June 2011
Remembering ISM Volunteer Vittorio Arrigoni, 1975-2011
By Paul Larudee, April 2011
The most vivid memory I have of Vik is of him with a big grin on his face as he clung to the bow of a Gaza fishing boat, bouncing precariously across the waves and waving a Palestinian flag while he bid farewell to those of us returning from a victorious effort to break the siege of Gaza in 2008. Vik chose to stay, along with nine others who re-constituted the ISM presence in the Gaza Strip, which had been closed to volunteers since 2003.
We tend to use the term “hero” liberally, but if we don’t use it in Vik’s case, the word has no meaning.