Category: logbook

Marianne of Gothenburg can now be located 279 nautical miles from Gaza.

-Military vessels and reconnaissance planes appeared near Marianne during Saturday afternoon, says Joel Opperdoes kaptain onboard Marianne.

Opperdoes informs that an undentified vessel and what in his opinion appears as a military reconnaissance aircraft, which during Saturday afternoon could be located near Marianne. The crew could not identify nationality for neither the vessels or the planes.

– The vessel and plane disappeared around 5pm today and we haven’t seen any signs of them since, the kaptain says.

Around 10 pm Friday, Ship to Gaza’s trawler Marianne of Gothenburg left the port of Messina at the east coast of Sicilia and sailed out on to the Ionian sea through the strait of Messina.

During the coming week Marianne will meet up with the other boats who are part of Freedom Flottila III. Together they will try to break the illegal blockade on Gaza through a peaceful non-violent action. The short stop in Messina was an intensive one with meetings with peace activists and a press conference at the city hall with the mayor of Messina, the famous corruption fighter enemy Renato Accorinti.

On board at Marianne, to participate in this action, you will find:

• The Swedish journalist, author and social critic Kajsa Ekis Ekman
• The Swedish-Israeli composer and activist Dror Feiler
• The Canadanian scholar and activist Robert “Bob” Lovelace, a veteran within movements in support of the Indigenous peoples’ rights
• The Spanish Member of the European Parliament Ana Maria Miranda Paza (Bloque Nacionalista Galego)
• Professor Gerd von der Lippe norwegian sport sociologist and former athletics stare.

The following journalists will be attending:

• The Russian journalist Nadia Kevorkova
• A New Zealand team from Maoria Television, consisting of the reporter Ruwani Perera and the cameraman Jacob Bryant

Ship to Gaza’s fishing ship “Marianne of Gothenbug” has reached the city of Messina, Sicilia. Messina will be the last stop before the ship joins the Freedom Flottila at sea and takes part in the joint effort to sail to Gaza. Among the Freedom flottila crew you find the Swedish journalist Kajsa Ekis-Ekman and the Canadian scholar Robert “Bob” Lovelace, a life-long activist in the movements for the Indigenous peoples’ rights.

At Friday the “Marianne of Gothenburg” crew will take part in non-violence training. At lunch time a press conference will take place, on the initiative of the Messia city mayor. In the late afternoon, the crew will leave Messia in order to join the Freedom Flottila.

VÍDEOS

Last port of call: Lisbon, Portugal
Next port of Call: Motril, Spain
Position: N 38° 08.6´ , W 009° 13.2´
Speed: 7,7 Knots
Course: 167°
Remaining distance to Motril: 362Nm
Estimated time of arrival, Motril: Sunday 7th 12:00 CET
Remaining distance to Gaza: 2361 NM
Estimated time of arrival, Gaza: Before the end of June

We departured from Lisbon this morning at 6 AM. Due to tidal conditions and draft restrictions it was either this time or chose to wait for the next high tide. Eager to go and put some more distance behind us we decided to leave our beds at 5 AM and prepare the ship for sailing. So far the weather has been fair with a breeze from the North and a small swell from Northeast. There are 14 persons onboard and during our introductory meeting yesterday with our new guests it struck me how many people we are from all around the world and different backgrounds, but with one common aim. To end the Blockade! People who would never had met or talked to each other if it wasn’t for the blockade. We all have one thing in common, the belief in human rights and that all human beings have the same right to exist and live no matter where we were born. A question also went through my head: Is Israel aware that it´s their politics that bring us together and that every time they chose to stop us and every time they chose to ignore international law, whether it is in Palestine or in international waters or anywere else our support just gets stronger? For me it is obvious, the blockade will fall sooner or later and Israel has the chance to end it now, or once again they can choose to provide us with even more support.
/Joel