On Tuesday May 15 at 7 pm, join Libby Davies and Ann Wright, as we introduce CBG Freedom Flotilla participants online!

The Canadian Boat to Gaza campaign is hosting its very first livestream videocast to mark Nakba Day (May 15), the commemoration of The Catastrophe, as the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine is called in Arabic. For this online event starting at 7 pm EDT (LIVE UPDATE, now archived on RabbleTV :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOfgeSLcs5E ), we are delighted to be joined by peace activist and retired U.S. Colonel Ann Wright, as well as by former NDP MP and longtime supporter of Palestinian hurman rights, Libby Davies. With Ann and Libby, we will be discussing recent events in Gaza and the current Freedom Flotilla mission to challenge and break the illegal blockade of Gaza. We are also introducing some of the participants from Canada who will be getting on board the Freedom Flotilla mission this year, sailing for the Right to a Just future for Palestine.

A retired U.S. Army Colonel and career diplomat Ann Wright resigned her State Department post in protest of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and has devoted herself to grassroots peace initiatives ever since. She has been part in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition since the beginning, including being leader on the Women’s Boat to Gaza in 2016 and she is also active in advocating for Rohingya refugees and in the women-led movement for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Former NDP Member of Parliament and former Vancouver City Councillor Libby Davies visited Gaza in 2009 as part of a Canadian parliamentary delegation, and she is a long-time supporter of Palestinian human rights.

The 2018 Freedom Flotilla participants from Canada are:

Dr. Majed Khraishi, a professor of medicine and practicing medical specialist based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, who was born in the town of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank and was forced out of Palestine, along with his family, in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War.

Kathy Wazana, a filmmaker, a grandmother, and a student at York University in Toronto. Born in Casablanca, she came to Canada with her family as part of the mass migration that virtually emptied Morocco of its Jewish population.

Ron Rousseau, a postal worker, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Whitehorse local, Indigenous Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress, father and grandfather, who lives in the Traditional Territory of the Carcross Tagish First Nation in Yukon.

Heather Milton-Lightening, who has over twenty years of organizing experience from local to international campaigns. She originates from the great plains region of Turtle Island, (North America) and Treaty 4 Territory. She is Nehiyaw, (Cree), Anishinaabe (Saulteaux), Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Lakota/Dakota and Welsh. Heather is a founder of Native Youth Movement and Aboriginal Youth with Initiative, Inc., an organization based on the Anishinaabe clan system.

Larry Commodore from Soowahlie, Ts'elxweyeqw Tribe, Sto:lo Nation, also known as Cultus Lake, British Columbia, Canada. Born and bred in his ancestral homeland, he's been a strong advocate for his people, their land and their rights. His solidarity with Palestinians has grown over the years as he has come to understand the common struggle against Settler-Colonial regimes.

During our livestream discussion, we hope to hear from each participant, and we will be taking questions and comments from the online audience, as well as recorded messages from some well-known Flotilla supporters. Join us by going to RabbleTV ( http://youtube.com/user/rabbletv/live) at 7 pm EDT on Tuesday May 15 (UPDATE: now available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOfgeSLcs5E)  to learn how you too can "get on board" the Freedom Flotilla as a “passenger on land” (if you arrive early, you should reload your page at 7 pm for the start).

We sail again in 2018 to stand with the Palestinians of Gaza, as they demand their freedom of movement and their right to a just future in their land. But we can only do it with your generous support. Our campaign needs your support in our to pay our share of the boat that the Freedom Flotilla is sailing against the blockade of Gaza and for a the Right to a Just Future for Palestine. Make out cheques or money orders to Turtle Island Humanitarian Aid and send them to:

Canadian Boat to Gaza
PO Box 1950, London Stn. B
London, Ontario N6A 5J4
CANADA

(Note: like many of our sister organizations, we would prefer to move away from dependence on PayPal for online donations. At this point, we are pleased to accept e-Interac transfers from Canadian bank accounts, and we hope to announce other electronic payment methods soon. Please e-mail us if you have questions about this). Some donors, especially those who can benefit from a charitable tax receipt in the US, may wish to donate through the US Boat to Gaza page, here.

In other parts of the world, please consider donating through one our other partner campaigns in the Freedom Flotilla.

Whether you can donate financially or not, please help us spread the word about our campaign:

share our messages with your family, friends and/or work colleagues and encourage them to join our mailing list;
send an endorsement message from your association, union, congregation or political party;
organize and attend events to raise funds and awareness for our campaign;
join a Freedom Flotilla campaign near you and encourage others to do so;
follow us on the web, Facebook, Twitter (see below), and (new!) Instagram, and share our posts widely.
Twitter: @CanadaBoatGaza @GazaFFlotilla

www.facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza
www.facebook.com/BateauCanadienGaza
www.facebook.com/FreedomFlotillaCoalition

Together, we can help end the blockade!

—
Canadian Boat to Gaza: www.canadaboatgaza.org email: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com

Bateau canadien pour GAZA: www.canadaboatgaza.org courriel: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com

Dear supporters,

The Freedom Flotilla boat Al Awda (The Return) left the Norwegian port of Bergen on Monday April 30, with hundreds of well-wishers on the dock to bid her farewell. This marks the beginning of her 75 day voyage to Gaza, to challenge and break the illegal Israeli blockade.

Since then she has been part of May Day celebrations with Norway’s largest trade union (Fagforbundet) and visited the port of Kristiansand in southern Norway. On Thursday she was in Oslo for a big celebration with our friends from Ship to Gaza Norway and other civil society supporters. She will join other boats sailing to Gaza from Sweden in the coming days. Canadians and other international supporters will join Al Awda along her route, but we need your support to help make that happen. We will be introducing some of our Canadian participants in a livestream videocast on Tuesday May 15 (7 pm EDST) along with special guests retired US Colonel Ann Wright and former NDP Member of Parliament (and now Member of the Order of Canada) Libby Davies. Please spread the word and tune in Tuesday to :  https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbletv/live and watch this space for more details!

 

Al Awda still needs some renovation work for this voyage, and we are committed to paying part of those costs, as well as part of the costs of acquiring of this hard-working former fishing boat. Our Canadian Boat to Gaza share of the international Freedom Flotilla budget this year is $30 000. Donors like you have helped us raise amounts much larger than that in the past. Will you help us fund our contribution now?

 

You can donate by e-transfer (Interac, from Canada accounts only), mailing cheques or money orders, or online, see : https://canadaboatgaza.org/donate/

 

Israel has maintained an illegal, inhumane and destructive blockade on Gaza for over a decade. The United Nations now says that Gaza will become uninhabitable by the year 2020 because of the Israeli blockade. In response to the brutal Israeli blockade, for seven years the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has carried out non-violent direct actions aimed at raising international awareness and putting pressure on the international community to end the blockade.

 

We sail this year for the right to a just future for Palestine. Children and minors, who make up more than half of the Gaza population of over 2 million, are victims of the ongoing blockade, which has robbed them of their childhood; their rights to safety, education, and health; and their prospects for a decent future. We will continue to put pressure on our governments and protest their complicity with Israel's crimes against humanity.  We sail again to stand with the Palestinians of Gaza, as they demand their freedom of movement and their right to a just future in their land. But we can only do it with your generous support. Our campaign needs your support in our to pay our share of the boat that the Freedom Flotilla is sailing against the blockade of Gaza and for a the Right to a Just Future for Palestine. Make out cheques or money orders to Turtle Island Humanitarian Aid and send them to:

 

Canadian Boat to Gaza

PO Box 1950, London Stn. B

London, Ontario N6A 5J4

CANADA

 

(Note: like many of our sister organizations, we would prefer to move away from dependence on PayPal for online donations. At this point, we are pleased to accept e-Interac transfers from Canadian bank accounts, and we hope to announce other electronic payment methods soon. Please e-mail us if you have questions about this).Some (especially those who can benefit from a charitable tax receipt in the US) may wish to donate through the US Boat to Gaza page:

 

https://2018boatstogaza-nonviolenceinternational.nationbuilder.com/contribute In other parts of the world, please consider donating through one our other partner campaigns in the Freedom Flotilla:  https://jfp.freedomflotilla.org/donate

 

Whether you can donate financially or not, please help us spread the word about our campaign:

• share our messages with your family, friends and/or work colleagues and encourage them to join our mailing list; 
• send an endorsement message from your association, union, congregation or political party;
• organize and attend events to raise funds and awareness for our campaign;
• join a Freedom Flotilla campaign near you and encourage others to do so;
• follow us on the web, Facebook, Twitter (see below), and (new!) Instagram, and share our posts widely.

 

Twitter: @CanadaBoatGaza @GazaFFlotilla

 

www.facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza        
www.facebook.com/BateauCanadienGaza 
www.facebook.com/FreedomFlotillaCoalition  

 

Together, we can help end the blockade!

Share this post: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/gaza-solidarity-blog/2018/05/freedom-flotilla-boats-are-sailing-help-us-be-part

— 

Canadian Boat to Gaza: www.canadaboatgaza.org email: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com

Bateau canadien pour GAZA: www.canadaboatgaza.org courriel: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com

Right to a  Just Future for Palestine

Follow the mission here.

Children and minors, who make up more than half of the Gaza population of over 2 million, are victims of the ongoing blockade, which has robbed them of their childhood; their rights to safety, education, and health; and their prospects for a decent future.

2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (the Disaster or the Catastrophe) – the forced displacement of the native Palestinian population from what became Israel. The blockade of Gaza and the unlivable conditions suffered by women, children and men is not a natural catastrophe: it must be understood in its political context. The international community is responsible for the refugee situation (see unfulfilled UN Security Council Resolution 194 of 1948); for half a century of military occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem; and for the gross violations of individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people, perpetrated by the State of Israel.

So this year we sail again to challenge the blockade and claim an end to our governments’  complicity with Israel’s war crimes and violation of human rights. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship this year is named Al Awda (The Return) to underline the importance of this long-standing demand of Palestinians for the right to return to the lands they have been expelled from.

The worsening situation in Gaza
Israel has maintained an inhumane and destructive blockade of Gaza for over a decade. In 2015 the United Nations predicted that Gaza will become uninhabitable by the year 2020 because of the Israeli blockade.

Since then the situation has only deteriorated. Since March 30 2018, when Palestinians in Gaza began the Great Return March, the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report that medical facilities in Gaza, which are already overstrained by the longstanding shortages of medical supplies, electricity and fuel, are struggling to cope with the overwhelming number of casualties and that over 20,000 people are still displaced from the 2014 hostilities. 
Another UN bulletin highlights the situation of the fishery sector in Gaza and related concerns. In a context of high unemployment and food insecurity, the fishing sector is one of the few remaining sources of employment in Gaza, and an important source of protein and other nutrients.

In our Solidarity with Gaza Fishers project beginning in 2017, we focused on showcasing the constant attacks on fishers and on creating links between international fishing communities and fishers in Gaza.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition

The international Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) is a grassroots people-to-people solidarity movement composed of campaigns and initiatives from all over the world working together to end the siege of Gaza. In Just Future for Palestine our partners are: Canadian Boat to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla Italia, MyCARE Malaysia, Kia Ora Gaza [New Zealand / Aotearoa], Ship to Gaza Norway, IHH [Turkey], Palestine Solidarity Alliance [South Africa], Rumbo a Gaza [Spain], Ship to Gaza Sweden, US Boat to Gaza, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza and Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia and “National Collective for Palestine” and “Platform of NGOs for Palestine” [France]. Learn more about the Freedom Flotilla Coalitionhere, follow us on Facebook, on Twitter and on Instagram. Many of your questions about this year’s mission may be answered here.

Our partners in Gaza include:

Union of Agricultural Work Committees,which represents Palestinian fishers and farmers

We are Not Numbers.
young Palestinian journalists who tell stories that bring us closer to the reality of life in Gaza