 What do we want? When do we want it? What do we brothers and sisters and siblings welcome to this rally in March sponsored by the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation. It has been endorsed by 17 organizations from all over the state of Vermont. My name's Ashley Smith. I'm part of the coalition and part of the Tempest Collective. We rally and march on this bitter cold day in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation, from Israeli apartheid, from Israeli settler colonialism, and from Israeli genocide. We rally and march for two key reasons, one national and one local. First, we demand that the U.S. government and specifically the Biden administration stops aiding and abetting Israel's genocidal war. We demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire. We also demand that the U.S. government immediately and permanently cut off all U.S. aid to the apartheid state of Israel. Second, we rally and march here in Burlington at the city hall because our local government has become ground zero in Vermont in the fight against war and apartheid. The mayor and his pro-war faction of Democrats blocked a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the city council. On Monday, in an emergency meeting, they plan to block the apartheid-free city referendum from appearing on the ballot in March. Shame on them! Shame! Shame! Shame! Their attack on our democratic right to petition and vote on a referendum proves, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. It also proves that Palestine's liberation is part of our collective liberation. None of us are free until all of us are free. Today on this bitter cold day, we have a short speaker's list and then a march through downtown Burlington. We will march past TD Bank, which has shares in general dynamics, which is sending arms to carry out the genocide in Gaza. We will then march by each of our congressional delegation, ballot, sanders, and welch and demand they all call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. And we will demand from all of them that they argue, vote, and agitate to cut off all U.S. aid to Israel forever until Palestine is free. We may be cold today, but we are fired up and warm in our hearts with our passionate commitment to justice for Palestine and Palestinians throughout the world. Free, free Palestine. Long live Palestine. Free, free Palestine. Long live Palestine. Free, free Palestine. Long live Palestine. Give it up for my next MC Moe. Here, my name is Moe Singletary and I'm an organizer with the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation. I would like to read a land acknowledgement. We are on the historical homeland of indigenous people. We honor their rich history as the traditional and ongoing stewards of these lands. We know that this land is unceded. European colonialism carried out massive violence, ethnic cleansing, and genocide to steal this land. The U.S. a colonial and imperial power continues this. We honor both the historical and ongoing resistance of indigenous peoples to settle our colonialism. We support their struggles for justice and self-determination. We must commit ourselves to active solidarity with all struggles for indigenous rights. Repeat after me the words of Sadah Shakur. It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains. Again, it is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains. Thank you. Give it up for Mal. My name is Mallory Siegel. I'm an organizer with JVP Vermont, New Hampshire, a member of the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, and I'm also a grad student organizer at UVM. Thank you for the demands of the coalition. We rally and march today to demand ceasefire now. Stop Israel's genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Provide unrestricted humanitarian aid to all Palestinians. Free all Palestinian prisoners and hostages. Defend the civil rights of Palestinians and Palestine solidarity activists. Stop all USAID to Israel. Enforce boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel. End Israel's siege, occupation, and apartheid system. And support Palestinians right to self determination, right to return, and equal rights. Those are our demands. That is why we march today. That is why we march tomorrow. We will not stop until all of these demands are met, and we must do it together. There are some QR codes floating around. If you scan them on your phone and then wait until your fingers are warm enough, you can send a letter to every Burlington City Council member to demand that they respect democracy and put the apartheid free cities referendum on the ballot. All right, everybody. We also have bread and puppet theater leading our march today. Here's Peter Schumann with an announcement. Hey, you guys, we brought 100 Palestinian cranes all the way over here. We just took them to Washington, and we need many more of you to play crane with us. So the cranes we flew to Washington in order to take to replace the shit in the Washington White House with genuine Palestinian bird droppings. So that has happened. And now we need to find other administration buildings where we can take the shit out of there and replace it with genuine, terrific Palestinian bird droppings and for that many more bird droppings. So come over here, dress up in white and then we find this big flock of Palestinian birds from the river to the free and forever till they're all free. Thank you, Peter. Just a few announcements before our speakers. First of all, we encourage everyone to wear masks. You can get them at the coalition table, which is right here. They also have hand warmers and foot warmers. If you're getting a little bit chilly and you can get hot drinks at the people's kitchen, which I think is here somewhere, is the people's kitchen here? Maybe not. Rose Collective. Make some noise. Where are you guys? Okay, there. Follow the noise. Also, organizing this rally entailed lots of expenses. There are donation buckets at the coalition table, and people will be also going through the crowd. Please donate generously. Also, a reminder because of what the mayor and the pro war faction of Democrats are doing on Monday, we are calling for an emergency protest on Monday right here at five o'clock. We will have a short rally and then we want everybody to go into the city council meeting and prepare to testify to defend our democratic rights in this town, to put in a referendum on the ballot for an apartheid free city. They are trying to deny us democracy to protect Israeli apartheid and Israeli genocide in Gaza, and we will not let them get away with it. Also join the Vermont coalition for Palestinian liberation and come to our next meeting a week from today at the Old North End Community Center Event Hall. It's January 28th at 4 p.m. in the events hall at the Old North End Community Center. Also sign up at the coalition table for more information and to get on our email list. Next up, we have a speaker, Samia Abbas, a Palestinian activist from southern Vermont. Hello, Burlington. My name is Samia. I'm an organizer and Palestinian American living in southern Vermont, the balmy south. I'm here to bring the fire today. My father is from the old city in Jerusalem and most of my Palestinian family lives in the West Bank and occupied Palestine. When I asked my father what he thought I should say to all of you, asked him, Baba, what can I say that hasn't already been said over and over and over again, he said, tell them the truth. Talk to them about the truth. The truth is that today we're witnessing over 100 days of genocide. Two million people displaced and at least 24,000 people killed, at least half of them are children. As we speak, doctors in Gaza are cleaning wounds with salt. People are starving. Our truth is being stifled. The United States and Burlington and Vermont have become a battleground and Zionist efforts exist at all turns to silence us, silence the calls for free Palestine, free Gaza, and ending this occupation. The truth is that our legislators, city officials, political quote unquote leaders are failing. They have completely disregarded the plight of Palestinians in Gaza and they are allowing this genocide to unfold unchecked, giving Israel permission to act without impunity and carrying out its obvious aims of decimating Gaza and the people living there. This is a shameful and horrific truth. Shame. Shame. I'm tired of the effort of keeping my people's voices alive and continuing to push the cause of Palestine, ending occupation into visibility again and again, despite the huge forces that seek to silence us. Make no mistake that the efforts to marginalize our words, to marginalize and silence Palestine rights activists, to make words like intifada illegal, to disenfranchise a vote in the apartheid free city referendum is entirely purposeful and an extension of the project of Zionism to which the US government is a willing adjunct. As a Palestinian, my truth is to push all of you to keep working, keep raising your voices, keep shutting it down for Palestine. Keep proclaiming the truth that in apartheid state, under occupation is no answer and know that the harder they try to silence you, the more right you are. Use that as your affirmation that you're on the right side of history and keep going. As Palestinian writer and journalist, Mohammed Elkerd, who was censured by UVM just a few months ago proclaimed, I refuse to live in a reality in which the subjugation and statelessness of millions of people can be business as usual. I refuse that giving people their full rights can be considered inconvenient or an inconvenience. Elkerd's reality is my truth today and I offer that to you as fodder for the flame to keep going, keep pushing, keep amplifying truth. Palestine demands that we all put a lot on the line and it makes it scary to speak out and speak up, but it also makes it necessary. Palestinians can't do it alone. And the truth is that we are not safe to stand in many realms, including academic, governmental, and political. When we stand together, we are stronger. To our politicians and city officials, to Weinberger and the city council of Burlington, to Bernie, Becca, Peter, to our state legislators, we see you. We see what you're not doing, what you're not saying, we see your attempts to shut down our free speech, know that we are more and more united every day in our struggle, more coordinated in our efforts, more motivated to speak out against systemic oppression and the global settler colonialist project, which you and your silence or active complicity are perpetuating. We are building a statewide movement of resistance in Vermont, hand in hand with Palestinian resistance. We are on the right side of history. Gaza will haunt you forever. And to all of you, I say we are all Palestinian. Don't just support Palestinians when they die, support us when we fight. Take action with us to say ceasefire now and USA to Israel and occupation and support this referendum and the organizations and individuals helping to make that happen. Join us, join our movement, we need you. Thank you. The people united will never be defeated. The people united will never be defeated. United will never be defeated. We'll never be defeated. Next up, we have Dana Key's Givens with JVP Vermont, New Hampshire. Hi, my name is Dana. And I'm an anti Zionist Jew with Jewish voice for peace. As Jews, we know the price of silence and we will not be complicit when we are witnessing a genocide. We know that Israel does not keep us safe. It is our solidarity and our love for each other that keeps us safe. The Israeli government has been clear about its goals to ethnically cleanse and displace Gaza of Palestinians. Here in the United States, including here in Vermont, it is our government that bank rolls the occupation. Our money is funding Israel's genocidal campaign. And our media and education systems fail to teach of the 75 years of Israeli colonialism, occupation and apartheid that led to this moment. We are here because we wholeheartedly support Palestinian liberation. We are unified in our support for the boycott divestment and sanctions movement. Unrestricted humanitarian aid, Palestinians right to self determination, right to return and equal rights. And we are not alone. We come from a long history of Jews who have recognized Zionism for what it is, a dangerous white supremacist ideology. The Bund, a Jewish socialist mass movement in Eastern Europe coined doicate giddish for hereness as an alternative to Zionism. That hereness means building community where we are and recognizing our power to make change here. Like by calling and emailing our elected officials, organizing in our neighborhoods and in our workplaces and consistently showing up in numbers. So it is clear that there will be no more business as usual until Palestine is free. We call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Stop all USA to Israel. We call for Israel to free all Palestinian prisoners and hostages and for an end to the occupation and apartheid system. Zionist institutions and leaders use the guise of Jewish safety to cover for the systematic oppression of Palestinians. As Jews for Palestinian liberation and JVP members, we reject this narrative. Right now, Zionists and their allies on the Burlington City Council are pulling out all the stops to silence our movement and our demands for Palestinian liberation. We are organizing for the apartheid free cities referendum to show that the majority do not support the Israeli apartheid regime. We need everyone here to email the Burlington City Council before Monday and tell them to allow the apartheid free cities referendum on the ballot. Come back out on Monday at five p.m. Right here and bring more people with you. We will not be complicit. We will not be silent. We will not stop until Palestinians and all people are free. Free Palestine. Thank you. One of the key social institutions of our society is our trade unions, our trade union movement that has fought for equality, justice and the liberation of working class people in the United States and all throughout the world. But up until recently, the trade union movement because of the trade union officialdoms ties to the Democratic Party and therefore to support of US imperialism and therefore to the support of the Israeli state and its apartheid regime in occupied Palestine, labor leaders and the labor movement have sat it out. They have not joined in our struggle. But today, all across the country, trade unionists are heeding the call of their trade union brothers, sisters and siblings and joining our movement. The president of the United Auto Workers that just defeated the three big auto workers companies in this country came out for a ceasefire. That is crossing a river that has not been crossed today. So please give it up to Andy Blanchett, who's one of the leaders of our labor movement here in this town and in this state that is for a free free Palestine. Hello, my name is Andy Blanchett, and I'm a proud union worker and president of AFSCME local 1674 the Howard Center Workers Union. I'm here today looking out at a sea of working class people gathered together to support the demands of the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation. I urge Burlington City Council to honor democratic values, processes and past practices, and approve the apartheid free Burlington community ballot to be put on the ballot for town meeting day. I hope you all do too. As working class people and as a as residents of Vermont, we have a duty to fight in solidarity with Palestinians for their liberation and freedom. Palestinian trade unions have called on labor unions around the world to take actions to end this genocide. Belgian port workers and dock workers in Barcelona and Italy have refused to load or participate in shipments to Israel. The American Federation of Teachers of Washington State and the United Auto Workers have called for a ceasefire. The working class is deciding as we speak to organize in solidarity with the people of Palestine. We make this a reality. First, we organize our workplaces to form rank and file led unions like Scoopers United here on Church Street that just got their first contract. In the labor movement we say and repeat after me an injury to one is an injury to all. This is the power of collective organizing because none of us are free until it is only through our collective organizing in our workplaces and housing complexes that we can make this a reality. Break free from the notion that individual acts of courage will free Palestine or any of the rest of us. The purpose of rank and file unions is to empower workers like you to dictate your conditions for working. Politicians have their PACs, their closed door negotiations, their passive income from Wall Street. We have people power. The ability to withhold our labor. When we withhold our labor and strike, we disrupt business as usual. We are striving for our collective liberation from the bosses of this country who continue to finance Israel's military making our country complicit in genocide while we national shipments our government only cares about two things money and maintaining business as usual. Shame on them. Labor unions give us the ability to work organize and struggle together. Think about how much time you spend at your workplace. Imagine if imagine if all of us here organized our workplaces and withheld our labor for a free Palestine. Now imagine all workers in Vermont. If disruptions to the status quo are what politicians listen to then let them hear a symphony. Dedicate to this work today. If you are part of a labor union I urge you to join the Vermont labor for Palestine branch. Find me or any of the organizers after the rally to do so. If you are not yet unionized your next shift at work is your chance to start asking your co-workers if they're thinking the same thing you are. Free, free Palestine. Money for jobs and education not for war and occupation. Money for jobs and education. Money for jobs and education. Money for jobs and education. Please give it up for Nicole Awad, a Lebanese educator from southern Vermont. Organizers of this rally the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation and all endorsing organizations are Jewish allies who have been showing up relentlessly our entire solidarity movement. Thank you all. It should give us hope, continued hope that the tides are turning for a free Palestine. Thank you for everyone here for showing up. I'm happy to be here with you today fighting for an apartheid free Burlington. As of the last 24 hours there are now no more hospitals operating at full capacity in Raze. Shame, shame. 110 days ago there were 36 hospitals running under siege. There are now zero able to assist patients in need of life-saving care. Zero hospitals. Can you imagine? Two million people bombarded in an open air prison and no hospitals able to save life. Where are the sick and dying supposed to find care, help, respite? Where, Mayor Weinberg? Where? However, there are pressing questions to be asked here today. Mayor Weinberger, how can you sleep at night? How can you sleep at night? Do you not see the children being murdered? The mothers suffering while they give birth, the sick and dying, the limbs lost, the mass expulsion and displacement, the starvation of the Palestinian people. Mayor Weinberger, where is your humanity? And to the Zionists of Burlington, Vermont and the world, where is yours? Remember what Zionism is, its aim. The first Zionist Congress met in 1897 to unite politically under a racist settler colonial project. Zionist ideologies of supremacy have inflicted violence since 1897 and today we have an account. Zionism has murdered hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and others who support them, has displaced millions and scattered them across the world and still aims today for an ethno-state cleansed of its indigenous inhabitants. The ideology and history of Zionism is violent and racist. It must be rooted out. All this Zionism has perpetrated yet Western media outlets, the U.S. president, Israeli leaders and their sympathizers continue to run a propaganda campaign against innocent Palestinians. They call them names like terrorist, animal, barbaric, uncivilized. These are lies. Lies. The media dehumanization is used as justification to invade lands, kill human beings, privatize resources and keep people in line. While the U.S. government's bombs rain from Israeli jets, the U.S. media plays its part by contriving labels by which murder is justified. Shame. Human lives become expendable so that people and lands remain open and ready for domination and exploitation by global powers. Shame. And this war on rase, a war on children, on civilians is a reminder that there is no government run by U.N. laws, by the Hague, by the U.S. Constitution, by elected officials representing constituents. No. Mayor Weinberg is governed by business, governed by those with money and power who seek to expand their profit and power by any means necessary. Shame. The U.S. government and media want us to continue living our daily lives and ignoring the plight of our brothers and sisters in Raze. We say no. We will fight together in a united front against Zionism. We must pass our apartheid free resolution. We must boycott. We must divest. We must push for sanctions against the murderous apartheid state of Israel. Media propaganda will not work on us. We will be united across our differences and we will see their lives as tools of division and reject them. Let us remain steadfast in our fight as the Palestinians have remained steadfast in their 80-year struggle. Let us see them as a most important example of resistance. Remember, remember every day as we talk to our loved ones, as we shop, as we eat, as we shower, drink water, drive, watch TV. Everything we do, remember Raze. We have a choice. Our Palestinian brothers and sisters do not. Our individual lives must be interrupted. Our discomfort does not compare to Raze's destruction. And I say again to Weinberger and any political leader attempting to stop our movement, no more business as usual. This war must end. We must have a permanent ceasefire in Palestine and this killing. Free Burlington from apartheid. Free Palestine. Fever to the sea! We have Antonio Galan with the DSA. Hello everyone. My name is Antonio Galan and I'm here representing Champlain Valley DSA. And on behalf of my organization, I want to voice our unwavering support of the Palestinian people. I also want to clearly voice our view that Israel is an apartheid state and that the Israeli government is engaging in war crimes. I begin with this because ambiguity on this issue is akin to complicity. It is complicity with the atrocities being committed and unfortunately for several months now our elected officials have been complicit with the atrocities that have occurred. They have engaged in a strategic ambiguity which while politically expedient is nonetheless morally reprehensible. Our leaders have shielded themselves and their strategic ambiguity by saying that this is a divisive issue and that debating it fractures our community. Nothing could be further from the truth. Vigorous debates about important issues don't weaken or fracture our community but rather a sign of political vibrancy and health. They are the mark of a civically engaged community, something that Burlington rightfully prides itself on and which is on display here right right here right now. But now in threatening to block the ballot measure for an apartheid 3 Burlington our leaders have moved from strategic ambiguity to bad faith tactics that do threaten to divide our community. This ballot measure would give the citizens of Burlington an opportunity to express our collective position on the events happening in Palestine and silencing us not only undermines the strength of our local democracy but it implies that those citizens that disagree with our political leaders are not adversaries with whom they should debate but rather political enemies that they need to silence. If the ballot measure is indeed blocked it is not only disrespectful to the civic labor that many of us have put into it but a dangerous precedent that threatens the city's democratic culture. In threatening to block our ballot measure it seems like these leaders don't want a civically engaged citizenry but rather passive citizens that at most vote for candidates once or twice a year and in doing so rubber stamped decisions made by local national and global elites. I want to say if the Democratic Party here in Burlington thinks that killing this ballot measure kills our movement they are sadly mistaken. That's right! The tide has shifted within the U.S. politics in regard to the Palatine struggle and it's time for Burlington's Democratic Party to change course or be swept away. Free free Palestine! Okay just an update on where we are in our speakers list. We only have two more speakers then we have the great band Marxist jargon as we assemble to march so we're almost ready to march. Next up we have one of the key leaders in the state of Vermont the moral leader of the movement in Vermont for Palestinian liberation who is a ceaseless fighter on every front of the struggle in our state from the class struggle to every single social struggle of the oppressed. Please give it up for Wafiq Fawor. Salam Alaikum. Sisters, brothers, siblings, I don't want to talk for a long time because I promised the program and because it's cold. I want to stress only talking about the what's going on in Palestine is coming here at home in Burlington. Six months ago Vermonar for justice in Palestine started collecting signatures from the resident registers for vote on the city of Burlington. We gathered thousands of signatures verified over 1600 signatures and the city of Burlington promised the lawyer and the clerks if you collect five percent of the registered signature the ballot will be on. We believed on the democracy of this city. We believed that on the American democracy that you go with the laws and the law is behind you. Guess what? City of Burlington councils decided to make a meeting this coming Monday to vote which is that vote supposedly formality to put it on the ballot but we heard from so many quarters from the people who opposed the ceasefire resolution that they're going to oppose putting free the apartheid free community ballot on form large fifth. We heard many excuses. One of them is unsomatic to say we want an apartheid free Palestine Israel apartheid free city of Burlington. We say it now and we're going to say it forever that if you are with the Palestinian struggle because you hate the Jews we don't want you with us. If you are anti-Semitic and you consider the Jews are the enemies of the Palestinians we don't want you in our struggle. We can do without you and we're going to struggle with our siblings against anti-Semitism Islamophobia and all kind of racism that this country and European civilization grow up with. The second excuse they told us that the council have been voted on just to discuss domestic issue for that we tell them as long as American tax money our citizens tax money sending the weapons to Israel killing Palestinian children and innocent people killing Syrians killing Iraqi killing Yemeni killing Libyan it is domestic issue. As long as this diplomatic cover and support for Israel apartheid and occupation and the green light to kill the people over there from the administration and local administration too it is domestic issue. As long as our healthcare education schools and housing need this money it is domestic issue for that as i promise it should be short long-lived Palestine. Give it up for a week again. I know we're cold but please come up and grab some toe warmers hand warmers some warm liquids to warm up move around we have one more speaker before we're gonna head on to march and also after the march everyone will be coming back here and we'll have two more short speakers and some important announcements so if you can stick around yeah everyone jump jump around do a little movement. I would love to welcome up Michelle Edelman McCormick with Cooperation Vermont. Hi folks i uh Michelle Edelman McCormick Cooperation Vermont and the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation and i am going to talk specifically about what we're about to do the march itself. If folks can really pay attention in this moment because i'm going to need the lead banner to move up towards the front and then the second thing i'm going to ask is that folks who have mobility issues tend to need a bit more time struggle with keeping up with marches usually because we are moving too fast unnecessarily i would like for you to move right behind the lead banner make your which is going to be this so we're moving it right now it's going to be there at the end of church street so if you want to start moving your way let me get out of the way that what needs to happen okay okay so we're going to have the lead banner and if you have mobility issues we want you to move up to the front behind the lead banner lead banner people be looking behind you to make sure that our march is keeping pace with those who need the most time and then we're going to have bread and puppet and then everybody else behind we're going to have people with these vests the safety teams that are going to help keep traffic together there are going to be places where we have cars that are assisting us to block traffic there may be cranky people along the way what i need you to do is help our de-escalation teams there are people without these vests that are also part of our crowd and we have a volunteer group of street medics so shout out to everybody wearing a vest everyone not wearing a vest who's here to do de-escalation and our street medics thank you so much that i need you to be cognizant of is if there are cranky people we want to de-escalate our job is to help keep this group safe help us to do that we don't want to get into angry matches with people just keep it moving and let us do our job okay and that's all i'm gonna say and stay warm be safe look out for others if you see somebody in need try to help and then next up is marxist jargon and then we are going to be assembling so as they're playing let's everybody get in position free free palestine earlier this week a group of vermonters put their bodies in the way of operations at a facility that makes weapons for rathion the war machine that's murdering palestinians and people in yemen and elsewhere is here in vermont there's one other piece of that war machine that flies over burlington it's loud and obnoxious it flies over south burlington and winewski and essics williston south burlington anyway we're gonna sing a song about it is that noise you all know that i don't have to see ourselves in history we are a part of the almost century long struggle to free palestine in capitalism and liberators by dropping bombs on the people of yemen as you have trying to stop a genocide the american government is calling yemen and these terrorists because they're disrupting the free flow of funding affordable house education justice coalition everyone buenas tardes we are members of the education justice coalition of vermont and we stand in solidarity with palestine we envision collective liberation for all people and a world in which indigenous black people of color disability immigrant poor and lgbtqia peoples can thrive in a culture of belonging that is free of bias free of discrimination and free of oppression a future where everyone is free includes a free palestine and safety for jewish people for all our people our vision extends beyond the car serial state and the limits of today's repressive systems we are here today to speak out in solidarity with palestine and make links between the struggle and the relevant political struggle in vermont schools many will call for neutrality in teaching about palestine and israel but to quote howard zinn you can't be neutral on a moving train we we know that the dominant narrative and the ways issue is talked about minimized or ignored in schools is in defense of the occupation and the state of israel it is an defense of colonial imperialism now is not the time to look away or to teach staying silent silence is complicity complacency silence is violence this government actively and knowingly funds genocide our schools remain underfunded our teachers underpaid and our students underserved and across the state work is being done to fight anti-semitism in schools while we stand firmly against bullying and harassment and recognize our systems to respond to harm don't meet the moment we also know much of this work is being led by zionists who are trying to shut down teaching about palestine many of these groups are utilizing the international holocaust remembrance alliance definition of anti-semitism on the description of this definition on their website they explain that certain expressions of animus toward the jewish state of israel may at times cross the line into anti-semitism this definition of anti-semitism has been used to silence critiques of israel and court cases have been brought and won in its name we are putting a call out to everyone to organize in their local community and to ensure teachers are not silenced and that the truth about the nakba the occupation this apartheid and the full history be taught in our schools may we model to our students to fight for justice this can either be cites of social replication and oppression or cites of social transformation our students deserve a complete education deserve honest truthful conversations and deserve a free and war-free future all youth all youth deserve a future palestinian children deserve to grow up gather the us is funding the murder of children by the hundreds more children had been killed in just over three weeks in this war in gaza than in all of the world's conflicts combined in each of the past three years we join in the demand for an immediate ceasefire may all children grow up to see a free palestine a call out to burlington burlington students educators and family members who want to organize around this issue to come find us today education justice coalition we are setting up a meeting with the burlington superintendents to ensure our voices are heard for here and across vermont thank you we have sarah from the students for justice in palestine at uvm i'm sarah i'm from students and justice in palestine i'm the last speaker i won't take much more of your time thank you for being here but as i am the final speaker i want to call on all of you to ask yourselves what kind of person you'll be and what kind of world you want to live in we've all borne witness to the major hypocrisy of the american people of our federal and local governments and of our elected representatives as they label themselves as progressives dedicated to social justice and equity who pretended to celebrate the life of mlk this past week but turn a blind eye to the systematic genocidal acts perpetrated by the state of israel that's right i don't have to be the first to tell you that the struggle for liberation in palestine is intrinsically linked to the liberation of our black and brown communities here with our queer communities here with our immigrant and refugee communities here with our indigenous brothers and sisters here as we sit on stolen land and live in a nation that has only been created by exploitation by subjugation by greed and by genocide it's already here my family is from lebanon in syria who too have become victims to the apartheid state of israel in their regime and i know too well there is nothing that separates me from the people of palestine that's right so when i ask you what kind of person you want to be i want you to understand that there is nothing that separates you from the palestinians either as i live out my job as a teacher with five and six year olds i know that there is no difference between the children here and the children there when you look at your children when you look at your families i want you to know that it could easily be you do you want to live in a world where nobody helps you where you don't help others do you want to live in a world where people are continuously exploited for your comfort does that feel well with you this genocide did not start on the 7th of october it started over 75 years ago with the forced expulsion of the palestinians from their native lands and here we are now in 2024 with a genocide happening before our eyes with blatant genocidal intent being thrown around where our government and politicians view the palestinians as expendable as collateral damage and as meaningless we say no more on monday burlington city council is planning to strike the apartheid free burlington proposition from the ballot during the last city council meeting we sat there for five hours bearing our hearts and souls to the council for them to turn around and strike down an action of peace shame we cannot be deterred we have to let them know that we will never stop that we are coming bringing the strength of our palestinians brothers and sisters and we will continue until they do what is right i urge you with my whole heart to show up on monday look our representatives in the eye and tell them that we will no longer live in a world where the mighty few rule where 30 000 people must lay down and die for the privilege of those in power and we will not allow them to line their pockets at the expense of our beloved nation of palestine we will let them know that this is not a hateful movement it is founded on love unlike them we love and that is why we cannot sit back as tens of thousands are humiliated be in starve displaced and killed because we love we will not be silent we will continue to fight and we will continue to create a freer more just world where palestine is free free free actually first action of burlington city council say they're planning to block the apartheid free referendum from appearing on the ballot in march to bring a friend or a family member or whoever person on the street to mobilize on monday for a demonstration at five p.m right here you've heard us say it over and over to testify during the meeting in defense of our democratic rights and against apartheid so join us on monday we will be right here the second one is to join an organization join the vermont coalition for palestinian liberation and come to our next meeting in burlington at the old north end community center event hall on saturday january 28th put it in your google calendars your outlook calendars four p.m or you could go to this table over here and sign up or get a flyer about it there's lots of things there is also a call a palestinian call for a week of strike the 21st through the 28th so this this monday event here is a part of that strike so if you want to participate come here on monday at five p.m and be ready to testify positions who are part of the coalition to the people's kitchen to the people who did the hand warmers and the coffee the meeting is on sunday the 28th is a sunday so sunday next sunday at four p.m and the old north end community center sorry about any confusion okay get some hot coffee and then go home and and keep fighting for the sun