1st October 2025
The first show of the Autumn season kicked off today with the spotlight being shone on the Sumud Flotilla sailing from Barcelona on a humanitarian mission to lift the siege in Gaza, where the United Nations has declared a state of famine and over half a million people are facing catastrophic conditions. One of the leading participants is Gretta Thunberg, the climate activist with many other known personalities highlighting their frustration with the lack of action being taken by governments across the world to address the horrific conditions and the plight of the Palestinians. Seamus Gunn said that what he was drawn to was the consensus that was shared among all participating that this was a humanitarian mission to raise the awareness in the eyes of the world as to what was happening in Palestine in full view of everyone. He made the point that it had not attracted the media attention that he would have considered it did merit in the last couple of days while Greg Hughes thought that this could be as a result of the participants now flying a different flag than the one that they were known for. Gunn thought otherwise, he said that he was of the view that a mission such as this was apolitical regardless of who was leading it, the cause was shared by many and needed to be supported, regardless of the outcome. Greg Hughes, while accepting Gunn’s point on the reason behind the movement, drew comparisons to other parts of the world, mentioning Yemen and Sudan, making the very reasonable argument that the atrocities and famine that was taking place in these countries deserved similar attention but were being ignored. Our contributor was in agreement with this, bringing in Syria and Ukraine, he said that he thought that there was an element of appeasement that had come into play in world politics in that the big powers such as USA, China, Russia; dictated the media emphasis and as Europe was dependent on the USA and as Donald Trump was supporting Israel there was an obvious conflict arising hence Gaza was not being called out for what it was or what it is. He said that he thought the Flotilla demonstrated that there were many people, himself included, who did despair at the lack of activity among governments in the world to move constructively in this area and to bring to bear some stability and peace but unfortunately, they all seemed to be pursuing their own agendas.
This lively exchange can be listened to below with the Q&A that followed.