By the CPJ Auxiliary Team
Speeches begin at the Rally, photo by Mj Richards
(Evergreen, WA )- At 11:30am today – Monday, April 29, 2024 – students from Evergreen Gaza Solidarity Encampment extended an outward call to community to participate in a solidarity rally to protest the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
The rally began with student speakers reading personal testimonies from families in Gaza. More students approached the mic to recite poetry written by Gazans and other Palestinians under occupation. Around 160 Evergreen students, faculty, and staff as well as wider Olympia community members were present at the beginning of the rally, holding space in Red Square next to where the encampment was established last week. Students hosting the rally brought signs asking both for the specific demands made by the encampment and in solidarity with the international call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Overall, the atmosphere was calm, cool, and collected.
After student speakers concluded – and a quick break to improve the sound system – faculty members Alice Nelson and Savvina Chowdhury read an impassioned letter directed at Evergreen administration stating their complacency in the ongoing genocide, and their decided approach to stay silent on the issue. Next, the family of Evergreen student Rachael Corrie (Who was killed by a bulldozer while protesting Israeli occupation in the West Bank in 2003) and the founder of the Rachael Corrie Foundation placed their solidarity with the current movement and encouraged continued efforts by students and the community to fight Israeli genocide. The rally is set to continue throughout the day, flowing with the energy of the crowd.
The rally gives new spirit to the divestment campaign, aligning the demands of the students with the broader community in solidarity with Gaza. After a necessary restructuring to the bargaining team on Saturday morning, April 27th, the pursuit of negotiations with the college has returned. Encampment members reaffirmed their commitment to bargaining, maintaining the purpose of the encampment as an active form of free speech and protest “to show solidarity and support for the Palestinian people and those who are suffering in Gaza currently” and to pressure The Evergreen State College towards divestment. As open communication with administration and the students has continued throughout the weekend through Geoduck Student Union representative Juniper Campbell, the exemption to the habitation policy has been extended until today at 5pm.
Bolstered by the speeches and displays of community support, the bargaining team will enter the next round of continuing negotiations at 3:30pm. Their communication will advance the frameworks of the divestment committees, establishing more community transparency and reciprocal participation. The students hold firm to their demand of a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire from the President’s office, who they note “have not said anything about the genocide in Palestine since their neutral communication on October 8th.”
Prior to this next bargaining meeting, Evergreen has set the habitation policy exemption to lift at 5pm today.
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