During the weekend of August 29-31, the port of Barcelona was the scene of a moving event in support of Palestine, organized to bid farewell to the Global Sumud Flotilla. On Sunday, August 31, at 3:35 p.m., the boats set sail on their mission, accompanied by the warmth and strength of hundreds of people who came to show their solidarity.
With this action, and in the face of the inaction of most governments and international institutions, citizens are once again demonstrating their strength and courage to denounce and help end one of the most atrocious genocides of our time.
The events were rich in activities: conferences by committed groups, concerts, dances, and rallies that transformed the port into a space of resistance, culture, and hope. This massive participation testifies to Catalan society’s commitment to the Palestinian cause and its support for this international initiative aimed at breaking the blockade and denouncing the genocide in Gaza.
A call for help was issued in anticipation of the event, to which the Catalan population responded in an extraordinary way: many people volunteered to travel on the boats, others opened their homes to welcome travelers, and there was no shortage of people willing to take on essential tasks such as cooking and logistics.
One example is “Cuineres per la Pau Baix Montseny,” a group of two cooks and more than 200 volunteers who prepare meals for the 350 crew members of the Global Sumud flotilla. Most of the food comes from donations from small businesses and local producers, and every day volunteers transport the supplies to the activists in vans.
Images from the paper boat workshop and the traditional Palestinian dance workshop.
Press conference
A press conference was scheduled as part of the events on August 31. Several prominent figures took part: members of the organization (Saif Abukeshek, Thiago Avila), activists (Greta Thunberg, Yasemin Acar, Muhammad Nadir Al-Un), actors (Liam Cunningham, Eduardo Fernández), musician James Smith, and political figures such as the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau.
Images from the press conference.
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, speaking at the press conference, said:
“The Palestinians have repeated their calls for justice, freedom, and their will to live for decades and have fallen on deaf ears, but slowly, little by little, every day, more and more people are waking up and seeing the absolute atrocities, the genocide, the mass murder that Israel is committing. “
”Today’s story is not about our journey or the mission we are about to undertake. Today’s story is about Palestine; today’s story is about how people are deliberately deprived of the most basic means of survival.
We see how the world can remain silent and how those in power, those who are supposed to represent us, betray and betray in every possible way the Palestinians and all the oppressed peoples of the world. They do not respect international law and do not fulfill their most basic legal obligations to prevent genocide.
Israel is very clear about its genocidal intent. They want to wipe out the Palestinian nation and take over the Gaza Strip.
We must act. If this is not enough to move people, to get them out on the streets and organized, I don’t know what will. Personally, I am horrified to see how people can continue to live with this genocide, watching it live on their phones, and acting as if nothing is happening. Palestinians have been dehumanized.
This story is also one of global uprising and growing engagement. For every politician who fuels genocide, ecological and climate destruction, colonization, and fascism, there will be an intensifying resistance to confront it.
That is why we are rallying people from all over the world, with even greater numbers arriving in dozens of boats, because there is simply no other solution. The Palestinian people demand that we act and end our complicity.
Participants in the Days of Support for Palestine. Support from the Association “A World Without War or Violence” for these days.
The former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, thanked the public with the following words:
The mobilization in Barcelona has been impressive. The people of Barcelona have rallied as many times as necessary: to welcome refugees, to end unjust wars, and for the Palestinian cause, which is the cause of humanity.
“A big thank you to all the citizens and social movements who, through citizen mobilization, forced the cowardly institutions that did not dare to act to take a stand. “
In Barcelona, we are proud to be the first city in Europe to break ties with Israel three years ago, thanks to social movements and citizens. We will demand that this same approach be implemented in all European institutions and governments.
There are only two sides: good and evil. There is the side of the genocidal and the side of those who want to defend life and human rights. We are here to defend life and human rights. If Gaza does not capitulate, we cannot capitulate. That is why this flotilla will set sail full of hope, and we will be able to say: “Gaza is not alone.” ”
About the Sumud Global Flotilla
After failed attempts to break the siege of Gaza—by sea with the ship Madleen, by land with the Sumud convoy, and by air with thousands of participants in the Global March to Gaza from Cairo—the organizers of these three initiatives decided to take a new step. This led to the creation of the Sumud Global Flotilla, whose goal is to denounce human rights violations in Gaza through coordinated, nonviolent humanitarian action.
The Sumud Global Flotilla organized a protest action aimed at delivering as much humanitarian aid as possible to Gaza and opening a corridor to facilitate the arrival of aid from countries, organizations, and institutions to a population in distress. To this end, dozens of boats and hundreds of activists left various Mediterranean ports with the mission of breaking the Israeli blockade of Gaza through coordinated action from different ports and with delegations from more than 44 countries.
This is a legal and nonviolent action. The boats will sail, with all the necessary permits, to the Gaza Strip, without entering Israeli territorial waters. Any Israeli interception will constitute an act of piracy. The objective is to establish a humanitarian corridor to deliver food and medicine to the Palestinian population, in accordance with the United Nations mandate, and to denounce the blockade, starvation tactics, and genocide of the Palestinian people.
The Israeli occupation maintains a total land, sea, and air blockade, isolating Gaza from the rest of the world. Land crossings remain closed, making the delivery of humanitarian aid fraught with obstacles, restrictions, and even mortal danger. The flotilla seeks to circumvent these obstacles by sea and directly challenge the blockade.
Each ship carries people with diverse profiles and specific roles, including medical personnel, crew members, mechanics, support volunteers, as well as prominent figures and delegations from various countries. More than 28,000 people have offered to collaborate in one way or another with the initiative, alongside the hundreds of people who have worked to organize it. Together, they represent a diverse group of volunteers from different backgrounds, beliefs, and cultures, willing to risk their lives to end the intolerable genocide in Gaza and contribute to the freedom of Palestine.
Barcelona was one of the ports chosen for the departure of the flotilla, which is why on Sunday, August 31, at 3:35 p.m., we said goodbye to the boats sailing to Gaza.
