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International relations senior Zayna Abdel-Rahim gives a speech in support of Palestine at the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s protest. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Fighting Stallions Statue located in the Quad.
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Participants of the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s protest participate in a die-in to show solidarity with those who have been killed in Palestine. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Fighting Stallions Statue located in the Quad.
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Texas State student Daniel Gamez Gomez leads a chant in support of Palestine at the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s vigil for Lebanon. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Fighting Stallions Statue located in the Quad.
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Local community member Laurie Ramos hands a flyer about the conflict in Palestine to health sciences freshman Ija Mock on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, on The Quad.
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A member of the San Marcos community gives a speech in support of Palestine at the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s vigil for Lebanon. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Fighting Stallions Statue located in the Quad.
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International relations senior Zayna Abdel-Rahim leads a chant in support of Palestine at the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s vigil for Lebanon. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Fighting Stallions Statue located in the Quad.
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Texas State student Mars Peterson chants for Palestine’s freedom while holding up a Palestinian flag during a protest on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, at the Stallions.
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Community member Angel Allard gives a speech in support of Lebanon at the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s protest, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Stallions statue located in the Quad.
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Anthropology masters Manar Naser tears up while speaking about family in Palestine during a protest on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, at the Stallions.
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Participants of the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s vigil for Lebanon pray for those in Palestine and other’s affected by the conflict in the Middle East. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Fighting Stallions Statue located in the Quad.
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A Texas State student gives a speech in support of Palestine at the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s protest as other students watch. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Fighting Stallions Statue located in the Quad.
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International relations senior Zayna Abdel-Rahim gives a speech in support of Palestine at the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s protest. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Fighting Stallions Statue located in the Quad.
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Participants of the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s protest participate in a die-in to show solidarity with those who have been killed in Palestine. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at the Fighting Stallions Statue located in the Quad.
Texas State students and community members gathered at the Stallions statue on Tuesday, Oct. 8, to hold a protest and vigil in solidarity with the people of Palestine along with civilians in Lebanon, Yemen and Syria who have died since Oct. 7, 2023.
Texas State’s Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) and Texas State’s Young Democratic Socialists of America organized the almost four-hour long protest that started with speeches and ended with prayers and a vigil. Over 30 people gathered around the Stallions statue, which was adorned with a Palestinian flag and signs bearing messages like “Nobody is free until everybody is free.”
“The struggle for Palestine is a struggle for all colonized people… when we talk about liberation for Palestine we have to keep in mind that it starts at home, it starts with us,” Luiz Osorio, history graduate student said.
Manar Naser, a cultural anthropology graduate student, spoke about their experience as a Palestinian-American since Oct. 7.
“My father was in the West Bank when Oct. 7 happened and he was not able to leave until the end of that month because the U.S. government failed him – a U.S. citizen and he wasn’t able to leave an active warzone…,” Naser said. “I have also experienced an increase in discrimination because I am Palestinian… I experience discrimination simply for being me.”
After the speeches, attendees participated in a “die-in,” lying down in front of the Stallions statue in solidarity with those who have lost their lives in the ongoing war in the Middle East. As they lay on the ground, Naser recited the names of Palestinians who died over the past year.
The protest ended with members holding candles and taking a moment of silence for those who died in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria and a “prayer for a free Palestine.”
“We never give up and nothing is going to stop us from working for Palestine and spreading our message,” Saeed Moshfegh, the faculty advisor for Texas State PSC said.
Before the protest began at 4:30 p.m., the Texas State PSC posted a press release on its Instagram story, detailing guidelines set by Student Involvement & Engagement. One of the points was a decision not to chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
“While the PSC recognizes that the state of Texas condemns this chant, the PSC does not accept the sentiment that the chant is a call for genocide of the Jewish or Israeli people,” the press release stated.
