About us

Sumud – The Finnish Palestine Network is part of the global Palestine solidarity movement. We organise, advocate and campaign primarily in Finland for Palestinian human and political rights. We oppose Israel's colonialism, occupation, apartheid and genocide.

Our goal is to end Finland's support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and transform it into support for democracy, decolonisation and human rights. We work intersectionally and oppose all forms of colonialism, racism and discrimination – including antisemitism and Islamophobia – as well as sexism, transphobia, homophobia and ableism. We do not take sides in party politics in any country.

We support the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). We also support the BDS movement’s demands that Israel end its occupation and colonisation of Arab lands, ensure equal rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and implement the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

We do not take a position on the specifics of the political arrangement by which these rights should be realised (whether it be one democratic state, confederation or other arrangement). However, any solution must respect international law, guarantee the rights of all people living in Palestine and those expelled from it, and have the support of Palestinians. We recognise that establishing a Palestinian state limited to Gaza and the West Bank would not fulfil the rights of all Palestinian refugees or the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

We recognise the right of all peoples to armed resistance as laid out in international law, but we do not advocate for nor condemn armed resistance per se. We oppose violence against civilians. We do not support armed resistance or raise funds for it or for any other violent activity under any circumstances. We do not participate in activities that support or finance violence. Our own activities are non-violent.

We consider civil disobedience and other forms of non-violent direct action to be important forms of solidarity. However, Sumud does not participate in activities that violate Finnish law, nor do we fund such activities.

We work with a wide range of organisations and communities in Finland – including Palestinian, queer, peace, arts, music and other groups and individuals. We have active local chapters in cities across Finland. We also work with Palestine solidarity movements in other countries.