En esta entrega especial, 7 activistas que tripularon la Flotilla de la Libertad ofrecen su testimonio sobre la misión humanitaria y profundizan en las razones de su activismo por la causa Palestina.
Conduce: Josefina Laban
Participan:
Frank Romano
Frank Romano, doctorado en la Universidad de París I es un profesor retirado de derecho comparado y literatura en la Universidad de París Nanterre, miembro de los Colegios de Abogados de California y Marsella. A representando al pueblo palestino ante la Corte Penal Internacional. Fué tomado preso y expulsado por Israel en 2019, por defender la aldea beduina Khan al-Ahmar. Ha escrito libros como “Storm Over Morocco” y “Love and Terror in the Middle East”, entre otros.
Mooniba Bhyat
Activista sudafricana y CEO de D.A.R.E, promueve el desarrollo de emprendedores y lucha contra la pobreza menstrual desde 2014. Como fundadora del club Hike4adventure, inspira a mujeres y jóvenes a explorar la vida al aire libre. Además, apoya la cosecha de aceitunas en Palestina y camina por las montañas de aldeas palestinas destruidas.
Ali Akın Kurnaz
Estratega digital con 15 años de experiencia política y raíces en activismo y política. Fue delegado en la Convención Nacional Demócrata a los 24 años y ha recibido reconocimientos por su trabajo. Actualmente, es consultor independiente y activista por las causas palestinas, siendo crítico del Partido Demócrata y la administración de Biden.
Marybeth Brownlee
Nacida el 29 de abril de 1982 en Pensilvania, EE. UU., madre y estudiante de medicina, también lidera protestas solidarias. Su compromiso con la justicia y la naturaleza la define, habiendo sido oficial del Ejército. Se dedica a rehabilitar su ecosistema local y su jardín con plantas nativas.
Daniel Coward
Proviene del país Dharawal, en la llamada Australia. Trabaja como rotulista, lo que implica diseño, impresión, fabricación e instalación de anuncios de todo tipo. Ha sido un participante internacional de la Flotilla de la Libertad. Para él su ciudadanía australiana recuerda a Israel y al resto del mundo que hay personas dispuestas a venir de todos los rincones de la tierra para oponerse a su comportamiento genocida.
Farwina Faroque
Defensora de la unidad y la diversidad, nació en Malasia como tamil musulmana. Utiliza las RRSS para propagar la amabilidad y la verdad, firmemente convencida de que los esfuerzos colectivos pueden transformar el mundo para mejor. Su trayectoria en el activismo comenzó con una ferviente defensa de los derechos de las mujeres en Malasia, que más tarde se amplió a la causa palestina, impulsada por un profundo sentido de justicia y solidaridad con las comunidades oprimidas.
Souhayb Farhat
Nacido en Tunisia. Profesor de deporte y ex miembro del equipo de judo de Tunisia. Ha participado voluntariamente en la Flotilla de la Libertad. Actualmente vive en Rusia.
SOBRE LA FLOTA DE LA LIBERTAD
En mayo de 2010, la Flota de la Libertad, compuesta por seis embarcaciones, llevaba 633 personas de 37 países, con el objetivo de romper el bloqueo de Israel a Gaza, llevando 10.000 toneladas de ayuda humanitaria. Aún surcando aguas internacionales, la flotilla fue atacada por el Estado de Israel, asesinando a nueve activistas y un periodista e hiriendo a más de 30 personas.
El plan para atacarla fue bautizada por los sionistas como Operación Brisa del Mar, e incluyó una descarada campaña de propaganda. Las afirmaciones de Israel sobre la posible existencia de armas a bordo eran falsas.
El director de Aduanas del puerto de Antalya, Fevzi Gülcan, en declaraciones a la cadena de noticias privadas NTV, calificó de falsas las afirmaciones israelíes acerca de la posible existencia de armas a bordo, afirmando que fueron examinados con aparatos de rayos X uno por uno todos los equipajes de los pasajeros del barco Mavi Marmara, uno de los atacados por las comandos israelíes. Antes de partir desde Turquía, el pacifista español Manuel Tapial, que también viajaba en el Mavi Marmara, explicó que todo el cargamento de los barcos había sido revisado y certificado por organizaciones internacionales independientes precisamente porque sabían que Israel utilizaría la excusa de la ayuda a Hamás para detenerles.
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] h e [Music] is for for for [Music] k e for Li for Maguire [Music] G SCH of eoms spirit of humanity for freed woman’s we are going to introduce our guests of today thank you so much all of you for coming I’m going to be introducing all of you I don’t I’m not sure if everyone is connected still but they will be joining a soon as possible think that they are seven hours ahead or even more um so hopefully they’ll join soon we will be having first H Dr Frank Romano he is a writer professor of comparative law and literature he has represented the Palestinian people before the international criminal court and he was taken prisoner and expelled by Israel in 2019 for defending the beduin village Khan Al alar then we have miva viat she’s a South African activist promoting entrepreneurship development and fighting menstrual menstrual Pro poverty since 2014 she’s the founder of hike for Adventure Club where she inspires women and youth to explore the outdoors and is an advocate for Olive harvesting in Palestine very beautiful we have also Ali Akin Kass he’s a digital strategist in politics and a strong roots in activism and politics he has he was a delegate a delegate to the Democratic National Convention only at the age of 24 and has received accolades for his work currently he’s an independent consultant and activist for Palestinian causes hi Ali thank you for joining H we have also Mary Beth brownley she’s a mother a medical student and she also leads solidarity protests her commitment to Justice and nature defines her she’s a dedicated she’s dedicated to rehabilit rehabilitating her local ecosystem and her Gardens with native plants I would love to see a photo of your garden later Mary Beth hi we have also suide Farhat he’s born in Tunisia she he’s a sports teacher and a former me member of the Tunisian Judo team he has volunteered in the freedom floa and he is currently living in Russia next Daniel Daniel coward but very brave he works as a sign maker ER which involves designing printing fabricating and installing signs of all kinds he has been an international participant in the freedom flotilla and for him his Australian citizenship reminds him of isra reminds Israel and the rest of the world that there are people willing to come across all corners of the earth to oppose their genocidal Behavior beautiful background you’re there H Daniel hi an Farina Faro hi advoc an advocate for Unity and diversity she was born in Malaysia as a Tamil Muslim her journey in activism began with her ver fervent advocacy for humans rights in Malaysia which later expanded to the Palestinian cause driven by a deep sense of justice and solidarity with oppressed communities so hi hello everyone welcome and thank you so much for joining I’m sorry for the time difference we’re on the other side of the world so we are very appreciate of your time and commitment for this um so thank you we’re gonna start with Frank Romano so we can start the conversation here and then from there we’re gonna move on to the rest of our guests so hi Frank hola H hola I know you speak Spanish English Arabic what else oh uh little French a little French and some German oh amazing where are you right now I’m in Istanbul uh we are still here Dan and and as well as Ali and a few others waiting to get on the boat to go togethera hopefully inshah you have a flag soon yes um so first of all H Frank I’ve seen photos of you and videos of you in your advocating and protesting and teaching people I know you have a background as a teacher and so um you’ve been in Israel you’ve been detained so there’s so much you have to tell and teach people how do you H feel when speaking in front of a crowd what is your what do you do what is the emotion I know you are a teacher so tell us a little bit about how these two things combine well um I actually was inspired a long time ago uh I had a a very powerful dream U many years ago uh that um I should leave where I was which people saying what you’re in Paris the city of love and you are studying at the soran but I was disillusioned um I’m I’m basically a country boy anyway and City cities don’t I don’t do that well in cities like they say um you can take the country boy out of the country but not the country boy out of the country boy so uh it was tough and so I um that from that point on I started going back and forth into Palestine from Paris uh and uh found that that was a true dream the dream told me to go into Palestine and do something about peace and it was very powerful and and I saw from 2005 on when I started going there uh that there was a true dream and I ended up uh in 2018 you alluded to me staying with the bedwin in Alana akar do you do you want me to tell you a little bit of story of the bed what what I was doing there and how I got to jail and so forth or or do you have another question no no please tell us a little bit about this of course yeah um I was staying with the bedin um so people are situated you you have Jerusalem and from Jerusalem if you go almost due east you hit the Jordan border there’s a corridor there there’s an Alleyway uh a pathway there that the Israeli government with the settlers want to take over and there are lot of Palestinian especially bedwin villages in the area they want to take it over for the main purpose of dividing North and Southwest Bank because it’s right in the middle there and there I was in that area in that same Corridor living with the beduin in a bedwin village called Alana akar and uh it was it’s surrounded by Israeli settlements and harassed by settlers and soldiers all the time and when I one morning I woke up and there was a grumbling outside a big noise and it turns out that there was a big bulldozer there driven by an Israeli soldier that it was positioning itself to destroy the village uh and so uh I I got together with a couple other activists and we stood in front of the bulldozzer we had nothing else to do what else can you do we have no arms and the bulldo are fortunately left and to this day by the way the village still stands uh miraculously but we were all hauled off to prison to moscovia prison and there were things that went on there I was beat up in prison and the judge noticed that even though I had committed felonies um had re released me and said you’ve got to return to France within a week which I didn’t I I disobeyed the court order and I went into ramala to hide from the mad so I could continue working with the Palestinians and while I was in hiding uh I the Palestinian Authority you know the government of the West Bank is called the Palestinian Authority uh contacted me and and offered me to work as an international lawyer to head the team of lawyers that are uh preparing a complaint before the international criminal court uh and and a complaint against Netanyahu and others and their American accomplices for war crimes and I of course had nothing else I said of course you have to pay me and they did and uh I ended up uh for two months working every day going from my Hideout to the mokata area which is right near downtown rala where the government the it was direct directly working with the Department of Justice and and and then uh one day I arrived when the complaint was completed we had uh complete legal summary and evidence against Netanyahu for war crimes and I asked the lawyers well is it’s time now to file the complaint in the international criminal court which as as people some people know is in the ha in in in Holland in in and so uh the response was no and I said what I’m here working hard the idea is to draft this complaint and then file it with the international criminal court so you know soon Netanyahu will be accountable now bear in mind this is way back in 2019 and uh so uh they they explained to me that they were afraid of Israel Israeli retaliation because as some people know maybe you know the Palestinian Authority collaborates with Israel and they really don’t want to turn off Israel they really are collaborating with their police and many other ways and uh I felt I was had and so I left I left immediately went back into hiding uh near near uh the downtown romala and the mosad figured out a very clever way to lure me to get me out of hiding and they did and I stupidly bit on the bait and the most and and they as soon as I was lured taken out I I left my Hiding Place uh the Mad arrested me took me back to prison and this time I was deported to France and within a couple months after I arrived in France filed the international criminal court uh complaint against Netanyahu Gans Liber men Trump and Obama for war crimes and other crimes and uh after that nothing nothing happened and as in the news you probably saw that just a few days ago on May 20th finally after all these years the prosecutor has sent has has filed an application before the ICC judges uh for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and gal uh coming very late anyway uh so here I am waiting and we’re we’re now back in two now we’re in 2021 and so I started organizing uh demonstrations in Paris and New York and and and Lebanon uh trying to get involved but as many other of the people will attest around me in the flotilla like Ali and Dan and Mary Beth none none of these activities seem to get results so I think I think they all share their own own reasons but I felt as many of they felt that by being on the flotilla we can do something tangible to help Palestine out of this genocidal disaster um bringing food and medicine and so bingo I I I applied and came over uh here to Istanbul to be a part of it uh and uh but the main reason and I’m sure the others will attest to it is not necessarily bringing the food because 5,500 tons that you mentioned already of food and medicine is more symbolic what we really are doing is bringing the entire is much of the world to the attention of the The Plight the suffering of the gazen people the media and so forth and even before we get on the boat uh most of the work is done to bring the the you know the spotlight on Palestine and uh you know that that’s why I’ve stayed in in Istanbul uh to work on that uh and and and however um you you have already discussed that we have issues with getting on the boat and we’ll see about that later uh but this has uh become you know my my struggle and I feel very much uh involved in in Istanbul now we’re going to uh visit young people in universities and involving ourselves in a demonstration which I’ll be doing which we’ll be doing later on tonight so we’re still involved and we’re still hoping to get get on that boat to Gaza that’s amazing what an amazing story especially the the bulldozer story story back in 2019 which re like reminds us of the Rachel Corey event where she’s she was telling everyone here she was a an American activist who was living in Palestine and she was run over by a bulldozer because of her protest so I’m guessing you were a little bit afraid great and of course you are very brave but what what kind of uh feelings go around your your mind when you take all the risks and and everything you’re leaving behind to follow this this uh just cost well you know you’re absolutely right and I was going to mention it but you know your question brought it up Rachel Corey and while I was deciding to uh go in front of the bulldozer it’s the same feeling I had while I was deciding to be part of the flotilla I really hesitated uh here here we got the bulldozer coming there must have been 50 activists but no one was reaching the bulldozer so if I get there it will be by myself and I and I remembered Rachel Corey but all of a sudden I just went over there and I’m not sure what drove me other than I just felt so strongly you know you know about uh the the this bulldozer just destroying uh the property and hopefully as Rachel Corey didn’t want to die hopefully I wouldn’t die and and here and the flotilla yes it’s a very risky thing as um the other uh members of the freedom futilo will attest but we all feel and I am I feel profoundly that this is a necessary risks um let’s face it my governments French and American I’m a French and American citizen are supplying arms and money to Israel they are enabling Israel if it weren’t for them Israel could not Massacre the Palestinians like this they could not do this and so I feel I have a moral responsibility as a taxpayer as an American as a French person to contest these uh terrible uh you know genocidal acts as accomplice that my country are accomplices but since our governments are doing nothing and up until recently the international courts the ICC in the icj were doing absolutely nothing the icj J came up with a weak decision and then finally the ICC came through very late if they had come through earlier maybe political pressure could have prevented some of these terrible deaths and suffering in Gaza so because the governments and the courts are doing nothing you know I I I jumped on the idea of the freedom fatila because since I have a 10-year ban I can’t get back into Palestine I’ve been trying to get back I figure well now I can go back to my beloved Palestine the sea taking the protest from the streets to the sea I think you are very brave and I hopefully everyone in the world felt like you and especially American taxpayers Frank thank you so much I’m gonna switch now to Mona so we can go on the next question and then we might come back for you I know that you will have to leave eventually for a protest in March in estanbul Frank is in estanbul right now so um thank you thank you so much Amazing Stories thank you for sharing um we go to Mona now hi Mona hi Hi how are you I’m good I’m so happy to be talking to you I loved your biography I loved where you said you love and you protect the olive peing of Palestine so important the trees and the nature and all of those things that connect us to the land so that’s amazing you’re South African right afri that’s correct proudly South African and very proud to be a South African and the work that South Africans are doing for Palestine currently and for years actually exactly that’s the main thing I want to talk to you I think maybe it’s going to be a repetitive question for you but thinking about where you come from and the story that your country and your people has L over the past last years and back what can you say about this in terms of a message of Hope for the Palestinian freedom and how you do you feel more in detail about being South African and what South Africa has done in the icj sure so I’ve been I you know I’m one of the CH I was the one of the children of the parted um era um so you know we brought we were brought up in that time when we were restrict we couldn’t go to certain areas and I was also young girl when the uprising started which was the June 16th you know so we coming very close to our June 16 youth day which is when the youth stood up against U you know the the atrocities of of that time AP part days so um it’s been quite an amazing journey for myself you know seeing the changes in our country um and then being able to be given the freedom and it was obviously it had taken years but I think my message is always been to Palestine um and to the Youth of Palestine that it’s the youth that makees the change and it’s their voices that need to be heard in the world and my visits to Palestine for the last six years gave me the opportunity to actually share that with the young people and the families that I met and uh yeah so I think when you know um the day when when the when the when the wars broke out which was the 7th of October I was actually um and route to Turkey to to register for a Cause and then I was supposed to meant to have gone away to Turkey to Palestine to help with the olive harvesting because the olive harvesting starts around the 89th of October and um and I reached turkey and obviously they shut down all flights to Palestine so it’s only very heartbreaking that I wasn’t there this last year when all of this was unfolding uh but yeah I have still had lots of interaction I’ve done some Zoom sessions with students at the universities in Palestine um and just very recent L I did one with a whole lot of young people talking about you know South Africa and the apartate times and how did we survive that and what did we do and you know it was talking about Civil Society did you know and so that was really very good for me to be able to share that while this was all happening and while the you know but the sad thing was that we saw this genocide starting to unfold and that was very devastating for all of us um and then also you know while the you know we do know that obviously the eyes are all on Raza at the moment but that doesn’t mean that the Israelis aren’t attacking the Palestinians in the West Bank so I get updates on that all the time you know the villages that are being attacked and a lot of The Villages currently that are being attacked are obviously close to where we do the olive Harting so it’s very sad for me to see that and that nothing is being done about it and they not protected um and that we should actually expose that more to the to the world as well so yeah I think from myself it’s just having to share all of those beautiful experiences and being you know a passive resistant activist has been very beneficial to me with my value of South Africa showing the solidarity of South Africa and then also taking people on educational trips to Palestine and saying come because if you don’t visit Palestine you won’t understand what life under occupation is let’s wait if she can worse am I back on we lost you for a second yeah but now you’re back okay okay so so my message was you know that I say that if we think pal South Africa’s apartate laws were bad and living under apartate rule was difficult Palestinians have it a 100 times worse than we had it in South Africa you know so I I share that with youth not just in Palestine but also with youth and people all over the world so I’m quite an adventurer and a traveler and wherever I go I promote visits to Palestine visits to South Africa to see the changes that have happened to see how beautiful you know South Africans are in supporting the you know in being in solidarity with with Palestine as well yeah we’re very thankful for people like you and South Africa you’re an example because you went through that and you you make us feel like there’s a little bit of light at the end of the tannel um one one question I have for you because I know that that you’ve been working for many years in activism and you were saying that seven of October broke you and and and it was a everything collapsed and your plans collapsed how do you do myself I’ve been working in activism not that much so and and I feel like I can I can get easily broken in terms in terms of spirit how do you how do you keep yourself together how do you give yourself some hope and like a nice nice p in the back to make you work more and more in this yeah I think that’s a beautiful question I think every one of us it’s like almost like we we went into like this crippling mode watching what’s unfolding and I went through exactly that because I ended up in Turkey my family was in South Africa I’m here in turkey and I’m thinking I’m actually closer to Palestine yes I was in Ean buul and I was crippled but watching what was happening and it was like days when I didn’t feel like I wanted to go out and see anybody because the world was still moving on and yeah you seen this genocide unfold and I had to mobilize myself and get myself active again and I’m thinking I am thousands of miles away from South Africa but I started watching you know what was happening and feedback coming in from Raza and the one thing that caught my attention was the women and the children and because in South Africa I work as a humanitarian activist with women and children and I I you know I I focus a lot on period poverty which is women struggling with challenges around their menstrual cycle or their period And I thought I cannot sit here in turkey and not do anything for the women of Gaza so immediately I actually contacted um iaha which is one of the partner NOS with the FL Freedom flotilla and I contacted them and I said I would love to be able to do something to get maybe some kind of aid intoa for these women that are struggling with their period and um I was invited to then visit uh the camps on the Syrian turkey border and I thought what a lovely opportunity because it would give me a better feel of what people in the camps in razza are going through and I I took on that invitation and came through and spoke to all the uh sort of post 10year war um victims of Syria you know and said you know how have you survived what have you done how can you be a part of my journey to assist us to make sure that we can assist the women of Gaza and they were very very excited to be a part of this you know this project and this this sort of plan that I had put together and um the plan was to actually make the women of of Syria so washable pads for our women of hza and that kind of revived my spirit it again it it brought all of the things that I needed to start doing again and I was super excited to be part of this here and then while I was working with iaha I found out about the flotilla and I thought gosh just like Frank said earlier this is my ticket to get into Raza and to get those washable pads and all these products and Aid into Raza and to just be part of this amazing journey of breaking that Siege and you know that we can do this and when we joined and I registered um it kind of gave me more hope that I’m on the right track and we H we haven’t given up hope and I think every time we watched a YouTube or a Instagram uh post from from from huzza it was please all of you that are sharing and doing your thing on the out is giving us hope that we have got we very close to our freedom and that inspired me to be part of this to make sure sure that my registration went through and that I was part of the team that was going to be on that flotilla and I haven’t stopped that’s why I am at the moment in gazan tab I’ve actually come down to see you know how far are we with the project are we ready to start manufacturing washable pads so that when we ready and we sail with the freedom flotilla that I take my washable pads and menstral cups that I’m fundraising for in South Africa at the moment with all my friends and my team there so that we can then take this through so we’re also creating awareness around the challenges that the women are going through awareness about what’s happening in Raza that the the you know the genocide is going on but people are still trying to survive and they’re trying to live as dignified as they can and we want to be a part of that journey and give them the opportunity to tell us what do they need what do they want us to give them not what we want to give them what do they what do they want from us and then we can we can feed back to them activus that’s amazing that’s amazing um I’m going to ask you later to share me how we can we can help you from Chile with h collecting money for the menstrual pets I think it’s a beautiful mov women are suffering so much in Gaza right now not only because of the bombings but because of her nature as women as mothers so I congratulate you a lot um and um I feel like the end of sism has started and you are part of this big change for this this is very beautiful thank you so much I’m gonna move to another person guest right now thank you so much for coming Mona we will come back to you later we can go with Mary Mary Beth hi Mary Beth H you’re you’re muted you’re muted I love your shirt you it’s it’s the floella shirt that they gave us I love it I see it in photos and it’s like that’s the merch we want all want to get I love how how everyone’s been like using Palestine on their chest on their wardrobe on everything so I love that shirt um I saw you were driving before where are you right now oh now I’m finally home this morning I’m I’m physically back in the United States uh I was in Istanbul for the month and did you know work there and now as we’re waiting to sail I’m back home to spend some time with my children and then also I’m in medical school so had to do some work on that fell off doctor next year too I’m losing you one second I have an ambulance I know a firefighter right can I I don’t think I can hear you right now no okay yeah I can hear you is that better yes Mary Beth you said you said you had children so that’s a big task for a woman for a person who has a family to live on activism you were a month there you had no idea what how long it was going to take what does but but it’s very inspiring what does your children think about this oh oh my kids my kids know what I’m about what I was doing there my it’s actually through my children that I got involved with flotilla um my 11-year-old for his spring break during school and he’s in sixth grade here in the US so he wanted to do a bunch of political action uh for spring break and so we went to Washington DC where you can sign up for a day at a time with code pink and um we walked the halls of the US House of Representatives we were interceding with various Congressional people and um and I got to talking to an Wright who does a lot of work with code pink and then is also one of the main two women at the leadership Helm for us for Freedom flotilla and andright said oh you know in the morning when we were getting started what do you do for a living what did you do for work and I mentioned how I’d been in the US Army and had these deployments and she was listening really closely cuz I I specialize in logistics specifically um so I have a lot of experience with like what do you need where do you need it what are your Avenues of approach how do you do this under hostile conditions all of those kind of all of those kind of things I am battle tested um and so later you know like and like I thought I’m not that interesting why is she listening so closely but later she said Hey I’m I’m leading this thing called the flotilla I had only heard a little bit about the one from like 2010 where people had died well I shouldn’t even say it in such passive voice actively Israel killed Israel killed 10 peace activists nine or 10 peace activists um on the 2010 flotilla um and so you know their dad had taken them down to visit his parents and a couple days later when he got back cuz was back working on school stuff I thought oh I’m gonna have to you know maybe sell this to him that I want to go on this flotilla but as soon as I explained the mission um before I could say I wanted to go he said how do we get you on this on this Mission uh because he knows like I’m I’m a I’m a good battle buddy in a foxhole you know so um so I’m very critical too of like do lism it’s not just white people but white women specifically from America they like to go to foreign places and take pictures with black and brown kids as if they’re doing some good and all it is is what what I would call trauma porn right like throwing off the suffering of others for your own self- glorification and so even signing up I was very critical like what is the Practical benefit and then what does my presence contribute and so after sorry I’m up I’m up hiding in my bedroom CU wor any any mom like I’m just keeping it real my kids are loud and downstairs right now probably getting friends to come over because it’s a Saturday we will keep this very real I have my dog who will eventually start barking for me to take him out so it doesn’t matter I got got laundry on the bed I gotta fold and put away you know this is yeah you do it all so marbeth what is your concrete help then where did you find your actual contribution to joining the Fila oh sometimes I think I’m I’m kind of a morale cheerleader um very very little bothers me there’s not a whole lot in life I haven’t already handled and pushed through um and and a very pragmatic approach to things so like even if we end up in an Israeli prison you know short of killing me I I can I can have uh you’re very brave though because not everyone can say this but you know because it’s very terrifying to be against those uh bloody soldiers you know well and that’s that’s the important thing I think too is to acknowledge that like what is the actual risk of sailing across the Mediterranean what should the risk be seasickness bad weather and so if there is an increased threat to the point that people are wondering do you have a Death Wish who is actually responsible for that Israel doesn’t have to attack us Israel doesn’t have to genocide Israel doesn’t have to ethnically cleanse but they choose to and so the danger is artificially manufactured unsafe and if it’s not safe for me then it’s not safe for the Palestinians like that’s what it’s about so I yeah and plus my kids they will avenge me for sure seriously their dad when their dad said hey mom might be in an Israeli prison there and my eight-year-old there are no tears they’re just like well then we will go there and we will break her out we will fight like they know um I have a lot of Hope in the young Generations oh they’re amazing they are yeah one one question I was thinking always when I read that you were a mother uh this is my was this was my main question for you how do you speak to Children about what’s going on how can we uh teach other parents to talk about this because this is something that they don’t need to know all the details but they need to know what’s happening so I I think at different ages and stages there are different ways to have the conversation one of the easiest things any parent can do is Google books about Palestine for kids and if you find any kind of book about it that written for kids it’s going to help you build a vocabulary and frame a discussion if you feel under equipped to do that for me like my eight-year-old where he’s at developmentally it’s more like focusing on the one to one like here is what’s happening to an individual child right now and also kids that are younger tend to relate to animals so we also include like here’s and he loves cats so here’s what’s happening to the cats too now my 11-year-old who’s a bigger thinker at this point we can talk about bigger Concepts um like and use big phrases like ethnic cleansing and genocide and talk about what that means and where we’ve seen it historically and the indicators of it for now and what could this look like in the future um and of course this discussion for me and my kids is not limited to just Palestine it’s it’s also that like you are young able-bodied white boys who will grow into inshah able-bodied white men how are you going to do better in the world to not just think of yourself and your own needs W very beautiful very right very right and one last question um since you were saying that you’re like a cheerleader for the crew over there is there any like experience or moment of Joy or moment of Hope over there while you were about to sail that you can share with us so we in our nonviolence deescalation training we’re putting these Affinity groups my affinity group was three Physicians myself uh the three Physicians are actually two Palestinian doctors one Iraqi and they all live in New Zealand now um and then a young gentleman who’s a university student in mosul and he’s one of the youngest people on the flotilla and his mother is very nervous about this understandably but he you know he took a selfie with me and he sent it to her and he you know he said mom don’t worry there’s other moms on this Mission it’ll be okay um but you you know in in 2006 2007 when I was sent to Iraq as part of the US Army he would have been made 8 years old at that time and now he is sending a picture with me to help his mother feel safer and what a Divine gift of Grace in life that solidarity with Palestine has given me that now I can be that person for him and so I I figured out in you know bah Arabia how to send a message uh for him to give to his mother that I I would look after him like he is my own son and so oh that’s yeah I got go spumps as well very emotional and wor is you right now he went back and he is doing activism powerful stuff he sends us clips of the things he’s doing at his home and and inshah we will we will all see each other again soon getting on that ship yes oh thank you so much Mar Beth thank you for sharing all of these stories hopefully we can come back to you after a few other guests and let’s go with fua hi faru Hi how are you um so awake I’m still awake you’re still awake yeah sorry for taking you almost up to the end of the of our guests but I had so many questions for you no you are in Malaysia so you are very H you have a lot of time in h different different from us so thank you for staying up I’ve seen your videos everything you post thank you for that I wanted to talk to you about the importance of social media these days I know that H for me at Le at least before October 7th social media was a place where we would feel very in a way un safe and insecure H we were using it the wrong way but it has switched and changed so much that I’ve had to like update myself with what do I do and how do I do it how do I do videos but I feel like today it’s very important can you share to me like your experience doing this and how do you feel about this particular role yes um as someone who loves social media um I think that um it’s a lot more difficult nowadays to post things on social media than before you know like two five years back because of the Shadow Banning and everything but uh social media has played like one of the biggest role to spread Awareness on what’s going on in Palestine especially in res right now so that is why like people get to see all the the life um genocide that’s that’s on that’s happening and how people were like you know some people were still trying to control it using social media still or mass uh you know communication but it’s it’s difficult to hide the truth when people can just like like see this is what’s going on right now and like how are you going to still manipulate this so yeah that’s like um and it’s beautiful now that that people are using more of social media to spread truth not just about Palestine about what’s going on in Congo what’s going on in sou Sudan so so yeah so so that’s how I see it and with social media you are the one controlling the narrative like you use it how you want to use it if you wanted to spread the truth you you do it that way if you wanted to keep manipulating the truth that’s what you’ll be doing too but you know you cannot hide behind social media cuz other people are using it too so so yeah that’s how what I love about social media but the trend and the blocking H it sucks it sucks it sucks like my my Tik Tok um it’s difficult to post anything on Tik Tok without getting banned so I got uh warning from Tik Tok I got banned for 10 years yeah so I cannot make money out of Tik Tok for 10 years that’s really and this on the on the last time I mean this is a new thing you were new thing so I posted something about Palestine and how like America is contributing to it so I immediately got the warning um but alhamdulillah my post I can still post things on Tik Tok but it doesn’t get uh push like the the for you page as much as it used to um so yeah it’s it’s not sad it’s a challenge so we will work U whatever way they try to silent us we will work against that like we will use whatever way they trying to control us so yeah yes we’re seeing right now how Tik Tok is trying to be banned by the state because of how influent I mean how important it has been so I’m sure that they’re trying to silence you but there’s so many people using that platform spreading the truth that I feel like it’s something that it’s completely out of their hands and they have lost this media at least um tool that they thought they could control but I mean no matter how Shadow ban and how much H censoring it’s going to it’s going to pass it’s all filtered and you as a woman I feel I mean I feel like women have played an important role in the activism for Palestine since October 7th especially I mean not to discredit men they are powerful and very important H but it is in women that I found very strong opinions activism and concrete initiatives to boycott to protest in these Hard Times how do you feel about this uh role for women or about this um uh I mean about women’s role in The Liberation for Palestine yeah um uh again I don’t see this as just like one gender thing but but as women uh we are both women uh it’s a something closer to us because we have the empathy we were born I see that we we were born you know with pain like um we got our um monthly menstral it’s painful I’m not sure about you but I know my monthly menstrual is like such a pain and some of us like Mary bath she gave birth that’s beautiful but also a painful process you know from pregnancy to giving birth to like and nursing the baby afterwards so we were born with pain and we would like to avoid that as much as possible so it’s so easy for it to come naturally for us to to feel the pain of others of course it’s not the same like whatever um the Palestinian right now are are experiencing but it’s this something that we want to avoid and we do want do not want others to to feel pain too so so this is like a very close thing for us and it’s easy to feel like um we want this to stop from happening and um and I feel like right now with um like the worst things happening in Palestine that we wom you know like small small thing like we take for granted like not having hygiene and they’re getting infection like vaginal infection those kind of thing and those who like gave birth they have to remove their wom or something because like the the infection after giving birth because not having all the the necessary medical care after that that is bsar right I I don’t think we need to be a mother to feel like my God this is wrong but if you’re a woman like you know like yeah I’m not going to cry right now but yeah so so that’s that’s how I feel as women it’s easy to to feel like we have to do something and we can do something because we’re strong that way we might not be physically strong we might not be able to lift car or something we don’t have to car but we can leave someone’s Pain by you know feeling the empathy and actually do something yeah yeah and how do you feel about um I mean there’s so many other people and Injustice going I mean being subjected to power and white colonialism and Zionist even um how do you feel like the Palestinian Liberation can help us or or with all of the other things that are happening in the world H why are we centering the information on this subject I don’t know share me a little bit of your thoughts on this yeah so um a disclaimer I’m not an expert in in politics or in history but um coming from the background of a country that was colonized by British and also like um I’m Indian I’m Indian Muslim so like my grandparents came from India also at the time when British also colonized India so I I think like it’s easy to say that um it’s not a right thing and it’s all in the past and as soon as people wakes up at that time and know that this is not right and like stop all the colonizing um uh you know like people get their freedom because that is the only right thing to do and and the funny thing is that um palestin issue is a one of the many thing is set the colonization which means like at this year at this age and time 2024 they are still colonizing power that you know took over another country and yeah in in it’s stupid that is the only word I can say and like um I don’t understand like how people make their effort like spend their energy trying to justify that this is okay this is there’s no way to be okay you know like we were once colonized too and we we we want to stop that that is the only logical thing to do so same thing happening in Palestine so as soon as long as people see like this is not okay this is like um white supremacy thingy U colonizing people you know all the superpowers in the world just like power hungry wanted to get grab all the you know natural resources whatever in Palestine like as soon as people realize that we need to knock some sensus on our government and stop this so that all the injustices in the world inshallah will stop too um I’m not being like I know like I sound very you know like um too idealistic but that is the only logical thing to do right I mean we need to be idealistic at this time that’s that’s that’s what’s putting the fire inside of all of our hearts I feel like being idealistic and and dreaming of a different reality you know since the people in gasa can’t dream of a future then we should dream for them you know yeah and it’s beautiful because my best friend is in North Resa right now and she’s the one yeah and um when when we was we were told that we have to go back to our country because like um you know the guine B flight thing and I cried because I do not know how to tell her that um look I I’m not going to be able to go now but I just tell her and she was like I believe in you I know you will come back like she’s the one that’s boosting my morale you see that’s crazy yeah I feel like the same like how are they boosting our moral exact boosting theirs and and you were planning on seeing her there are the idea of the boat coming into Gaza would arrive at what at what place of the geography of Gaza to the north to south um yeah I’m I’m not sure if others have the information cuz um I do not have that information I believe they will only disclose that once we were really in the flotilla for like security and safety purposes because like the main uh reason is to break the stage in Gazza because like Israel says they uh withdraw from Gaza 2005 I think but not really they like they control the land you know the water the sea so so that’s the whole big thing about everything yeah okay faru thank you so much you’re welcome hopefully you will sleep well right after this um thank you for your hard work for being H for sharing emotions and everything um hopefully you will arrive to gasa very soon inshah inshah thank you hi Daniel hello how are you I’m good I I see that you’ve been traveling all around estanbul trying to find a place for us for for you to have good connection I am very much uh like in the I’m I’m really out in the middle of nowhere so um I hope my sound quality is okay you sound perfect right now actually so thank you thank you thank you thank you where are you I saw like a tent happening around in the back uh this is a Blood Donor Center I believe and it’s right by fatia Moss in fatia Istanbul wow and is the blood the blood clinic for donations for Gaza or or what is it uh no I think it’s just a u okay a blood collection place uh similar to anywhere else in the world okay yeah I thought like maybe everything is working around gasa but I don’t imagine them traveling blood is how is Istanbul these days about H for with the people coming from the fla are there special things happening around it it uh I was uh I was quite ignorant to um what things would be like here in Istanbul and Tura but I was surprised by how much more people from Turkey knew about flotilla um then you know say for instance Australian people do and it’s been it’s been quite a warm welcome to be honest uh with the average person that I’ve met so that’s amazing yeah I’ve seen some photos I these the people that we invited for this conversation part of a group I see I’ve seen photos of you together hanging out have you become like a group of friends we are we have gotten a lot yeah that’s amazing um so I wanted to ask you about um the the impact of of activism and the well I ask some other of your colleagues about what are your specific tasks on the flotilla what are your expectations on what you’re going to do once you’re aboard and then once you arrived how do you distribute distribute those tasks oh I think I lost him I think I’m good now okay okay great so thank you for coming back I was gonna ask on and on the specifics of the flotilla production and distribution if you can tell me a little bit like what are this how do you I know that first of all you had some training some peaceful training I wanted to know about that because it’s something that I read very like in in one of the so I know that people would like would love to make them think that your work is uh in a way violent or anti-semitic but no you’ve even been having some training on Peaceful resistance and everything so tell me a little bit what happened when you arrived there what’s how things work it’s uh uh in a like unequivocally nonviolent form of activism um and it seems a little counterintuitive I guess to people who have never done it before but um it’s it’s not resisting Israel should they choose to stop us you know once they have chosen to do that should should they choose to do that the decision’s been made they’re a much stronger Force we all know that we’re not going to get anywhere by resisting them to the death and we don’t want that of anyone either but if Israel chooses to seize our ship then they’ve already lost the the battle see it’s it’s kind of about either getting through the blockade and getting to gazen people and helping them with the aid and if Israel chooses to stop us from doing that they expose themselves as hypocritical cruel you know they they expose their own blockade and they do so to a group of like hardworking honest worldwide humanitarian workers and and that you know that that is essentially the worst thing they can do for themselves I I think and that that I guess is the the the only two possibilities uh when it comes to sailing to Gaza get in or being deported byly you’re very brave and so what are we expecting right now because H I know that we are missing a flag Gina bis took the flag out and you’re you’re waiting right now what is the waiting um about how are you waiting I know you you might be needing to go back to your country what what are your what are we expecting from the flotilla and the pressure on the other countries well those of us that stayed in Turkey uh expecting news before too long about the next effort that will be made and we’re hoping that it comes soon we we don’t know when it will come uh it’s it’s it’s not information that we are I guess authorized to have it’s between the steering committee members and uh sort of the organizers to handle that information and and they they’re keeping that information quite private in the leadup to you know the second uh like launch effort uh because I think they want to be a little more strategic this time and not not give you know Israel another chance at coming up with some sort of bureaucratic way of stopping us from leaving I think they want to they want to make sure we don’t have a repeat of what happened just a month ago so information is tight but I have total faith in the steering committee and the organizers and I trust that they’ll make the right call and they’ll let us know when we’re on as soon as possible inshah yes hopefully very soon um I feel like this the flotilla initiative and also what the students are doing in different universities this last this few weeks and months ago that’s that’s been happening in the world right now are very concrete and specific type of action peaceful actions that we can pursue into the liberation of Palestine what other things that you you think that people could um work around to feel that they can help towards this well in Australia just today it’s it’s uh you know the middle of the night in Australia now but all of my activist friends in Australia have just gone to bed after a long day of stopping Israeli ships from doing commercial visits in ports in Australia which is quite funny you know they stopped our ship and we stopped theirs uh so we’ve done direct actions before to physically stop the loading of ships this one was more of a are uh a protest to just draw attention to the fact that Israel has one of the third largest shipping companies in the world operate out of Australian ports basically every day and yeah it’s it’s it’s it’s a big part of why I left Australia is because the the Australian government allows Commerce you know trade like this to continue despite the fact that they know exactly where all of these are going and Australia may not have a big population but it does allow a lot of trade you know back and forth we do a lot of exporting and uh I think the greatest way that Australians on the ground in Australia can affect change in Israel and other governments is to affect trade more than anything uh unless you’re willing to come to Istanbul and get on the flo to that is I’m I’m I’m this close I’m joining you very soon so on the personal level a little bit about yourself because on your biography I I know that you wrote that you in a way you feel ashamed of your nationality but also it gives you a lot of tools to work around um how did you how has your activism um started and how did you answer to a call to join the fla uh the first form of activism I was in involved in was in Australia and it was for the liberation of the indigenous peoples of Australia like I guess in a way um Australia does have one of the well I think it’s the oldest continuing culture in the world uh I’m I’m from darell country by the way which is just below Sydney and uh there’s a surviving uh group called The W body that still exist in Dar country but there’s there’s many many others um for anyone who hasn’t or isn’t aware or hasn’t done so uh do a search tonight on indigenous Australians and you might be shocked as to just how big of a culture there was and just how uh badly affected those cultures were by British colonialism and everything that’s happened in the last 250 Years anyway that that subject is is real uh form of activism that when I heard about Palestine it it sparked the exact same outrage in me as I felt feel for indigenous Australians of course I mean at the end all the oppressed native people of L have suffered for hundreds of here because of the idea like the this idea of col colonizing to like expand and to globalize but it has only fractured us as Society so yes hopefully by liberating one people we can liberate everyone or at least be aware of what we’ve done and try to like fix fix things you know and thank you so much for trying to be one of those people fixing this reality yeah myself also do what I can I’m American as well Chan American and I feel like so embarrassed of what in the past in the past made me feel proud in a way I just wish things would end Daniel thank you so much for joining us and for sharing your experience um inshah you you Bard soon you get to gasa and you sent some videos from there so we can share people here in Chile that you made it hopefully I mean if you do part you will made it there because if not we do live in a very bad Society we will see yeah safe trip take care nice to talk to you Nina the same know each other oh yeah yeah we spent we spent the past month together oh really where where do you sleep where in in Istanbul how how has been the accommodation logistic so we all mostly stayed in in hotels um monib has been there for a minute so she has an apartment that she you’ll have to host everyone now since since we have that you’ve been waiting for so long I’m sure people has been looking for new accommodations I mean is expensive so it is yeah it is but I think you can also kind of live quite uh comfortably if you share you know so if um people share apartments and it’s not expensive and I think you know well we’ll see what happens going forward with the flotilla if people need to come then we would suggest that they if it’s well if it’s not turkey even if you’re going to another country is that you hire an apartment on on on sort of bookings uh Arrangements like maybe guest houses and then sh accommodation that works out a lot mhm i l her there that’s amazing I I want to know also um if everything goes well and you are right to um Mona let’s wait for her to come back I’m back you’re coming back smoth slowly so I wasn’t all the time in you know at the hotel in the beginning uh because I was in the apartment so I kind of connected with everybody but I think once you know we kind of made uh friends with people and we realize that we all actually on the same Mission um you know I have a family in South Africa I have three grown grown-up children I have four grandchildren um and I really miss them I really really do miss them and um you know it was like having to share with them this emotion of meeting all these beautiful people and like Mary Beth would talk about why she’s on the latilla it’s for her children’s future and I would go back home and share that with my daughter and said you know there’s this amazing woman that’s joined the filla because she says she’s here to make sure that her children have a better world to live in um so yeah it’s been really wonderful to be able to interact with with all the filla participants and particularly the young you know that they have a vision and they want to be a part of the change in the world and that’s been really awesome to share that with my friends and colleagues and my grandchildren and telling them what’s happening every day and giving them updates so yeah it’s been really rewarding um and that um you know I’m just wanting to wait for that day when be all back on that flotilla to be able to share what each individual’s done in their own space and their own capacity and then come together and say you know this is where we all are we sailing together and uh yeah so that’s really nice and Istanbul on the whole has been a amazing experience for me because when I chose to come to Istanbul for the seven months back going to like it and I must say every day that I’ve been here I’ve loved it I’ve met the most beautiful people I have made the most amazing friends um and everybody that I’ve met uh has somehow been connected to Palestine and that’s been really wonderful so you could share stories and experiences with them so the world is actually very small if you think about it yeah the two of you are are work or live around plants you know you like exteriors and you like gardening and planting native plants yeah I I actually remember however many years ago um I learned a lot about kosher gardening because of Jewish friends I had and I love to feed people from the things I grow so I wanted to make sure if I was feeding my friends who keep kosher that I was keeping kosher with my garden and kosher gardening is like if you took organic gardening and did it even better it’s beautiful and so like I what what is around the kosher gardening what what’s that so first of all even when you’re picking things like herbs and stuff you want to make sure you’re not killing like any little pollinators that are and like you’re not allowed to kill trees you even if the Tre go continue oh that so even if the tree stuff producing fruit you’re not allowed to kill it you must let it live its life and so I come home and I I tell my co-parent about this Ben already known at that point about all of the olive trees that had been decimated and I knew about olive trees scientifically yes they live in average of 600 years can we hip please I I’m trying [Music] but that’s I say my son from Tunisia um so we have we have pictures of me piggy backing him around just being um so yeah yeah yeah so olive trees of course they can live average of 600 years up to a thousand years for some of them it takes multiple generations for them to really start to reach their Max production so when I came home and was telling my co-parent all about amazing stuff about kosher gardening uh and he had to kind of break it to me about all of the settlers and the hundreds of thousands of olive trees that have been destroyed yeah and that’s a that’s that’s one of their tools for for ethnic cleansing right and you think about inity and the idea of you don’t own the Earth but you and the Earth can serve each other and how when these Palestinians plant their olive trees they’re not doing it for themselves they’re doing it for like great grandchildren MH and the livelihoods that they will have from these olive trees but this is not something that is really a big part of white Western culture the idea that I think of those that I will never know but I already love them um and that’s a very that’s a very Arabic form of living I feel like family or thinking about the generations to come I mean we’re we have so many story in the back of like sufferings and tras and running and escaping so it’s part of our DNA genetic that we inherit you know to think about people from the future since the people in the present cannot think about I mean the people in the present in Gaza and in palan cannot dream we will dream for them and I know that you plant native plants in your garden but I don’t will you plant an olive tree actually um when I got home my spouse and kids had bought me a little olive tree beautiful now I have to check and see with zones like climate zones where I’m gonna yard to make sure it has right space it needs because we get a little bit colder than what I think it wants um but not all the time and you can you know you can kind of like throw these like plant blankets on it maybe yeah or like you plant it on like the south side of a wall of the house the wall can give enough heat to keep it going so we’ll we’ll see what I can do with my my one and only baby olive tree that they got me yeah H I think just with love it’s going to grow so I’m sure it’s gonna survive if it that will be a beautiful Olive Tree yeah yeah for sure I got a lot of love to give and Mary beath yeah and Mary beath I hope that you’re gonna actually Palestine able to share these stories under the olive trees with families it’s so amazing to be part of that and when they share their stories with you in nature you know it’s so beautiful it’s so lovely yeah yeah the kids that we talked to with the no collected um they asked me because I have it right in my Instagram Palestine is issue and they ask me what like what do you mean by that and and it is that again like white Western feminism there’s about everybody but Palestinians or black people in America or whatever white Western feminism only cares about itself but like my son and to get to work with muniba on an area I care very much about and to know her through this this this gift of this solidarity as I was leaving my 11-year-old said to me Mom you need to bring sanitary pads and I was like okay 11year old maybe I’ll get a period while I’m there and they’re all so good for abdominal wounds if it gets to that and uh and he he’s like no cuz you said the violence his words the violence disproportionately affects women and Palestinian women are using tent scraps for their periods and uh I just child but I thought about also the gift of time and that I as a mother can take time to Revel in the beauty of my children and and and that Palestinian moms are so trapped in this fight or flight do they have the privilege of the opportunity to just bask in the glow of the beauty of their child and be present in the moment and I don’t know that that can happen a whole lot right now inshah inah thank you for sharing this um how can and one last question question to both of you maybe you can help me clear this out how can we help you from the distance I mean to make the boat leave yes what are we how can we help and what happened with the 5.5 tons of human humanitarian Aid because I’m guessing a lot of that was food yeah yeah so ehaa who is the primary giant humanitarian agency that has been collecting this so first of all thank you to the Turkish people because 4 million individual donors from a dollar to $10 to whatever gave to make this Aid happen they have a lot of Aid available the aid is shelf stable but even then shelf stable to a point so they had to make the decisions at their level based on the information available that the first batch of 5,500 tons of Aid would go by ground to allish and then or go by SE to allish and then have to go by ground through Rafer Crossing um which again 5,500 tons of Aid is about one day for just like the northern half of Gaza so um they have so much Aid available that when the ship comes back they will be able to reload it the aid is the mechanism by which we move to challenge this illegal blockade that is in violation of international humanitarian law this is the way we say we support Palestinian control of Palestinian land yeah so spreading the word is a thing that we can do on the this yeah yeah and and I think the more visibility it has again you can never guarantee safety but what you can do is increase the statistical likelihood of getting through in the first place of getting through with every human being intact and getting through or even if we don’t get through that they kill anyone just go around is through this ongoing visibility and the demands of the International Community and and um you WBA have something else to to share about this I mean I feel like it’s so important to follow your your path to get to Gaza so I know that one of the main things that you are asking for the people outside the floa that wants to join in a symbolical way or in an in a far distance way is to like uh put you out on the map put you up on the map talk about it and any other strategic um information and also also push on the idea of boycott divest and sanction yeah I mean s I mean this this all the sanctions from the global Community should have happened of course decades ago I I maintain that revolutionary change has two parents hope and anger and I maintain the hope now that with the larger European countries starting to recognize Palestinian in statehood which again there shouldn’t have to be statehood for you to not Massacre people like the political designations and modern manifestations of society aside as we force that colonizer framework of what a society is onto people that aside there doesn’t have to be a state for you to just not kill them exactly like don’t do that uh but nonetheless with the European countries recognizing statehood um next comes sanctions so come on Ireland come on Norway start with the sanctions and and we’ll just keep trying to tighten the grip around the neck of the US government as best we can here and we will be following you Mar Beth thanks hi good morning hi good evening how are you Hi how are you I’m good where are you where are you right now IST I am a long yeah we have more to one month that’s crazy Mary Beth was saying that you were like her children how is that Rel how are relations happening over there I am and children he said always always he said like I am like your son and I feel like that’s what’s been happening over there you know like when people unite and you are from different ages you start making new Families how how has how has been your experience because we always together I am the young person in this street you know I am 29 years old and people all all 322 42 we have Frank also we love 72 you but Frank always say to me he’s like my brother good is it because you feel older or he feels younger he feels he feels young a young Soul that’s good that’s good I know I know that you were part of the Tunisian Judo team um and that you also yeah you were trained in nonviolent training before I mean when you arrived to estanbul how er how did you participate in this training or how can you I mean help with all of this so uh in Tunisia we have organization we have organization uh our organization name from Palestine we open this organization we have more to 12 years ago and we doia to Convoy toaz and now I come I I don’t know uh succeeded I don’t know how she succeeded our operation here I come I wake up in tunesia morning I call people here in Istanbul I said just I want to go to Gaza and I am Champion Africa in judu and I live in Russia he said to me if you can come after 7 hour just be good I said okay I go quickly to airport I buy ticket and I come off 7 hour wow and when and then and when he said all people uh we have a problem with the flag GRE and we can’t sell uh I said I won’t I won’t go home I I I won’t go home I will stay here when I see the last person will go home go after him so this I am here maybe I go I go to Gaza or I still in inah and did you arrive to estanbul by yourself or you have a friend there or how how are you traveling no no just by by myself I am alone here but now I have family I have Salah I have Marth and we have MBA we have Frank always and then Ali maram now we have family here we always I feel like I feel like um one of the most important thing when doing activism is the is the the the community sorry my dog is barking right now but is the the community that happens around this what is what is something a moment of joy that you would like to share or a moment of Happiness what what can this give to you besides risking your life or going away from home look uh I am I have character I am person I love adrenaline you know and for me and for Mee this not he didn’t he did begin 7 October for me Palestine I have I am I am the movement to Palestine I have more to 20 years ago I am 29 when I have 9 years ago I am always in Tunisia go to protest and to in college and in University and all my life I have many movement with Palestine but why what connects you to that what what can you teach of people of how did you feel connected with the repression of another people considering that in Tunisia also especially right now it’s been happening things and repressing repression against the people because because for me this uh this war for me it’s not for in humanity for me this war is religion and Humanity also you know for all to religious humanity and beliefs you know I am I have all my life I know the Palestine will be free maybe not today maybe tomorrow maybe not tomorrow but someday I will be free but I want to be uh one in this story in this life you know I don’t I don’t want to stay to to home and just make Dua and just share in Facebook and just in protest and uh and and cry just uh free Palestine free Palestine no just I want to go to Palestine I I I just I want to have a feeling like people in I want to have same feeling I I share this same feeling with you I want to be there I want to be a part of this I want to help and we need to liberate Palestine very very soon now I I want to go also with another you listen about I trying to go now maybe in with him after 10 days yes but hand is stop is stopping in different parts and I think it’s going to arrive later to Gaza than the freedom flotilla or no handala handala is not arriving soon to Gaza right I I do I feel like Freedom flotilla is closer okay for me I have a problem with Visa problem I can’t maybe if you will sell another place in Europe maybe in Spanish or Italy I can’t take a Visa for for me for for me this be easy with h if he come here inul and we go with him because you know passport Tunisian passport and with this passport I can’t go anywh and I in t with government Tunisian government about Palestine I can’t go home now in if I go in I go really yeah because I have problem with actually I have problem with the president I am always inia Tunisia make a movement but no one know my face I am always like this but all people know this uh my clothes you know all people know my clothes but no one know me know my face but when I come here in stul I speak many time in radio in media in television and I said like uh we need flag Tunisian flag I I speak in I speak also with President so I have like you Expos yourself to encourage you know others to speak up yeah good I mean there’s no time to hide the face anymore I think that we’ve all been Target and they they yeah for this I’m not all time like this I don’t uh I don’t care about anybody like president tonis or not Tunis or or people on the world I am I supported paltin to I don’t close my face again very brave and but I want to do something you know not you’re doing you’re doing a lot or you feel like you haven’t done enough we trying you try we do more and more yeah it’s a mix feeling you know doing so many things all the day all the time and always feeling like it’s not enough but yeah I know this problem all people wake who want to who want uh be with people God for me not just sharing in Facebook or Instagram and go in the protest and you’re blocking the mic uh you need just to be with Gaza every minute every second you know when you wake up morning when you eating when you’re sleeping every time when you look in your phone you always think about Gaza for me who want to be a supported Gaza not just for like trend for one hour or for one day always every second thinking about Gaza about about woman together you need to think about that every second Mar best know me if you if you want you can ask her she said I am always when I wake up morning night every second and I when I woke I said I want to go to Gaza when she look at me mar B when we will go to Gaza when we will go to Gaza this my question every day when we are here together then you arrive soon you will get there you will get there and and and you get and when you get there please send us photos and send us a video from there because we all want to travel I want to be in Palestine so share with us okay I wish I could be on board with yeah okay I’m not gonna I’m G I’m not gonna steal more time with you from you thank you so much for joining and for sharing your spirit you thank you so much tomorrow say hello to the students in Chile that have been protesting and encamping okay hello everybody stay safe yes pal from the river from the river to the Sea uh no I would just say so is 100% accurate that his way of saying good morning when we go to Gaza Marth when we go to Gaza at night not good night it’s Marth when we go to Gaza good night um he he is so Mission focused and so on it that it is really you know he’s just really inspiring to so many people his just indominable Spirit of of focused work for Gaza yeah how how strong and and potent it must be to be on that flotilla with so many good energy and kind Spirit people like only only um uh how do you say like uh it’s so inspiring so beautiful and I think you will have a memory for all of your life uh of what you’re doing right now I thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing what you’re doing and uh in a way in a in a in a healthy way I envy you for having that that energy for me I mean there of course there are small things in life that stop each other from from doing like that I feel like my family would freak out if I told them like I’m going to to estan to go to Gaza you know um and I don’t know it’s so thank you thank you so much for this it it is a gift for me to be able to participate and be present yeah sometimes you have to sort of put your body on the line particular United States and my country’s own shameful Behavior this was a logical progression what more can I do what more can I say other than to put my body into the fight in this in in this way um that okay us are you ready to have your own disabled veteran mother of two in har way calling you out to do better we’ve come to that unfortunately for us to be in front of lines except instead of like governments actually defending us and thanking you for your service and everything so okay Mary Beth say thank you so much say hello to your kids and your plants I will I will I see you know I have only two kids but like yesterday I think I had six or seven children in my house um that was just always the kind of home I wanted to have where any child could come at any time eat whatever ever they want lay on the furniture do what do whatever they have to do and just be a really like a safe space for children so I see some of them now out in the driveway I have to check in and make sure everybody’s doing a I’m sure they’re fine go and check them right now so thank you for coming Mary Beth um thank you for taking the time sharing so many amazing things and very um close to the heart uh experiences so I wish you H travel to estanbul very soon and get on that ship and get togethera yep y I’ll be following you okay thank you bye bye [Music] in for [Music] [Music] is [Music] Starbucks McDonald Burger King piz Domino piz [Music] Instagram [Music] Palestina graas graas graas elas gracias Bruno graas Gra [Applause] [Music]