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Syracuse University’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment invited Yaffa S.A., executive director of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, to speak to an audience of more than 100 people seated on the steps of Hendricks Chapel at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Yaffa, a Muslim-Palestinian writer, spoke to the crowd about the importance of the encampment and protesting to show up for all humans impacted by “genocide.” They said they have some family currently in Gaza, and over the past few decades, their family has lost more than 200 members.

They asked the audience if they’ve participated in moments of silence for Palestine.

“To be honest with you, all my people don’t want silence. We’re not here for silence,” Yaffa said. “We’re here to be loud. We want this entire campus hearing us even though we can’t use mics.”

They invited the crowd to do a “brief shout” to let out whatever they wanted, and encouraged those who felt it would be “too much” to step aside or cover their ears. After a count of three, the audience screamed and erupted in applause.

On Monday at approximately 10:40 a.m., SU and SUNY-ESF community members established the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, demanding that the university divest from Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The encampment quickly grew in size and had about 40 tents up as of Tuesday afternoon.

Yaffa, who identifies as queer and transgender, said they work with queer and trans Palestinians across the world. But, in Gaza specifically, they know of at least three dozen queer and trans Palestinians who have been killed since Oct. 7.

The conflict in Gaza is only one out of “17 genocides currently happening,” they said — noting specifically that others are occurring in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Yaffa said “fighting genocide is basic” because not one day has passed “within the colonial project where (genocide) has not existed.”

Yaffa said they would show their support for people experiencing genocide worldwide — even if the trans community is discriminated against in that country — and used Austria as a hypothetical example because of recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation there.

“If there’s a genocide against Austria … I will still be showing up for Austria,” they said. “We’re talking about millions of people and you want to pretend as if — because I don’t like you — we don’t need to show up for one another? That’s bullsh*t.”

They encouraged the audience to have more meaningful conversations about anti-Blackness, anti-transness, disability and other issues marginalized communities face.

“That is how we move forward. That’s how you build the movement,” Yaffa said. “The thing that separates us isn’t the fact that we all have differences … that we’re all differently marginalized in different ways, within what’s known as the U.S. It’s the fact that so many places are not willing to have these conversations.”

They emphasized the importance of caring for fellow community members and said it is “integral” to create freedom and peace. Yaffa said they’ve lived in many countries and when they moved back to the U.S., they were surprised that people did not “take care of each other.”

“Liberation will not happen until we’re all free. The work does not end until we’re all feeling a sense of liberation,” they said. “Liberation is a community thing … if my community is not well, if I cannot show up for my community, I will never be well. If I can show up for my community, and they are well, I am always well.”

Community care “builds the world that we’re trying to replace,” Yaffa said. If genocides were to stop, they said, “everything would be different,” and said the audience is here to do that.

They said SU’s campus is “not only benefiting off of this genocide, but is a key stakeholder in it,” and applauded the SU Gaza Solidarity Encampment’s efforts to “get this university to divest.” One of the encampment’s six demands is that SU divests from companies that “support, fund or arm the genocide in Gaza.”

Yaffa told The Daily Orange they would “love for students to grasp” the fact that none of them can control “the conditions that are actually making all of this happen.”

“What we get to do is we show up, we disrupt, we do all of these things. What happens is beyond us, but we still show up,” they said. “The right thing to do is show up for people experiencing genocide … it’s just the right thing to do.”

They said the encampment is “beautiful” and that they’d like to remind people to “claim the joy,” because they often see people get “very devastated” when things don’t work out.

If the encampment doesn’t last, they said, it’s not a failure or “the end of the world” and encouraged student protestors to look to the next “right thing to do, again and again and again, because the world is not going to be fixed today.”

“I want us to move away from this concept of ‘Organizing is miserable and we all have to hate each other and live in misery.’ I’m like, no, I just see colorful joy,” Yaffa said, looking at the encampment.

Published on April 30, 2024 at 9:12 pm

Contact Ahna: arflemin@syr.edu