Join the Freedom for Öcalan campaign for a major online rally on 16 July 2020. Help us to renew the calls from the trade union movement and the international community for Ocalan’s freedom. Yesterday Mandela, today Ocalan. The time has come!
As trade unionists, we understand that nothing builds solidarity like a shared struggle and a shared experience.Many of us have experienced the frustration and isolation of lockdown in the face of the COVID 19 pandemic.
For several weeks we have been denied contact with friends and family or worried about being exposed on the front lines while unable to have the comfort of those closest to us.It’s been tough.
Now imagine how 21 years would feel?
Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdish liberation movement, has been held in solitary confinement in brutal conditions for 21 long years.
The trade union movement was at the forefront of the campaign to free Mandela. Now, the time has come for us to lead the call to free Öcalan.
The time has come!
The ending of the isolation of Öcalan in prison could become the beginning of a peace process in Turkey and open the door to democracy in Turkey and the Middle East.
Baroness Blower of Starch Green former General Secretary of the NUT and co-chair of the Freedom for Ocalan campaign
On the evening of July 16, we are renewing calls for Öcalan’s release in the name of peace and justice.
Join campaign co-chairs Labour peer and former general secretary of the NUT Baroness Blower of Starch Green and Simon Dubbins international director of Unite the Union and guests; Lloyd Russel-Moyle MP and Manuel Cortes general secretary of the TSSA plus many more TBC including contributions from UK and international trade unions, Kurdish and UK politicians and many other active supporters.