The Communist Party Marxist Kenya expresses its unwavering solidarity with comrades Lidia and Diego of the Supernova editorial collective in France, who are facing political persecution for their principled defence of the Palestinian national liberation struggle and their steadfast commitment to Marxism Leninism.
The raid on their home in the early hours of 16 June, the seizure of books, computers, political literature and trade union materials, the search of the Ghassan Kanafani Social Center, and the prolonged ideological interrogation to which they were subjected reveal a deeply disturbing reality. These actions were not directed against criminal activity. They were directed against political conviction. They were directed against revolutionary ideas. They were directed against international solidarity with an oppressed people resisting colonial occupation.
The fact that investigators devoted hours to questioning comrades about their political beliefs, their writings, their publications, and their commitment to Marxism Leninism demonstrates that this case is fundamentally political. It is an attack on freedom of political organisation, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the right of the working class to organise independently of the bourgeois state.
The search of the Ghassan Kanafani Social Center further exposes the broader objective of intimidating organisations that serve workers, the unemployed, and the oppressed. A centre that hosts trade union activities, political education, and community organising was treated as though it were a criminal enterprise. This represents an attack not only upon two comrades but upon the democratic rights of the organised working class itself.
The Communist Party Marxist Kenya recalls the important role played by the Supernova editorial collective during the Pan Africanism Summit Against Imperialism held in Nairobi. Supernova contributed significantly to strengthening ideological exchange between revolutionary organisations and exposing the continuing crimes of French imperialism on the African continent. Their work reflected the highest traditions of proletarian internationalism by helping unite revolutionary forces across continents against imperialism, colonialism, and exploitation.
During the Summit, delegates and progressive organisations denounced the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Nairobi as part of France’s continuing effort to preserve its political, military, and economic influence in Africa despite the growing resistance of African peoples. At the same time, French anti imperialist comrades participating in demonstrations against French imperialism in Nairobi were arrested by the Kenyan authorities. Those arrests exposed the close collaboration between imperialist powers and comprador regimes in suppressing internationalist solidarity and revolutionary organisation.
The persecution of comrades Lidia and Diego must therefore be understood within this wider political context. Yesterday, French revolutionaries opposing imperialism were detained in Kenya. Today, revolutionary activists in France are prosecuted for defending the Palestinian resistance. The target is not simply individuals. The target is the growing international anti imperialist movement.
Across Europe, expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people have increasingly been subjected to restrictions, investigations, and criminal proceedings in various jurisdictions. Activists, trade unionists, students, journalists, and political organisations have faced growing pressure over their advocacy for Palestinian rights. While the legal circumstances differ from country to country, the cumulative effect has been to narrow democratic space for anti imperialist political expression and solidarity with Palestine.
The Palestinian people possess the internationally recognised right to resist occupation, colonial domination, and apartheid under international law. Defending that right, expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people, or publishing political arguments in support of their liberation must never be criminalised. To equate solidarity with terrorism is to invert justice by protecting the violence of occupation while condemning the resistance of the occupied.
Whenever imperialism enters a period of deepening crisis, it increasingly abandons the democratic principles it claims to uphold. The criminalisation of communist ideas, attacks upon trade unions, surveillance of political activists, censorship of revolutionary publications, and prosecution of defenders of Palestine reveal the contradictions of bourgeois democracy under imperialism. When exploitation is challenged, repression follows. When solidarity grows, intimidation intensifies. When the people organise, the ruling classes resort to coercion.
History demonstrates, however, that repression has never defeated the struggle for liberation. From the anti colonial movements of Africa, Asia, and Latin America to the resistance movements of Palestine, the forces of imperialism have repeatedly attempted to silence revolutionary voices, yet each generation has produced new militants prepared to continue the struggle.
The Communist Party Marxist Kenya calls upon communist and workers parties, trade unions, anti imperialist organisations, youth movements, progressive intellectuals, and defenders of democratic rights throughout the world to raise their voices in defence of comrades Lidia and Diego and the Supernova editorial collective.
We demand the immediate withdrawal of all politically motivated charges.
We demand the unconditional return of all confiscated books, computers, and political materials.
We demand an end to the criminalisation of solidarity with Palestine.
We demand an end to the persecution of communists, trade unionists, and anti imperialist organisations.
An injury to one is an injury to all.
Long live proletarian internationalism.
Long live international solidarity.
Victory to the Palestinian resistance.
Communist Party Marxist Kenya
Central Organising Committee