Solidarity with Samidoun and Charlotte Kates!

Workers World Party urges unwavering support for Samidoun Political Prisoners Network and denounces the outrageous attack by Canadian authorities and police units on Charlotte Kates, the International Coordinator of Samidoun, and her home.

This attack is part of a continuing effort by U.S./ Canadian / European Union governments to support the brutal Zionist crimes being committed in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. It is part of the intimidation, arrests, mass blocs on social media, and shutdowns of campus organizations of many thousands who are mobilizing and speaking out. 

It is part of the effort to silence the powerful international support for Palestinian people’s justified resistance. 

This attack on Samidoun is an attack on all who fight for human rights and against genocide.  Our unity and solidarity is our strongest defense. 

– Sara Flounders

The following statement was published by Resistance News Network Prisoners on Nov. 15, 2024.

Fascist Canadian forces violently raided the home of Samidoun Political Prisoners Network International Coordinator Charlotte Kates on Nov. 15, entering without a search warrant or charges in the middle of the day. 

A large number of heavily armed police forces arrived in an armored vehicle to her home, launching tear gas and flash bangs, breaking a window during their violent entry. 

Neighbors testified to the good nature of Kates, agreeing that the police went too far in their use of force. Kates was reportedly released after a brief detention. This comes just weeks after Canada and the U.S. baselessly designated Samidoun as a “terrorist organization,” an allegation not rooted in facts and without any charges. 

The Network was also banned on Telegram as part of a growing campaign of repression. Kates has been a persistent target of imperialist harassment in defense of the zionist entity. 

In April, Charlotte was arrested for a speech she gave calling for resistance groups to be removed from the sham “terrorist lists,” abducted while riding the bus and banned from attending protests. 

The Canadian state has made the decision to align itself with the zionist entity, intensifying repression in increasingly violent ways in response to growing and historic pro-Palestinian mobilization globally, which is in response to the call of the resistance and their steadfastness. 

We are seeing this globally from Germany to the Netherlands to the U.S., Jordan, and Egypt. This repression aims to stifle solidarity with the Palestinian and Arab resistance, which continues to achieve victories on the ground in their war of attrition. 

As the resistance wins, repression increases. While the real terrorists continue to funnel money and weapons to the zionist entity, the resistance and its cradle are criminalized for exercising their inalienable rights. 

What they fear is our unity, steadfastness, and liberation. We reaffirm our full and unwavering solidarity with Samidoun and any comrades facing repression. The attack on Charlotte Kates is an attack on all of us. We are all Samidoun.

The statement was lightly edited.