La Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad condena enérgicamente los ataques del Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos y las autoridades canadienses contra la Red de Solidaridad con los Prisioneros Palestinos Samidoun (Samidoun). La Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros (OFAC) del Departamento del Tesoro alega que Samidoun es una “caridad vergonzosa”, una acusación que está diseñada para criminalizar la solidaridad con Palestina. Instamos a todos los progresistas o a quienes están preocupados por las libertades civiles a solidarizarse con Samidoun contra la represión política.

El gobierno de Estados Unidos ha elaborado una serie de leyes que tratan a los movimientos de liberación nacional, ya sea en Palestina, Filipinas o en lugares intermedios, como “terrorismo”. Como resultado, casi todos los grupos que luchan por poner fin a la ocupación israelí de Palestina están en la lista de organizaciones terroristas designadas por el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos. Y la situación empeora. Según la Ley Antiterrorista y de Pena de Muerte Efectiva de 1996, las personas pueden enfrentarse a largas penas de prisión por “apoyo material al terrorismo”. Es un marco legal que intenta convertir la solidaridad en un delito. Estas leyes deberían ser eliminadas.

Estas leyes represivas que pisotean los derechos de libertad de expresión y asociación conducen a un mundo al revés, donde los luchadores por la libertad son etiquetados como terroristas y los verdaderos terroristas son los que juzgan. Consideremos lo siguiente: Estados Unidos e Israel son responsables de al menos 44.000 muertos en Gaza, muchos de ellos niños pequeños. Estamos viendo los peores crímenes de guerra a diario. Pensemos en las bombas estadounidenses que caen sobre hospitales y en los 10.000 palestinos en campos de tortura financiados con dólares de los impuestos estadounidenses. Y luego los practicantes del genocidio alcanzan las alturas de la hipocresía, diciendo que quienes resisten estas atrocidades están participando en el terrorismo.

En 2010, el Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos lanzó un ataque contra activistas anti-guerra y de solidaridad internacional, junto con miembros de la Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad, ataques que incluyeron redadas del FBI y citaciones del gran jurado. La campaña masiva que siguió logró derrotar la mayoría de estos ataques a nuestros derechos democráticos. Hoy en día es igualmente necesario manifestarse en contra de los ataques a nuestro movimiento.

En el momento político actual, en el que los gobiernos y las administraciones universitarias están tomando muchas medidas para reprimir el activismo pro-palestino, es importante recordar que nunca hay una buena razón para hablar con el FBI o con alguien de un grupo de trabajo antiterrorista conjunto. De eso no saldrá nada bueno. Jamás.

Vamos a seguir organizándonos por Palestina. Nos solidarizamos con quienes enfrentan represión política. Y seguimos adelante. ¡No descansaremos hasta que Palestina sea libre, desde el río hasta el mar!

#International #Palestine #AntiWarMovement #PoliticalRepression #Samidoun #FRSO #Statement

Freedom Road Socialist organization strongly condemns the attacks by the U.S. Treasury Department and Canadian authorities on Samidoun: Palestinian Political Prisoner Network. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) claims that Samidoun is a “sham charity,” an allegation that is designed to criminalize solidarity with Palestine. We urge everyone who is progressive or concerned about civil liberties to stand with Samidoun against political repression.

The U.S government has devised a host of laws that treat movements for national liberation, be they in Palestine or the Philippines or points in between, as “terrorism.” As a result, almost every group that is fighting to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine is on the U.S. State Department’s list of designated terrorist organizations. And it gets worse. Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, folks can face long prison terms for “material support of terrorism.” It’s a legal framework that tries to make solidarity a crime. These laws should be scrapped.

These repressive laws that trample on the rights of free speech and association lead to an upside-down world where freedom fighters are labeled as terrorists, and the real terrorists sit in judgment. Consider this: the U.S. and Israel are responsible for at least 44,000 dead in Gaza, many of them little kids. We are seeing the worst kind of war crimes daily. Think of the U.S. bombs falling on hospitals and the 10,000 Palestinians in torture camps paid for with U.S. tax dollars. And then the practitioners of genocide reach for the heights of hypocrisy, saying those who resist these outrages are engaging in terrorism.

In 2010, the U.S. Justice Department launched an attack on anti-war and international solidarity activists—along with members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization—attacks that included FBI raids and grand jury subpoenas. The mass campaign that followed successfully beat back most of these attacks on our democratic rights. Speaking out against attacks on our movement is equally necessary today.

In the current political environment, where there are many moves underway by government and university administrations to repress pro-Palestine activism, it is important to remember that there is never a good reason to talk to the FBI or someone from a Joint Terrorism Task Force. No good will come of it. Ever.

We are going to continue to organize for Palestine. We stand with those facing political repression. And we are moving forward. We will not rest until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea!

#AntiWarMovement #International #Palestine #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #Samidoun #FRSO #Statement #Feature

The Anti-War Committee of Chicago strongly condemns the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designation of Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as a sanctioned entity and gross slander as a “sham charity.”

Done in tandem with the government of Canada, this designation serves only to repress Palestinian solidarity at a time where Israeli war crimes spit in the face of international law. The same week both governments colluded to designate Samidoun with these outrageous sanctions, Israeli Occupation Forces burned Palestinians alive in Al Aqsa Hospital, destroyed an entire village in south Lebanon, and bombed Syria.

It is also evidently clear this designation comes at a time where Palestinian solidarity is at the highest it has been, not only in the US and Canada, but worldwide. The world can no longer ignore the plight of the Palestinian cause. US insistence of the world following its “rules based order” is contradicted by the endless financial and political protection it gives to Israel, which cannot go a day without violating international law – the very “rules based order” the U.S. insists everyone else follow.

This heinous designation should raise several red flags for anyone in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. This is an attempt to normalize repression on behalf of imperialist, colonialist interests who profit from the death and destruction of sovereign countries and people.

Since the onset of the October 7 Al Aqsa Flood Operation, the US has begun a crackdown of Palestinian activists – harassing peace activists at home, in schools, at airports, at work, and disrupting their daily lives and livelihoods in order to intimidate them into silence. The U.S. government and the Canadian government both insist that the general public should look the other way as they sponsor genocide through the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This is but one instance in this country’s history of criminalizing liberation movements from indigenous American organizations to Black liberation organizations.

While actual, racist and domestic terrorist gangs are on record operating within the Chicago Police Department, the U.S. government instead chooses to criminalize opposition to their genocide. Opposing genocide is not a crime! Solidarity is not a crime! Demanding an end to apartheid and occupation is not a crime!

We demand the immediate removal of these designations and an end to unjustified lawfare imposed on organizations seeking justice for Palestine. Hands off Samidoun! An attack on one is an attack on us all! Free Palestine, no more aid to Israel, no more arms to Israel!

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #Samidoun #AWCChicago #PoliticalRepression

Seattle, WA – On May 20, students at the University of Washington in Seattle ended their Palestine solidarity encampment following a protracted struggle that led to an agreement with the university administration. While not a complete win, the agreement marked a real step forward.

On Monday, April 29, students started an encampment. Begun by the Progressive Student Union, a chapter of New Students for a Democratic Society, the encampment had three demands: material and academic divestment from Israel, the cutting of ties with Boeing, and an end to the repression of pro-Palestinian staff, students and faculty.

The encampment grew, with organizations such as Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return (SUPER), Resist US Led War, and the Muslim Student Association joining. By the end of the week, over 100 students and community members were on the Quad of the university. Students were doing their homework on the grass, while also participating in discussions with other encampments and reading groups around Palestinian novels.

While the university’s administration appeared at first to take a stance of waiting out the encampment, it was happy to let counter-protesters approach on two separate occasions. On Tuesday, May 7, Turning Point USA founder and director Charlie Kirk held a speaking event at UW. Those who came to listen to the racist, homophobic right-wing leader speak then came to the edge of the encampment, where they were met over 1000 people, led by the Palestinian Youth Movement, who had come out to show support for the students.

The student government passed a resolution supporting the demands of the encampment after months of dragging its feet. The encampment stressed its popular support, and connection with Palestine; Bissan Barghouti of Samidoun said, “Palestine will be freed, not by the ruling elite, but by the people!”

On Sunday, May 12, Zionists again marched to the encampment, this time explicitly in support of Israel. However, they were once again turned away by the community support for the encampment.

The encampment’s staying power is due to the organizing of the students and community members present. Those camping there could count on hot drinks and meals, whether they were donated or cooked at the encampment itself. Students were also able to join in the encampment even if they did not have supplies, thanks to generous community donations. Students often worked throughout the night to cook, clean, set up tents, and more. As the encampment showed that it would not fizzle out, administration was forced to make concessions.

The president of the University of Washington, Ana Mari Cauce, had originally announced to the entirety of the student body by email that “the University’s response to students’ calls for change will not be based on an encampment.” Many students recognized this as insulting, and wrong.

Mathieu Chabaud of the Progressive Student Union, stated. “If someone was on my front lawn, I’d listen to them.”

By Friday, May 17, Cauce was forced to publicly change her stance. The UW United Front for Palestinian Liberation, composed of many of the groups at the encampment, announced the details of an agreement made with the university. In return for ending the encampment, the University of Washington would begin the processes that would end UW’s financial investment in weapons manufacturers and companies with ties to the Israeli occupation of Palestine; establish a Palestinian studies center; hire Palestinian faculty; provide the resources for at least 20 students from Gaza to study at UW at no cost; and provide transparency on its ties to Boeing and other companies profiting from the Israeli occupation. The agreement also provided amnesty for students and community members who had camped on the Quad.

While not a full victory, the agreement is a strong step forward. It was only due to the encampment that the university made any concessions after years of ignoring students at the university. Students made it clear that they will continue to organize and put pressure on the board of regents and other bodies at the university as the process towards divestment continues.

#SeattleWA #WA