One year ago today on October 15th, 2024, the Canadian and American governments issued a joint declaration criminalizing Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as a “sham charity” and so-called “terrorist” organization. Al-Ahrar Palestinian Prisoner Support and Canada-Palestine Association’s Basil Al-Araj Prisoner Committee rejects and condemns in the strongest terms these proscriptions attributed to Samidoun.
The criminalization of Samidoun in the midst of a genocide against the Palestinian people is an attempt to silence the prisoners’ movement and all those who uplift the noble armed struggle against Zionist colonialism. It is the responsibility of those in the imperial core to champion the Palestinian Resistance and their right to Land Back by any means necessary. For the state to identify Samidoun as a perpetrator of this clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of organizing in solidarity with the united Resistance factions and the threat it poses to imperialism on all fronts.
The deliberate targetting of prisoner solidarity, as seen with Samidoun and earlier this year with Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Organization, reveals the ultimate effectiveness of this work in challenging the colonial system and death machine. The prisoners’ movement is vital because it represents the fundamental conscience and resilience of a liberation struggle. Prisoners are central figures, they are educators, leaders, and symbols of the unwavering spirit of the Palestinian cause. Their captivity is a tactic to sever leadership from the people. By criminalizing the networks that amplify the prisoners’ voices and uphold their rights, the imperialists try to erase these important figures from public consciousness. The attacks on the prisoner solidarity movement are a confirmation of its vital role within our global anti-imperialist movement.
Our organizations also condemn in the strongest terms the malicious targeting of Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator of Samidoun, and Mohammed Khatib, the coordinator for Samidoun in Europe, by various imperial powers including so-called Canada. In addition to sending weapons and money to the Zionist entity, imperialist powers repress the Palestinian and Arab diaspora and internationalist organizers who dare to speak out about it. This repression extends far beyond individual designations and attacks, instead forming a comprehensive campaign to criminalize solidarity with Palestine more broadly.
Attacks against Charlotte and Mohammed are nothing but desperate attempts to isolate, intimidate, and silence some of the most effective organizers in the international solidarity sphere. We stand with Charlotte and Mohammed!
The “terrorist” listing of Samidoun and attacks against its membership are a dangerous development and a direct result of orchestrated and coordinated repression by imperialists who share interests of crushing dissent wherever it may emerge. This criminalization impacts the entire solidarity movement— not just Samidoun. We are experiencing a growing wave of repression in so-called Canada where the state has intensified its attacks against Palestinian solidarity not only in the name of “public safety” and “anti-hate”, but now increasingly “counter-terrorism”, too.
Accusions of “terrorism” did not stop with the “terrorist” designation of Samidoun, in fact they only intensified. Just months ago, the RCMP’s INSET counter-terrorism team arrested a Yemeni man based on “terrorism” allegations that left him in jail for weeks on end with no charges. In September, the settler state banned Irish rap group Kneecap from entering the country accusing them of “supporting terrorism”. Now, the Combatting Hate Act is being proposed by Carney’s Liberal government which, if passed, would criminalize displaying symbols associated with “terrorism” or even ones that resemble them. This includes any symbols associated with listed terrorist entities— from Hamas to Samidoun.
The Palestinian Resistance themselves have faced the racist, colonial label of “terrorism” for decades, as have many other revolutionarries before them. It is crucial that we reject these designations first and foremost. The Palestinian Resistance and their allies in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran are freedom fighters who defy imperialist conquest at every turn. The designation of Samidoun is but a natural continuation and expansion of this to the imperial core as imperialists wiedling the term “terrorist” against freedom fighters abroad will eventually boomerang back into domestic repression under Western fascism.
The burgeoning trend of politicians and police forces smearing Palestinian solidarity organizers as “terrorists” reveals a desperate effort to suppress a strong, unified movement that demands an end to the genocide and a liberated Palestine by any means necessary.
In the face of these attacks, we must meet repression with collective courage. Backing down from supporting an organization like Samidoun because the state has outlawed it is a political defeat. It means accepting the state’s lies and surrendering to their fear tactics. We are not a movement that surrenders. Their escalating repression is not a sign of their strength, but proof that our movement is growing and winning. We will not respond with fear, but with the unshakable courage that comes from knowing we are on the right side of history. Together, we can make their “terrorist” lists irrelevant and build a world where Palestine is free.
It is urgent that we continue to proclaim that We Are All Samidoun, just as We Are All Palestine Action and any other organization or individual of the Palestinian cause that may face criminalizing “terrorist” allegations. And it is of utmost importance that we continue to champion the heroic and steadfast Palestinian Resistance and not bow down to the state’s attempts at silencing a movement that brazenly supports them.
Al-Ahrar Palestinian Prisoner Support and Basil Al-Araj Prisoner Committee stand with Samidoun, Palestine Action, Addameer, the Palestinian Resistance factions, Elias Rodriguez, and all those who face racist, colonial proscriptions and “terrorism”-related criminalization.
We call on all people of conscience to uplift designated organizations, their membership, and their important work in bold defiance of state repression. Share their political work, educate your communities about the dangers of the so-called “terrorist” list, and demand to abolish the “terrorist” list altogether!
