When I got word that people were once again organizing to sail in the direction of Gaza from ports around the world, I wrote a song about it, last month. I recorded it a few days ago and now my musical collaborator, Chet Gardiner, has spent quite a chunk of time making it all much more interesting from his studio in Hawai'i, and here it is.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is currently mobilizing all over the world in 13 national campaigns in Norway, Sweden, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia. Check the website for links to each of the national campaigns where you can donate for the 2024 flotilla.
As completely horrific as things are on the ground in Gaza -- with untold numbers of people living in misery and dying of famine and disease, right now -- the opening of the port south of Gaza City may be a moment of great possibility, in terms of boats actually reaching Gaza, rather than being turned away violently by Israeli forces, which has of course been the usual state of affairs for decades at this point.
If this campaign is going to be successful, more people need to know about it. That's where a song like this one can potentially be helpful, but only if people do things with it -- make high-quality videos using the audio, chop it up for TikToks as you see fit, play it on the radio, etc., this is a collective effort.
Damien Stone filmed our set in Dorchester, England last month, and made a wonderful video mixing that footage with a montage of Palestine solidarity marches and other events he's been filming all over England since the war on Gaza began.
REMIX! The song already needs new verses to reflect recent events in this ongoing saga, as it was mostly written the last time they were going on about banning TikTok, a year ago. But it's still all true, anyway, and Chet has done his studio magic to this one, too!
Taking to the Waves