An estimated 200 people gathered in Maritime Heritage Park on Oct. 7, participating in the March for Gaza wearing keffiyehs, waving flags and holding homemade signs, where members from various groups spoke in solidarity with Palestine.
The event, organized by the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center in partnership with groups including the Palestinian Feminist Collective, Whatcom Coalition for Justice in Palestine, WWU Jewish Voices for Peace, and WWU Students for Justice in Palestine, marked two years since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War.
“Days of commemoration serve as an opportunity for solidarity between individuals, families, and communities,” said Denae Hendrickson, a board member of the WPJC, in an Instagram interview. “An opportunity to come together and unite on our shared desire for peace and justice.”
Hendrickson said the organization hopes events like this raise awareness and empower people to stand in solidarity with others facing discrimination or hardship.
“From that awareness, we work to equip individuals with the tools to better understand and advocate for their fellow community members in Bellingham and around the globe,” Hendrickson said.
Demonstrators gathered at the Depot Market Square on Railroad Avenue in preparation for the march to Maritime Heritage Park and began marching at 5 p.m., making multiple stops along Holly Street.
Maya Morales, a Whatcom County Charter Review Commissioner for District 2, attended the march as a community member.
“It is, to me, impossible to do nothing,” Morales said.
Morales said that people feel supported and strengthened in a collective community at events like this, and hopes more local leaders attend in the future.
“When you have a platform like we do, you need to use it,” Morales said. “Even if you are not on the mic, you need to show up.”
Clarissa Mansfield, who attended the march with the Whatcom Coalition for Justice in Palestine, said she was encouraged by seeing people come together.
“I always wish there were more people, but I’m heartened to see the numbers growing,” Mansfield said. “Part of being visible at an action like this is to give people an entry way, something they can see, a way to make connections and build from that.”
Chants such as “Free, free, Palestine!” and “Stop starving Gaza, let food in!” reflected the marchers' condemnation of Israel’s ongoing blockade, which has prevented aid from entering Gaza.
Following the march, speeches began in Maritime Heritage Park with a speaker from the Palestinian Feminist Collective.
The speaker emphasized that the event was not only to mourn the dead, but to also honor Palestinian resistance and was then followed by a moment of silence.
Sadie Olsen, co-founder of Whiteswan Environmental, spoke about the shared struggles of dispossession, erasure and exploitation among Indigenous people and Palestinians.
“Seeing both people's experiences as interconnected in confronting colonialism, I stand with Palestine and all people experiencing systematic injustice today, including our Indigenous brothers and sisters from South America,” Olsen said to the crowd. “We did not create these borders. These borders crossed us.”
Following Olsen’s speech, a speaker with the Western Washington University Students for Justice in Palestine began their speech discussing how universities are complicit in investing in weapons manufacturers that have provided arms in the war in Gaza.
“Investing in weapons manufacturers and prison labor is not what universities want to be known for,” the speaker said to the crowd. “Yet that is what us students and many others are seeing as a true reflection of what their priorities are.”
The speaker stressed the importance of people being intentional in their stance on Palestine by putting their values into practice.
“This resists the belief that we as students have no power or that our voices don't matter, because they do,” the speaker said to the crowd.
A speaker from the Palestinian Feminist Collective focused their speech on how women and families have been affected by the conflict, describing reproductive and gender-based violence under siege conditions, emphasizing that public discussions of casualties often separate women and children from men.
“We mourn their deaths just as we mourn those of women and children,” the speaker said.
Next was a speaker from Jewish Voice for Peace who opened with a Jewish prayer for healing.
“We must work to heal ourselves and the world so that we do not repeat cycles of violence,” the speaker said to the crowd.
The Jewish Voice for Peace speaker then condemned the use of the Holocaust and antisemitism as justification for supporting the war in Gaza.
“Do not use the dishonest pretense of caring about antisemitism to justify genocide. Not in our name,” the speaker said to the crowd. “Do not use my people's trauma and the persecution we suffered to perpetuate trauma and commit violence against others.”
The Jewish Voice for Peace speaker then invited the crowd to join them in saying the Jewish prayer for healing from the beginning of their speech.
Last to speak was Whatcom Peace and Justice Center communication intern, Stella Orélise. Orélise opened her speech by drawing on her familiarity with corrupt and brutal political leaders and highlighting the power of collective efforts, citing a strike in Italy that closed ports, blocking the flow of weapons to Israel.
“As Americans, we must all hold our leaders responsible. Boycotting works. Divesting works,” Orélise said to the crowd.
After speeches concluded, the crowd was led in community singing and made aware that Whatcom Families for Justice and the Palestinian BDS National Committee are holding a week of action from Oct. 13–18, with a local protest planned for Wednesday, Oct. 15, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at Woburn Street and Rimland Drive.
DuPree Nugent (he/him) is a city news reporter for The Front this fall quarter. He is a third-year student studying news/editorial journalism and English with a creative writing emphasis. In his free time, he enjoys long-distance running, listening to music and writing poems and short stories. He can be reached at dupreenugent.thefront@gmail.com.
Janessa Bates (she/her) is a city news writer for The Front this fall quarter. She is currently studying visual journalism and political science at Western. Outside of the newsroom, she co-leads a club called WWU Photo Video Club, enjoys reading and loves to picnic with her dachshund. You can reach her at janessa.thefront@gmail.com.
