Akashma Online News

POSTED BY : Omar Karem
May 12, 2011 by
Stay Human convoy: “Let’s go to Gaza!” enters Gaza Vik2Gaza

– The convoy will last six/seven days in order to give the possibility to participate for as many people as possible.
– It will take place between the 11th and 19th May.The exact dates will be agreed in few days with the people in Gaza that will host us.
So, lets start to get ready!
After leaving Cairo this morning at dawn, the 80 activists of the VIK2GAZA convoy have entered Gaza at 4pm after crossing five Egyptian check-points.
The convoy will be Staying in the Gaza strip to meet the Palestinian people who day by day are trying to resist the Israeli military occupation. The convoy will also join Gaza in the mourning of the Nakba, the day of the Palestinian catastrophe, which will take place between the 14 and the 15 of May.
A Second convoy, with over 100 buses, will leave from Tahir square in Cairo, the square that has become the symbol of recent popular revolutions in the Middle East , and will try to cross the Rafah pass on the 15 of May. This is a collective movement that wants to show full support to the fight of the Palestinian people for self-determination, to their everyday resistance against military occupation and to the right of all Palestinian refugees to come back to their land.
On the 21st April, a meeting regarding the discussions and reflections on the murder of Vittorio Arrigoni was held in Rome amongst different activists. From the gathering, the need to organize a convoy to Gaza through Egypt was decided.
Let’s start this process by sharing those points:
– We want to go to Gaza through Rafah Border Crossing with all in the world that need to say aloud what Vittorio used to say: Stay human! We want to do it from Egypt because, in the post Mubarak era, that border must be opened to break the siege imposed for too long on the people in Gaza.
– We want to be in Gaza on the 15th May which is the 1 month anniversary of Vittorio’s death. It will be also Nakba day, when thousands of young Palestinians, as already announced, will go back to the street all over the world to ask for the end of the occupation and also, a new unity and the end of the internal division within the Palestinian authorities.
We want to go to Gaza for different reasons:
– Although Vittorio was killed, it has to be clear that they can not stop the international support for the Palestinian people. Also thanks to him now the international support is much stronger and united against the occupation both of Gaza and of the West Bank.
– We want to give voice and continuity to the work that Vittorio, together with Palestinian men and women was bringing forward. Particularly the independent information that he managed to pass to the world from the besieged Gaza strip. For this reason, we will bring materials, tools and all we need to give life to a Media Center dedicated to Vittorio.
– The Freedom Flotilla will soon sail towards Gaza. Even though the two initiatives are organized separately, the two journeys, both via land and via sea, could reinforce each other to break the siege of Gaza.

Press release: in the name of Vittorio Arrigoni, the ‘Stay Human’ convoy has entered GazaVik2Gaza

The sun had not yet risen in Cairo, as the Stay Human convoy began to prepare the departure for Gaza. The journey about to be embarked upon was one filled with expectations and hope. The importance of the crossing the border at Rafah following the protests that brought down the Mubarak regime was on the minds of everyone, as well as the desire to remember Vittorio Arrigoni in the same place where he dedicated his life. The convoy will carry a message to the people of Palestine addressed to the entire world: Palestine is not alone, Vik’s dreams are also ours, solidarity towards those who struggle against oppression and exploitation knows no borders.

Ten checkpoints slow the journey, one in particular, blocks it for 2.5 hours in the Sinai desert, with the usual issues, the same from the previous days, about not being able to cross Rafah. The Italian embassy “concerned and ernest” had announced that the convoy would never enter Gaza, but obviously the facts have proved him wrong: we are here!

The Stay Human Convoy now follows in the footsteps of Vittorio, imprinted in the land of Gaza and underscored by the spontaneous affection shown by the Palestinians who welcome our arrival. The Stay Human Convoy breathes in the determination, courage and extreme humility of Vittorio, characteristics that we recognize in the unrelenting resistance of the Palestinian people. For many of us this is the first time crossing the border of the Gaza Strip, a victory for those who never surrendered, whether by land or by sea, to the categorical “Denied Entry”: nothing to see here, no one to meet.

The historical importance of the moment is heightened by the infectious enthusiasm of the many Palestinians present to welcome the convoy, who accompany us to Gaza City.
Once there we retrace Vittorio’s footsteps, in the places he frequented during his long stay in Gaza, where he met the friends that we now meet. To the tunes of Bella Ciao, Unadikom and Gazawi rap, images of Vittorio greet our arrival.
Ciao Vik, Free Palestine.
The Activists take a major role in the future of Gaza, the convoys that have managed to brake the siege will leave their footprints in the live of Gazan, the unknown soldiers as Vittorio Arrigoni and Rachel Corrie can be known, as they without planing their future they marked a different type of soldier for the liberation of Palestine.