Free Gaza! Support the Freedom Flotilla II

laine lowe wrote:

It's no wonder Bill Siksay retired. I wonder how long before Alex Atamenenko quits? It seems he was demoted in this latest shadow cabinet shuffle.

It could just be a simple matter that Atamanenko is in his 60s, BC is a long way from Ottawa, and he will be eligible for his MP pension in 2015.

Absolutely not, laine. The fact is that BC is a very difficult province to represent as an MP due to the distance from Ottawa, especially a rural riding like the Interior. Some people commented on Atamanenko's departure from the Agriculture protfolio. Was he demoted? Perhaps, and given the sense of alienation in BC, I think there should be more representation in the shadow cabinet. But maybe Alex himself wanted out of that portfolio for the reasons I listed, or maybe he wanted out for reasons we don't know about.

I think we can both agree that Atamanenko seems to do a good job speaking for his community and that his voice on agricultural issues will be missed.

Here is a link to what Libby used to believe.  I wonder what changed in the last two years.

Has Israel's brutal occupation lessened?

http://gazafreedommarch.org/cms/en/Endorsers.aspx

(please distribute widely)

A few short weeks to go, please continue to support CBG

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Thanks to all of you, in a few short weeks, the Tahrir will be sailing with Freedom Flotilla II - Stay Human. Thirty delegates from across the country are preparing themselves for a difficult but necessary voyage and we are continuing to work with our international partners to organize and coordinate every aspect of the project. We are also assembling a dedicated group of volunteers across the country who will remain in Canada, supporting the launch of the flotilla, tracking and communicating with the Tahrir once it sets sail and handling media and public actions regionally and nationally.

Some of you (like us) may have heard via media reports that we are the subject of a lawsuit. We wish to inform you that we have not been served notice and that our plans are and will be progressing normally and legally towards our goal of reaching Gaza.

To date, we have raised around $340,000 through generous donations made by you and others like you. Despite recent media claims, we reaffirm that all money raised was donated by Canadian individuals and communities across the country, no government support and no tax benefits either. This is the sign of a true civil society initiative that every contributor believes in, beyond any doubt. Other than the boat, which is the major expense, there are many large costs associated with a project of this magnitude and sensitivity, such as communications equipment (which needed to be of much higher grade than originally planned to accommodate media needs and operate as efficiently as possible, in the face of Israeli interference), fuel, repairs, safety equipment, etc.

We would also like remind you that we bought a bigger boat than was originally planned, allowing more Canadians to participate and more humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza. With this we still need another $50,000 to fulfill the project's needs. We are asking you to continue contributing to the Canadian Boat to Gaza so the Tahrir and its passengers can sail with all the necessary equipment and security devices needed for this difficult trip. We count on your backing in this final push towards our common goal.

The people of Gaza are waiting for us. If you can dig into your pockets one more time, please do. If you haven't yet, now is the time. In any case, please ask your family, friends and co-workers to donate as well. Donations can be made online at our website at www.tahrir.ca. Together we will make it.

The Canadian Boat To Gaza

a bit late to lessen suffering brought by the blocade of Gaza:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/world/middleeast/26gaza.html?scp=2&sq=gaza&st=cse

at this point, mostly back-patting by the middle-class Western left

The recent changes stem from a combination of Israeli policy shifts and the chaos in Egypt. The new Egyptian border policy has made little difference, but Egypt's revolution and its reduced policing in the Sinai have had a profound effect.

For the past year, Israel has allowed most everything into Gaza but cement, steel and other construction material - other than for internationally supervised projects - because they are worried that such supplies can be used by Hamas for bunkers and bombs. A number of international projects are proceeding, but there is an urgent need for housing, street paving, schools, factories and public works projects, all under Hamas or the private sector, and Israel's policy bans access to the goods to move those forward.

So in recent months, tunnels under the southern border that were used to bring in consumer goods have become almost fully devoted to smuggling in building materials.

Sacks of cement and piles of gravel, Turkish in origin and bought legally in Egypt, are smuggled through the hundreds of tunnels in double shifts, day and night, totaling some 3,000 tons a day. Since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian security authorities no longer stop the smugglers. Streets are being paved and buildings constructed.

"Mubarak was crushing us before," said Mahmoud Mohammad, a subcontractor whose 10-man crew in Gaza City was unloading steel bars that were carried through the tunnels and were destined for a new restaurant. "Last year we were sitting at home. The contractor I work for has three major projects going."

CBC just reported there may be an Arab boat joining the flotilla in two days, making Israel very nervous.

ETA: there should be diplomats and observers from the Arab countries on every one of these boats.

Survey says "Yes".

That stupid...AND that AIPAC-whipped.

What material aid is the Freedom Flotilla taking to Gaza? The Canadian Boat to Gaza people have said they will be taking urgently needed medical supplies.

But it appears some of the other boats won't be taking any aid at all:

Quote:

Activists aboard the American-flagged ship, The Audacity of Hope, including the author Alice Walker, sent a letter to President Barack Obama in mid-June saying that there would be “no weapons of any sort on board,” nor “goods of any kind for delivery in Gaza.”  - [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/world/middleeast/28israel.html]NYT[/ur...

I'm not sure I like this approach. I think it's a far better tactic, from a defence point of view, to be delivering humanitarian aid than to just be defying the blockade for the sake of publicity.

And even if they manage to reach Gaza, the American-flagged ship will have nothing but good wishes to offer to Gaza, which will be essentially a victory for the Israeli blockade against goods and aid.

ETA: The flotilla as a whole will carry [url=http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/canadianboattogaza/2011/06/despite-press... 3,000 tonnes of aid[/url]. I guess it's just the Yanks who are going in an empty boat, [b]abiding by the blockade's restrictions even as they protest them![/b]    

I've written a strong letter of condemnation to the Embassy of Greece in Canada and encourage others to do the same. It can't hurt. The Ambassador is Eleftherios Anghelopoulos and the email address:

[email protected]

I imagine they are particularly sensitive to economic punishment at the moment. I've spent a few thousand in that wonderful country in the last few years and i let the ambassador know I would be boycotting them henceforth. No holidays, no purchases of Greek goods. Fuck'em.

[url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ic5AsxPHbnNPF-UIoMppuE... flotilla: We still plan to breach blockade[/url]

Quote:

Activist Dimitris Plionis said there would be "some action" at the beginning of the week, but he did not specify what the pro-Palestinian activists were planning to do, presumably because Greek authorities might try to thwart their efforts.

"The ban is there and we have already said that we are still considering to sail," Plionis said. "This story is not finished."

 

Without elaborating, he noted that "ships are free to go to other locations" besides Gaza.

Good article from the G&M (surprise! surprise!):

Canadian activist slams Greece for turning back Gaza-bound vessel

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/africa-mideast/canadian-activist...

excerpt:

“Greece has no right to hold us here,” David Heap, one of the Canada Boat to Gaza organizers, said in a telephone interview from the ship, a one-time Greek island ferry. “We wanted to at least show the world the Greeks are helping Israel enforce an illegal blockade of Gaza.”

I never read comments in MSM articles - too much hate.

The Current (CBC radio) this morning had an appalling interview with a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry.  The interviewer lobbed softballs for questions and even loaded more than half his questions with pro-Israel subtext.   A spokeswoman for an Israeli human rights group was given 5 minutes and acquitted herself well, by bringing the discussion back to the illegality of the blockade and to the trap of talking about bringing humanitarian aid rather than about drawing attention to the economic warfare against Gazans and to the punitive nature of the blockade as a reprisal for the electoral victory of Hamas.

The Israeli government spokesperson lied and equivocated for 20 minutes, e.g., stating that most nations support or at least accept the blockade as legal and reiterated the chestnut about Hamas being a terrorist organization. The  interviewer did not ask what pressure the US and Israel had brought to bear on allies, both to have Hamas listed as a terrorist group and to condone the blockade.  

The spokesman  lied outright by stating that the UN admits there is no humanitarian crisis because Israel allows the entry of necessary goods -- when the UN has in no uncertain terms called it a humanitarian crisis and also condemned Israel for the blockade, for the collective punishment of the population of Gaza, and for the attacks on vessels in international waters. 

If Greece is going to extend the Gaza blockade to its own shores, perhaps we should be extending the BDS campaign to Greece?

Caissa wrote:

He identifies the Canadians arrested as Sandra Ruch and Soha Kneen, and the Australian as Michael Coleman.

Soha and Michael are now free. Sandra is free on bail, with a court appearance tomorrow.

From 2010: 

excerpt:

As he wrapped up his two-day trip to Greece, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- the highest ranking Israeli to visit the country -- said the two nations were "opening a new chapter."

He told reporters that he and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou had discussed military cooperation. An official in Netanyahu's entourage told Reuters these discussions "explored establishing greater cooperation between both countries' military industries and armies."

A Greek official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed they "talked about new forms of cooperation on defense and security issues" including the expansion of joint military exercises and sharing technological knowledge.

excerpt:

Netanyahu is the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit Greece, which only forged full diplomatic ties with the Jewish state in 1990, later than other European countries. Israel and Greece signed a defense cooperation agreement in 1994.

Why on earth did the Flotilla choose Greece as an embarkation point? That's what I don't get.

So Coleman and Kneen were in kayaks when they were arrested!

We already knew about the Layton meeting with the Israeli ambassador a month ago, as reported upthread:

Layton wrote:

Earlier this week, I met with the Israeli Ambassador and urged the government of Israel to lift the blockade of Gaza. I also indicated that it was not New Democrat policy to support the flotilla but [b]reiterated New Democrats’ concern for the safety of protesters and urged that the utmost caution be used.[/b] [emphasis added]

Layton and Dewar must be happy that their "socialist" pals in Greece made sure no harm would come to the Canadians at the hands of Israelis. Maybe they should talk to the Greek ambassador as well.

Wait... maybe they did!

A Pipeline of Injustice: Greek consular official admits that natural gas pipeline drives complicity in Gaza siege

by Charlotte Kates July 5, 2011

It has been widely reported and speculated that the reason for Greece's participation in the suppression of Freedom Flotilla Two may be found in its own economic situation - that the government of Prime Minister George Papandreou, pushing a devastating IMF/EU austerity plan on the Greek people against their will, is so desperate for international financial and economic support that it is willing to serve as the enforcement arm for Israel's illegal siege on Gaza.

Yesterday, in Vancouver, Canada, a Greek consular official, Georgios Ayfantis, confirmed that this is indeed the case.

In a conversation with a delegation of activists supporting the Tahrir, the Canadian Boat to Gaza, who entered the consulate demanding a meeting about the Freedom Flotilla, Ayfantis asserted that Greece's economic interests were at stake in stopping the Flotilla, saying that an undersea natural gas pipeline and a natural gas liquidizing plant in Crete were at stake.....

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/07/a-pipeline-of-injustice-greek-consular-off...

Are there any chia pets on the boat? If not, maybe that is the problem?

He certainly is "vacuous".  Should we thank him for the truth-in-advertising?