Media Storm - Reporting from the Global Sumud Flotilla: A people’s movement

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

This week, co-host Mathilda brings you a report from Tunisia, just before she sets sail on the Global Sumud Flotilla. Ordinary people have made extraordinary sacrifices to make the journey toward Gaza, and establish a humanitarian corridor to get much needed aid into Palestine. Some people have left young children behind, others have risked their livelihoods to make the journey possible. But they stand firm in the belief that humanity and solidarity are their most important values. Media Storm brings you the voices missing from the mainstream: activists from the Global South, and ordinary civilians who believe there is nothing more important than solidarity with Gaza right now. We also hear from Greta Thunberg, and grandson of Nelson Mandela, Mandla Mandela. The episode is hosted by Mathilda Mallinson (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mathildamall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) and edited by Helena Wadia (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@helenawadia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)  The music is by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @soundofsamfire⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ⁠⁠ Support us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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this series brings the drama to the screen like never before. Starring Academy Award winner, Patricia Arquette, and Jason Clark. Watch the Hulu original series Murdoch Death in the Family, streaming October 15th on Disney Plus. Hello, Media Stormers. I am recording this at 3am on Wednesday, the 10th of September, because I just got back to my hotel after reporting here in Tunis on the second drone attack and two nights on ships of the global summered flotilla. so I can't really sleep but probably some value to me speaking fresh back from the port

because something very notable when I turned up at the port today there was not a single journalist from a single Western media outlet and I can't really emphasise you enough the gravity of the situation on paper right from any journalist's perspective last night a drone attacked a Portuguese vessel in Tunisian waters. Tonight, a drone attacked a British vessel in Tunisian waters. These vessels are part of a peaceful humanitarian aid mission, a civilian attempt to get necessary resources to Gaza,

which is currently enduring famine. After last night's attack, The Tunisian government, as quoted by Reuters, denied witness accounts that I had been on site gathering and CCTV footage that shows a drone attack. They said, we think the fire was caused on deck. They said there's no truth to rumours of a drone attack. And that is the line that many media essentially emphasised in their coverage. media who were not present at the event, who were not there to get the witness testimonies, right? I was, I spoke to someone who was, frankly, in a state of shock as he recounted what he had just

seen. This was then verified by multiple different items of CCTV footage from different vessels in the harbour. Can we be absolutely certain that this was a drone attack? Let me be clear. 100% it was a drone dropping a bomb on the forward deck. of our ship. Nevertheless, many media weren't with the headline. You know, flotilla activists claim they were attacked by drone. Tunisian authorities deny it and quote it. Frankly, when I read the reports on BBC, also on Sky News,

that were incredibly belittling of the actual journalism being down of the ground, yeah, I was pretty hurt by the diminishing coverage. However, I want to end this little introduction by diverting to, to what Greta Thumburg said when I spoke to her at the port, which was, we must keep eyes focused on the story that matters. And this is yet another attempt to scare and silence Palestinian solidarity. But they will not succeed in doing that. We have to keep our eyes on Gaza, and we have to keep demanding an end to this genocide and this occupation.

Welcome to Media Storm. This is not normally how the episode goes. Normally you have my co-host Helen Awadier and I sitting in a studio tearing through the week's headlines and helping you understand how to read them critically. We also bring in guests with direct first-hand experience of the stories being discussed. People from communities you often see reported on in the news, but very rarely hear spoken to in that news, people like refugees and asylum seekers or homeless people or people with disabilities or LGBT people. But today, Helena and I are separated and I am about to board a boat and I also don't know when I get to sleep, so we decided this would be the best way of doing it.

I have lots of testimonies from the 10 days of preparation for the global summered flotilla here in Tunisia. And there are stories that you haven't seen reported very much or at all in the media outlets you're probably exposed to. But these are stories I really want to tell you because they tell a story of a truly global movement, much bigger than the flotilla itself, a movement of building civilian anger at what they see to be a genocide unfolding on their social media, but not necessarily being called for what it is in their mainstream media. A genocide to which they see government in action and feel a responsibility to take action themselves, however difficult or dangerous, that action might be.

My name is Yapa. I'm Palestinian. It makes me so happy to see all these people coming from all around the world. So when you see all these people gathered here together like this, what do you see? I worked with the United Nations. for 13 years. It reminds me of the real meaning of the United Nations. People gathering from different nationalities, from different places to work on the same purpose, same objective. However, the United Nations are supported, funded. We as people's movement, we are not funded. In contrary, we are paying from our own pocket to make this happen. This is people's movement. The drama of this drone attack should not distract from or distort the messaging about what should be an incredibly undramatic

and uncontroversial story, a peaceful humanitarian attempt by civilians from around the world to open a humanitarian corridor to Gaza with medics and medical supplies and lawyers and food. Gaza is experiencing famine and under international law, Israel's blockade of the strip is illegal. By contrast, it is a legal right to travel through international waters in a flag ship. Just as Israel, an occupying force in Palestine has a legal duty to facilitate efforts to get aid like this into territory they are occupying. In that same breath, I would like to say the celebrity presence on these vessels should not distract from the fact this is fundamentally a people's movement

and one that has taken extraordinary grassroots maneuvers. 85,000 people have donated to this. Hundreds of people have gathered to train for this and go along with the ships and the aid.

People from 47 different countries speaking different languages with different cultures coming together and coordinating. I am Senator Mushdaq Ahmed Khan from Pakistan and I'm a part of the Global Samut Flotela. I come from Finland.

Indonesia. Turkey. I'm from Italy. Dublin in Ireland. They shared with me their reasons for being here. To make sure that people still remember that there is a brutal genocide happening in Gaza. Governments, unfortunately, they didn't do enough. Governments don't make anything.

It would be hard not to be a staunch Palestine supporter if you're familiar with the Irish history. I want support the children in Gaza. There is a genocide in the Gaza, a full-scale genocide is the Gaza. So we appeal from the states of the world, from the government of the world, to favor this global flotela. Because of humanity. The humanity will be able to stop this genocide, I believe. Look at us. We are like United Nations in the meaning, really. But for few has this been an easy journey.

People have struggled financially. It's been so hard I was struggling financially, but despite all that, my friends helped me to come here and they're still helping me in every way possible because they're not able to join. They bought every single thing that I have in my bag, my clothes, my medicines, everything that is needed in the global Samudso Hotel. Our stay in Tunis keeps getting delayed. We were only supposed to be here for three days at first. Now it's been 10. Think about the logistics with people's careers.

How do you get days off? How do doctors get days off? I'm Hussain and I'm going to the Gaza as medic. I was born in beautiful Iran. I'm working as paramedic. And they choose for me, which board they need medic. It was difficult to get vocation time to come with the group of the three people and go to the Gaza. But why did you work so hard to do it?

Why not? It's very easy answer. Actually, why not people joining us? We need million people to go to the Gaza, to the cell, to the Gaza, to free the people from the starvation, from the genocide. We can stay together, we can live together in the peace. I don't care what you believe. I really don't care what you love.

love and how many kids you have. I just care about you are a human and if I have done many things for the Ukraine and I want to do the same things for the Gaza. Gaza right now facing genocide and it hurts me a lot. I can't sleep easily. I can eat easily. It feels very difficult. We sing on our hands genocide.

How you can stay in your home and do nothing? At home, I have a business and I have to leave it. I have a cleaning chemical distribution company. And we've just started, it's a startup, just start one year ago. And I have to leave it and come to the mission. It's just started a year ago. Yes. But do you know how long you're leaving it for?

I have no idea. Maybe it's going to take a year. Because they said that they are going to keep us for a long time. Bang Giver just announced that for the sake of the mission to be impossible for the next time. They want to keep us for long term in the prison. But what will happen to your business if that happens? I will lose it, same as any person in Gaza. So the life of person is more important than the business.

And more than that, everyone here has family who were back home worried about them. Everyone here had a tearful goodbye. Well, I mean, I'm a mother. I'm a wife. I'm a daughter. I have three young kids who are everything to me. Let's just say it wasn't the easiest decision to be here and it wasn't the easiest conversation to try and convince my family to come here. Wow, I can imagine. Are you missing your children? You want me to cry? Every single day. I actually find it really difficult to call home. and especially video calls my children because of the emotion that overcomes and overrides me. You know, we're here and we are preparing to go on the flotillas.

I mean, and you know, this is not a, this is a plan that isn't, you know, where everything's set in stone and cast in stone and we kind of know how it's going to go. It is a grassroots mission. Everything changes. We were supposed to set sail last week. We still haven't set sail. Well, inshallah we will set sail on Wednesday. So when I lived home, I had a planned date of when I thought I would be back based on what we forecasted would happen. That's gone completely out of the window.

So I don't know when I see my babies again. But inshallah, soon. During this flotella, I'm going to leave my wife and my eight months old baby. Eight months? Yes. He's eight months old. eight months old, but I think we can't live in a world, or my son can't live in a world where the children of Gaza are being starved and killed every day.

So I think the message for my son in the future is that I've done everything, so you live in a world where children are not killed, that's it. I miss him, but what do Palestinians, mothers and fathers in Palestine when they lose their children field? Being in this journey is a responsibility, responsibility towards my son and towards the children of Gaza. Another side of this story that you're probably not really seeing reported is that the majority

of participants here are from the global South. My name is Zubanah and I'm from South Africa. A lot of people miss the fact that the state of Israel actually began the same year that the National Party started the policy of apartheid in South Africa. So in a way, apartheid had a dry run. in South Africa and was perfected in Israel. During apartheid, a lot of the weapons that South Africa got, they were getting from apartheid Israel,

the ones that were killing black people in South Africa and killing anti-apartheid activists in South Africa. And now, one of the problems that we're having is I was in Palestine in 2023, and one of the things I found out while I was doing that trip, is that there is a lot of white South Africans who have become settlers in Israel. So, in fact, we've got white South Africans who have apartheid nostalgia. Everybody who is black South African and has ever been to Palestine

then says apartheid was a horrible, demeaning, insidious system. But whatever Palestinians are experiencing is like three times as worse. significant cohorts in this effort by far is the Tunisian cohorts. Locals here have a really, really strong sense of solidarity with Palestine and also a really, really strong sense of hospitality. So they have rallied to provide accommodation for participants, to provide facilities for training and food for the journey. Solidarity of Palestine, it's always important for our people and our people

and our country. And you know what, for most of them, this is not their first attempt to get aid into Gaza. It just wasn't by sea that they tried. We know that Egypt, they help Israel in this genocide, but we say, let's go there and trying to do something to help. Military there, they're coming to our hotel and take to people. I can't talk really about what happened there.

So it's... It was dangerous. Yeah. One of the reasons I'm telling you this is because my Prime Minister, Sir Keir Stama, was in fact questioned in Parliament about whether he would protect British citizens on the global Summaid flotilla. You see, on past similar missions like this, Israel has intercepted vessels in international waters, forcibly transferred the passengers into Israel.

territory, detained and then deported them. Israel has indicated they intend to do so with passengers on this flotilla and detain them in harsher conditions than ever. And so Kirstehrman was asked, what measures will you take to protect the British citizens on this flotilla, citizens who are moving entirely lawfully with humanitarian aid through international water? This week, the global Sumud Flotilla, which includes British citizens, set sail for Gaza to break the illegal blockade and deliver much-needed aid. In June, the British boat, the Madeleine, was threatened and its crew detained, but we took no action. Can the Prime Minister say what has been learned from this and what steps are being taken to protect the British citizens on this flotilla?

And Kirstama gave a very non-committal answer, where primarily he stated that land routes are the only viable way, the only sustainable way, to get aid into Gaza. I have to say land, we are working with other countries to get aid in by any practical means, but land routes are the only viable and sustainable means of getting aid into Gaza at the scale that is required. But people have tried to do this by land before. In June, you probably read about the Madlein ship that carried Greta Thunberg towards Gaza. What you probably didn't read about that very same week

was the huge land convoy of volunteers attempting to walk with aid to Gaza and the reason I think you didn't really read about it was because most of them were from the global south. Will they underpin the movement I'm with today? Now Nelson Mandela, your grandfather, he said that the struggle for freedom of the South African people was not over until Palestine was free. Can you explain what he meant by that?

Well, this comes from the role that the Palestinian played in our struggle for liberation. As you know, that our struggle for liberation is intertwined with the struggle of the Palestinian people. They inspired us during our darkest days and ensured that they supported our cause until we attained our freedom. And this is why it was important upon his release in 1990. and respectively in 1997 on his visit to Gaza. He made a commitment to the Palestinian people by saying our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.

In this regard, we as the South Africans today have picked up the bait in where he left off and are ensuring that we keep on the fight of the cause that was close and dear to his heart. You've been to Palestine, haven't you? Palestine haven't you? What did you see and how did it resemble what you experienced or your family experienced in South Africa? Well, for us as South Africans have often visited the occupied territories of Palestine and in this regard have come out with one conclusion that the Palestinians are

experiencing a worse form of apartheid than we ever in experience. They are undergoing a genocide, a live genocide whilst many in the global community remain silent. And look, I know that Gaza should be the story here, not the flotilla, right? Genocide in Gaza is the story. The flotilla is ultimately an attempt to change the story. But I do want you to understand what this movement looks like, because I have had the privilege of seeing it up close, and it is really quite astounding to see.

Even if we failed this time, we will continue. We will continue and continue and continue until we break the siege. And it makes me feel the weight of government in action in the face of genocide. Now, genocide in Gaza is formally being investigated in the international courts, a process that takes years. But the legal duty to act to prevent genocide has been in place since January last year when the courts determined that genocide in Gaza was plausible. Whether that duty has been acted on by your government, I'll leave to you to decide.

But I can tell you the many people that I'm seeing around me today. People from 47 different countries clearly feel their governments are not performing that duty. And so they are seeking to perform it themselves. And that is the story of the global Sumud Flotilla. A story of ordinary people, an extraordinary sacrifice. Thank you for listening. If you want to support Media Storm, you can do so on Patreon for less than a cup of coffee a month. The link is in the show notes and a special shout-outs to everyone in our Patreon community already.

We appreciate you so much. And if you enjoyed this episode, please send it to someone. Word of mouth is still the best way to grow a podcast, so please do tell your friends. You can follow us on social media at Matilda Mal at Helen Awaddiya and follow the show at MediaStorm Pod. MediaStorm is an award-winning podcast produced by Helena Wadia and Matilda Mallinson. The music is by Samphire.