Minneapolis Event on 12/6 Preps for Gaza Freedom March in Late December

Minnesotans plan trip to Gaza for Gandhi-inspired march | Press Release

CODEPINK: Women for Peace and the Minnesota Gaza Freedom March Participants' Committee Present Occupation 101, a film by Sufyan Omeish and Abdallah Omeish

Date: Sunday, December 6, 2009, 4:00 pm

Location: Hennepin Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55403

Cost: suggested donation $10 at the door, no one turned away

Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 6th, 2009 - A group of passionate Minnesotans are planning to participate in a bold, Gandhi-inspired peace march in Gaza, 'the world's largest open-air prison'. The group calls itself the “Minnesota Gaza Freedom March Participants' Committee” and today they are exhibiting a documentary film that highlights the injustice they hope to correct through participating in a non-violent mass action in Gaza with participants from around the world. The documentary, Occupation 101, is being shown as fundraiser. At least 3 members of the group are committed to traveling to Egypt and Palestine, with airline tickets already purchased. Others are excited to go, if only enough funds can be raised. A local march is being planned in the Twin Cities area simultaneous with the nonviolent march in Gaza, one mile to the closed Erez checkpoint on the border with Israel. Discussion and trainings on their organizing strategy follow the heart-wrenching film.

The idea came to the Twin Cities initially as a result of one of the organizers' participation in a healthcare reform lobbying effort that took him to Washington, D.C. In July. "I was in D.C. for the rally and citizen lobbying day hat marked the 44th anniversary of Medicare, on July 30th, and a little early for a fundraiser for the 'Healthcare NOT Warfare' campaign at Busboys and Poets, when an affiliated group, CODEPINK, had an event in that space the hour before our event started. I sat in on the meeting, and as soon as I heard about Gandhi being the inspiration of the Gaza Freedom March, I knew I had to participate in this," says Soren Sorensen. "Healthcare and the economy remain the issues that most Americans care about, according to polls, but it is hard to ignore the desperate plight of the Palestinians in Gaza. The have no access to healthcare, and the average Palestinian in Gaza earns $600 a year. The U.S. Governments support for this inhuman siege is, no doubt, reducing the favorability of U.S. Goods and services abroad. If the U.S. Aligns itself with international law and human rights, it could help our economic recovery. So there is some self-interest for us, but for me it is a greater issue of conscience."

"I am an American Jew, the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and victims, who has followed the situation in the Middle East with despair for many years." say march participant Sylvia Schwarz. "Human rights abuses, land expropriation, targeted assassinations, house demolitions, and increasing repression was the price Palestinians had to pay because of their existence, and this repression was framed as a just, nationalist fight to right the wrongs of persecution against Jews. Only in the last few years has there been any type of movement which a person without political power could join to express opposition to human rights abuses. Several movements have been growing around the US and around the world, and now we have an opportunity to march in the spirit of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., a non-violent, world-wide expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people and an effort to end the brutal siege of Gaza. "

The Minnesota Gaza Freedom March Participants' Committee shows the film Occupation 101, a thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film produced on the conflict, Occupation 101 dispels many widely-held misconceptions of the issue by presenting a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding it.

The Occupation 101 shows the desperate conditions the Gaza Freedom March participants hope to alleviate by creating awareness that may lead to the lifting of the illegal siege of Gaza that has existed since 2007.
Refer to these sites for more information on the film and other organizations involved in this event:

• Gaza Freedom March
• Occupation 101
• Code Pink