“From the river to the sea,” the speaker’s voice echoed across Union Park. “Palestine will be free.” The sun was high and blazing Monday, the air electric with drums and chants and squawking bullhorns.
Thousands of people milled around, holding signs, backpacks, bottles of water. The only way to cover such a sprawling chaos is to pick a person and dive in. I settled on a trio holding a banner 45 feet long featuring the thought of the day: “FREE PALESTINE.
” I approached the young man on the left and asked: Free Palestine ...
of what? To me, the end of that phrase is obvious: "...
of Jews.” “Absolutely not,” he said. “To me, it means the freedom in Palestine to live, to have food and water.
To not be in an open-air prison. To not be exterminated.” He said they were with Students for Justice in Palestine.
“My personal goal, the reason why I’m here is to call for a cease-fire and to call for peace,” continued the man, 19, who did not want to be identified. “The situation is pretty complicated, to be honest. It would take a long time, but I do think a single-state solution could work.
” A future of peaceful coexistence was not exactly being floated from the stage. “Stop all aid to the racist, colonial, terrorist state of Israel!” the speaker shouted. “We will continue to march, until we .
.. achieve total and complete liberation of Palestine.
From the river to the sea. Palestine will be free.” At a New Students for a Democratic Society booth.