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Thursday, October 10, 2024
Volume 163 No. 21 SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
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JACKSON LINDSTROM | SPARTAN DAILY
Political science major Natalie Martinez (left) goes in to hug Associated Students Director of Legislative Affairs Katelyn Gambarin (right) during the vigil.
SJSU clubs honor lives with vigil By Jackson Lindstrom STAFF WRITER
San José State clubs Students for Justice in Palestine, Students for Quality Education and Students for a Democratic Society held a vigil Wednesday on Tower lawn. The vigil provided electric candles and roses for community members and students to pay respects for those who died. Last year, Palestinian nationalist group Hamas attacked Israel and killed over 1,200 people, according to an Oct. 7, 2023 U.S. Department of State press briefing. Since the events of Oct. 7, approximately 41,000 Palestinians have been killed
in the conflict, according to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, which cites the Gaza Health Ministry. Over 33,000 of these deaths have been caused by air and artillery strikes from the Israeli military, according to a BBC Article, which cites the same health ministry. Adnan Chatila, a fourthyear mechanical engineering student, said he thinks it’s important to know about the conflict. “It’s important to be here because ... the Palestinian cause is something we want to show other people who might not know the intricate details about what’s going on,” Chatila said. Students and supporters at the vigil said they knew
people from Palestine who had lost friends or family. “A lot of my friends are from Palestine,” Chatila said. “I have several friends from Gaza specifically, and their family is broken up.” Seth Heller, a second-year biology student, shared his thoughts on the conflict. “Since we’re far from Palestine and everywhere like that, I feel like it's good to support them, even from a distance, to make sure that everyone is aware of what's going on,” Heller said. “This is not a war, but a genocide.” Genocide is defined the intentional systematic killing of a certain group of people, typically of a specific shared group, according to the Oxford dictionary. Some students feel that
the conflict in Palestine fits that definition after tens of thousands have been killed and tens of thousands more have been injured. Ian Petrola, a fourth-year psychology student, agreed that the conflict is an ongoing genocide, saying the grief of those with family in Palestine should be fully expressed. “It’s been a full year of violence ... There were many innocent lives taken during this matter,” Petrola said. “It’s not even a war, it’s a genocide and I feel that these people deserve to be remembered.” Atef Samie, a transfer biology student, said he thought the conflict needed more coverage and recognition. “Awareness is really important, especially with
topics that don’t get enough and proper coverage,” Samie said. “So by doing this over time, it brings that awareness and coverage to light.” Heller agreed, referencing different kinds of coverage of the conflict in the news. “There’s so much mixed media out there, we’re just trying to bring this into true light because we see it on the news, how everything’s being manipulated under the American government,” Heller said. “We’re just trying to show the bare, unfiltered light of what’s going on in Palestine.” After the speeches concluded, pictures of people who had been killed in the conflict were laid out for attendees to observe. Once the attendees were
done looking at the pictures, they stood in a circle around the pictures for a two-minute moment of silence. Murtaza Haider, a secondyear industrial engineering student was another student at the event who felt connected to those who had been killed. “Personally, I’m Muslim, so you feel love for your Muslim brothers and sisters,” Haider said. “(I’m) here to show support for the oppression that’s happening in Gaza.”
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Students learn activism via senses By Anahi Herrera Villanueva STAFF WRITER
César E. Chávez Community Action Center offered students an immersive experience while promoting community involvement on Wednesday at Tower Lawn. Rhythm of Resistance: A Journey Through Bay Area Activism allowed students to learn about the history of activism through their five senses, according to a Sept. 23 Instagram post from the César Chávez Community Action Center. Some activities offered were writing about what students would change if they had power, reading activism through poetry and music, and a Play-Doh art workshop. Ange Grate, the events and outreach assistant for the César E. Chávez Community Action Center, helped coordinate the event. “This event was created for the ‘In Solidarity series,’ (which is) about Bay Area activism and activism
within California,” Grate said. The “In Solidarity” series supports student leaders on campus through leadership development while focusing on social justice issues providing them with tools for the workforce, according to the Associated Students website. Grate said the event hosts different on-campus organizations and outside sources to help students express what activism means to them. The organizations present included LEAD Filipino, A.S Campus Community Garden and the SJSU Black Student Union. Students in attendance at this event were encouraged to go to each booth and learn more about each organization. After visiting each booth, students would receive a stamp on a paper they received when they checked into the event. Students were also able to go to the tasting booth and redeem their completed stamped paper for boba. “The takeaway is being
able to reflect as a member of the community and how you can be an activist through all the different resources that we have on our campus, and within our community as a whole,” Grato said. Diana Garcia Rodriguez, department coordinator at the César E. Chávez Community Action Center, said she has been working alongside Grate to bring the event to life. “This is something (Grate) has been wanting to do since the summer,” Garcia Rodriguez said. “It’s to bring folks together and make it a very fun, high impact, low stakes event.” Garcia Rodgruiez and Grate hoped to get students excited about the upcoming election and explore different movements that impact the Bay Area. “Our hope is that folks love their community so much that they are inspired to create change,” Garcia Rodriguez said. Marnelli Canosa, a health equity and outreach coordinator for LEAD Filipino, said she wants
ANAHI HERRERA VILLANUEVA| SPARTAN DAILY
Students stand at a booth to play with putty while learning about activism.
students to focus on civic engagement beyond the upcoming election. “Within the nonprofit circles, we talk about how to get folks engaged past the election,” Canosa said. “Bill(s) go through a cycle and so does civic engagement. Staying engaged holds our representatives and elective officials accountable.”
Canosa said she was giving students a look into the past about voting history and how people with multiple ethnicities weren't able to vote until recently. Eesha Patel, a first-year business student, saw a flyer for this event on Instagram and was by the tents on Tower Lawn. “I wanted to be more
connected with campus, especially as a first-year,” Patel said. “It’s important to be informed and educated, especially for people advocating for social justice that is affecting real people in real-time.”
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