Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network supports the six anti-racist organizers, including four members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, targeted for arrest and prosecution in the Denver, Colorado area in the United States, and urges broad mobilization in their defense.
Police across the region arrested the six in a coordinated sweep on Wednesday, 17 September from their cars, a Home Depot, and in one case a home raided in a militarized operation involving a tank.
The detentions followed a massive campaign organized by the six to demand justice for Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man killed by Aurora, Colorado police and paramedics in August 2019.
After an uprising against racism and police violence erupted across the United States following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis, Minnesota police on 25 May, these militant, disciplined protests mobilized thousands to confront local police.
Like their organization, the four PSL members – Lillian House, Eliza Lucero, Joel Northam, and Russell Ruch – are distinguished not only as talented organizers in the anti-racist struggle, but also as exemplary supporters of resistance to imperialism and colonialism across the world, including the Palestinian national movement.
The multiple felony charges each of them faces – including, in one particularly egregious example, the simultaneous kidnapping of 18 police officers – are clearly political in nature, intended to repress future organizing against racist repression at a time of pitched struggle across the U.S.
And the simultaneous filing of these fabricated charges by District Attorney Dave Young, a Democrat, as well as Republican D.A. George H. Brauchler illustrates the bipartisan nature of U.S. state repression, with both parties of the ruling class cooperating fully to crush any meaningful resistance.
On Saturday, over 1,500 supporters marched in Denver as other groups rallied throughout the U.S. to demand the dropping of all charges.
Samidoun echoes this demand and encourages all supporters of Palestinian political prisoners to join the ongoing campaign led by PSL.
The party has asked the public to sign a petition denouncing the charges, and to donate to a fund for legal and political support.
And we urge redoubled support for the ongoing struggles of U.S. political prisoners, as well as the mobilization for Black liberation, and against racism, state violence, and political repression, across the country.
As in Palestine, racism is a crime, and resistance is a duty.