Victoria Commemorates Nakba Anniversary

Behold the most quiet protest I've documented so far, by a community that has run out of words to express its despair and sorrow.

Over two hundred mourners gathered at Centennial Square in Victoria on the seventy-sixth anniversary of the Nakba, during which more than 750’000 Palestinians were forcefully driven off their lands by the Zionist coloniser.

Strong winds didn’t deter hundreds from showing up for Palestine.

The event lasted forty-eight minutes, in reference to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that pitted the invading forces against a coalition of neighbouring Arab countries including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. The war dragged on to the end of the year and beyond, and its aftermath can be felt to this day, only overshadowed by the Israeli invasion of Gaza starting last October.

There was only one guest speaker, Tiffany Joseph of the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council, who gave a tearful address which emphasised both indigenous and Palestinian cultures’ deep connection to the land, sometimes rooted into people’s very names, and lamented the disproportionate impact of displacement on children.

I didn’t expect this much of a turnout for a vigil when I arrived. Dozens more would join us throughout the event.

Followed the longest silence I have ever witnessed at a rally, that is about forty minutes. There was nothing more to say after thirty-one weeks of protests. There was nothing more to say after seventy-six years of displacement.

Mourners stood like this for forty minutes of silence. It spoke louder than Saturday’s chanting.

A member of the Palestinian community thanked the indigenous community for its support, going as far as calling them “the Palestinian of these lands”, and also encouraged the attendance to gather at the people’s park encampment at the University of Victoria right after the event.

Nakba Day doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone; Zionists in contrast celebrate Israel’s day of independence, with the endorsement of our own colonialist government. In Vancouver last evening, a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups gathered at City Hall to protest its decision to illuminate the hall and Burrard Bridge with the colours of the Israeli flag.