Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Cynthia McKinney Returns to U.S. After Ordeal on High Seas and Israeli Prison
Bill Quigley
02 Jul 2009
🖨️ Print Article
The Editors

Former Georgia Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney arrives at JFK Airport early Tuesday morning. McKinney, known as prisoner #88794 during her confinement at Ramle prison since Tuesday, was arrested along wih 20 other activists of the Free Gaza Movment when the Israeli Navy seized their vessel, Human Spirit, on the high seas. The boat was enroute from Cyprus to Gaza bearing humanitarian aid to Palestinian victims of the two-year-old Israeli blockade and military assault on the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million people.

McKinney and other Free Gaza members had refused to sign documents that were written in Hebrew and were said to be admissions to having entered Israel illegally. McKinney points out that she and here colleagues had no intention of entering Israel – their mission was to deliver humanitarian supplies, including cement and toys for children.

In a call from Ramle prison on Friday, Ms. McKinney reported: “The Israeli authorities tried to get us to confess to committing a crime. Israel,” she declared, “must be declared a failed state.”

Among her cellmates were Ethiopian female would-be immigrants to Israel who “thought Israel held promise for them – but it wasn’t true.”

Demonstrations in support of McKinney and the “Free Gaza 21”were held in several U.S. cities, including at the Israeli consulate in New York City. City Councilman Charles Barron led the crowd in chants of, “Hands of Cynthia McKinney.” Other actions were scheduled  in New York, Washington, Atlanta and Chicago, this weekend.

 


Cynthia McKinney

The continuing blockade of Gaza, in which Israel and the U.S. collectively punish 1.5 million people is a crime under international law, and one of many stories not covered in the corporate news.  Here are a few places where you can find out more about the situation in Israel-Palestine and the blockade.
  • The Free Gaza Project --ISRAEL ATTACKS JUSTICE BOAT; KIDNAPS HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS; CONFISCATES MEDICINE, TOYS AND OLIVE TREES

the blockade

 

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • MOLEGHAF
    MOLEGHAF Statement: A call for revolutionary forces to assemble
    13 Mar 2024
    MOLEGHAF calls for organization and unity among all revolutionary forces in Haiti to combat the capitalist glass and imperialist forces causing the ongoing crisis on the island.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe
    African Americans and the Cold War from Civil Rights to Black Power
    13 Mar 2024
    The end of the Second Imperialist War (World War II) did not usher in the end of colonialism and oppression for Africans on the continent and in the diaspora. The resistance of Pan-African movements…
  • Jeb Sprague , Kit Klarenberg
    Secret cable: CIA orchestrated Haiti’s 2004 coup
    13 Mar 2024
    A classified diplomatic cable obtained by The Grayzone reveals the role of a veteran CIA officer in violently overthrowing Haiti’s popular President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004.
  • Frank Chapman
    Frank Chapman Calls on Communities to Unite and Oppose Racist Attacks on Migrants
    13 Mar 2024
    Frank Chapman calls on Black and Brown communities in Chicago to unite in struggle against the forces that oppress us all.
  • Joe Biden collage
    K.J. Noh 
    US Readies 'Transnational Kill Chain' For Taiwan Proxy War
    13 Mar 2024
    The U.S. is putting into place the final pieces to spark another proxy war, this time in Taiwan.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us