Support the Kurdish Hunger Strikers

There will be a major march next  Sunday in solidarity with Kurdish  hunger strikers.
https://www.facebook.com/events/837556986578942/

Imam Sis  a well known activist in Newport, South Wales . currently living at the Kurdish Community Centre, who has lived in the UK for 14 years after coming to the UK as a political refugee. He has now exceeded 100 days of hunger strike, aince 17 December 2018, the longest in British history, and is surviving on only vitamin tablets, salty water, and a glass of lemonade a day. Read his article in the Independent  http://bit.do/eM8is

" As a Kurd, my commitment to a world of justice, equality and demoracy forced me to leave Turkey and beome a politial refugee in  the United Kingdom fifteen years ago. I have been living in Newport, Wales since 2014, where I am actively involved in struggles for coexistane and equality."

Imam Sis  on hunger strike since 17 December, 2018

7,000 more Kurds are now on indefinite hunger strike in the prisons of Turkey, in Kurdistan, Europe and North America demanding that Turkey abide by the European Convention of Human Rights ( to which it is a signatory) and allow imprisoned  Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan , access to lawyers and family visits.

Jailed by Turkey since 1999, Ocalan is the recognised leader of the Kurdish liberation movement. Since 2011, his lawyers have been unable to met with him.The isolation of  Abdullah Ocalan is contrary to Turkey’s own constitution and to international human rights law.Solitary confinement is commonly regarded as a form of torture, one that Öcalan has had to endure since his arrest in 1999. Ocalan’s ideas have inspired a major movement for grassroots, multi-ethnic secular democracy, and the respect in which he is held makes him key to a peaceful settlement for the Kurds in Turkey – an ideal for which he has strived repeatedly over the last two decades. Despite his continuing imprisonment he has made the whole world acknowledge the Kurds, with hundreds of thousands of people from various countries around the world  speaking about Ocalan’s ideas..

  Abdullah Ocalan

Ocalan is in his 20th year of imprisonment by Turkey and is being denied access to his family and to his lawyers. Ocalan’s importance, together with the lack of international action, has forced the Kurds to take the desperate step of mass indefinite hunger strikes. Leyla Guven, a democratically elected member of Turkey’s parliament for the left-wing, Kurdish-led People’s Democratic party (HDP), launched an indefinite hunger strike on November 7 from Amed Prison, where she was held jailed by Turkey’s regime. She has been joined by over 250 other political prisoners in Turkish jails and also by Kurdish activists around the world, including 14 at the seat of the European parliament in Strasbourg.

Leyla Guven

The Council of Europe, of which Turkey is a member, regards Isolation as a torture and a crime against humanity, but they need to act on their words. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture has yet to meet their criteria or serve their duties. This all proves that even today, Kurds are still not only denied their ethnic status, but also counted as not being worthwhile humans and all fundamental human rights are denied. The European Court of Human Rights must take action against Turkey on many counts, and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture must fulfil its role and visit Ocalan in prison. At the same time, the EU and UK must end their friendly engagement with Turkey, and European countries, including the UK, must stop selling Turkey weapons that will be used to suppress dissidents and minorities at home and attack Kurdish areas across the border.

Earlier this month Wales became the first parliament in the world to declare solidarity with the demands  of hunger strikers passing a Plaid Cymru motion https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-47646773?fbclid=IwAR2sNgZdwbxhI4kxcGRKURneJMdhdxnQY0xOgUNTdyJU-MsQ3aD8gyPG0lI

This  weekend Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbot meet with friends of Imam Sis and members of  the  Kurdish  community and speaking at a rally in Newport, Mr Corbyn highlighted the calls for lawyers to be allowed to visit Mr Ocalan- a key demand  of Kurdisg hunger strikers. Read more here https://freedomforocalan.org/jeremy-corbyn-calls-for-lawyers-to-be-allowed-to-visit-ocalan/?fbclid=IwAR0kJP11-rWBZJxTfmbWV-gG5rC7e5GCwAS-YmaHRBUzYEwRCSHV3DLDEHQ

Ask your MP to sign this EDM, https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/52440/hunger-strike-by-leyla-g%C3%BCven-mp; to raise the issue of Ocalan’s illegal isolation publicly wherever possible; to demand that the Foreign Minister puts pressure on Turkey to comply with its obligations to end the isolation of Ocalan and to restart the peace talks; and to demand that the UK stops selling Turkey weapons. It is the Foreign Minister, Jeremy Hunt, who is the UK representative on the Council of Europe, so they should specifically ask him to get the European institutions to back their words with actions and make Turkey comply with their own constitution and European human rights conventions.

The Human Rights of the Kurdish people in all nations they reside,should be respected and they are also entitled to preserve their language and cultural heritage which would be possible through autonomy. We should continue to demand that the Turkish government  be responsive to prisoners on hunger strike in Turkey demands.
It is important that the international community stands in support of theKurdish hunger strikers and their campaign for rights, equality and an end to Turkish repression.The ending of the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan is necessary not only for a resolution to the ‘Kurdish Question,’ for peace in the Middle-East, but for the whole world. For solutions to large challenges that we will all face this century, Abdullah Öcalan’s safety and ideas are of critical importance.
Your voice will make a difference.Please sign the  following change.org petition calling on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture to visit Ocalan,

 https://www.change.org/p/european-committee-for-the-prevention-of-torture-cpt-we-want-cpt-to-visit-mr-ocalan-at-imrali-prison

Visualising Palestine : For Social Justice

This is a Visualising Palestine graphic which identifies how the (still living) Palestinians in Gaza have been unable to get any redress through Israel’s military court system, despite the massive damage done to them – over 2100 killed – and their environment by the IDF.
Over the past seven years, Visualizing Palestine has harnessed visual storytelling to bring public attention to the daily injustices facing Palestinians, using public information about life in Israel and Palestine to expose the damaging effects of the occupation, .with topics ranging from ceasefire violations and military aid to the uprooting of Palestinian olive trees and the segregation of travel, the demolition of homes, Administrative Detention, to mothers forced to give birth at military checkpoints. creating data-driven tools to advance a factual, rights-based narrative of the Palestinian-Israeli issue.
Its researchers, designers, technologists, and communications specialists work in partnership with civil society actors to amplify their impact and promote social justice and equality and human rights. It is here that the facts become memorable, relevant and authentic stories.
Visualising Palestine is the first portfolio of Visualizing Impact, a non-profit organisation that innovates at the intersection of technology, design and data science. Each image takes 6-8 weeks to finalize, from conception to promotion. Workshops, brainstorming and open exchanges turn the production into a social venture, an approach that extends beyond the organization. The infographics are then published under a Creative Commons license to facilitate their use as advocacy tools. Aa a result they have been published in Huffington Post, The Guardian, the Irish Times, Al-Jazeera, Open Democracy and other media outlets, as journalistic resources to inform, change perceptions, correct the narrative about Palestine, and push individuals to take action. It allows people to have a clearer perspective into an immensely complex issue.
There is a vast amount of information on the daily lives of Palestinians, their living conditions, experiences and circumstances on the ground , but it largely remains outside the mainstream media. Without being presented in a form that can easily be understood, remembered and shared, these details are not heard internationally. What is needed is a way to see the every day experiences of people living in this region, a means of bringing the facts to life.
The extent to which the Palestinian issue brings forward divisive and polarizing emotions is well recognized. That is why Visualizing Palestine’s dedication to verifiable facts and sources is all the more important. They have not had anyone bring forward facts that invalidate any of the statements made in their infographics. An invaluable  resource, helping to inform people, change perspectives , bringing statistics to life for the whole world to see. It is much needed and  needs all the support they can get.
For more information, or to see more of the infographics, visit the websites of Visualizing Palestine and Visualizing Impact. or  their twitter https://twitter.com/visualizingpal  and fsacebook page https://www.facebook.com/visualizingpalestine/