Please take this special opportunity to do something very easy yet very meaningful for the people of Gaza!
Our own Linda Durham and Ken Mayers, longtime Santa Feans, will be sailing on the U.S. Boat to Gaza, The Audacity of Hope, scheduled to depart the third week of June. The U.S. Boat is one of many in International Freedom Flotilla II - Stay Human, which will yet again attempt to break Israel's illegal siege of Gaza.
The Flotilla will carry activists from around the world and humanitarian supplies to the people of Gaza. But U.S. law prohibits The Audacity of Hope from delivering relief supplies to Gaza. Instead, with the "To Gaza With Love" campaign, the cargo of The Audacity of Hope will be letters of friendship and solidarity with the people of Gaza from U.S. citizens--people like you!
Linda and Ken have written moving personal accounts of their reasons for sailing on The Audacity of Hope, which you can read below. And they are asking for your help by writing your own card or letter to be included in the cargo of the U.S. Boat to Gaza. Please see the end of this post for instructions on how to get your letters to the U.S. Boat.
When Linda and Ken return from their trip, we hope safely and after actually getting into Gaza, they will share their experiences with us. Watch your inbox for an event announcement, most likely in July or August. Meanwhile, to follow Linda, Ken, the U.S. Boat to Gaza, and the Flotilla go here, here, here, and here.
Here are Linda's and Ken's messages:
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Dear Members and Friends of AJVSF,
My excitement is mounting as I count down the days until I set sail on The Audacity of Hope, the U.S. Boat to Gaza. I am honored and eager to be part of this International Peace Flotilla, with the very important mission of breaking Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza. Participating ships from other countries will be delivering critically needed building supplies, food and medicines to the people of Gaza. According to United States law, we cannot contribute such aid because the elected Hamas leadership in Gaza has been labeled an "enemy" and, as Americans, we can neither aid nor abet enemies--or so the regulations state.
And so, our boat will have as its cargo letters and cards of love and support to men, women and children of Gaza from people across this country. The U.S. Boat to Gaza organization is collecting thousands of letters of friendship and solidarity! Tens of thousands, if our intentions are achieved!! It is my hope that you will join me in making this project a success.
For most of my life, I have been a geographical and intellectual wanderer, an explorer with a passion for art and culture--and cultures. In fact, I frequently refer to myself as "a freelance cultural explorer." Now that my gallery is closed (after thirty-three wonderful years), I intend to devote my life to issues of human rights and peace. I am intent on standing up for those who have been adversely affected by war and greed and catastrophes. In order to do that fully and sincerely, I plan to sell everything (EVERYTHING) I own. I want to be debt free and fancy free! I remember the Tanzanian guide who led me to the top of Kilimanjaro, who said, as I was stumbling through the moonless night, "May I carry your pack for you, so that you may walk more freely?" I want to walk more freely. I'm handing off my proverbial pack!
Now I want to walk, again, with my friends in Rafah...and I want to sing with the children in Jabaliya. I want to embrace the people of Gaza: the women who taught me to make bread and the children who showed me love and laughter in the midst of devastation. I want to be a good, true witness to the situation in that part of the world...and I want to come back to Santa Fe and share what I have seen and heard and felt....
Ken Mayers, from Veterans for Peace, is also a passenger on this voyage. We both look forward to receiving your letters to the people of Gaza!!
Peace, Shalom, Salaam, Paz, Mir...
Linda Durham
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Dear Members and Friends of AJVSF,
Between 1942 and 1945, 21 members of my mother's extended family are known to have died in German concentration camps: 7 in Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia; 7 in Riga, Latvia; 4 in Auschwitz, Poland; 2 elsewhere in Poland; and 1 in Sachsenhausen, Germany. Undoubtedly there were other family victims whose place and dates of death are still unknown. Still others managed to escape to Israel, where I still have family.
So why am I going to be sailing on The Audacity of Hope in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza? At a universal and abstract level, it is because I believe the blockade is illegal under international law that prohibits the collective punishment of a population. But at a personally more specific level, it is because I believe the power elite that rules Israel has drawn too narrow an understanding of the great lesson of the holocaust, a lesson often summarized in the slogan, "Never again!"
The narrow understanding can be stated as "Never again shall Jews be subjected to the persecution that culminated in the holocaust." A broader understanding would be, "Never again should any people be subjected to the persecution that culminated in the holocaust."
It is a tragic irony that after a millennium of Jewish confinement to the ghettos of Europe, the Jewish state now turns around and creates the world's largest ghetto in Gaza by blockading its ports, controlling its air space, and with some support from Egypt, imposing tight limits on access and egress by land. But far beyond tragic was the turning of the ghetto into a killing field with Operation Cast Lead from December 27, 2008 through January 21, 2009. According to a B'Tselem report, "1,389 Palestinians were killed, 759 of whom did not take part in the hostilities. Of these, 318 were minors under age 18."
Since Cast Lead, the blockade of Gaza has further tightened, delaying any substantial recovery from the devastation of the attack. Since the weapons and armaments used in the attack in large part either came from the United States or were enabled by the $3 billion annual aid given to Israel by our government, the act of attempting to break the blockade is an act of atonement.
My Santa Fe colleague in this mission is Linda Durham. Linda has explained why The Audacity of Hope will be carrying its unusual cargo and has made an eloquent appeal to you to participate in this mission by providing your own letters, cards, and art works to be carried to the people of Gaza. I will simply add my earnest request for an outpouring of support for the people of Gaza--"To Gaza with Love."
Best regards,
Kenneth Mayers
Veterans for Peace - Santa Fe
Organized Locally - Recognized Nationally
Wage Peace!
www.veteransforpeace.org
www.vfp-santafe.org
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If you possibly need more inspiration to write a card or letter, please watch this short YouTube video, "To Gaza With Love_The Audacity Of Hope", featuring Ali Abunimah, Kathleen Chalfant, Kathy Kelly, and Alice Walker: http://youtu.be/2ag4ZP4-5es.
TO SEND YOUR CARDS OR LETTERS FOR LINDA AND KEN TO THE U.S. BOAT TO GAZA, please mail them to: Letters To Gaza, 119 West 72nd Street #158, New York, New York 10023. Or email your letter to: letterstogaza@gmail.com.
Please consider writing and sending a hard copy, actual, letter or card which will be much more meaningful to Linda, Ken, all those on board The Audacity of Hope, and most especially the people of Gaza who will have a tangible message from their friends in the U.S. Please also include in your letter that you're writing from Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, or wherever you are in the U.S.
And a reminder: The Audacity of Hope sets sail the third week of June. So don't delay--write today!
After you send your letter, we'd very much appreciate it if you emailed AJVSF at kenandlindagazaletters@gmail.com so we can let Linda and Ken know. If you like, please indicate whether your letter is for Linda or Ken or both.
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