The struggle to free Palestine took on epic dimensions this summer, writes Kathy Kelly from Athens It looked like a scene from Verdi: the dashing young troubadour declaiming from a balcony of a palace in Athens, defying the angry gods in the Parthenon above. Stage left, his fellow revolutionaries entered, hung banners and flashed peace signs. Together they sang a rousing chorus, resolutely refusing to end their occupation of the Spanish embassy until their government assured them that their boat "The Guernica" (recalling Pablo Picasso's 1937 mural excoriating fascism) could sail to relieve the suffering of besieged Gazans. Like other boats in the "Freedom Flotilla II" aiming to end the naval blockade of Gaza, the Spaniards' boat was blocked from sailing by bureaucratic measures imposed by the Greek government. This was unacceptable to the activists. On 4 July, the Spanish ambassador to Greece agreed to meet with only four of the Spanish activists, but at a pre-arranged time, one of the four had gone downstairs, opened the door and ushered in 17 others to help them occupy the embassy. Three days later, they issued an eloquent statement explaining why they still refuse to leave. They call for an end to the illegal blockade of Gaza and for immediate release of their boat so that it can soon reach Gazan shores. I came to Greece as an activist passenger on the United States flotilla boat The Audacity of Hope, also blocked by the Greek government. We tried to escape to international waters but were towed back to dock by heavily-armed boats of the Greek Coast Guard. Referring to the valiantly Spaniards, one of our comrades grumbled, "That's what your group should be doing." He's right. And yet, crucial and telling differences exist between the Embassy of Spain in Athens, where I counted exactly one security guard nonchalantly keeping watch on the first afternoon of the Spanish activists' demonstration, and the Embassy of the US in Athens, which takes up about four square blocks of land. Nondescript, boxy white buildings are surrounded by spiked fences of battleship gray. Embassy employees arrive at a checkpoint and are subjected to search routines that include examining the base of their vehicle as it drives over a pit. Dozens of guards maintain round-the-clock security. What necessitates such elaborate security measures? Is it simply that US lives are more precious than the lives of others and therefore must be intensely safeguarded, or might it be that menacing economic and military policies enforced by the US have caused antagonism and rage sufficient to endanger official representatives in any part of the globe? Several of us who were quietly fasting across the street from our embassy earlier this week called upon the US to help free Gaza, free our ship from a Greek port, and free, or at least visit, our captain who was, at the time, detained in a Greek jail. When we politely declined to end our fasting presence, we were loaded into Greek police squad cars and held for several hours. The next day, the Greek police again detained six US activists, this time for sitting on a park bench across from the home of the US ambassador to Greece. Had we attempted to occupy the embassy, we surely wouldn't have been filmed waving and draping banners from open air balconies. I shudder to think how such an adventure might have ended. And, of course, the plight we wanted to make visible was not ours but rather that of the Palestinians in Gaza who rarely have an opportunity to raise or amplify their voices. Our guiding question, our rudder, as we contemplate next steps, asks to what extent we can focus world attention on the plight of Palestinians in Gaza. A few days ago, I read an article by Noam Chomsky in which he asked Chris Gunness, a spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, to describe the humanitarian crisis Gazans face. "If there were no humanitarian crisis, if there weren't a crisis in almost every aspect of life in Gaza, there would be no need for the flotilla," said Gunness. "95 per cent of all water in Gaza is undrinkable, 40 per cent of all disease is water-borne... 45.2 per cent of the labour force is unemployed, 80 per cent are dependent on foreign aid, there has been a tripling of the abject poor since the start of the blockade. Let's get rid of this blockade and there would be no need for a flotilla." And so it goes. Our formation as peace and anti-war activists should be guided by focussing on the most impoverished people who bear the brunt of our economic and military warfare. We, US activists, must continue to learn from the durable actions and plans of the Spaniards and numerous other internationals gathered here in Athens, many of whom are facing draconian economic policies in their home countries as financial institutions hold sway over governments and demand new austerity measures. Greek activists who assemble every night in Athens' Syntagma Square have constructed an inspiring, effective means for developing free speech and determined, risk-taking action in a setting that has evolved to emphasise simplicity, sharing of resources and a clear preference for service rather than dominance. I leave Greece tonight with sincere regret that I didn't spend more time learning from these sturdy activists. I am accompanying another US Boat to Gaza campaign member, Missy Lane, to Tel Aviv, where we plan to be part of a "flytilla", a new campaign which will bring hundreds of activists together in Israel's Ben-Gurion airport, all of us intent on reaching Palestinian refugee camps and/or visiting Gazan families. Earlier this evening, a group of US activists who have been able to remain longer here in Athens, demonstrated at each of the heavily guarded streets leading to the residence of the US Ambassador to Greece. The ambassador is hosting a huge festival tonight in celebration of US Independence Day. Several Greek people passing us read our signs seeking freedom for Gaza and asked us to understand that as recently as one year ago, the government of Greece showed no sign of submitting to Israeli or US pressure and allowed international flotilla boats to sail. But, now. they are dependent on the whims of financial elites around the world. The IMF is prescribing draconian measures which will wreck their economy and make them subservient to the dictates of foreign multinationals. What would happen if the government defied the masters? The Greek government has been told to bend down and kiss the dirt, and if it doesn't do so it will be told to bend down and eat the dirt. So far, the government has complied, and one instance of galling obeisance is their cooperation with Israeli and US governmental insistence that no boats bound for Gaza be allowed to depart from Grecian ports. The flotilla may not leave Greek ports this month, but the idea and practice of dissent surely will. The Arab Spring has planted seeds throughout the eastern Mediterranean, and heralds a European Summer. US citizens must join in -- take the stage in Act III -- and bring about an American Autumn. Our struggles are one. The writer co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence and author of Other Lands Have Dreams.
