GAZA FREEDOM MARCH

sarahwe

Sarah Wellington
[email protected]
www.gazafreedommarch.org <http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/>;

Sarah Wellington to Join Gaza Freedom March Dec. 31

Joins more than 1,000 delegates from 42 countries


Sarah Wellington, an artist and political activist from Alpine, NJ, and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, will spend her holiday season in the Gaza Strip, participating in the Gaza Freedom March along with Alice Walker and scores of other notables (www.gazafreedommarch.org).

Departing from Cairo, Egypt, Wellington and more than 1,000 international activists will caravan into Gaza to witness the devastation from last year's Israeli invasion. On Dec. 31, they will join a projected 50,000 Palestinians in a non-violent march from Northern Gaza to the Erez/Israeli border to call for the border to open. On the Israeli side of the Erez border Palestinians and Israelis will also be rallying to urge the Israeli government to open the border. "As a conscience human being, I cannot sit idly by while my government supports Israeli policies that lead to the death and suffering of people in Gaza. I will not be silent."

Marking the one-year date of the December 2008 Israeli invasion that left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, the Gaza Freedom March is a grassroots global response to the inaction on the part of world leaders and institutions. More than 1,000 international delegates from 42 countries are participating.

Participants include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, leading Syrian comedian Duraid Lahham, French Senator Alima Boumediene-Thiery, author and Filipino Parliament member Walden Bello, former vice president of the European Parliamentarian Luisa Morgantini from Italy, President of the U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights Michael Ratner, Japanese Former Ambassador to Lebanon Naoto Amaki, French Hip Hop Artists Ministere des Affaires Populaires, and 85-year-old Holocaust survivor and analyst at the Nuremburg Trials Hedy Epstein.

Also marching will be families of three generations; doctors; lawyers; diplomats; 70 students; an interfaith group that includes rabbis, priests and imams; a women's delegation; a veterans group; and Palestinians born overseas who have never seen their families in Gaza.

The Gaza Freedom March, which will take place in Gaza on Dec. 31, is an historic initiative to break the siege that has imprisoned the 1.5 million people who live there. Wellington wishes to continue the long history of nonviolent resistance which has been practiced by Palestinians for decades. Conceived in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and nonviolent resistance to injustice worldwide, the march will gather people from all over the world to march-hand in hand-with the people of Gaza to demand that the Israelis open the borders.

Inside Gaza, excitement is growing. Representatives of all segments of civil society, including students, professors, refugee groups, unions, women's organizations and NGOs, are busy organizing and estimate that at least 50,000 Palestinians will participate. People from the different sectors will march in their "uniforms"--fishermen, doctors, students, farmers, teachers, etc. "We are moved by the tremendous response to this march and are heartened that the global community has not forgotten us," said Haidar Eid, a member of the Organizing Committee in Gaza.

For more information, visit
www.gazafreedommarch.org or contact [email protected]

Ann Wright in Egypt (19) 508-1493, Gaza (599) 501-517
Tighe Barry, in Egypt (19) 481-2932, Gaza (598) 289-860
Medea Benjamin in Egypt (18) 956-1919, Gaza (599) 501-519
Haidar Eid Gaza (599) 441 766

Sarah Wellington
Brooklyn, NY

metalnyc

Best thing Israel EVER did was put up the wall. Notice how the suicide bombings subsided?

Your march is as useless as negotiations are with Hamas.

itinnyc

Can this be moved?

R u here to discuss the Middle East or Park Slope.

whynot_31

itinnyc wrote: Can this be moved?

R u here to discuss the Middle East or Park Slope.

I agree. This march isn't in Park Slope, and therefore the thread should be in some other section. I vote for "Brooklyn and Beyond" or the catch all politics thread, "Brooklyn Politics"

flux

Gaza is a cancer. This post should be removed!!!

pitu

mod note: Gaza is not a cancer, but this was certainly originally posted in the wrong place by someone new to the site. Carry on...