Palestinian-American activist Rami Nashashibi shared a message of unity with a sizable crowd on Deering Meadow Saturday evening as demonstrators prepared to spend their third night in the “Northwestern Liberation Zone.”
Nashashibi, the founder of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, has advocated for South Side residents in his advocacy work for decades. Saturday night, he urged demonstrators to practice love in their activism for Palestinians.
“I ask and I plead with each of you to be attentive to — as they say in the hip hop generation — ‘keep your third eye open,’” Nashashibi said. “Because if there’s any one of you that hears anyone articulate anything inconsistent with the larger message of love and liberation, shut that s—t down.”
Mensur, 70, said he appreciated Nashashibi’s “universal message to all people around the world.
“He spoke about a very democratic, liberal world,” said Mensur, whose daughter recently graduated from Northwestern. “It’s the speech we have to hear to unite the people, not divide them.”
Nashashibi emphasized themes of Jewish-Palestinian solidarity during his speech, noting the poignance of Passover, which ends Tuesday night.
Members of Jewish Voice for Peace hosted a Passover Seder on Deering Meadow Thursday evening.
“During this time of Passover that our brave Jewish brothers and sisters have come and have celebrated Passover Seders among us, we have been reminded of what the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) reminded us when he went into Medina and he found the Jewish community of Passover.”
According to Nashashibi, Muhammad insisted on fasting with the Jews of Medina “because we are all brothers and sisters — not just our Jewish brothers and sisters right now during Passover.”
After his speech, Nashashibi and three peers led the crowd in freestyle song with themes of Palestinian liberation, backed by drumming.
“We are all thousands, we are millions, we are all Palestinians,” demonstrators sang along with pride.
Joey, a student at NU who said he slept on the Meadow Thursday and Friday night, said he found the performance “beautiful.” The “harmony of all members of the community” resonated with him, he said.
“I thought it was powerful, especially to hear from a Palestinian,” said Reza, a sophomore at Lake Forest High School who had been at the encampment for about nine hours. “It was a good way to bring everyone together — an impromptu concert in a universal language — and it felt like it really brought the community together.”
Nashashibi — whose mother was present at Deering Meadow Saturday night — said anyone who has visited the West Bank or Gaza will know “that the Palestinians are the most hospitable people,” relaying stories from his grandfather about how Palestinians took in Jewish Polish refugees during the Holocaust.
He said he would be back next Sunday with reconstructionist Rabbi Brant Rosen — the founder of anti-Zionist synagogue Tzedek Chicago and former rabbi at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston — who is currently on the border of Israel and Gaza.
“Right now, that rabbi — during Passover — is on the border with other Jewish Americans and Jewish citizens from inside Israel and across the world challenging the Israeli government, trying to break the blockade from the inside, and they are putting their lives on the line,” he said.
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