Flotilla participant, Hagit Borer wrote a moving Op/Ed in Sunday's LA Times.
Her personal call to participate in the flotilla is to stand up for Israelis
who oppose the current government policies:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-borer-gaza-blockade-201
10626,0,3515948.story
And from Karen Pomer: fyi: two of the founders of the "Free Gaza Movement"
are Mary Hughes-Thompson and Greta Berlin, both of LA...
Ed
***
From: rad-green- On Behalf Of Sid Shniad
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2011 2:58 PM
Fear and no clean clothing: Amira Hass preparing to sail for Gaza
Participants aboard the Canadian ship dubbed the Tahrir are gearing up to
join the upcoming Gaza flotilla.
By Amira Hass<http://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/amira-hass-1.278>
Haaretz, 26.06.11
Social activist Stephan Corriveau warned all of us due to set sail on the
Canadian ship dubbed the Tahrir - one of the boats participating in the
upcoming Gaza flotilla - that we would have no opportunity to bathe during
the three-day journey to Gaza but would have drinking water. There was no
point in bringing a change of clothes, the Montreal-based Corriveau noted,
because there would be nowhere to change, encouraging us to take as little
as possible. In the best case scenario, we will make it to Gaza and can buy
some clothing there, he said.
There are about 50 of us, men and women, due to sail on the Tahrir, whose
name is a reference to the Cairo square where protests earlier this year led
to the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime. Several
hundred other activists, from about 20 countries, and several dozen
journalists are currently preparing to set sail for Gaza.
At several Mediterranean ports, ships await their participants for the
upcoming flotilla. The vessels were acquired in a transatlantic fund-raising
effort which began about a year ago, immediately after the Israeli Navy
killed nine partcipants aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla ship, the Mavi Marmara,
last May. The new flotilla has been organized by a coalition of
organizations, all of which refuse to accept the Israeli argument that the
Gaza Strip is no longer besieged and that if there is a siege, it is only
because of the arms Hamas has been smuggling into the territory. The
activists' participation is designed to apply popular pressure on their own
governments to stop cooperating with the Israeli policy.
Canadian activists raised about $350,000 over the past year for the
operation, setting up an account in the name of a group called Turtle Island
Humanitarian Aid. The Canadian government has announced it does not support
the flotilla, viewing it as a provocation against Israel. Other governments
have had a similar reaction to the effort in response to the participation
of their nationals. Only the Irish government has called on Israel to
refrain from violence in response to the flotilla.
Last Thursday, the Greek port authority announced it had received a claim
contending that the the American boat, whose delegates are mostly from the
U.S. but some are Israelis, was not seaworthy and the ship's departure would
be delayed until the claim was investigated. Flotilla organizers say they
believe the claim to be politically motivated. Their lawyer is currently
negotiating with authorities over the issue but the plan is to set sail with
the rest of the flotilla.
Although the Tahrir has been generally referred to as Canadian, it was
purchased for about $500,000 with contributions that also came from
Australia, Denmark and Belgium; nationals of all of these countries will be
on board when it joins the flotilla. The donations came primarily from
individuals and non-governmental organizations, said David Heap, a Canadian
professor of linguistics and French who has a history of activism against
apartheid in South Africa and on behalf of native peoples in North America.
Heap said he was not surprised by the Canadian government's opposition to
the flotilla, and claimed Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had been a
founder of a think tank that supported South Africa during the apartheid
regime and that opposed sanctions against the regime and the release of
anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.
In advance of the departure of our ship, we - the participants - sat in a
Greek hotel, getting to know one another and rehearsing the prospect that
the Israeli Navy would take control of the ships in the flotilla. In
simulation drills over several hours, about 50 civilians - ranging in age
from 20 to 69 - attempted to imagine themselves facing Israeli warships and
M16 rifles with fighter helicopters hovering overhead, along with water
cannon, tear gas and Taser stun guns. The participants also imagined verbal
abuse along with physical blows, dogs, and masked commandos.
The activists concluded from the exercise that they should acknowledge their
fears and learn as a group of people, mutually responsible for one anther,
how to confront their fears.
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