“Palestinian activist’s supporters light up social media,” and next steps!

February 11, 2016

The Rasmea Defense Committee, United States Palestinian Community Network, Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Coalition to Protect People’s Rights, and Arab Resource and Organizing Center thank you for participating in our January 27, 2016, social media day of action in support of #Justice4Rasmea. The campaign was an incredible success, with articles from Telesur, Arab American News, and Russia Today—the latter’s headline reading, “#Justice4Rasmea: Palestinian activist’s supporters light up social media”—declaring the same.

The international day of action on Twitter produced almost 4,500 tweets with the hashtag #Justice4Rasmea in the 24 hour period of Wednesday, January 27, with almost 2 million people reached and 11.3 million potential impressions!

(If our report includes January 28 and the Russia Today tweet, the reach hits 3.6 million; and potential impressions, 15.3 million!)

Towards the end of the night, we sent a direct message to our friend and Brazilian freelance political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who produced this powerful cartoon (below) within minutes.

#BlackLivesMatter organizations across the country participated in the campaign as well, blasting out op-eds in support of Rasmea written by Angela Davis and Marc Lamont Hill, respectively, and helping the hashtag #BlackPalestinianSolidarity garner over a million impressions. #Not1More, representing the movement to stop the deportations of undocumented immigrants in the U.S., garnered an additional three quarters of a million impressions. These are powerful examples of the broad support Rasmea’s case has engendered across the country and world!

And of course #Justice4Rasmea was all over Facebook as well, with postings of many of our memes and other pictures (example on the left).

As we near the decision on Rasmea’s appeal, we are asking for supporters to do three things:

1. Prepare for our Emergency Response Plan.

We DO NOT know when exactly, but are expecting that a decision will be coming down from the appellate court very soon, so prepare your city, organization, and / or campus.

Although we are confident that we will win the appeal and have the conviction overturned, there is a chance—as we reported right before the end of 2015—that the appellate court will uphold the conviction, ruling in favor of the government. If that happens, it is very likely that Rasmea will be ordered to turn herself in to federal prison authorities, while we petition to keep her out on bail.

If this worst-case scenario decision is announced BEFORE 12 NOON, and Rasmea is ordered to prison, we are calling for protests the VERY SAME DAY at 5 PM at federal buildings across the country.

If the decision is announced AFTER 12 NOON, we are calling for protests the NEXT DAY at 5 PM. Allies and supporters across the world will also be participating in the emergency response by protesting at U.S. consulates and embassies everywhere.

New York and Minneapolis have already publicized their readiness, and you should too!

2. Use this meme for your profile picture on all your platforms.

When you post it, link the picture to bit.ly/1TLFjUT, which takes you straight to the Emergency Response Plan page.

3. International Women’s Day is March 8.

Organize events on or around this date, to celebrate an important international holiday, and also to incorporate the theme of #Justice4Rasmea. Already, San Francisco and Chicago have announced events.

Thank you all for your support!

Rasmea Defense Committee