The Global Sumud Flotilla is already sailing the high seas. Its mission combines humanitarian aid, political action and the call to revive international mobilization for Palestine in an increasingly convulsed regional context. The International Socialist League (ISL) is an active part of the mission, both at sea and on land.
By Ruben Tzanoff
In the open sea
The GSF began sailing on Sunday, April 12 at the Moll de la Fusta and due to a storm, having the experience of the previous mission, did not continue towards international waters in order not to cause damage to the vessels. And on Wednesday, April 15, it set sail for Gaza. Thirty-seven ships departed – to which one more will be added – so that this still partial number is already more than last year’s total. Greenpeace and Open Arms ships will also be part of the mission, providing a broader humanitarian and security framework.
Several stopovers ahead, with high morale
The next stop will be in Italy. In Augusta, Catania, Syracuse, Rome and various Sicilian communities solidarity with Palestine and the Flotilla will be expressed again; with events, festivals, artistic and cultural meetings. The next extended departure is scheduled for April 24 from Syracuse. Subsequent stops will be announced in the future, in each of which it will be essential to evaluate the political conditions resulting from the war in the Middle East in order to decide on the next steps to be taken.
Our ISL comrades, Congresswoman Cele Fierro and Dr. Raul Laguna (MST-Argentina) – both on board the sailboat La Romantica II – set sail in high spirits, as did all the activists. The current flotilla has a message for the people of Gaza that expresses: “You are not alone”, but it is also addressed to the workers and peoples of the world, with the call to recreate the huge international mobilization of last year, the university occupations, the strikes, the boycott campaigns and the actions that, besides questioning the governments, set their eyes on the Flotilla and defended it.
Active ISL on board and ashore
In Barcelona, comrades from Socialismo y Libertad (SOL)-Spanish State and Gruppe ArbeiterInnenmacht (Germany) participated in the activities and saw Cele and Raul off. In Italy, comrades of the Partito Comunista dei Lavoratori (PCL) will do the same and in the five continents, there will be organizations of the ISL in the front line of raising the cause of Palestine as a cause of humanity. Rejecting the imperialist-Zionist aggressions, in defense of the Palestinian, Lebanese, Iranian, Cuban and Venezuelan peoples, with political independence from the authoritarian regimes. Promoting strikes, mobilizations, boycotts, talks and other initiatives. And of course, spreading the Flotilla’s mission and defending the activists that compose it. Always with the strategy of defeating the State of Israel and its accomplices with the Socialist Revolution in the Middle East that opens the way to a Free and Socialist Palestine from the river to the sea.
