Posted: 02 Dec 2009 07:56 AM PST
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On December 31, 2009, up to one-thousand citizens from across the world will gather in Gaza to march from the neighborhood of Iazbat Abu Drabo, a community in which nearly every building was completely destroyed during Israel's attack on Gaza one year ago, to the Erez border crossing into Israel. The international marchers will be joined by an estimated 50,000 Palestinians from Gaza. At the same time, Israeli and Palestinian activists will be marching through Israel, also toward the Erez crossing. Upon reaching the border, participants on both sides will release balloons, fly kites and wave flags to demonstrate their solidarity with one another. They will do so to "show the residents of Gaza that the international community of citizens has not forgotten them" and to "call worldwide attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis." Through the march and other activities, organizers "hope to force the leaders of our governments to tell Israel 'enough is enough; open the borders!'" This innovative and powerful expression of nonviolent resistance to the blockade of Gaza is known as the Gaza Freedom March.
According to Madea Benjamin, an organizer of the Gaza Freedom March and co-founder of CodePink, "The response to this march has been incredible. We put out a call, and people all over the world responded. We now have over 1,000 people coming from 42 countries—from Austria to Yemen. We have students and seniors, judges and doctors, businesspeople and union reps. We have imams, rabbis and priests. And inside Gaza, this march has helped galvanize civil society. We are grateful that on the one year anniversary of the Israeli invasion, we will be in Gaza to show the people that we have not forgotten them—that we will continue to struggle with them, until they achieve their basic rights."
The Gaza Freedom March has been endorsed by such notables as author Alice Walker, film director Oliver Stone, Dr. Patch Adams and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. Walker and Adams have themselves visited the Gaza Strip in the last year. In her blog, Walker explained her motivation for going to Gaza: "[In the days following the assault,] I waited to hear some word of regret, of grief, of compassion, from our leaders in Washington, who had sent the money, the earnings of American taxpayers, to buy the bombs destroying [their] world. What little concern voiced from our 'leaders' was faint, arrived late, was delivered without much feeling, and was soon overshadowed by an indifference to the value of Palestinian life that has corrupted our children's sense of right and wrong for generations."
Participants in the Gaza Freedom March are adding their voices to those who have gone before. Attorney Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, said, "For too long, and I do not exempt myself, most of us have stood silently by or made only marginal protests about the massive violations of Palestinian rights carried out by Israel." Mike Hearington, a member of Veterans for Peace from Georgia, told March organizers, "By my presence I hope to demonstrate to the people of Gaza my concern and compassion for their plight. As a U.S. citizen, I'm appalled that we provide the military support to Israel that results in such death and destruction in Palestine. As a Veterans for Peace member, I have the responsibility to serve the cause of world peace."
But Gael Murphy, a longtime activist with CodePink and a member of the Gaza Freedom March Policy Committee, explains that the march is more than a singular act of solidarity. She told AAPER, "Organizing for the march has helped to raise the visibility of the unjust situation in Gaza. In promoting the march we've created new opportunities for education and activism. Recruitment for the march has brought in new activists and deeper commitment to the Palestinian cause. Americans marching with Palestinians in Gaza on December 31 can only expand our possibilities for achieving greater wisdom and fairness in U.S. policy, including demanding greater accountability from Israel. People to people delegations like this serve to energize the struggle, moving us that much closer to ending the blockade."
*Organizations and individuals around the world are planning solidarity actions and events in their towns throughout the week of December 27th, as communities commemorate the one year anniversary of the assault on Gaza. To find or organize an event in your area, please visit http://www.gazafreedommarch.org.
Posted in Gaza, Human rights, Israel, NEWS & POLITICS, Palestine, War Crimes Tagged: Gaza Freedom March, Israel, Israeli attack on Gaza, Israeli Blockade, Palestinians![]()
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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited.blogspot.com/
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