Spring into action

As discussions flit across the internet in preparation for a new convoy I am reminded how bizarre it is that within 18 short months I have become someone to whom heart monitors, dialysis machines, dental chairs and ventilators get offered on a regular basis.  While at the outset of collecting aid for Gaza in autumn 2009 I would have turned down very little of people's kind and well-meaning donations of the UK's second-hand or just-about-to-go-out-of-date surgical consumables I now have a different perspective.  How is it that the world watches while Israel receives $3billion annually in military aid from the US to spend on brand new technology, such as the pilot-less drones which apparently may have had a role in the "mistake" that Goldstone now refers to the obliteration of Samouni family members in Gaza, while civil protestors and people of conscience scrabble together to deliver second hand items to Palestinian hospitals.  It is an insult to humanity and to Palestinians that this is the state of affairs and I wouldn't blame anyone in Palestine for saying thanks but no thanks to any of these well-meaning donations.  Its another sign of the corporatised, unequal consumer-mentality of our society here that some of our private health providers make enough money to toss fully functioning, sterilised, expensively made equipment into the trash at the passing of some meaningless sell-by date. But then the big pharmas wouldn't have it any other way would they?  Ensuring that the rules-insurance-contracts that are standard in the health industry allow for plenty of forward profit-planning I've no doubt whatsoever.

Oh yes... p.s. Israel normally comes up with some other projects to require funding on top of the standard $3 billion annually received directly in cash at the start of the fiscal year and did I forget to add they also now estimate requiring a further $20 billion apparently due to the added risk of 'Arab uprisings' this year.

This latest road convoy is specifically aimed at supporting the Samouni children in an education initiative  to provide a space and some resources to assist learning for the many of them who are part of the surviving family - Samouni Family Community Centre and Classroom.  The past month has seen Gazans reeling from not only the recent bombardments and shootings that killed several Palestinian civilians there, including children, but also last week the murder of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni.  The brutalising and de-humanising effects of the occupation are manifest.  For a link to the sort of work Vik would take part in view a short report completed by him by way of thanks for a journalistic award he won, it includes clear footage of the Israeli military firing live ammunition at fishermen and farmers with International Solidarity Movement witnesses.  Friends from the movement are mourning and shocked at this murder and also that of Juliano Merkhamis in Jenin refugee camp just a week or two earlier.  I had the privilege of sitting and watching the film Arna's Children (link is to the trailer) which Juliano made telling the true story of a handful of children who took part in his mother's drama education workshops in Jenin who when Juliano returns have become inevitably into the armed resistance struggle as young men with claustrophobically sad result.  Snapshots of the Freedom Theatre where he worked show a vision of creative activists in Palestine realised.

This year it has been hard to keep abreast of the news, in January we had the release of the new Palestine Papers and wikileaks documents exposing what we all knew really - that the US is a dishonest broker in peace talks and Palestinians have no partner for peace, MEMO hosted a great evening about it.  Then the massive popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt faltering and turning into something else in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria.  The conflict in Libya has divided not only the Libyan country itself between east and west but also London-based activists, analysts, lawyers and civil opinion, for example the CPGB-ML position describes Britain's intervention as another imperialist war - while 'An Arab in the British wilderness' tries to debunk the myth surrounding the Libyan 'revolutionary' that is Gaddafi.  There were two Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973 passed in quick succession in March both explicitly referring to 'responsibility to protect' civilians in Libyan Arab Jemiyrah.  Resolution 1970 is the first resolution to have the unanimous vote of the Security Council in imposing non-military measures on Libya, Resolution 1973 was passed by 10 votes for and five abstensions - no veto.  So now we are at war again.  Hmm isn't it funny how things happen when there isn't a VETO.  Yes the U.S. has vetoed no fewer than 43 resolutions and counting against Israel meaning that they have exercised the veto right more than all the other veto Permanent Member states put together - on behalf of Israel.  This twisted relationship is undermining the world's system of international law - slow and immature though it still is.  The duplicity of the West is thrown into relief again when we consider the lack of response to civilian massacre in Gaza during Cast Lead and this has led to calls for No-fly zone over Palestine.  As I've said elsewhere - I am interested in the least dead and felt confused and uninformed about Libya, with one Libyan friend telling me 'thank god for the no-fly zone resolution' and another inviting me to join a peace delegation from the West (Tripoli).  I'm erring towards the writer of this blog however I may well be wrong - but I can't help thinking the imperialists of the West were quite happy with the way things were with Muamar before the demonstrators took to the streets.  Nevertheless it certainly can't be said that the decision to deploy forces would have been carefully planned and thought through - not like the carefully planned interception of the Freedom Flotilla by Israel (!).  If you instruct soldiers what do you expect?  Cups of tea?  Anyway having to complete academic exercises has meant no trip for me to North Africa this time... It was quite fitting that at the time my university assessment presentation was titled 'responsibility to protect is humanitarian intervention by another name', if you really want some boring punishment you can read the notes that accompanied what I said (n.b. this is an academic exercise and not particularly interesting!).

So back to action - I have been trying to track down the whereabouts and state of the lorry I drove to Istanbul last year so it can be put into use again for the Samouni project.  A helpful English local I found online living in Bulgaria has even gone as far as visiting the lorry park and he tells me its there!!  but looks a bit sad and unloved.  Plans are afoot to revive very soon.

OMG (and friends will know I NEVER use that acronym) I have just seen Richard Lightbown's excellent article about the BBC Trust's response to complaints about Panorama's 'Death on the Med' I am really feeling so incredulous about the Trust's conclusions I'm going to have to stop now. 

Mavi Marmara returns, Gaza massacre anniversary

It is very appropriate to me that today, on the second anniversary of the beginning of the three week long murderous military attack by Israel on Gaza I am currently sitting in the IHH offices in Istanbul wıth colleagues, friends and veterans of flotilla and convoys.  As we all know the situation in Gaza has not been eased substantially since the flotilla and 2011 will be a major year for the region given the breakdown of talks and Freedom Flotilla II .  I am completing some administration after yesterday's huge event where I was reunited with shipmates from Mavi Marmara and the ship itself returned where it will be docked for a week to be opened to the public.  It was spectacular and emotional.  There were thousands of people in the crowd that assembled to remember the dead and welcome the ship home.  Not everyone from the internationals onboard has been able to make it but some wonderful suprises wıth people coming from many countries to be here.

I landed at 4.30am Boxıng Day in Istanbul from London straight from Christmas Day at home with family.  I'm carrying a Christmas present from my family - a new holdall to replace the battered and torn one that has travelled on the convoy and the flotilla.  I'm going to keep the old one it is a special bag having been through Israeli hands in June.  Durıng the Israeli raid they removed a mobile phone from the bag as well as all my paperwork, notebook, receipts to the value of 700 pounds none of which has been returned. The new bag goes straight into action and is loaded with books and reading I need for essays due in early January for Uni.

On arrival ın Istanbul aırport a taxi firm in arrivals calls me over to try to persuade me to hire a cab from them, during the conversation they ask me what I'm doing in Istanbul and I say I'm here to visit the Mavi Marmara and see friends from IHH.  Instead of charging 110 lire for a return journey (approx 40-50 pounds) they take me to my hotel free of charge.

I get up at 10am eat at the hotel buffet which reminds me of the summer - best breakfast I can think of: hard boiled egg, cheese, fresh tomato, cucumber, fresh bread, honey hot tea.  IHH minibus picks us up at 11am and we head to the event.  I am very happy to see friends from previous journeys including Fatima Mohammedi, Kevin, Nabil, Sheza, Sakir, Laura Stuart, Parveen Yaqub, Babu, Ahsan, Ebrahim, Arif Shah.  On the way we also collect Audrey Bomse and Mohamed Salwa and his wife.

On the way we get an idea of the scale of the event.  A huge column of coaches is lining the route to the event with waves of people walking towards the site on foot in addition.  We head through the crowd to an area separated by barrier from the main crowd, next to this area is a platform with seats for the families of the martyrs and VIP speakers.  I see Manuel and Laura from Spain, they have been very active in Spain campaigning ceaselessly since the flotilla and the Spanish public have responded, you can see info about their work at http://www.rumboagaza.org/ , as well as raising money for a ship to add to the Freedom Flotilla II they have started a schools activity programme, erected a statue in memory of the Mavi Marmara, have had theır case against Israel opened by Spanish prosecutor in Spain and continue to engage with the media.  Incidentally their lawyers in Spain are the same ones that took the case of Jose Couso, Spanish cameraman killed by U.S. forces in Iraq.  It turns out that wikileaks documents reveal the Spanish government bowing to U.S. pressure to drop the case against their soldiers while they were asssuring Couso's family they were fighting for his interests, this may re-open the case.  It is also wonderful to see Fatima from Belgium, she tells me about the fundraising they have been doing there for a boat to Gaza for Freedom Flotilla II next year.  The wonderful familiar faces of our IHH family Nalan and Gulden as well as many more who were all onboard Mavi Marmara and looked after us so carefully.  They have all worked hard to prepare for today's event and to restore the ship to working order.

The event unfolds in spectacular fashion with thousands of people arrivıng, flags, fıreworks, speeches, music, whistles, scarves, banners, balloons, tv cameras.  The Mavi Marmara arrives with huge banners depicting the names and photographs of those shot dead hanging from the sides.  She is accompanied by many other small vessels to the dockside.  There are even some champion swimmers who take part in the proceedings by swimming to accompany her for the fınal 5000m.  I take part in a brief interview by a TVNET reporter, just as we are about to begin I see Farooq from Al Fakhoora Foundation who has come from Qatar with his wife to take part in the event, I ask him if any of the 60 or so laptops they had purchased for Gaza students had been recovered after the raid.  He said in contrast it was some of these laptops that were found beıng re-sold by Israeli soldiers after they looted them from the Mavi Marmara which has led to prosecution in Israel.

We are at the event for several hours, the families of the martyrs and brother Bulent from IHH as well as some passengers manage to get through the crush onto the ship where memorial photographs and plaques have been erected.  I decide there are too many people today and I will return at a quieter time to visit.

I head back to the hotel and we make our way to IHH offıces at around 6pm to get to dinner at another location.  I have brought some cards and presents for the families which my mother and I have bought - only small things but my mother said she wanted to thank them in some way for keeping me safe on the ship.  I need help with writing cards in Turkish and wonderful angel called Zeynep, daughter of a flotilla veteran, helps me do this.  We all have dinner together and at the end Brother Bulent addresses us.  He says IHH are launchıng '9 projects for 9 martyrs', this is an initiative to develop a project in each of the home towns of each of the men killed on the ship.  This includes sports, music, health, student dormitories a different project ın each place to be co-produced with an international partner, to reflect the international nature of our journey.  We will be actively seeking partner charities or trusts to take part in the initiative.  IHH would like all of our feedback about what we think Mavi Marmara should do now and he offered the chance for the ship to visit our countries for events.  He says IHH have not finalised any plans for 2011 with regards to returning to Gaza by sea but that we will be among the first to know.

After dinner a group go to the ship to visit in peace but I head back to the hotel with Parveen, Sheza and others and we stay up for several hours talking, my friend Mehmet comes to hang out as well.

IHH has been assisting the Asia Gaza Convoy on its Turkey leg, they are still waiting to reach Gaza.

Month of activity - part 2

November 13th I attended the Jewish Cultural Centre to hear Peter Beinart and Mick Davis (chairman if United Jewish Israel Appeal) in conversation with journalist Jonathan Freedland.  The event was called 'Hugging and wrestling with Israel' and aimed to allow participants as Jews who don't live in Israel but support Israel and the audience to talk about a conflicted relationship with Israel critically and raise issues relating to Israeli policy and voices of opposition to it amongst liberal Jews.  The room was packed out, sponsored by the Jewish Chronicle UK paper.  Peter Beinart caused controversy in US recently when he reported the divide between liberal young American Jews and Zionism in an article the Failure of the American Jewish Establishment .  The event was interesting, well organised and the panel were articulate - the numbers attending suggest there is a sense of urgency in the topic at present and indicated UK Jewish community are interested in discussing about what Israel is doing in Palestine and are concerned about its policies.  Peter Beinart gave the impression that in US it is very difficult for young liberal Jews to express critical views of Israel within the Jewish community, harder than in UK, however voices in the room how they too felt pressure to conform, such as an ex-student from Durham as a member of Jewish student association she was expected to provide unwavering support for Zionism within the group.  On 8th November however Jewish protestors in New Orleans managed to disrupt Netanyahu's speech there, there is a website articulating the position of these protestors and the phenomenon described by Peter Beirnart http://www.youngjewishproud.org/ .

Mick Davis expressed concern about the implications of the direction of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians and there was a tangible sense of running out of time in terms of what is happening there with settlement building and expansion, human rights abuses against Palestinians.  For his position he has sparked controversy being reported in Haaretz for his comments at the event - for while stating categorically that he did not believe Israel was an apartheid state that in the current direction the majority would indeed be ruled by the minority - as it was in apartheid South Africa.  A question from the floor suggested that democracy and Zionism are incompatible - the panel believed not.  When it came to discussion of a bi-national state they expressed preference for two-state solution - but the atmosphere in the room suggested a growing awareness of the unlikelihood of this and the urgency of the situation - its too late for that now.

Month of activity - part 1

November 2nd is the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 where then foreign secretary Lord Arthur Balfour wrote to Lord Rothschild declaring Britain's support for a Jewish national homeland in Palestine. 

One of the problems with this pledge of support is that Britain promised the same land three times.  Prior to this declaration in 1915 letters between Sir Henry McMahon, representative of the British Government, and Sherif Hussayn of Mecca show that Britain had also promised independence to Arab nations in return for assistance in overthrowing the Ottoman empire because Turkey had allied with Germany.  In 1916 the Arab Revolt had indeed resulted in the overthrowing.  Not only did British government representatives 'promise' the land to both Arab and Jewish nations they also entered into the Sykes-Picot agreement with France in 1916 in secret decided Britain and France would carve up the area between them after the Ottoman empire collapsed.  The seeds for so many years of colonisation, conflict and suffering are laid.  Please note the sentence of condition of support which says "it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing communities in Palestine" ummm...did anyone else notice that this part appears to have been overlooked?
November 5th was annual fundraising dinner at Grosvenor House Hotel for Al Quds Medical education foundation.  This is a dinner and auction attended by many doctors, surgeons and medical professionals some of whom are Palestinians training and working in UK and some are British doctors who have volunteered, trained and travelled in Palestine.  There was an auction at the end of a good meal and speeches with art work, furniture, traditional clothing sold off to raise funds.  The Foundation pays for Palestinian med students to finish specialist training and for international doctors to travel to Palestine to take part in examination procedures.

Speaking was Haneen Zouabi who was one of our shipmates on the Mavi Marmara and a member of the Israeli Knesset.  It was good to see her with her bright indomitable spirit - within the previous two weeks she had been shot at and hit with rubber bullets during a peaceful demonstration in Umm Al-Fahm against a far-right Jewish march of supporters of the banned Kach party that advocate driving Arab citizens out of all of Israel and the Occuppied Territories.  She stood up and spoke about how despite being an Israeli citizen she is Palestinian and this is what was not expected of Palestinian-Israelis.  Israel she said expected that Palestinian citizens of Israel might forsake or forget their relationship with the Palestinian diaspora, West Bank and Gaza Palestinians and that this is not the case.  This is why she said she was on the Mavi Marmara - expressing solidarity with her people in Gaza.  She said it was a strange feeling to be standing in the opulent surroundings of the Grosvenor Hotel having come from deprived areas of Israel where Palestinians live.  She mentioned the discriminatory laws of Israel against the Palestinian minority who live there and said that the Palestinians were asking only for their civil and human rights - most recently the idea of requiring all citiziens to swear allegiance to a Jewish state .  Palestinians she said were willing to accept the colonisers in Palestine in peace but that they must have their rights and the rights of those Palestinian refugees who want to return.

Absolutely anything can happen and it usually does!

This afternoon I heard news that the boat meant to be transporting the Road To Hope convoy vehicles - currently numbering around 30 - had abandoned Derna port in northern Libya after some sort of incident and has sped away with one of the vehicles and 7 non-crew members across the Med pursued by Libyan authorities. It had half loaded one vehicle onto the vessel when there was an argument of some description, yet to be clarified, the captain tried to close the doors of the vessel and departed without untying the moorings, against the permission of Libyan port authorities, damaging the port side and carrying with it several Libyan police officers and the port manager as well as a few of the Road to Hope members.
Only two days ago Road to Hope convoy had appealed to supporters for emergency funds because the Egyptian authorities refused to allow them to enter Egypt by land and they had thus had to raise money, £37,000 for a ship to carry them to the sea port of Al Arish . The group amazingly managed to raise the money in a lightning quick period of time. At first look it seems the shipping agent and the captain have fallen out about payment and now the boat is half way to Cyprus or Greece. I have now rung the convoy phone and spoken to Road To Hope members who are currently camped up in the port. They are in fine spirits and are happy to know their colleagues are unharmed. It appears Libyan naval vessels and aircraft have been despatched after the ship. Road to Hope members do not intend to go anywhere from the port until they get transport arranged to Al Arish and on to Gaza so are currently politely refusing any invitation to leave Derna port and will remain where they are until they are on their way to Gaza. They have tea but apparently no biscuits which one member Tom Baker says may lead him to desperate measures ;).
The entire episode is completely avoidable if Egyptian authorities had allowed the peaceful aid workers to cross Egypt by land.
Meanwhile last week it was interesting to see that William Hague has experienced ambush and humiliation at the hands of the Israelis. I wrote him a letter of sympathy. His apologetic response to Israel when he visited last week in calling UK universal jurisdicition laws an 'unacceptable situation' is a reminder of how pathetic this country's leaders are when it comes to Israel. As I explained to him - there is little point in kow-towing to Israel over a strategic security meeting - what is the of the value of their security intelligence? I have just seen the report they produced about Mavi Marmara passengers and it is hilariously scant and innaccurate. So now I'm officially listed on their terrorist intelligence website, very funny. Add to this the fact that Israeli officers instruct their soldiers to breach international warfare rules as a matter of course - I don't see we have much to learn from them. We are perfectly good at telling our own soldiers to commit war crimes.
Electric Circus members have now completed their visit to Gaza and left the strip after a number of performances to children in Gaza - check the diary.

Some recent breakthroughs.... with reservations

Getting into Gaza is still tricky and uncertain but it is worth making the effort if you want to get in - determination and persistence, press and paperwork. I am trying to find out why policy has not changed in terms of Foreign and Commonwealth office assistance to people travelling to Gaza because Electric Circus did not get the paperwork they needed from UK embassy - this was their main hurdle. British citizens have to obtain a waiver letter from UK embassy which Egyptian border control want to see that effectively says "I've been told by my government not to go to Gaza but I'm going anyway". UK Foreign and Commonwealth office in Cairo told them they were not humanitarian aid (despite a letter if invitation from Red Crescent) and said they would not supply the required paperwork. The FCO is thus effectively maintaining the blockade of people through the border into Gaza from Egypt. Despite this the group travelled to the border with letter from Red Crescent and British Council - who supported them after their recent participation in Circairo Festival - and after being refused, waiting, asking again, hanfding over all paperwork they had they somehow were eventually allowed through. Unfortunately the group had to leave one German member behind because he was not British.

Good news is that Viva Palestina convoy Lifeline 5 got through into Gaza one or two days prior after departing London 18th September travelling overland through Europe into Turkey and Syria to put vehicles on a ship to Al-Arish. The group was kept waiting in Syrian port of Lattakia for two weeks while negotiations took place to get them into Egypt and on to Gaza and even then 17 of the participants were banned from entering Egypt so could not complete the journey. They succeeded in entering with 150 vehicles packed with medical and educational aid entering from Rafah border in Egypt. Well done Viva!

I can see from some of the video and photos that are coming out showing the warm reception the successful members received there, Yousef's report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOWjvPplwAU

Another small group who returned recently from a 10-day trip were architects and engineers working on a joint project with UN-HABITAT from University of Westminster, I attended their feedback event on 12th October. Under the theme 'Green Gaza, Sustainable Neighbourhoods' they launched Palestine Regeneration Team (PART) . They are going to work jointly with Palestinian neighbourhood planners to develop an area in Gaza, this is the launch so it is very early days yet.

The event featured a singer Basel Zayed who sang beautiful songs.

Road to Hope convoy have made great progress on their exhausting journey from UK to Gaza - their route is through Spain and Morocco and across North Africa. I can see from pictures put up that great friends made on VP convoy and flotilla are taking part in this such as Richard Viner - childrens' entertainer and performer and Ken O'Keefe world citizen. One of the most admirable members of the convoy has to be Laura Stuart. On the first Viva Palestina convoy she by herself drove a vehicle to Gaza, she also took part in VP3, the one I went with December 09, was on the Mavi Marmara where she was treating the injured as a first aider and now is with Road to Hope. Go Laura!

On other matters we had an email from FCO in London - apparently the Turkel enquiry - the Israeli-led enquiry into the flotilla may be interested to hear from passengers now! They informed us on a Friday and gave us until Monday to let them know what we would do - another example of the contempt of the victims. After brief discussions with other members of the group we agree that we would cooperate in the interests of justice but if the playing field is flat - i.e. we want our belongings back, our media evidence, the soldiers to be interviewed, for our testimony to be heard in public - then we will cooperate. Haaretz covered this news.

This week our legal team travelled to Doha where they met with legal representatives of the other nationalities from the flotilla. They are all together forming the international Flotilla Justice Group that aims to co-work on the legal aspects of the incident and plans to improve coordination and support for future actions.

I have been keeping in touch with our circus group in Gaza and Ruth says it is 'full- on'. They have already completed several performances. They are trying to adapt the show and clothing so they can minimise exposing flesh so that the more conservative audiences in Gaza are more confident.

The amount raised in profit at the Electric Circus was just over £8K - an amazing achievement down to the hard work of volunteers. 25% of this is going to Fairtunes and rest to purchase items to take to Gaza and support the group's immediate expenses. Last Friday I went shopping with Tom who has now departed with the second group joining Road to Hope in Libya so he is loaded up.

I am very sad not to be joining them this time but Uni won't allow it.

Last night I went to Hackney Palestine Solidarity Campaign film night where the film made by Reel News of the assault on the Mavi Marmara was shown - seeing the dead and injured again brings back memories and makes me feel renewed energy and commitment.

Road To Hope Convoy departs...

Over the past few weeks aid has been gradually deposited in St Johns crypt and on Friday I finally manage to go through it and pack it into plastic boxes for protection during the journey with Road to Hope. I am not going with the convoy this time sadly because the commitments of studying are too much to do both. Instead I have donated £600 of funds raised to support Hasna and Laura to buy a vehicle and I have more to use to buy items to join the next leg of the convoy. We received lists of equipment wanted in Gaza - items like C-arm operating equipment allows X-rays to be done during operations I think - these are urgently required but we don't have time to source or fund one to go on this convoy.

On Friday I spend all day sorting and packing the aid - ideas of study time are out of the window for now. I take the boxes up to Chingford and have the new experience of hiring a streetvan. Its pretty convenient once you have registered. Its amazing how quickly the company's system has customer info ready - I registered at 7.15pm and was picking up the vehicle at 7.30. It was easy to get the delivery done within two hours. Then back to meet Anwar and Walid who have made me an iron-on transfer image for the costume I want to wear for the fundraiser tomorrow night. They are on their way to pick up their vehicle from Chingford as well so I give them a lift up in the car to where Tox's friends and supporters are having a football tournament - raising more money for the trip. They don't get done until 1am. Tox has been sold a 1956 Green Goddess fire engine amongst many other vehicles for the trip!! But it is going to be too expensive to run the vehicle all the way so instead it may be sold on after some publicity work. It is frustrating I still do not have a camera since Israeli forces removed such items from Mavi Marmara.

On Saturday it appears the drains at home are blocked for the whole building. I cycle to town to a friend's home and get ready for a wedding in the afternoon. This involves travelling to Bromley and back with my bike on the train. Very tight for time because the big fundraiser event at Scala is tonight yeeeehaaaa!! Theme is 'Lunatics have taken over the Asylum' and has 150 volunteer performers and producers involved. I got to So High Soho to get a piece of costume - a straitjacket. This is white cotton and when I get home I iron on the transfer requested which says "Lunatic State" with an Israeli flag formed from guns a barbed wire. A bit of time to make some calls about final arrangements for the convoy such as news that a paint shop in Bethnal Green has donated 150 paints for use in graffiti work in Gaza. Funds raised to be shared between Fairtunes and Circus to Gaza .

Anwar and Walid arrive and pick up the paints and trainers and drop me at the venue. At 10pm the queue is growing and I work on the door with two other girls and Steve B. It's a long busy night with people flowing through the doors and we are still admitting people at 3.30am. The performances are amazing, a massive effort has gone into areas of the event such as the Slumbarave Sanitarium where people are being strapped to beds and given treatments, face and body paint etc by charming and slightly crazed nurses...great music and fantastic dancers doing stage shows. Its a great night by all accounts and we have succeeded in raising several thousand pounds (final figures and destinations tbc).

This morning the Road to Hope convoy converged and then departed - carrying many people and items for Gaza including 15 boxes of medical aid, graf spray paint and Public Nuisance trainers collected by us. See short video report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_hDKSqWu6w&feature=autoshare

I can't make it to the departure location because I left Scala at 8.30am and need to sleep. I am later told that 30 or so vehicles set off. They have a massive task as they are travelling through Europe to Northern Africa then across North Africa to Libya before joining further vehicles there around 23rd October.

In the evening I can see Hasna has updated Facebook to say the convoy have reached France - well done crew...wish I was with you.