LONDON, April 16, 2011 (WAFA) - The next flotilla of boats that will set sail to break the siege of Gaza will be named “Freedom Flotilla–Stay Human” in memory of Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian activist and volunteer who was murdered April 14 by an extremist group in the Gaza Strip, Friday said a press release by the organizers of the flotilla.
Arrigoni, known as “Vik,” 36, was a passenger on the first small flotilla that broke the siege in 2008, and has lived and volunteered in the blockaded region off and on ever since.
“The murder of Vik is a tragedy for his family, fellow activists who knew him, and the Palestinians who loved and admired him,” said the Steering Committee of Freedom Flotilla 2. “We condemn this senseless murder and the people who are behind it. They took the life of one of the most passionate supporters of justice for Palestine. This murder is damaging to the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice as well as to our work in support of that struggle.”
The committee said that, in his honor, it is calling its next voyage Freedom Flotilla–Stay Human, the name of the book he wrote.
“Nothing that we write can capture the man who was so full of the joy of life, a man with a pipe in his mouth and a captain’s hat always tilted at an angle on his head; the man with the big smile and gentle nature, someone who used his physical strength to hold small children in his arms, sometimes several at a time. His laughter and his last comments every time we saw him will ring in all of our ears as we board the boats to return to Gaza at the end of May. ‘Stay Human,’ he would say, then grin and clench his pipe in his teeth,” said the committee.
“We will do our best, Vik, to carry on the work you have done. The flotilla will return to Gaza in your honor.”
Arrigoni sailed on the first small boat to enter Gaza in the summer of 2008, one of 44 activists protesting the illegal blockade imposed by Israel against the 1.6 million Palestinians living in Gaza. He returned to Gaza in February of 2010, and was planning to depart Gaza to visit his ill father the week after he was killed. He was kidnapped by an extremist “Salafist” group for unknown reasons.
“The crime committed by these individuals do not represent the Palestinian people, who loved Vittorio,” said Mohammad Hannoun, a spokesperson from Italy for the European Committee to End the Siege of Gaza (ECESG), which is sponsoring a boat in the next flotilla.
“This act of brutal injustice will not deter activists around the world who will set sail in May to end the inhumane siege of Gaza and protect their inalienable right to be free from foreign occupation and live in dignity, freedom and independence. This is what Vik worked so hard for, and his spirit will be beside us as we set sail,” he said.
