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For Immediate Release
December, 08 2008, 07:13am EDT
Contact:
(Gaza) Caoimhe Butterly, +972 598 273 960 (Cyprus/Gaza) Lubna Masarwa, +972 505 633 044 (Cyprus) Ramzi Kysia , +357 99 081 767
'Free Gaza' Ship to Break Through Israeli Blockade for the Fourth Time
WASHINGTON
The
Free Gaza Movement announced today that it would send a delegation from
Cyprus to Gaza aboard their blockade-busting ship, the Dignity, at
11pm, Monday, 8 December. The Free Gaza Movement has successfully
challenged the siege on three previous occasions this year, landing
missions in Gaza in August, October, and November. Free Gaza ships are
the first to dock in Gaza Port in over 41 years.
Israel
maintains absolute control over Gaza's borders and airspace, and has
imposed an increasingly brutal blockade on its 1.5 million civilians
for over two years, drastically increasing poverty and malnutrition
rates. Over 700 students are currently trapped in Gaza, while Israel
denies their right to attend universities abroad.
In
a statement released by Drs. Jonathan Rosenhead Mike Cushman, of the
London School of Economics, the academics stated that they were pleased
to be traveling to Gaza aboard the Dignity, and that, "This siege is an
affront to any idea of academic freedom or human rights. We, working
for a British university, have the freedom to teach and study, this
must be a universal right, not at the discretion of an occupying power.
How can anyone justify preventing young people from fulfilling their
potential and learning how to serve their community more fully?"
In
addition to the British academics, this fourth voyage will include a
British surgeon traveling to Gaza to volunteer in local hospitals for
the next several weeks, as well as international human rights workers
and journalists. The ship will also be carrying in one ton of medical
supplies and high-protein baby formula. In recent days, Israel has
forcibly intervened to prevent other such missions from reaching Gaza.
Lubna
Masarwa, one of the Free Gaza organizers, stated that, "Gaza doesn't
need charity. What Gaza needs is sustained political action aimed at
overcoming this vicious siege. We have no intention of turning around,
and so we're confident that we will reach Gaza. We are unarmed
civilians carrying desperately needed supplies to other unarmed
civilians. It would be obscene for Israel to use violence to stop us."
The passengers on board the Dignity this Saturday will include:
- British
academics on a fact-finding mission to document the devastating affects
Israel's siege has had on the educational sector in Gaza - A British surgeon traveling to Gaza to volunteer in local hospitals for the next several weeks
- A Palestinian man who has been denied the right to return to his family in Gaza
- International human rights workers
- International journalists from Al-Jazeera TV and McClatchy Newspapers
Free Gaza is a human rights group founded in 2006. Our mission is to break the Israel's illegal siege on Gaza's 1.8 million civilians, since it inflicts collective punishment on the Palestinians who live there and has destroyed its economy. Free Gaza believes in direct action in confronting Israel's abuse of Palestinians using non-violent means and has found these voyages to be one of the most effective ways to alert the world to the prison-like conditions of Gaza. Ultimately, there is no better example of direct action than Free Gaza's sustained attempts to break the siege on Gaza which Israel claims it no longer occupies
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A report released on Monday by Americans for Tax Fairness found that the profits of America's biggest corporations surged by $100 billion last year and were roughly twice the total profits these companies reported in 2017.
The Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) report, which was based on data collected by Fortune, found that the 100 biggest companies in the U.S. recorded collective after-tax profits of $1.2 trillion during a time when American voters have consistently told pollsters they are having trouble paying for groceries.
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ATF noted that corporate America was raking in these big profits even before congressional Republicans passed their massive budget law that included even more tax cuts designed to benefit the country's largest companies.
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Silent prayers were held in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, marking 80 years since the atomic bombing of the city by the US on August 6, 1945.
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— Al Jazeera English (@aljazeera.com) August 6, 2025 at 6:35 AM
The mayor also urged the Japanese government to respect the wishes of hibakusha, or survivors, and join the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which was adopted in 2017 and took effect in 2021.
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— Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (@cnduk.bsky.social) August 6, 2025 at 8:03 AM
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Although Florida is one of a few states that has a growing instead of shrinking population of children, its public school systems are facing "significant declines," reported the Times, with more than 400,000 children in the state using the Florida school voucher system, called the universal education savings account—the largest voucher program in the United States.
In Orange County, where Orlando is located, the school-age population has grown by 5% since 2020—but the school district is expecting a 25% decline in kindergarten enrollment this year—and a potential loss of $28 million in federal funding, since schools are funded according to the number of students they enroll.
In Arizona, the Post reported, nearly 89,000 students receive vouchers the state government calls Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, while 62,000 receive taxpayer-supported scholarships for private schools through another voucher program and more than 232,000 students attend charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run.
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Instead of adopting an anti-voucher, vehemently pro-public school stance as a signature issue, the Democratic Party is split on the issue, with a number of Democratic governors backing charter schools and vouchers and some veterans of the Obama administration, including former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, backing a group called Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), which has advocated for states to embrace the federal voucher program in Trump's domestic policy agenda.
As the Times reported Monday, DFER's chief executive, former Democratic Providence, Rhode Island Mayor Jorge Elorza, traveled to a Democratic Governors Association in Madison, Wisconsin this past weekend with the goal of convincing governors who are still "reviewing" the federal voucher program, as many told Education Week, to opt in.
"This is literally free money that is broadly supported by the majority of voters who have steadily drifted away from the party," Elorza told the Times, referring to Black and Latino voters, who some polls have shown believe public schools are failing children. "It just makes sense."
Other Democratic strategists who have previously been involved with DFER have shifted their focus to growing charter school networks in southern states.
Former Georgia state lawmaker Alisha Thomas Searcy, who co-founded the Center for Strong Public Schools Action, which is pushing the charter school effort, told Chalkbeat Tennessee on Monday that the group will not embrace vouchers.
"I want to be clear about what sets us apart," Searcy told the outlet. "It's our commitment to public education. It is foundational for us, and it's nonnegotiable. We're committed to remaining focused on strengthening public schools, not creating pathways that take away from them."
Public education advocates have warned charter schools, like vouchers, drain funding from public schools with less oversight, and research has shown mixed results in terms of academic improvements.
Many Democratic lawmakers, said Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-90), "have an education plan, it’s fully funding public education so every child has a well-resourced classroom, providing wraparound services so families have needed resources, smaller class size, and teacher autonomy."
Jennifer Berkshire, host of the education-focused podcast "Have You Heard," noted that popular Democratic politicians including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper have been vehement critics of school vouchers and defenders of robust funding for public education.
"And yet there is intense pressure to get Democrats to embrace vouchers in order to 'stay relevant,'" said Berkshire last week.
Vouchers were resoundingly defeated in a number of states last November—including those that votes for Trump.
A ballot initiative in Kentucky that would have sent public money to private schools was defeated by a 30-point margin, and in Nebraska, nearly every county voted to repeal an existing voucher program. Colorado voters, despite their Democratic governor's support for school vouchers, voted against adding a "right to school choice" to the state constitution.
Considering the broad public disapproval of school privatization, Pepper offered advice to Democrats last week.
"Don't let the far right's demonization of public education fool you," he wrote. "People support their local public schools. Whether it's an attack from Washington, an attack from your statehouse, some new privatization scheme, a billionaire-backed referendum or a candidate who is all-in on attacking public schools—oppose them fiercely and call them out bluntly. Go on offense for public schools, and against efforts to attack public schools."
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