EDITORIAL
Why Alice Walker sails to Gaza
Published Jun 29, 2011 3:08 PM
Right now — that is, on June 28 — in the strike-closed harbor of
Athens, Greece, there are 350 courageous individuals ready to sail on a dozen
ships to deliver aid and solidarity to the people of Gaza. The mostly North
American and European passengers have boarded ships from the U.S., Algeria,
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Britain, France, Greece and Norway.
Many participants have been active in the anti-war and solidarity movement.
They all know that last year the Israeli warlords ordered their marines to
storm the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara delivering humanitarian aid to the
Palestinians under siege inside Gaza. With no provocation, the Israeli killers
mowed down nine people of Turkish origin.
Since then, understanding has spread and deepened about the Israeli
state’s oppressive role and its alignment with every reactionary
imperialist offensive in the region and in the world. And from the other
direction there is solidarity with and appreciation for the liberating
uprisings in North Africa and Southwest Asia, overthrowing or threatening
imperialist puppet regimes from Tunisia and Egypt to Yemen and Bahrain.
Cairo’s Tahrir Square has inspired struggle from Puerta del Sol in
Madrid, Spain, to the Capitol in Madison, Wis.
Among those ready to sail are writers and intellectuals known far beyond
progressive circles. Swedish author Henning Mankel, a favorite of mystery fans,
is on the flotilla as he was last year. Santiago Alba Rico, author, philosopher
and screenwriter, is spokesperson for the Gernika, the ship from Spain. And on
the U.S. ship, The Audacity of Hope, is African-American author and Pulitzer
Prize winner Alice Walker, whose words explaining her reasons for sailing are
worth excerpting here:
“[T]here is, for me, an awareness of paying off a debt to the Jewish
civil rights activists who faced death to come to the side of black people in
the American south in our time of need. I am especially indebted to Michael
Schwerner and Andrew Goodman who heard our calls for help — our
government then as now glacially slow in providing protection to non-violent
protesters — and came to stand with us.
“They got as far as the truncheons and bullets of a few ‘good
ol’ boys’ of Neshoba County, Miss., and were beaten and shot to
death along with James Chaney, a young Black man of formidable courage who died
with them. So, even though our boat will be called The Audacity of Hope, it
will fly the Goodman, Chaney, Schwerner flag in my own heart.
“And what of the children of Palestine, who were ignored in our
president’s latest speech on Israel and Palestine, and whose
impoverished, terrorized, segregated existence was mocked by the standing
ovations recently given in the U.S. Congress to the prime minister of Israel? I
see children, all children, as humanity’s most precious resource, because
it will be to them that the care of the planet will always be left. One child
must never be set above another, even in casual conversation, not to mention in
speeches that circle the globe.”
Washington, Tel Aviv and the subservient regime in Greece are doing all they
can to sabotage the flotilla. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has
already supported Israeli use of force. But there is a different reaction from
the people. The workers in Greece in the midst of a general strike pledge to
load the freedom ships, and the “indignant ones” in Syntagma Square
are following the progress of the fleet on massive TV screens.
Long live Freedom Flotilla II.
Long live the Mavi Marvara.
Long live the people of Gaza.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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