Roughly 70 boats have set sail from Barcelona to participate in the flotilla to Gaza. Neve O’Connor, a Melbourne student and support worker, spoke to Red Flag from on board one of the vessels, which left port a week ago. Her fleet will soon be joined by dozens of other boats departing from Sicily. Together, they will cross the Mediterranean Sea and attempt to bring life-saving humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip
Israel has controlled Gaza’s borders since 2007 and has imposed collective punishment on the population through a crippling siege. Today, Palestinians languish in flimsy tents as storms and disease ravage the territory. Israel’s genocide has killed at least 72,000 people since October 2023. While a ceasefire was declared late last year, the military has continued to kill Palestinians with airstrikes, shelling, machinegun fire and through unpredictable border closures to prevent vital aid from entering.
Activists have attempted to sail to Gaza repeatedly since 2008. In that time, five boats have broken through. Last year, more than 40 boats attempted the voyage. They were illegally intercepted in international waters by the Israeli military and towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Those on board were held in Israeli prisons before being deported. The Australians on board were forced to each pay $4,000 to the Australian government for their repatriation. Now, Neve and other activists are sailing again.
Why did you decide to join the flotilla?
I was inspired to join the flotilla by a few things. One is the absolute decay of any faith I have in our government to make the right choices, to be compassionate and care about those who are occupied. Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong are complicit in the genocide, but so are other politicians in Australia. Wong and her “nonlethal” fighter jets comment angered me like I’ve never been angered before—she was so casual about Australia being involved in equipping these planes that bomb people, kill families and displace people from their land they’ve been living on for generations.
There’s the casual derision of Palestine protesters; this thinly veiled disgust the government has for those protesting a genocide. It’s like our leaders are fed up with the fact that we’re not going to turn a blind eye towards genocide, apartheid and brutality.
And so that was really driving me to feel so much anger—and so useless. My government was directly supporting this and involved; it was up to normal people to do something. I think that’s a common thread through the Global Sumud Flotilla—that this is a people-powered movement of nonviolent direct action, led by people from all corners of the globe wishing for Palestinian liberation.
That was really inspiring to me when I saw it last year. So I thought about it a lot, but it was a no-brainer for me to sign up. Of course, the main reason was the absolute heartbreaking horror. Words don’t come close to the immense amount of pain and grief I have felt watching Palestinians be brutalised, be slaughtered, be raped and killed in prisons. And then seeing such a dystopian reaction from the world, I wanted to be part of a movement which would create change.
I’d been protesting, boycotting and writing letters, and I think those are so important. But I was privileged to join this. I can take time off work. I’m able-bodied. I was reading a book by Mohammed El-Kurd, called Perfect Victims. It was talking about a journalist, a Palestinian-American, and the world was furious that an American had been killed. I was thinking about how the Australian passport is a protective factor.
I believe in compassion and empathy and integrity, and to me, fighting for oppressed people is about all of those things. I used to always sit in the classroom and learn about World War Two or other atrocities, and I’d think, “God, how could people sit by and let that happen?” And now we’re in another fascist, imperialist, brutal chapter of history. And our government is participating in it. Our country was built on the bones of First Nations people who suffered from imperialism. It makes me sick. So that drove me to action.
What are you trying to achieve?
The main thing is breaking the siege. Since the early 2000s, there have been flotillas and boats trying to break the siege. Some have done it. But not since 2009. Despite what the media would like people to believe, there is aid on every ship. I put it there, and I’m looking at it right now. There’s a box labelled “humanitarian aid”, and it has nappies inside. These boats are filled to the brim with clean water, food, medication, nappies and baby formula. Everything you would need to immediately comfort and provide solace to people who are suffering.
And the people here are also a form of aid. We have doctors, we have educators, those who are specifically trained in trauma-informed recovery and PTSD. There are people who are dedicated to arriving in Gaza and spending whole chapters of their lives to help rebuild it and free people from the tyranny of Israel’s oppression.
That’s one thing that’s important. Another is global recognition of Palestinian sovereignty. We want to force people to look, force people to see. We want global recognition that Israel’s chokehold on Palestine needs to end. This mission is for Palestinians. It’s for those in the West Bank and in Gaza, but also for all occupied people. We know that our own First Nations people are still oppressed and targeted. The beauty of this mission is that it’s so multifaceted. We are sailing to Gaza, but we are sailing for all humanity.
Can you say something about the interconnection of the flotilla with global solidarity for Palestine?
To me, the flotilla is just one branch on the tree of Palestinian resistance. This mission is an international one. But there are so many things to do. People should protest, they should boycott and write letters. And [student activism] like yours is so important. Because it commands such international attention, it opens a space for people to shut down their own streets and to hassle their MPs into condemning Israel. I’m honoured to be here, but I was also honoured to be at the protests.
We’ve been learning about sumud in our training—it’s a word which means perseverance, but it’s so much more encompassing than that. It’s the lifeforce of Palestinian resistance and liberation, and it represents joy and passion, and moments of creativity and intimacy. I think when we’re talking about people being oppressed, they can become this singular entity that is “people we are fighting for”. But these are people with their own lives, their own goals, their own aspirations. Sumud is about saying that people will be free, because they’re free inside their souls. We are not overriding the voices of Palestinians. We’re fighting alongside them. We are with them.
Should Israel illegally detain us and abuse protesters as horrifically as they did last time, the world won’t be able to ignore it. They won’t be able to ignore the brutality and the horror of Israel’s apartheid regime. So I’m putting myself on the line, yes, but I’m doing it because I must. Israel is a rogue state that wields violence to its advantage. But we hope that if we go through the court of public opinion, our governments will face pressure.
What was it like going from Australia to Barcelona, to then launching the boat and finally setting sail?
My application took a few months, but my experience was pretty quick. I was in Barcelona three days after getting the acceptance email. The process of packing and saying goodbye to so many family members in very heartfelt ways was quick. They were concerned about me, proud of me, perhaps angry about my decision to go. It’s easy to admire activists from afar, but having a loved one go is so much harder. It was sometimes tough to sit with them and have those emotional chats, but it was something I’ll treasure and carry with me for the rest of my life.
The second I got into port, it was just action. I got in around 7am, and by 11am, I was cutting mattresses and painting. There’s so much work to do because there are so many boats to fix. And so I just threw myself into it. I don’t have super technical trades experience compared to other people, so I just said, “I’m here to work”. We were working until 9pm or 10pm, and in the last days until 1am or 2am. And you’re so invigorated by being there because you’re just surrounded by the best of humanity. I was there for around two-and-a-half weeks, and it was such a family so quickly. Everyone was busy, but we’d make time for each other. I’ll never forget getting those boats ready.
Where are you now, and what’s around you?
Just now, we lit flares for all those who are imprisoned in Tunisia—we are sailing past. I watched fuckloads of flares, like forty plus flares, light up the horizon. I have some ash in my eye! It was beautiful.
It’s about to be a beautiful sunset. The sunset is always behind us, so as we look forward, we’re always enveloped in this stunning dusky pink. I can pretty much always hear the hum of the engine and the crash of the wake. It’s oddly calming. It reminds me of when I was a kid, and I used to go to sleep in my grandmother’s laundry to the hum of the washing machine. I’ve been thinking a lot about home.
I’ve been doing a lot of repairs, so we’re at the back. We’re looking at the rest of the flotilla in the distance. The formation is beautiful; it stretches so far across the horizon. I saw dolphins this morning guiding our boat to freedom. Every time we see ocean life, it feels so magnetic, like we’re on the right side of history.
Our boat left port in Barcelona a couple of hours after everyone else. Not even half an hour later, this huge mink whale came up five meters just below the stern and surfaced—we were all losing our minds. It started shooting water up into the air. We’ve been incredibly blessed with so many signs from the universe that we’re doing the right thing.
There is such hope in the air, even compared, I’ve heard, to the last mission. This is so well organised. Its architecture is so formidable. When we meet up with the crew from Sicily, we are going to be massive. There are going to be boats that make it, I’m confident of that. There’s a genuine feeling that we will do it this year. We will break the siege.
