The following is a media statement from Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia.
Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia is excited to announce that Chris Graham, the publisher and editor of New Matilda and Walkley Award winning journalist, will be on board the Freedom Flotilla Coalition boat Al Awda (The Return) later this month as she challenges the devastating and inhumane Israeli government blockade of Gaza.
This latest Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) campaign to raise awareness of the impacts of Israel’s illegal blockade on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip is called Right to a Just Future for Palestine. It will not only focus on the right to freedom of movement, as all previous flotillas have done, but it will also focus on the right of return that has been denied to dispossessed Palestinian refugees for 70 years.
Chris said: “The job of independent media like New Matilda, is to print truths that some would rather not see exposed. It’s also to give voice to the voiceless, and there aren’t many groups on earth with less of a voice than Palestinians. So, I’m looking forward to being part of that process.
“I’m obviously anxious about the response of the Israeli Government to the flotilla – they killed 10 members of a Flotilla in 2010 during a raid on the Mavi Marmara. But I’m also mindful that the Israeli Government’s campaign of misinformation and intimidation of journalists and media organisations has been effective in reducing scrutiny of its actions.”
Al Awda and her sister ships Freedom, Falestine and Mairead, are currently undertaking a tour of European ports to build support for the campaign and show Palestinian people and communities that while governments and international institutions may have failed them over the last 70 years, there is growing civil society support for their fundamental human rights.
John Pilger said: “The freedom flotillas have achieved extraordinary results in informing the world of the inhumanity and cruelty of the Israelis’ medieval siege of Gaza”. He has officially endorsed Right to a Just Future for Palestine, stating “I specially appreciate the words, ‘Just Future’ — justice is the basic human right missing from the media reporting of Palestine; yet without justice, no peace is possible, and no future is secured.”
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