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Around 75 people rallied in support of a “free Palestine” Wednesday afternoon at the James M. Hanley Federal Building in downtown Syracuse, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to “genocide” in colonial regions, including North America.

The rally, co-organized by the Resilient Indigenous Action Collective and Syracuse University’s chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine, sought to raise awareness of the similarities between Palestinians and other Indigenous groups today, RIAC member Gabriel Memberto said.

“Israel is on stolen land just as the United States and Canada are also on stolen land. There are similarities between the two,” Memberto said. “(We wanted) to raise awareness around the similar struggles against settler colonialism that Palestinians and Indigenous people in so-called ‘North America’ face.”

The RIAC, a self-described “Indigenous-led and Indigenous-only organization,” is an advocacy group dedicated to promoting Indigenous rights and social justice on “Turtle Island,” according to its Facebook page. The RIAC is made up of many Indigenous people from the Onondaga Nation and across Canada, Memberto said.

According to the Oneida Indian Nation, the name Turtle Island originates from the Haudenosaunee creation story where, after mud is placed on a turtle’s back, the turtle grew along with the mud on its back, forming North America.

Attendees stood outside as they listened to speakers, sang and danced, holding hands and stepping in a circle to the beat of the music. Around the area, attendees stuck posters photos of people into the ground and hung children’s clothing items to represent killed Palestinians.

Speakers emphasized the importance of finding connections between Indigenous peoples in the Americas and those of Palestinian descent. One speaker, a member of the Cayuga Nation who did not give her name, said she related to the feeling of being forced to leave despite having a “connection” to the land.

“It’s hard to watch things get taken away from you that way, but you keep going,” the speaker said, describing the experiences of Indigenous Americans. “You have a thousand ancestors who have your back so you know you have to keep going. And that’s the same for Palestine every day.”

Faith Bolduc | Asst. Digital Editor

Karlie Jones, who referred to herself as a member of the Iroquois Confederacy, said she attended the rally to support Palestinians “fighting” for their land. She said that because of her experience protecting her land, she relates to Palestinians losing theirs. Jones said she wanted to find the “truth” in the conflict.

“I started digging, I started finding out that, in fact, there are original people, and those original people are fighting for their land,” she said. “That’s me in this modern day right now. That’s me, and that’s our territory, and that’s all of our people … we’re all still fighting for our land.”

The rally served to create a space for Indigenous peoples to spread awareness and to show their support of the conflict currently ongoing in Palestine, Memberto said. Over 28,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war started, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Memberto also said Indigenous peoples and Palestinians are more alike than not. RIAC organized the event to acknowledge that the “struggle for liberation comes on many fronts,” showing their “love for Indigenous resistance,” according to an Instagram post from the group.

Jones said that while she has had to fight to protect her land from the effects of colonialism, she has had to “take a step back” and look at the situation to see the “bigger picture.” Jones said that while she is personally fighting for her own land, others, including members of her community and the Palestinian community, are facing similar struggles.

She said she wanted to make a difference and use her voice to make past and future generations proud. Jones also said it upsets her to think about how there are people who can “push a button, sign a piece of paper or make a phone call” that could wipe out populations.

“(To) think that there are people that are able to have that much control over somebody’s life … is heart-wrenching,” she said.

Memberto encouraged the Syracuse community to attend Palestinian-led organizations’ events to further educate themselves on the connections between Palestine and Indigenous land in America.

“There’s a lot of people spreading a lot of important educational pieces about settler colonialism,” Memberto said. “You live on stolen land. Syracuse is on stolen land. It is on Onondaga Nation territory, Haudenosaunee peoples’ territory, so it is very similar in that sense to raise awareness around that.”

Published on February 15, 2024 at 2:15 am

Contact Faith: flbolduc@syr.edu