Hello and welcome to the Ekō newsletter. Today we’re covering the Gaza flotilla, Labour surveillance, Elon Musk polluting the skies, and an EU rule change that could help corporations.

At home, watching the flotilla

Nadia Milleron’s two sons, Torleif and Adnaan Stumo, are members of the Global Sumud Flotilla.

On Wednesday, as they approached the Gazan coast, both brothers were abducted by the Israeli military. Because of the Yom Kippur holiday, they’re not expected to be released until later next week.

The detained flotilla activists are on hunger strike.

The Stumo family is no stranger to political action. Milleron’s daughter, Samya Rose Stumo, died in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash. That experience led the family to lobby the US government for safety regulations on Boeing planes, an effort helped along by Milleron’s uncle, Ralph Nader.

Ekō caught up with a very busy and worried Milleron for a brief conversation Thursday.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

So where are things at right now?

We know that Tor is in detention. We’re pretty sure that Adnaan is in detention. They were abducted many hours apart from each other.

The Israelis seem to have targeted larger boats to approach first. And that seemed to be a very peaceful—if you can say kidnapping is peaceful, but at least orderly and non-aggressive.

Adnaan might have gotten the closest to Gaza when the boat was intercepted.

Which boat was that?

The Mikeno.

I heard that one was close.

Israel came alongside the boat, said, you guys have to turn off your engine. They didn’t turn off the engine. So Israel bombarded them for four hours or more with water cannons and some kind of stinky stuff. They got very, very cold.

People were all lying in a passive position or sitting in a passive position on the deck in the cockpit. They had trained to not respond, not do anything aggressive at all in response to anything that Israel would do or say.

They had trained quite a bit on that and they were following their procedure and were headed toward Gaza and they just got pummeled. And I hope that they’re okay as a result of that.

What action items would you like people in our audience, whether they’re in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, wherever, to take, what, what is the most helpful thing for people to do at this moment?

The most important is to [petition] your own government, however that is structured.

We can not allow aggressive, illegal behavior of kidnapping, confiscating people’s boats and the aid that they have and all the possessions on the boats. And most importantly, the continued illegal blockage of humanitarian aid for the people in Gaza, that is a war crime. What they’re doing is collective punishment.

If we, as a world community, are going to allow this kind of behavior to continue and just look the other way on it, what are we going to get? We’re going to get more and more escalation.

Sign a petition today: World Leaders: Protect the Sumud Flotilla Now

In other news

Labour’s scheme to increase the use and application of live facial recognition cameras is facing backlash. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has raised concerns and groups like Big Brother Watch are calling for use of the technology to be curbed, even as corporations that stand to benefit push for expansion.

“There has to be limits.”—Jake Hurfurt, Big Brother Watch

(The Guardian) (EHRC) (the New York Times)

Elon Musk’s satellites are clogging up the skies and could be hurting the ozone layer, according to new research. His corporation SpaceX’s megaconstellation deployments could lead to decaying satellites spewing 360 tons of aluminum oxides into the upper atmosphere annually.

(Science Focus)

Comedians at a festival in Saudi Arabia are taking heat for performing in the country. They remain undaunted, however, with the reported payments for their participation likely making up for any reputational damage.

(the New York Times) (Variety)

Here’s your campaign of the day.

EU legislators are considering deregulatory actions aimed at rules on deforestation, fossil fuels, and greenwashing. If the “omnibus proposal” passes, expect more corporate abuses as the bill would cut staff in charge of holding them in check.

Already, MEPs are having trouble agreeing on how to move forward; on Tuesday rules that would have loosened due diligence requirements for corporations failed to move forward.

Your voice matters.

Sign the petition today

PS: In case you missed it earlier, here's the original email about this new project:

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