flotilla on my mind
a practice in noticing small miracles
the audio above is me playing piano (Nord Piano 5) alongside Underwater Radio with Nathan Moore. the radio comms and water noise is from the flotilla live feed. the song is Safe, and he felt like playing & jamming with the live flotilla feed last night while unarmed humanitarian ships attempted to break the siege on Gaza and bring aid to their shores. towards the end of the recording, you can hear him name what we were seeing on the live feed, one of the boats being intercepted by the IOF— like many were late last night in international waters while fully abiding by international law.
among the abducted: US army ranger veteran Greg Stoker, Greta Thumberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson (and 494 others). unarmed humanitarian ships carrying food, medicine, and baby formula, citizens of 44 countries, detained in israeli custody for the “crime” of attempting to meet israel’s war crime of intentional starvation of a population with food & medical supplies. make it make sense.
but that’s been the theme for nearly 2 years now. it doesn’t make sense, so it’s a good thing i know that absurdity is a hallmark of societal collapse (thanks for that teaching, Carmen Spagnola).
small miracles are on my mind. Jane Goodall became an ancestor this week, and she says:
“if we look at the whole picture, we’re bound to feel hopeless and helpless… but once we realize that even small actions cumulatively can make a big difference, we can start taking action to make the world a better place”
i also know that “what you pay attention to grows” (adrienne maree brown), so here are some of the small miracles i am bringing my attention to:
a boat breached Gazan waters for the first time since 2009 (no, this didn’t start on 10/7/23, not even close)
protests have erupted in 15+ countries since the flotilla became intercepted (people are noticing that starving a population is a war crime)
there is still one ship sailing towards the Gazan shores that has not been intercepted yet (as of the evening of 10/2/25, pacific time). they will wait until daybreak to attempt to enter the danger zone (50NM from shore)
some friends in Gaza are still alive. Bisan is still alive.
we are still able to see footage and receive news from Gaza about the atrocities even though the IOF has killed more journalists than in any other conflict. ever. (IOF = israeli occupation forces; language matters. they are not defense forces)
the flotilla itself, even if “unsuccessful” is a tangible reference to the global understanding across language, across culture, across faiths, across oceans, that this is a genocide. that this is an illegal occupation (and has been since its inception), and that the people have the power. collectively, we outnumber the imperialist forces that continue these atrocities every day. what if we organized like we knew this?
maybe this is the flashpoint, the miracle that turns the tide. abducted citizens of 44 countries could be enough to shift public opinion towards collective liberation. may it be so.
when i feel helpless and hopeless, i notice what fractals exist. what are the hyper-local, tangible things i can spend my time and energy on that move the needle from where we are, right in this moment together? maybe it’s offering time, or money, or attention, like the collective witnessing last night. a few people on the internet, playing music in such a way that we couldn’t even hear each other— but maybe the universe is listening. maybe with enough collective witnessing and attention and organization like the powerful collective that we are, maybe the tides shift. harriet tubman knew about miracles— according to the imperialists, chattel slavery was never supposed to end. and yet.
can i notice 1%? can i notice where there is 1% more collective liberation? can i move towards that with my body, mind, and spirit? in tangible ways, in my neighborhood? for me, that’s warning and protecting Richmond residents against the imperialist forces on our own soil, ice raids in our own neighborhood. where is the place your attention wants to turn? to move towards 1% more liberty and justice for all?
i leave you with a ritual invocation from my experience practicing in the Dagara (West African) tradition of grief ritual and spirituality:
“i call on the spirits of the land that hold us. i call on the spirits of the water that nourish the land that holds us. i call on the spirits of the land where i was born. i call on the spirits of the waters that nourish the land where i was born. i call on the spirits of the lands of my mother and father. i call on my Siura (higher knowing/eternal spirit before birth). i call on my ancestors. i offer nature, i offer earth, i offer mineral, i offer fire, i offer water. i ask… … … …”
& when asking is complete, “i thank earth, i thank water, i thank fire, i thank mineral, i thank nature, i thank ancestors, i thank Siura”.
may it be so.
may we continue.