PV staff
The federal government’s October 15 announcement to include the Palestinian prisoner solidarity organization Samidoun on the list of terrorist entities is an attack on freedom of expression in the context of the criminalization of solidarity with Palestine.
That’s the warning from the Communist Party of Canada, who denounced Ottawa’s announcement – which was made in coordination with the US government – in a statement on October 22.
“We are also concerned that, more broadly, any expression of international solidarity is increasingly being targeted under the pretext of either foreign interference or terrorist association,” said the Party statement.
“This decision comes at a time when Israel, the United States’ favoured military outpost and ally in the Middle East, is completely isolated on the diplomatic stage. It is losing all legitimacy in the streets of the world, including in Western imperialist countries and even in the streets of Tel Aviv itself. But there is worse: little by little, solidarity with Palestine is once again revealing the true criminal, barbaric and murderous nature of imperialism. In doing so, it challenges its hegemony and brings international solidarity back to the heart of public debate.”
The Canadian government’s continuing support for Israel, even in the face of its genocidal assault against Gaza, is rooted in the trade and economic interests that Canadian capital has in the Middle East and North Africa region. As such, all capitalist political parties – from social democrats to conservatives and even far-right populists – find common ground in actions like sanctioning Samidoun.
It is no surprise that the Conservative Party pressed for the prisoner solidarity organization to be listed as a terrorist group. In 2016, the Tories introduced a motion in the House of Commons condemning the BDS movement, which passed with Liberal support. “By doing so, they only prove their obsession with serving the interests of the monopolies and the most reactionary, war-mongering forces,” said the Communist Party. “They do so at the expense of democratic rights – even as they support the so-called “freedom convoys” under the pretext of defending freedom of expression.”
The alleged links between Samidoun and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP, an organization labeled as terrorist by Canada) are unproven. Furthermore, the PFLP is a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which is recognized by Canada.
Rather than looking to sanction solidarity organizations, the government should focus on the real terrorists in the region: Israel and its army which occupies, terrorizes and massacres the Palestinian people. The armed settlers, which the Israeli government supports militarily, are not defending themselves but rather seeking to expand the Israeli occupation in violation of all international law. Israel does not have the “right to defend itself” against a population it occupies. On the contrary, that population has the right to defend itself by any means necessary.
The Communist Party notes that the ruling class will use every possible loophole to attack their opponents: “We can only express our regret at the adventurist maneuver, the fleeting expression of legitimate anger, carried out by some left-wing activists identified with the Samidoun organization on October 7, 2024 in Vancouver. No doubt in seeking to make a bold gesture, they burned a Canadian flag and shouted slogans designed to provoke. That was all it took for the Zionist and reactionary forces to spring into action and, by sanctioning Samidoun, harm all the forces in solidarity with Palestine, peace advocates, and anti-imperialists.”
Solidarity with Palestine does not need to be “radicalized” so much as extended and broadened. To build solidarity in neighbourhoods, workplaces and places of study, discussion needs to focus on fighting for a diplomatic solution as the only guarantee of a just and lasting peace to which the peoples of the region aspire, not on a military solution to the conflict or the destruction of Israel.
The struggle for solidarity with the Palestinian people and for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East is not a rhetorical one. Nor is it one that can it be won over social media. This is a struggle which requires an organized response that brings together all the progressive social, democratic and political organizations into a movement capable of forcing political change in Ottawa. It involves painstaking, patient and relentless long-term work, and it requires a high degree of subtlety, tact and strategy – just like any battle. But that is the only way to truly liberate Palestine and the peoples of the Middle East from the yoke of Western imperialism.
To that end, the Communist Party calls on all political, social and democratic forces in Canada to organize and denounce Ottawa’s sanctioning of Samidoun as an attack on freedom of expression and on solidarity. “There is real urgency in this struggle to stop the ongoing genocide and the dangerous escalation towards a regional war. Unity is needed against any attempt to criminalize the Palestine solidarity movement at this critical time.”
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