Sam Watson is a First-Nations Flotilla Participant from so-called Australia, sailing out of deep solidarity with the Palestinian people and the shared struggle for self-determination. As our Flotilla resumes course, Sam has a message for people in Palestine:
“In Queensland, we had an apartheid system where streets, called boundary streets, stopped us from moving after a certain time,” says Sam, who is sailing on the boat Kafr Qasim, named after the Palestinian village where people were massacred by zionist forces during the Nakba because they came home after a curfew that they were unaware of.
“250 years ago the genocide of my people began, and the nation of Australia was built on our nonexistence and our erasure. And that’s what the state of israel is built upon. But after 250 years, my people are still here because we resisted and because of our perseverance & our refusal to be erased. And that is what is going to happen to your people. One day both our lands will be free to determine our own destinies.”
Thanks to our friends at City hall and the slow encroachment of NRL into all public spaces via the big screen at KGSq.
Last night 14 May 2026, eleven Australians set sail from Türkiye for the final leg of the journey to Gaza.
They join almost 500 participants from all over the world on 54 boats, continuing the missing of delivering life-saving aid to Gaza.
Many participants are setting sail again just two weeks after being illegally kidnapped, detained and abused by Israel.
Why?
Because every day Palestinians are still being bombed, starved and murdered.
Because the Australian Government continues to politically and materially support Israel.
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