19-03-2025
Canadian Activist Charlotte Kates of Canada-Designated Terrorist Entity Samidoun: As the 'Martyr' Muhammad Deif Said, October 7 Changed the World; Now, Activists in the West Must Build and Escalate the International Cradle of Resistance
In a February 9, 2025 Sunday Morning Marxist Forum video call, Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of Samidoun, which is recognized by the U.S. and Canada as a terrorist entity, quoted Hamas military leader Muhammad Deif in an Al-Jazeera documentary, who had said that October 7 would 'change the world.' She said that the hostage release deal, which she referred to as a 'prisoner exchange,' and Tufan Al-Ahrar [the Flood of the Free], has demonstrated the 'ethics of the resistance' and its military strength and increased its ranks. Kates, an American citizen, said that there is a reason why PFLP founder George Habash had referred to the United States as the 'head of the snake.' She said that in a 'post Al-Aqsa Flood era of anti-imperialism,' activists in the 'imperial core' have the responsibility to do whatever they can to build and escalate the 'international popular cradle of the resistance' and not simply call for a ceasefire. She discussed the 1985 Jibril Agreement where the PFLP brokered a prisoner exchange deal with Israel, and she stated that the released prisoners from the deal were central to the breakout of the Intifada. Therefore, the hostage deal in which Palestinian prisoners were released should be seen as 'times of great potential for the Palestinian struggle.'
The Sunday Morning Marxist Forum was hosted by the Oakland, California Institute for the Critical Social Studies, and it was moderated by Allan Miller, a statistics and data science instructor at UC Berkeley Extension. Kates was arrested in April 2024 on charges of hate speech following her remarks at a Vancouver rally glorifying the October 7 attacks and Palestinian terrorist organizations. On November 15, 2024, her home was raided by Vancouver police in connection with these charges. During the video call, in portions not included in the clip, Kates discusses her husband Khaled Barakat's designation as a U.S. Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Barakat is the founder of Samidoun and a leader with Masar Badil, an organization closely linked with Samidoun; he has been identified by the United States as a leader with the U.S.-designated terrorist organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Barakat, a Canadian citizen, has been in Beirut, Lebanon, for the past several months since his designation as a terrorist by Canada. In the call, Kates mentioned that she is talking from Beirut, where she traveled to attend Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah's funeral. As of March 8, 2025, Charlotte Kates was still in Beirut.
