International pressure in support of jailed Russian sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky is growing just days out from his June 5 appeal against a five-year prison term, while a global #FreeBoris social media blitz has been set for June 1.
The global petition initiated by the Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Campaign today surpassed 17,500 signatures across the more than 20 languages it has been published in.
In the last few days, we have also had Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Jeremy Corbyn and Yanis Varoufakis recommit to the campaign as well as the following politicians, unionists and academics express their support for the call to free Kagarlitsky:
- Yolanda Diaz, Second Vice-president and Minister of Labour, Spain
- Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, Spain
- Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, Spain
- Mick Wallace, Member of the European Parliament (2019-24) for Independents for Change, Ireland
- Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament (2019-24) for Independents for Change, Ireland
- Matilda Panot, Leader of the parliamentary fraction of France Unbowed
- Sophie Chikirou, Deputy for France Unbowed and the New Ecological and Social People’s Union, National Assembly of the French Republic
- Arnaud Le Gall, Deputy for France Unbowed and the New Ecological and Social People’s Union, National Assembly of the French Republic
- Jérôme Legavre, Deputy for France Unbowed and the New Ecological and Social People’s Union, National Assembly of the French Republic
- Brid Smith, Member of the Irish Parliament (Teachta Dála)
- Richard Boyd Barrett Member of the Irish Parliament (Teachta Dála)
- Gino Kenny, Member of the Irish Parliament (Teachta Dála)
- Gerry Carroll, Member of the Legislative Assembly, Northern Ireland
- Alan Minsky, Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America
- Zwelinzima Vavi, General Secretary, South African Federation of Trade Unions
- Mametlwe Sebei, President, General Industrial Workers Union of South Africa
- Clifton D'Rozario, National Secretary, All India Central Council of Trade Unions
- Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States
- Lau Kin Chi, Global University for Sustainability; Adjunct Associate Professor, Cultural Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
- Sit Tsui, Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives; Associate professor, The Institute of Rural Reconstruction of China, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Lena Lavinas, professor of economics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
- Ana Saggioro Garcia, Associate Professor, International Relations, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Research Associate, BRICS Policy Center
- Achin Vanaik, former Head of Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi
- Prabhat Patnaik, former Vice-Chairman, Kerala State Planning Board
- C.P. Chandrasekar, emeritus professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
To keep the momentum going, an international day of action on social media will take place on June 1, calling for the release of the anti-war activist and socialist intellectual.
The Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Campaign is asking everyone to help get #FreeBoris trending that day across the various social media platforms
With your help, we can get #FreeBoris trending and keep building support for Kagarlitsky and all Russian anti-war political prisoners!