Code Pink Canadian Delegations to Gaza

On Human Rights Day (and every day...), remember freedom of movement for Palestinians

gazadelegation — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 04:49:31 +0000

When I finally entered the Gaza Strip on October 18, 2012, I wept. The trip across the Sinai and the crossing at the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza (as described in detail by my colleagues Máire Noonan and Verena Stresing) seemed long and fraught. This was my fourth attempt to reach Gaza, so it was emotional for me to finally arrive. We were there for a linguistics conference, and had the opportunity to meet some wonderful young people who were thirsting for contact with the outside world.

Seventy delegates including parliamentarians from 11 countries issue appeal for the end of the siege of Gaza

gazadelegation — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:12:43 +0000

Seventy delegates from 20 countries, including Parliamentarians from 11 countries, last week saw the disastrous effects of the 22-day Israeli attack on Gaza two years ago and the five-year naval and land blockade on Gaza. The trip was organized by the Council for European Palestinian Relations.

Links between human rights in Latin America and Palestine

gazadelegation — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 01:13:03 +0000

Q: You’ve done human rights work in various countries, could you talk a bit about that?

Kevin: I started in Guatemala where I worked a human shield for opposition leaders during negotiations that led to the peace accords, including (Nobel peace Prize winner) Rigoberta Menchú, some deans from the university and a couple of labour lawyers. I also went to El Salvador a couple of times as an elections observer to their legislative and presidential elections. All those trips were under the auspices of the Central America Support Committee (CASC) in Victoria.

Remembering the Cast Lead assault: Supporting the Canadian Boat to Gaza

gazadelegation — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:09:35 +0000

As we mark the second anniversary of the brutal 2008-2009 Cast Lead assault against Gaza, we remember the more than 1,400 killed -- most of them civilians, many of them women and children -- and the thousands more who were injured. Their recovery is still hampered by the ongoing crime of the illegal and inhumane blockade, now in its fourth year.

Free Gaza Flotilla (poem)

gazadelegation — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:22:40 +0000

Free Gaza Flotilla

Don't hang up
Keep talking

    Three boats approaching
    helicopters hovering

Stay on the line
I am Tweeting

    They're getting closer
    ... they're firing

Are you all OK?
Any one wounded?

    We are being boarded

I am typing

   78 miles from shore
    In international waters
    This can't be happening!

Please keep talking

    This is pira ...
    This ... cri ...

Your breaking up ...

What's happening?
What's happening?

Israeli lunacy

gazadelegation — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:43:54 +0000

This poem is called, "in memory of the nine brave, courageous peace activists whose lives were stolen by murderous war criminals who spin lies, black out independent media, violate international law repeatedly! repeatedly! yes, this is for them...in memory of the nine brave, courageous peace activists who were murdered by Israeli soldiers, in the name of TRUTH."

as long as the israeli lunatics
float down to deck
guns blazing like a bad scene in a low budget spaghetti western
or a disney kids' movie

as long as conventions and international laws
mean no more than the toilet paper i use every morning

for as long as democracy rhymes with hypocracy

Standing up in Ottawa against Israeli attack on peace activists

gazadelegation — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:28:00 +0000

One year a go, at this time, I entered the besieged Gaza strip with a convoy of about 60 people from different origins and professions. We wanted to show solidarity with Gazans who suffered from a terrible war, death, destruction and devastation.

Our journey ended safely one week after we arrived. We all returned home, each one of us with a story, pictures and tears to share with families, friends and communities. Unfortunately, the tragic events that happened yesterday where one of the boats of the flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza was attacked in international water by an Israeli commando and more than 10 activists were killed, were totally opposite.

Join the Global Day to break the Israeli siege

gazadelegation — Mon, 31 May 2010 21:04:25 +0000

This just in from Justice for Palestine:

Dear Friends and Activists,

In response and commemoration of the barbaric attack on the Freedom Flotilla today, we are launching the Global Day to Break the Israeli Siege as an international day of action and protest in front of Israeli embassies and consulates around the world.. Please help us mark Saturday the 5th of June as the Global Day to break the Israeli Siege by organizing protests on this day in your city in front of Israeli consulates and corporations and institutions tied to Apartheid Israel around the world.

Cynthia McKinney: People of the world must end Israeli impunity

gazadelegation — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:56:27 +0000

I am outraged at Israel's latest criminal act. I mourn with my fellow Free Gaza travelers, the lives that have been lost by Israel's needless, senseless act against unarmed humanitarian activists. But I'm even more outraged that once again, Israel's actions have been aided and abetted by a U.S. political class that has become corrupted beyond belief due to its reliance on Zionist campaign finance and penetration by Zionist zealots for whom no U.S. weapons system is too much for the Israeli war machine, and the silence of the world's onlookers whose hearts have grown cold with indifference.

Break the Israeli siege of Gaza or attack at sea, detention camps and deportation

gazadelegation — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:20:06 +0000

By the time you read this, we will be on the high seas of the Mediterranean (we hope the seas will not be too high).

Our two U.S. flagged Free Gaza boats, will join two other passenger ships, a 600 passenger ship from Turkey sponsored by the Turkish humanitarian organization, Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) and a 50 passenger ship from Athens sponsored by the European Campaign Against the Siege and the Greek/Swedish Ships to Gaza campaign, to sail to the shores of Gaza to break the Israeli naval blockade of the 1.5 million citizens in Gaza.

Gaza, here we come to break the siege!

gazadelegation — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:40:20 +0000

I am honored to be a part of the latest international citizen effort to break the Israeli and Egyptian governments’ siege of Gaza. This week, hundreds of persons from 20 countries will challenge the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza in an eight ship flotilla.

An international coalition composed of Free Gaza Movement, European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza, the Malaysian humanitarian organization Perdana and the Turkish non-governmental organization Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH) is sending three cargo ships and five passenger vessels to Gaza from Ireland, Greece and Turkey.

Book Review: Refusing to Be Enemies by Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta

gazadelegation — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:36:27 +0000

Refusing to be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation By Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta, 2010. Ithhaca Press, UK. $69.95 hardcover

Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta will be in London on May 3, 2010, 7pm at King's University College to speak about her book.

Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta's new book offers us a compelling invitation to consider non-violent activism as a path to peaceful resolution in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a series of interviews, essays and commentaries, and with contributions from notable peace activists such as Ghassan Andoni, Ursula Franklin, Jeff Halper, Starhawk and others, she explores many forms of creative non-violence and its powerful effects.

From division to (some) unity: the Gaza Freedom March

gazadelegation — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:45:37 +0000

The Gaza Freedom March (GFM) was an intense roller-coaster-ride of a week, from the divisive lows of name-calling and recriminations to the high-points of collective action in the streets of Cairo.

Memories and hope

gazadelegation — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:18:24 +0000

So as I settle back into my comfortable life in Canada, I am resigned, at least for the moment, to that frustrated, incapacitated feeling of sitting in my living room, hearing about airstrikes by Israel against Gaza, shattered windows in houses of innocents, and threats of war. At least when we were in Cairo, even though we weren't allowed to enter Gaza, we felt like we were doing something. Here at home, with a prorogued, inaccessible government and mainstream media that is choking on its own vomit, I turn to music and poetry and memories to help make sense of things.

In memory of the children

gazadelegation — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 01:59:14 +0000

in her provocative way
she fills the space
with ferocity
rendered gentle by her
beauty
do not be fooled
for when she speaks

this,
the

great

mother

she does so
from the earthy depths
of fire
don't look back
lest you be scorched
engulfed
only forward
complexity in
simplicity
the sacred womb

tomb

erupts,
convulses

stop
killing
the

children

stop
killing
the

babies

she calls
on her
earthly sisters
she calls
on her
earthly daughters
whose ears
are tuned
whose eyes
are open

eyes wide open
drawing it in
surge of light

Egyptian reactions II -- from the rooftops

gazadelegation — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:52:40 +0000

There are many events and memories of my time in Cairo that are etched in my mind, and I want to say how grateful I am to all the people who supported me and donated to our cause that allowed me, and ten other Londoners to have this incredible experience. It has been said before, but I am deeply saddened that we were not permitted to enter Gaza. My western born and trained mind does not often allow for the possibility of "What if the answer is NO". My usual response is (expletives deleted), "Well, how do we turn that into a YES". And then we do just that. Not so in Cairo. We were detained, coralled, subdued and beaten. But only for a week. The Egyptian people, as it became so clear, live in constant fear of a police state.

LETTRE OUVERTE AU PRÉSIDENT MUBARAK DE LA PART DE DES ORGANISATEURS DE LA MARCHE POUR LA LIBÉRATION DE GAZA

gazadelegation — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:01:00 +0000

LETTRE OUVERTE AU PRÉSIDENT MUBARAK DE LA PART DE DES ORGANISATEURS DE LA MARCHE POUR LA LIBÉRATION DE GAZA

Le 25 décembre 2009

M. le Président,
Au nom des 1 360 individus originaires de 43 pays qui se rendent au Caire afin de participer à la Marche pour la Libération de Gaza, nous faisons appel aux Égyptiens ainsi qu'à votre réputation pour l'hospitalité.

Egyptian reactions I

gazadelegation — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:05:26 +0000

(Now back home in London, Ontario with a few bruises and scrapes courtesy of the Egyptian police, frustrated at being blocked from traveling to Gaza but more resolved than ever to build international solidarity with the Palestinian cause).

While their government did everything it could to block our efforts to join our sisters and brothers in Gaza and to spread falsehoods about the nature of the Gaza Freedom March and its participants, the response we got from ordinary Egyptians was overwhelmingly positive.

Topless at the Pyramids: Can't a tourist just be a tourist?

gazadelegation — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:22:07 +0000

It wasn't meant to be a day of activism. Honest. Exhausted by a week of intense protesting and meetings, I slept until almost noon and missed a plan for additional actions this morning. Some Canadians at our hotel wanted to at least catch a glimpse of the Pyramids during their time in Egypt, so we decided to do what the Egyptian government has been asking us to do all along and just be tourists. Thought it was already mid-afternoon, we decided that a little bit of Pyramids was better than none, so five of us jumped in a cab and after what seemed like an eternity in noisy traffic we were there.

More from 'Free Gaza Square,' Cairo

gazadelegation — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:36:34 +0000

Others have already describe parts of yesterday's events elsewhere. As Starhawk writes about the process of moving us from the street to the sidewalk.

"Free Gaza Square" in downtown Cairo

gazadelegation — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:58:12 +0000

We took the street at a time and place of our own choosing, we marched (briefly) before being stopped by police lines, we sat and held our space in the street for forty minutes before being ejected onto the sidewalks, where we set up our own perimeter ringed by riot police, and held that space for another six hours until we left on our own terms.

Shame on them: CUPW activist writes from the streets of Cairo

gazadelegation — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:09:53 +0000

People are surrounded. Some have been beaten and injured. Women for Gaza stand surrounded in front of the Hotel Lotus. Canadian postal workers hold their flags high. Locals on the street pass discreetly while giving thumbs up. In contrast, the marchers who were able to get out of their hotels and hostels this morning and planned to start a march to break an illegal siege and deliver aid to the people of Gaza have been beaten, terrorized, and denied food, water or bathroom privileges. The demonstrators near the Egyptian museum are confined by rows of serious looking riot police and scores of plainclothes agents who direct everyone away from the scene and confiscate cameras.

Gaza Freedom March under siege in Egypt!!!

gazadelegation — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:35:02 +0000

The Gaza Freedom March delegation in Egypt has taken over Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo in front of the Egyptian Museum! We began marching from the Egyptian Museum and blocked off the streets. Riot police was on the scene IMMEDIATELY and was very violent with our peaceful, non-violent protesters! They have cordoned us off onto the sidewalk right in the middle of the square and we are making a huge scene! We're on live news coverage from Al-Jazeera, PressTV, Reuters, AFP, etc. We're here with our packed bags, sleeping bags, and plan on staying here until they release us...we are under siege in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo!! Written by Sarah Mahmoud

Protesting in a police state

gazadelegation — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:56:45 +0000

As we prepare to take to the streets of Cairo on January 31, the day when we were supposed to march with the Palestinians of Gaza, everyone here is wondering how far the authorities will go to repress our protests. There seemed to be a greater than normal police presence in our neighbourhood last night, though what passes for "normal" in the Egyptian context is perhaps worth explaining a bit, for those of use used to protesting in countries like Canada.

Gaza Freedom March delegates reject Egyptian offer to permit only 100 to cross border, opt instead to risk arrest in Cairo

gazadelegation — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:17:37 +0000

After three days of vigils and demonstrations in downtown Cairo, Suzanne Mubarak’s offer to allow just 100 of 1,300 delegates to enter Gaza was rejected by the Gaza Freedom March Coordinating Committee as well as many of the larger contingents – including those from France, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Sweden and New York State (U.S.).

“We flatly reject Egypt’s offer of a token gesture. We refuse to whitewash the siege of Gaza. Our group will continue working to get all 1362 marchers into Gaza as one step towards the ultimate goal for the complete end of the siege and the liberation of Palestine” said Ziyaad Lunat a member of the march Coordinating Committee.

A poem for Gaza

gazadelegation — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:24:16 +0000

under hazy Cairo sky
new moon begging for its birth
racing pulse of this chaotic city
carries me on its wing
inviting the dance of space
opportunity and restriction
possibility and denial
rising tensions flow with the Nile
dance of life and dance of death
hold hands, lock gaze
the privilege of the few
raise voices for the many
yet the echos of their song enveloped in cacophony
what are the notes?
hold on, dear Gaza
under the filmy light
on the skin
of the new moon
another song
another dance

Pink Floyd's Roger Waters opposes walls, supports Gaza Freedom March

gazadelegation — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:37:04 +0000

Statement of Solidarity with the Gaza Freedom March.

Another Marcher assaulted by Egyptian authorities; Canadian detained, possibly deported

gazadelegation — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:11:08 +0000

Things are happening fast here, and we are all thinking on our feet. We decided, after receiving an unfavourable response from the UN in Cairo, that we would leave their property on our own accord, rather than risk detention and deportation when there are other actions we could take. It became clear that the police force was going to become more and more determined to enclose us. We were able to leave peacefully, however 11 remain at this moment, peacefully and determinedly occupying the square in front of the building.

As Gaza Freedom Marchers push for justice, Egyptian authorities begin to push back

gazadelegation — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:18:24 +0000

As Gaza Freedom Marchers continue to push the Egyptian Government to allow us to leave Cairo for El Arish, they are beginning to push back. This morning at 7am Freedom Marchers met at the garage where we were expecting to board buses headed to El Arish. Instead we were met by a large group of soldiers who turned every bus and taxi away. Until we reached a large crowd, the authorities were forceful, pushing peaceful demonstrators and trying to prevent the filming of the situation.

Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein begins hunger strike in Cairo to open Gaza border

gazadelegation — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:03:26 +0000

Hedy Epstein, the 85 year old Holocaust survivor and peace activist, announced that she will begin a hunger strike today as a response to the Egyptian government’s refusal to allow the Gaza Freedom March participants into Gaza.

Ms. Epstein was part of a delegation with participants from 43 countries that were to join Palestinians in a non-violent march from Northern Gaza towards the Erez border with Israel calling for the end of the illegal siege. Egypt is preventing the marchers from leaving Cairo, forcing them to search for alternative ways to make their voices heard.