Gaza Flotillas as Counterinsurgency

Resource Diversion from People Experiencing Genocide

l participated in Gaza Freedom Flotilla before October 2023. l quit while on a boat in the Flotilla when l found out that they never had a plan to arrive in Gaza.

My name is Bullitt D Bourbon, you can Google search my name and confirm that l participated. The retired Army colonel/ former diplomat, Ann Wright, who recruited me told me that it is direct action (not protesting). That was the only reason l agreed. After l got on the boat, l saw that the boats were not seaworthy. Not only was the physical conditions toxic so was the human condition. Other participants and crew on the boat began to form alliances to bully people off the boat to increase the chances for themselves to be on the final leg of the journey, to be arrested and/ or attacked by Israel.

When l realized that it was purely performative, l quit in the middle of the Mediterranean. The Flotilla Coalition did not help me return to California where l am from. l now consider that getting me out of the country in itself was counterinsugency (COIN), because l was already taking (effective) action against local and national government agendas, and refused recruitment into the political structure. l had no money to self fund travel to the Flotilla rendezvous, my travel to Europe was funded by the American arm of the Gaza Flotilla Coalition. When l quit, the vast majority of the participants did not even acknowledge that l was leaving, much less offer to help me return to the US. At first, l did not think this was odd because the other participants made it clear that they self funded their travel and even put money into the boats, operating costs, and supplies. They also made sure l understood that l was only given a spot as crew because one of the Coalition's major figures personally placed me into the Flotilla.

The Flotilla that l participated in was mainly funded by Norway and Sweden.

The multiple Flotillas that have been happening in the past year have drained relatively large amounts of human and monetary resources that could have gone directly to starving people in Gaza so they can buy what little aid gets smuggled through the tunnels, to pay for electricity to run water pumps and charge their phones. Aid was consistently blocked at the land borders and nothing was/ is free. They have not had income for 3 years. People who are literally dying beg for chump change on social media.

People with large families/ dependent communities are directly asking for critical help on microblogging and other social media sites. Start finding them with aggregators like Radio Watermelon and Gaza Verified. Remember that many more people are in need and asking but not verified, look for them and help. Self organized local mutual aid groups inside Gaza like Sameer Project and .Handala Relief provide critical supplies and services like water, food, and sanitation to large numbers of people. Self organized pledge-based groups that guarantee specific amounts of monetary aid to large families exist and you can organize one as well!

The US military has invested substantial research into moral injury in combat personnel. The vested interest is not concern for their health, rather, in how it detriments soldiers' performance. Moral injury, defined as acting in violation of one's own ideals, ethics, or attachments, can be so debilitating that it directly takes soldiers out of commission.

Excerpt from a 2019 paper by military funded researcher Jonathan Shay:

(Brett) Litz, et al. pointed out the central fact that PTSD, as officially defined, is rarely what wrecks veterans lives or crushes them to suicide. Moral injury as they have described it does both.

It's a genocide, helping 1 person live for 1 more day is stopping it.

Radio Watermelon

Gaza Verified

Handala Relief

100% ran by people in Gaza throughout the genocide! (There's also a boat in a Flotilla called Handala, it's not this group. Watch out, search engines point to an old/ completed fundraiser.)

Fundraiser

Updates

Gaza Direct Aid based in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, Gaza

Fundraiser

Updates

Sameer Project

has provided necessities to 10s of 1000s of people throughout the genocide
https://thesameerproject.org

Lifeline for Gaza

Aggregating several large, well-known lists of private people asking for help. Reminder: people ask for help because of starvation and other immediate needs.