On Sunday evening, about 40 individuals gathered outdoors of metropolis corridor in Oxford, Mississippi, close to the city’s famed statue of William Faulkner, in entrance of a Palestinian flag that learn “Free Palestine”. As extra attendees arrived, organizers gave them electrical tea candles and flowers to carry throughout the vigil, held for the estimated 42,000 Palestinians who’ve been killed since 7 October 2023. The occasion, organized by UMiss for Palestine, a scholar activist group on the College of Mississippi, marked a hanging departure from its earlier solidarity demonstration in Could, which drew a whole bunch of counter-protesters, lots of who spewed racist vitriol on the college students.
Sunday’s occasion was reverent, with solemn expressions of grief and remembrance befitting a funeral. In line with organizers, those that gathered did so to “honor the martyrs, decide to struggle for the dwelling, and stand in solidarity with Palestinians in [their] group and in the remainder of the world”.
The Could occasion, which was held on the College of Mississippi’s campus, noticed scholar organizers calling for the state’s flagship faculty to reveal its endowment investments that pertain to Israel. They demanded that the varsity divest from army contracts and tutorial partnerships with Israel, and condemn the genocide in Gaza.
In some unspecified time in the future throughout the protest, the UMiss for Palestine demonstrators had been surrounded by counter-protesters who jeered, threw objects and made racist remarks earlier than police evacuated the pro-Palestinian college students.
One scholar who made monkey noises at a Black girl was expelled from Phi Delta Theta, his fraternity, which is now on an interim suspension from the college following a separate incident final month. The counter-protesters had been extensively condemned for his or her actions, although some, together with Mississippi’s governor, Tate Reeves; the Georgia consultant Mike Collins; and Donald Trump celebrated their actions.
Sunday’s vigil, nonetheless, was monitored by at the very least half a dozen cops and a authorized observer, and was uninterrupted by outdoors events.
Dua’a Matalgah, a psychology main and media liaison for UMiss for Palestine, stated that that they had a distinct objective this week. “This occasion was extra concerning the group and giving house to that group for feeling and sharing our grief and honoring the lives of the martyrs,” she stated.
Aala’a, a scholar with UMiss for Palestine, opened the vigil with a studying of the poem A Prayer for Palestine.
“We weep. We scream. We hear. We pray. We pour into the streets. We make cellphone calls. We boycott. We divest. But it doesn’t really feel like sufficient. As a persons are being turned to rubble,” she learn.
Matalgah adopted, studying the names of fifty Palestinians who had been killed by Israeli forces since 7 October, earlier than main a second of silence.
One other scholar highlighted the interconnectedness of liberation actions, and known as for these gathered to stay hopeful.
“We let the individuals of Palestine and Lebanon know that their voices are heard, even right here in our small city in Mississippi,” she stated. “At this time, we honor the martyrs who had been promised to these nonetheless dwelling. Free Lebanon, free Syria and free, free Palestine.”
The approaching US election loomed over the demonstration, as an grownup speaker who recognized himself as Chuck famous that Israel’s conflict on Gaza didn’t start on 7 October.
“The reason for Palestinian genocide doesn’t fall on one US president, doesn’t fall on one imperialist prime minister and doesn’t fall on one sole occasion,” he stated. “It’s a lengthy, sophisticated, historic and systemic course of that necessitates a world motion to defeat the imperialist powers that propagate genocide. From South Africa to Vietnam to Eire to Cuba, us collectively struggle for Palestine to be free of the river to the ocean.”
Matalgah advised the Guardian that the give attention to the election obfuscated the true downside.
“Lots of people are scared concerning the outcomes of the election, and I believe due to that, they’re focusing so much on it,” she stated. “It angers me, although, as a result of I don’t assume both candidate will create any change for Palestine.”
On the finish of the vigil, organizers handed out stickers and zines with details about UMiss for Palestine and Mississippi for Palestine, a statewide group that has organized and took part in actions throughout the state, Gulf coast and mid-south.
“If we don’t maintain preventing for Palestine, Palestine won’t be the tip of it,” Matalgah added. “It is a matter that considerations the on a regular basis American simply as a lot because it does because the Palestinians.”