All Eyes on Rafah
Dorian Blue
On February 14, around 80 students and community members gathered in the EMU amphitheater to hold a rally about the situation in Rafah, a city in Palestine. 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering there, as they were told it was a safe zone to evacuate to. Now, even though it was claimed to be a safe area, it’s being heavily bombed by the IDF and there’s an impending ground invasion.
The bombardment of Rafah was started on Superbowl Sunday, when the Israeli regime knew a lot of America would be looking away. To counter this, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voices for Peace organized the rally and die-in to bring peoples’ attention to the worsening situation.
In a join statement with PSU’s Student United for Palestinian Equal Rights, SJP explained that “we cannot continue going through each day as if the genocide and ethic cleansing of an entire people is not occurring before our eyes.”
After gathering outside, the protest was taken inside the EMU, where a projection and poster were put up. The projection showed important numbers, like the amount of people killed, injured, and missing so far in Rafah and the amount of tax money from Eugene that’s funding the genocide, which is $2,687,851.
To represent the lives of the martyrs lost in Rafah, the group staged a die-in. For around five minutes, they lay on the floor in silence. It was an atmosphere of heavy silence, where everyone was invited to reflect on the atrocities being done to the Palestinian people with American tax money.
Per the joint statement: “We honor them [the martyrs] by laying in silence, reflecting upon the damage that has been done.”
After this, the protestors marched around the EMU to the green, chanting with each other. For a Wednesday afternoon, there was an admirable turnout. SJP plans to hold many more rallies, protests, and events in the coming weeks, so everyone should make sure to keep their eyes out for ways to get involved now.