“Ceasefire now” rings along downtown Memphis as Narjis Alabes (12) shouts along with the voices of hundreds of fellow protestors from the FedEx Forum to Tom Lee Park to show support for Palestine.
The constant violence against Palestinian residents since early October has inspired many to protest, like Alabes, and organize independent events to demand a ceasefire.
“[The protest] was very diverse,” Alabes said. “There [were] a lot of different races, a lot of people from different backgrounds as well, like not just Palestinians in general.”
Like Alabes, Alzahra Altareb (10) makes time to attend pro-Palestine events. Altareb has attended almost every event in Memphis, and has been showing out to events for multiple years now.
“When we went to the first couple of protests we just brought our old posters from Palestine protests that happened at least three years ago. The signs were bent and old but just as relevant as before, if not more, because nothing had changed.”
Altareb herself took steps towards action at White Station High. In partnership with nearby schools, Altareb planned an afterschool “phone-banking” event where students were provided the opportunity to voice demands for a ceasefire by calling representatives like Steve Cohen, David Kustoff, Marsha Blackburn and other government officials.
“The phone banking was a bit difficult because we first had to find the contact information of our representatives,write our specific instructions and scripts to help callers, organize with Memphis Muslims for Justice while simultaneously drafting a morning announcement that would be considered ‘non-inflammatory,’” Altareb said.
Simone Kester (11) of Model United Nations (Model UN) does not claim to support Israel concerning the recent events. However, at a Model UN conference, Kester found themself in a position where the country they were assigned to represent was likely to side with Israel. So, Kester had to go against personal views and make arguments from a different viewpoint.
“I’ve been in Model UN since freshman year and I’m a junior now so I can flip a switch, but it was almost uncomfortable because it was defending genocide … I’m just in the back of my mind praying that people know I’m playing a character and not that I actually believe these things,” Kester said.
Although it was an uncomfortable experience for Kester, playing a character that was pro-Israel inspired them to educate themselves further on the topic.
“A lot of artists I follow, I’ll give some examples, Kehlani, Melanie Martinez and basketball player Natasha Cloud, they’ve been posting a lot, like every single day, about what’s going on in Palestine and recently what’s been going on in the Congo as well, so through them I’ve been able to learn some things,” Kester said.
Though many people assume they do not have power to stop violence in Palestine or that their voice will not be loud enough, others find solace in personal efforts towards the Free Palestine Movement.
“We sit here, there isn’t anything we can do to help them and a lot of people say ‘protesting’s not going to change anything’ but as long as other people are seeing protests, the whole point of protest isn’t just for someone to advocate for change. It’s also just to inform people things are going on in the world outside of what you are seeing and [what’s] happening to you and just to be aware of the things that other people are experiencing in their lives and to be grateful for what you have,” Alabes said.
