December 3 – 10 Global Week of Action

From the International Day in Solidarity with Political Prisoners to International Human Right Day

The existence of political prisoners worldwide is a stark indicator of global repression, reflecting a constant and violent clash between entrenched state power and the popular demand for rights and liberation. Across the globe, countless individuals—primarily rights defenders, activists, and leaders of national liberation movements—are unjustly detained for challenging the status quo. These detainees are systematically subjected to inhumane conditions that violate international law and basic human dignity, including systemic torture, arbitrary legal proceedings, forced disappearances, and the denial of essential medical care, as tragically demonstrated by the death of the ailing activist Prof. G.N. Saibaba after neglect in prison, and the documented abuse of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.

The persecution of these individuals is a core tactic used by authoritarian and imperialist states to suppress effective movements for change and self-determination. This is evident in the mass detention of Palestinian political prisoners (including minors) resisting military occupation; the long-term isolation of Kurdish freedom fighter Abdullah Ocalan in Türkiye; and the political sentencing of Papuan activists like Victor Yeimo in Indonesia. Similarly, dominant states target longstanding political prisoners and activists, as seen in the cases of Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu Jamal in the US, and the imprisonment of anti-imperialist protesters in Kenya. The use of fabricated “terrorism” charges and legal repression—against Kurdish organizations in Europe, the MOVADEF movement in Peru, and others—underscores a global strategy to criminalize legitimate political dissent and collective liberation efforts, regardless of the detainees’ age or health, as highlighted by the urgent call for the freedom of elderly and ailing women political prisoners like Rosita Taboy, Evangeline Rapanut, Estelita Almanza, and Virginia Villamor in the Philippines.

While bourgeois notions of human rights tend to emphasize individual, civil-political liberties (like private property), which critics argue can entrench the existing economic order, the concept of people’s rights/liberation champions collective rights and views political freedoms as inseparable from socio-economic justice (including the rights to health, housing, and self-determination). The significance of this distinction is the recognition that genuine freedom requires not merely relief from state repression, but a fundamental transformation of the systemic economic and social roots of oppression.

The Week of Action, connecting the International Day in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (December 3) and International Human Rights Day (December 10), is a strategically crucial period for global solidarity. This sustained mobilization bridges two vital concerns: it confirms that the quest for people’s rights is intrinsically linked to the struggle for the freedom of political prisoners. This is the moment to unleash a militant, unified front against repression. Our solidarity is our weapon; their freedom is our victory!

Objectives:

Wage coordinated actions between ILPS members and provide coverage of actions that demonstrates shared messaging as ILPS organizations
Encourage on-the-ground actions and activities that can be covered and propagated online and through various forms of media
Highlight the role of peoples’ movements in winning the release of political prisoners, and the distinction between peoples’ rights and bourgeois human rights
Conduct propaganda and education that deepens understanding on political prisoners’ fights and the concept of peoples’ rights as an anti-imperialist fight
Share experiences of political prisoners and families of prisoners and victims of human rights violations

Calls:

Main Call:
- Their Freedom is Our Freedom!
Additional Calls:
- Fight for Peoples’ Rights!
- Free All Political Prisoners!
- Their Bodies Are In Prison, Not Their Ideas!
- Fightback Fascism!

Conduct:

Events and actions will be called for between December 3 and December 10. Days of action can happen throughout whenever they are most relevant for the organizations involved, but the key mobilization days will be called from ILPS on the first and final day, International Day in Solidarity with Political Prisoners and International Human Rights Day.

This will be an open call where any organization can initiate their own actions or activities related to the theme and objectives. The ILPS General Secretariat and ILPS Commission 3 will create a system of shared branding that can be used by organizations in their events and actions, or at minimum will be used to portray coverage of the events to show the continuity of the week’s activities. Each major activity, both decentralized and joint, will be propagated as part of the week of action.

Types of activities can include:

Protest mobilizations
Photo actions with placards provided
Educational discussions
Film screenings
Production of primers and other educational materials
Shared prop – graphics, statements, brochures, etc.
A Sign-on statement
Social media coverage of mobilizations
Other creative means to share the experiences of political prisoners and families of prisoners and victims of human rights violations