24 October 2024 – Via Stop Cop Nation
The movement to Stop Cop Nation stands in solidarity with Samidoun.
On the week of the 29th National Day of Action Against Police Brutality, we declare that the struggle to Stop Cop Nation and the struggle to Free Palestine are one and the same.
The movement to Stop Cop Nation sees the recent sanctioning of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as a “terrorist entity” by the U.S. and Canada as an attack on our entire movement. We express our unwavering solidarity with Samidoun in the face of this state repression.
The United States has historically used accusations of terrorism and conspiracy to repress movements, from the Red Scare to COINTELPRO to the persecution of the Panther 21 and the Black Liberation Army.
Over the decades, countless freedom fighters have been exiled, murdered, or made political prisoners by our government. We need not look further than Assata Shakur’s presence on the FBI’s most wanted list, the criminalization of the Holy Land Foundation, the RICO charges in Atlanta, and the conspiracy charges against the Uhuru 3 to see that this method of repression has been both continuous and escalating.
Just as Cop Cities are inspired by the “Little Gaza” training facility in Israel, so too is Cop Nation – the militarization and expansion of the Amerikkkan police state – being constructed from the blueprint of the zionist entity.
Just as Samidoun is being targeted for their unflinching support of the Palestinian resistance – the beating heart of the international anti-imperialist struggle – and their insistence that all Palestinian prisoners are political prisoners, Atlantans are being baselessly targeted because of the state’s complete failure to break the resolve of the militant insurgency driving the anti-police movement in the imperial core.
It is specifically in these moments of harsh repression that silent abandonment and retreat weakens our movement and makes the terrain more dangerous for everyone. If we do not form a united front in the face of this repression, we will be defeated one by one.
The “terror” sanctions against Samidoun are absurd and we condemn them in the strongest terms. But they are also an opportunity for us; an opportunity for us to declare our unwavering support for our comrades, an opportunity for us to test the strength of our convictions, and an opportunity for us to prove again and again each time such repression occurs that the movements to Free Palestine and Stop Cop Nation are totally and absolutely inseparable.
We call on all organizations to publicly announce their solidarity with Samidoun and with all others currently facing the brunt of state repression.