Any day now, 50 Americans will set sail aboard the U.S. flagged ship The Audacity of Hope and head for Gaza to protest the Israeli naval blockade. The U.S. ship will join people from 22 other nations to form the second Freedom Flotilla, “Stay Human.” Santa Cruz resident and UC Santa Cruz employee Debra Ellis is one of the 50 unarmed citizens aboard The Audacity of Hope. “This mission is an opportunity to put these principals and this knowledge into direct action,” Ellis states on the organization’s website. “I firmly believe that the human crisis in Gaza, and throughout Palestine, can be altered through collective nonviolent action.” In a June 14 letter to President Barack Obama, the group wrote, “Our peaceful demonstration will challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which has effectively imprisoned 1.6 million civilians, almost half of whom are under the age of 16.” Visit ustogaza.org to learn more and to see live video feed from their journey.
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