On Tuesday May 15 at 7 p.m., join Libby Davies and Ann Wright, as we introduce Canadian Boat to Gaza Freedom Flotilla participants online! (UPDATE: Watch the archived video on rabbleTV)
The Canadian Boat to Gaza campaign is hosting its very first livestream videocast to mark Nakba Day on 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 p.m. EST (now archived on rabbleTV), we are delighted to be joined by peace activist and retired U.S. Colonel Ann Wright, and by former NDP MP 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. She is a longtime supporter of Palestinian human rights.
The 2018 Freedom Flotilla participants from Canada are:
Dr. Majed Khraishi is 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 is 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 is 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 has over 20 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 is 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 at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 15 (now available at this link) 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 p.m. for the start).
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 email us if you have questions about this).Some, especially those who can benefit from a charitable tax receipt in the U.S., may wish to donate through the U.S. 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!
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