a pass, they were subject to immediate arrest. There are also many comparisons to the Jim Crow segregation laws in the U.S. South.

Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070, the most extreme anti-immigrant legislation in the country, into law in Arizona on April 23, provoking large protests in Arizona, outrage around the country, and a growing boycott of Arizona until the law is repealed. This year's May 1 demonstrations around the country, coming just a week after SB 1070 was signed, were notably larger than recent years, with a central message being a sharp rejection of SB 1070. Showing the depth of the movement, in an unprecedented action the National Basketball Association (NBA) team from Arizona, the Phoenix Suns, made a strong political statement as a team against SB 1070 by changing their jerseys to read “Los Suns” in solidarity with Latinos in the state in their opening playoff game. Before the game they held a press conference to explain this bold anti-racist action against their own state government.

In respose to Rep. Drazkowski trying to copy the Arizona bill in Minnesota, local immigrant rights leader Francisco Segovia said, “Martin Luther King said that he had a dream, and when we see these congresspeople in Minnesota doing this, here it's not going to be a dream but a nightmare, a nightmare directly against the spirit of Martin Luther King. In Minnesota we won't rest or allow this archaic thinking to get established here. Millions of Minnesotans don't share this racial way of thinking. We're going to get out in the streets to protest, and if they pass a bill like that here there will be boycotts, like there are against Arizona right now. We won't allow these congresspeople to turn Minnesota into a 21st century apartheid state. We call on everyone in Minnesota to speak out against this.”

#SaintPaulMN #Apartheid #SB1070 #Arizona #BoycottArizona #RepSteveDrazkowski

Tucson, AZ – Around 15,000 people took to the streets here May 1 to celebrate May Day and to demand an end to racist anti-immigrant attacks at all levels of government, including an end to the hated SB1070 (the harshest anti-immigrant law in the nation), an end to border militarization and in support of immigration reform that is humanitarian rather than punitive.

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, said that Governor Jan Brewer’s signing of SB1070 had had an unintended effect: “It has brought el pueblo together, not only in Arizona, but across the nation!”

Many gathered for the protest expressed their disgust at ‘Arizona Apartheid’ and its racial profiling, including attacks on Latino students through new efforts to force public education personnel to enforce immigration law in the schools. Many wore t-shirts and buttons saying “No paper” or carried signs saying, “Do I look illegal?” For weeks now, there have been almost daily protests in Arizona against anti-immigrant racism. Judging by today’s crowd, the fight back shows no signs of letting up.

#TucsonAZ #Labor #Apartheid #Arizona #SB1070

For over a week now, thousands of people have been taking to the streets in protest. Calls for a boycott of Arizona have gone out from numerous sources, including Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva, who said, “We are calling on organizations not to schedule conventions and conferences in Arizona until it recognizes civil rights and the meaning of due process.”

Immigrant rights lawyer and founder of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos was asked about three components that have been widely discussed – boycotting Arizona conventions, tourism and the Arizona Diamondbacks (who are major contributors to Republican supporters of SB1070). Her response: “Yes, all of that! Do not spend your money in Arizona!” Exempted are visits to family and friends and participation in mobilizations against the Arizona Apartheid apparatus.

Angel Sanchez is a Tucson High School student. He addressed an April 23 demonstration saying, “We are not criminals. We…demand dignity and respect….They want to cause us fear, but it is those individuals who need to be afraid…because in November we will vote….We need to work together and show this is our community and our state. We will show them we are here. We will march and nonviolently show them who we are – that we are bigger than they will ever be.”

#TucsonAZ #ChicanoLatino #ImmigrationAndCustomsEnforcementICE #Apartheid #SB1070 #CoaliciónDeDerechosHumanos

We are asking supporters who can to join us at the airport at 12:30 so we can welcome Sarah and Katrina home, and show strong support for them at their first public statements since they were held by authorities in Israel. Please join us in the baggage claim area (riding the light rail train is a good way to avoid parking costs).

Minnesotans detained in and deported from Israel return home and speak out

Israeli security forces refused entry to three U.S. solidarity activists for attempting to participate in a human rights delegation. They were treated as criminals, while their only goal was to learn about the reality of life for the Palestinian people. Sarah Martin, member of Women Against Military Madness, and Katrina Plotz, of the Anti-War Committee, refused voluntary deportation, and the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv informed us that they were forcibly deported Sunday evening. The third traveler, Karen Sullivan also of the Anti-War Committee, was already deported and returned home to Minneapolis on Sunday. Sarah and Katrina are expected to return home on a flight arriving at 12:37pm on Monday, August 3. A press conference with them, their families and supporters, will happen at 1pm in the baggage claim area of the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport (Lindbergh Terminal).

Thousands of people have been denied entry by Israel, especially those who wish to see the Palestinian Territories. Not only international solidarity activists, but millions of Palestinian refugees living all over the world are prevented from returning to their homeland. Israel's policy of denying entry to people who support the Palestinian struggle and want to report on the situation, is one aspect of a campaign to isolate the Palestinian people from the world. This campaign includes hundreds military checkpoints inside the Palestinian Territories, blocking humanitarian shipments into the Gaza Strip, and the building of a massive Apartheid Wall.  Palestinians experience repression every day.

Precisely because the official Israeli view receives much more widespread coverage in the U.S. media than does the impact of these policies on the lives of Palestinians, it is important that people like Sarah, Katrina and Karen be able to go and report the situation accurately, and show the Palestinian people that the world has not completely abandoned them.

In spite of its special relationship with the U.S., the Israeli government showed no regard for the rights of American visitors, whose only crime was to express solidarity with the people of occupied Palestine. Karen reported that she was escorted onto her departing flight by an armed Israeli guard, and that she was interrogated upon re-entering the U.S. The AWC secured council for Sarah and Katrina, but they didn’t have access to speak to their lawyer and exercise their full right to appeal their deportation. Advocates for human rights should not be treated like criminals.

Their case resulted in an outpouring of support from across the country. This will be their first public statements in the United States since their unjust detention on Saturday, August 1.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Occupation #Palestine #AntiWarCommittee #Statement #Deportation #Apartheid #MiddleEast