Chris Smalls: Sabotage attempts and death threats won’t stop Gaza Freedom Flotilla

The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Israel’s US backed genocidal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and Gaza is reaching an unspeakable turning point. The Israeli government is deliberately starving millions of civilians, men, women, children, seniors, Palestinians, who are on the brink of death, desperate for any scrap of sustenance are being lured to so-called aid distribution sites administered by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is headquartered here in the us, and then they’re being summarily slaughtered by Israeli forces. More than a hundred aid organizations warned today that mass starvation was spreading in Gaza and aid workers are themselves among those suffering from the lack of adequate food. People are collapsing in the streets according to the United Nations Humanitarian Agency. Four children were among the 15 people who died from severe malnutrition in the last 24 hours. According to NBC news. As the crisis of humanity deepens another Gaza Freedom Flotilla has set sail in the hopes of breaking Israel’s blockade and bringing lifesaving supplies to the besieged Gaza Strip.

And Chris Smalls, American labor organizer, co-founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union is among the peace activists who are on board the ship as we speak. And Chris is calling us from the Honah right now. Chris, thank you so much for joining us, man. I really, really appreciate it. I wanted to start by asking if you could just talk us through why you decided to join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and what it could possibly feel like for you right now, sailing towards a place where a genocide is happening and you know that the forces that are carrying it out are going to try to stop you.

Chris Smalls:

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me, and thank you for amplifying this important subject right now, which is Gaza. That’s the main focus. And as a labor leader, as you mentioned, as a tax paying US citizen whose tax paying dollars is going towards the slaughtering of nearly half a million people in less than two years, I can no longer be complicit or participate in. And as a labor leader once again, I decided to join the ELA mission. Like many others, I was inspired by the Madeline. I’ve known many of the activists that’s on the Madeline Thunberg is a comrade is mine, Yasmeen is a comrade is mine. Thiago comrade is mine. I met over the past years of my travels and for me, I already signed up months ago and I knew I was ready to go out there and try to make a difference in any way possible, even putting my life on the line right now as we speak.

You know that this, as you mentioned, this is one of the most dangerous militaries in the world, the most monstrous, inhumane military in the world. They have been known in 2010, they jumped on the Flo Tiller and killed 10 of the activists. So just knowing that that’s at risk, I knew that this is something that’s very important for the times that we are. It’s a really dark time in humanity, and I just once again, can’t stand on the wrong side of history. I want to be on the right side of history and enjoy the picket line. The people of Gaza is a working class issue, and we have to be on the right side of the picket line.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Hell yeah, man. That’s I think, beautifully and powerfully put. And I wanted to talk about what it’s going to be like for y’all as you get closer in a minute, but I wanted to first talk about what it was like just getting started for you guys because just hours before the Freedom Flotilla was going to set sail from the Italian port of Gallipoli, two attempts of sabotage on the ship were made. Can you tell us what happened?

Chris Smalls:

Yeah, of course. We have 24 7 watts. I take shifts. Everybody takes a shift, do two hour watches throughout the night, throughout the day, and even with the 24 7 watch in past missions. This is mission number 37. For those who don’t know, this is boat number 37, and this has been happening since 2008 and past attempts, they have sent scuba divers, they have done things to sabotage. They just dropped a bomb on the last mission last month in Malta. They have done things to sabotage these missions before we even take place or set cell on sea. And Israel has announced to their media and to their audience that they were going to do anything in their power to try to stop us from leaving Italy. So we woke up the morning to set cell as normal, and we, surprisingly, as we were doing our check around the boat to check making sure that the donations and everything that we receive are safe, nothing, no contraband, things like that, no weapons, anything like that was given to us.

And yeah, our captain and our crew discovered or wrote that was professionally tied to the rotor. It wasn’t a normal rope. It wasn’t a rope that can sometimes be picked up at sea when you’re traveling across. That happens sometimes. This was deliberately tied. And then the second attempt was we have to have a fresh tank of water so that we can take showers and wash our hands in the sink and even cook our food. And instead of getting fresh tank of water, we got a tank of acid, ro acid, which would’ve corroded our pipes, and more importantly, it would’ve probably killed and burned all 21 of us and unli us. So thank God we were able to catch that, and it delayed us two hours, but we were able to once again, managed to get out to see, despite their attempts, nothing was going to deter us. And yeah, we’re now, we’re three to four days out from Gaza Seaport. We’re getting close to where Israeli forces intercepted the Madeline. And yeah, we could face the same fate of going to Israel’s prison once again. But we are well aware and we are ready. We’re prepared for all of that.

Maximillian Alvarez:

You and I have talked many times before we’ve even done events together here in Baltimore, and it’s no secret that you’ve had some of the most powerful forces in the world coming after you, including Amazon and Jeff Bezos. Do you feel like that’s prepared you to take this level of threat on or does this feel like even more terrifying than anything you’ve faced?

Chris Smalls:

No, it’s the same amount of threat. I was the Amazon whistleblower for COVID, which was a life or death situation, and here I am again putting my life on the line. This is a life or death situation. Amazon is deliberately attached to this genocide. For those who don’t know, the Iron Dome is Amazon. It’s ran by AWS, ran by Amazon Web Services. They are the intelligence that is used to target and surveil and kill innocent Palestinians, specifically women and children. So if you’re supporting the Amazon, you are absolutely supporting genocide.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Well, I want to end on that note and ask if you have final messages to anyone watching this about what they can do to not be complicit in this genocide, what they can do to fight against it, what they can do to ensure the safety of the freedom flotilla as you guys try to bring lifesaving aid to starving people in Gaza.

Chris Smalls:

Yeah. Well, everybody should know that we have 21 passengers on board. All civilians, all activists, all volunteers. One third of the crew is Americans, but this hasn’t been done in recent times. Three of us are New Yorkers, myself included. And for the US citizens that are watching this, your tax paying dollars are going towards this genocide, whether you like it or not. So you can either be complicit or participate or once again, you can speak up and use anything in your power because we all have a role to play. And I encourage everybody to reach out to your US representatives, whoever they may be, progress it or not left or right and try to amplify to keep all eyes on the honah because that’s what’s going to keep us safe as Americans, as volunteers on this mission, that anything can happen to us, that Israel has no jurisdiction or international waters.

Everything that we’re doing is legal legally deemed by the International Court of Justice last year. And they have no right to intercept us or kidnap us and take us to prison. We are not setting set for Israel. We’re going to Palestine, and we need everybody to know the facts and the truth and use whatever platform you can to amplify that, to keep our eyes on us. And once again, raise hell and raise your voices, raise your social media platforms, share, tweet, whatever you can do to keep us safe. And hopefully we can have a safe passes and I can see you guys back at home.

Maximillian Alvarez:

I have to ask this last question, ma’am, because you mentioned that you’re aware of the very real threats to your safety and even to your life on this mission. If this is your last mission, what do you want your message to the world to be with this mission?

Chris Smalls:

Well, obviously as a father, the one thing I don’t want to happen is my kids being in the world that we live in right now. Every time a Palestinian child dies, a piece of humanity dies with it. And that’s words of Diago who was on the Mad League, and that’s real. We should be ashamed to sit by and stand by and watch these innocent people be slaughtered every day, live stream. And I had enough of it. Every day I opened up my Instagram. Every day I opened up my Twitter or any social media platform, all we see is death. And I know as a father, as a civilian, I can’t stand with it. And it could be my last time talking or last time being on a mission forever. But I hope that people will remember and know that once again, this is a world that we do not want to live in, and that’s what we have to fight for humanity. Gaza is showing us how to love.