Power of Women Protest Movements

September 10th, 2010 • Awareness, News
Tags: aid, blockade, boat, flotilla, gaza, humanitarian, lebanon, Miriam, peace, protest, ship, siege, women

In a piece on female protest movements, BBC Radio 4′s ‘Point of View’ mentions the all-woman humanitarian aid ship, the Mariam, heading for Gaza:

True equality will only have been achieved when women are punished as harshly as men for their misdemeanours, says Lisa Jardine in her Point of View column.

(Partial Transcript)

A ship carrying humanitarian aid, “manned” entirely by women, is ready to leave Lebanon on the first leg of its journey to Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade. Named the Mariam (the Aramaic version of Mary), it has a multi-faith international passenger list, including doctors, lawyers and a group of American nuns.

History is full of unexpected precedents where human behaviour is concerned. Although the Mariam initiative has been dubbed by some a publicity stunt, the historian of 16th and 17th-Century Europe encounters groups of ordinary working women acting in a disorderly manner surprisingly often.

[..]

As for their contemporary counterpart – the women sailing on the Mariam – I have little doubt that their intention is to show the world that their attempt to help the beleaguered residents of Gaza is solely humanitarian.

They presumably anticipate a less hostile response from the crews of the Israeli ships sent to intercept them en route than that meted out to their male counterparts. Perhaps we should consider whether we might only have arrived at real equality when women are no longer accorded their traditional licence occasionally to misbehave with impunity.

Read the full transcript at the BBC website… (including a number of comments from listeners/readers)

Libyan ship ‘will continue to Gaza’

July 12th, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
Tags: aid, blockade, egypt, el-arish, flotilla, gaza, greece, humanitarian, israel, libya, moldova, ship, siege

AJE reports on a Moldovan registered ship being sent by the Libyans:

Organisers of a Libya-sponsored aid ship have said they will continue their attempt to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, despite Israeli claims that the vessel would instead sail to Egypt.

Yousseuf Sawani, a director of the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, told Al Jazeera that there were no plans for the Al-Amal to dock at the port El-Arish.

The "Al-Amal" Moldova-flagged cargo ship carrying 2,000 tons aid for Gaza

“This is definitely a part of the campaign against the ship, a campaign of distortion, but we are definitely heading towards Gaza, because that is where aid should be heading to,” he told Al Jazeera.

“This is a purely humane mission, it is neither provocative nor hostile,” he said.

The ship set sail from Greece on Saturday, carrying 2,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli foreign ministry said that it had reached an agreement with Greece and Moldova to have the ship diverted to Egypt.

Israeli request

Israeli authorities also reportedly contacted Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence chief, to request that the ship be allowed to dock in El-Arish, close to the border with the Gaza Strip.

Read more at Al Jazeera…

Skip a Latte, Rebuild a Home.

April 25th, 2010 • 1 comment Action, Awareness, News
Tags: cement, convoy, cyprus, FGM, free gaza movement, gaza, IHH, sail, ship, turkey

Reading PSC is proud to launch our online fundraising effort for the next Convoy to Gaza – a flotilla of 10 ships sailing from Turkey, Cyprus, Ireland, Greece and Belgium.

Use our Interactive-Cement-Bag™ to donate as many 25kg bags of cement as you can to the people of Gaza – even one £3 bag will make a huge difference:

Visit our Convoy page for more information…

Gaza Boat Convoy

March 23rd, 2010 • Action, Events, News
Tags: boat, convoy, gaza, IHH, sea, ship, turkey

The Turkish organisation that was involved with Viva Palestina Convoy 3 is organising a sea-based convoy to Gaza:

The IHH (along with Viva Palestina) broke the Gaza embargo with an overland convoy and now IHH are preparing to break it via sea route with the Free Gaza Movement.

GazaBoatConvoy.co.uk

IHH.org.tr/filistin

It has been confirmed by I.H.H. that the sailing of the boat convoy will be delayed until the first week of May, this is due to the huge international response to this venture.

I.H.H. now have a cargo ship of 3,200 tons to be filled with building supplies and medical aid for Gaza. They decided rather than many small boats that a large cargo ship is more suitable. Countries taking part in the boat convoy are Turkey, U.K., Ireland, Greece, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordon. The total number so far of ships taking part is 10.

You can register here…

A short interview about the boat convoy is on Remember Palestine this week on Press T.V. Tuesday 19.00 and repeated on Saturday at 12.05.

WATCH ONLINE at 7pm here…