Cover photo: Members of the Conscience, aboard the Ship to Gaza, read the names of journalists and healthcare workers killed in Gaza, writing them onto a wall beneath the words, “They tried to bury us, but they did not know that we were seeds.” A collective tribute and a reminder that “Journalism is not a crime – Medicide is a crime.“ ©Henri Sulku
Since September 30, our editor Henri Sulku has been aboard the ship Conscience as part of Turning Point Magazine’s ongoing journalistic mission to report on the Genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The Conscience attempted to break the siege as part of the Humanitarian Global Flotilla, a mission to deliver aid in defiance of Israel’s blockade. On October 8, at 4.34 am, the Conscience, alongside eight other vessels, was illegally intercepted 220 kilometers from Gaza in international waters by the Israeli military. Contact with the ship has since been lost, and the fate of its occupants is unknown.
Despite the apparent threats against the Flotilla, we decided to board because we feel morally obliged to report from Gaza and to show solidarity with our colleagues. Two hundred and fifty-two local journalists have been targeted because they were informing the world about the extent of the genocide. We must try every possible way to break the media siege around Gaza. We, as independent reporters, have a duty to shed light where governments want to keep the dark. There is a deliberate effort to hide the reality of genocide by eradicating Gaza’s journalists.
We call on all journalists, media, and human rights organizations, and all the people who believe in freedom, to keep mobilizing to ensure the swift release of all the Flotilla participants who are illegally detained. We reiterate the call to lift the deadly siege on Gaza.
Henri Sulku is an editor at Turning Point focusing on political economy, people’s history, and resistance movements
