Tacoma, WA – On March 20, about 50 people gathered in Tollefson Plaza for a protest in solidarity with Rafah organized by School Of The Arts Students For A Democratic Society (SOTA SDS). Through this action, the protesters stood in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and demanded an end of U.S. aid to Israel.

The protest lasted for approximately 90 minutes. During the event, the crowd heard several speeches interspersed with chants. Gemini Gnull, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), led the demonstrators in chants such as, “Yemen Yemen, make us proud! Turn another ship around!” and “What do we want? What do we really, really want? Justice!”

To start the rally, Xanat Romo, the co-founder of SOTA SDS, said, “Let me tell you this – they’re counting on us to forget about all this for the genocide to be successful. They’re counting on us to gradually get bored and give up on doing what’s right. But if we shut up, they get away with it, but I’ve never been very good at shutting up. I know it. You know it, too, right? I want them to know it.”

Following this, Mantak Singh, a member of UW Seattle Progressive Student Union, a chapter of New SDS, said, “ Our government provides billions of dollars in aid, our factories produce the bombs and bullets the IOF uses, and here in Tacoma, they even used the port to load up weapons to send on over. This is not a distant conflict. This is a genocide armed and financed right here, in the U.S.”

After another round of chants, Romo explained how he was inspired to start organizing after attending a disruption of city hall. After connecting with organizers there, she learned about how University of Puget Sound Students for a Democratic Society (UPS SDS) disrupted a speaking event of Derek Kilmer, a Zionist congressman, and how that further inspired him to start an SDS chapter before inviting Lauren Garelick, a member of UPS SDS, to speak.

As of now, UPS SDS is facing repression from their university administration with an ongoing investigation regarding the disruption of Kilmer’s speaking event. Regarding this repression, Garelick said, “In the aftermath, the administration has attempted to smear the protesters as ‘violent’ and ‘antisemitic’ and has threatened to dole out further punishment to student organizers as they continue to ‘investigate’ the action. They’ve left us with no doubt as to which side they stand on, but no matter what they do now, the action was a success. A genocidal politician’s lecture was shut down, and many young activists experienced the empowerment of direct action for the first time.”

Despite chilly conditions, the demonstrators kept high morale, using sidewalk chalk to draw a massive Palestine flag on the plaza, and waved home-made signs towards the road. Many cars honked in support while passing by. The rally concluded with more chanting, including “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution!” and “Free free Palestine!”

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