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


  • Pablo Meriguet
    Shield of the Americas: Trump’s New Tool for Hemispheric Military Coordination
    17 Mar 2026
    The agreement was signed by more than a dozen right-wing and far-right Latin American governments and ensures Washington’s dominance and leadership in the Americas.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio March 13, 2026
    13 Mar 2026
    This week’s segment is devoted to the United States latest war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran. We hear the perspectives of a U.S. based activist and organizer with Black Alliance…
  • Man carrying Iranian flag
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Navid Zarrinnal’s Perspectives From Iran
    13 Mar 2026
    Navid Zarrinnal is an Iranian journalist and host of The Colony Archive podcast. He joins us from Tehran to discuss the US and Israeli aggression and explains why the left must be in solidarity with…
  • Bombing of Iran
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the U.S. War on Iran
    13 Mar 2026
    The United States attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran began on February 28. Our guest provides analysis on this U.S. aggression from an anti-imperialist and Black left perspective. Erica Caines is…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Urgent Need for the Black Radical Tradition
    11 Mar 2026
    The U.S. is careening towards economic and military disaster, a moment when the Black radical tradition is missing but badly needed.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us