Scottish activist speaks out after aid convoy to Gaza blocked
VOTER ID laws introduced by the Tory government could influence the result of the upcoming General Election, it has been warned as polling suggests issues could be particularly acute in Scotland.
Dr Jess Garland, the Electoral Reform Society’s director of research and policy, told the Sunday National that the “unnecessary new law” could have a significant impact in the wake of stories linked to the policy following local elections in England and Wales on Thursday.
The law caught out former prime minister Boris Johnson, who was initially turned away from a polling station for forgetting his ID, and Tory MP Tom Hunt. Conservative minister
‘IT’S just horrific. You go to bed thinking about it, you wake up thinking about it. I could only imagine what the people in Gaza feel.” Those feelings, expressed by Scottish grandmother and activist Margaret Pacetta, are what spurred her and hundreds of others from across the globe to get involved with the Freedom Flotilla – a naval convoy looking to deliver 5500 tonnes of aid to the people of Palestine.
But last weekend, ignoring warnings from the UN not to “interfere” with civilians aiming to deliver aid, Israel allegedly exerted influence to prevent the flotilla from sailing.
Under pressure, the west African nation of Guinea-Bissau withdrew its flag from the lead ship, and the aid convoy’s launch date was pushed back indefinitely as a result.
Pacetta was one of some 500 volunteers – from more than 30 different countries – who were waiting in Istanbul for the green light to travel on to Gaza.
The 69-year-old, from Bishopbriggs, said the process of finding a new nation’s flag to sail could take months, but it has not deterred her or the other volunteers.
“We’ve not given up. There’s no way,” the Scots campaigner said. “We are definitely setting sail. But how many people are going to die waiting on us?
“For everybody who cares about the people in Gaza: how many children, women, families are all going to die waiting?”
THE AID CONVOY
ANOTHER question that needs to be asked is: if the aid will be sat waiting for months before it can begin the journey to Gaza, will it not perish before then?
Pacetta says that won’t happen, stressing that aid takes many more forms than just food.
“We also had an ambulance,” she explained.
“We had a fire engine. We had doctors wanting to go and work there. Nurses, engineers, people who are just wanting to go and work in Gaza.”
She pointed to Carlos Trotta as one example. An 82-year-old cardiologist from Argentina who had worked extensively with Doctors Without Borders, Trotta was to sail on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza.
But Trotta, Pacetta and hundreds of others were ultimately blocked from travelling.
“It was absolutely heartbreaking,” Pacetta said. “There were tears all around. We were babbling like babies – not for us, I must stress, not for us, but the people in Gaza, starving. You’ve seen photographs: children, babies.
“We’ve got all that aid that we could have given, and yet every obstacle was put in the way.”
The news only came after weeks of waiting in Istanbul for the green light
– weeks which ate away at many of the volunteers’ funds.
“I’ve used up a lot of my savings,” Pacetta said. “It’s my 50th wedding anniversary in July. We were saving for a cruise around the Med. My husband said to me: ‘You need to make a decision. This is your cruise round the Med if you go on the flotilla’.
“I wouldn’t swap it, but there won’t be a cruise in July. A lot of that money’s gone. I may go for a wee paddle down the Clyde for my
Freedom Flotilla not ready to give up