“Mourning and resilience”: A vigil for Palestine

When I walked up to the vigil for Palestine nearly three weeks ago, the first thing I saw was a little girl holding a candle with the Palestinian flag on it. A sizable crowd had formed just outside the ruins of Greyfriars Chapel, but amidst all the noise and the people, I could only focus on the way the small candle lit up the child’s face. St Andrews Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), one of the organisers of the vigil, wanted to strike a tone of “mourning and resilience.” Set against the chapel ruins, with fallen leaves at our feet and the glow of candles held by several children, that was certainly achieved.

“We wanted it to be a cathartic space where people could mourn,” said Sarah Aziz, a member of SJP. “So often, we have to seem strong and forceful in protest, but we wanted to show that mourning isn’t weak. We wanted to give people the space to let their grief out.”

With the desire to open with “tone of mourning” in mind, the vigil began with a speech from the University of St Andrews Interfaith Chaplain, Bill Shackman. It was helpful to “have that more spiritual grounding where you can just mourn and actually tap into your own humanity,” Aziz explained. After that, SJP presented several speakers, including Aziz herself, whose approach was more advocacy-oriented. She described SJP’s desire to bring reassurance with grief: “We will stand firm. This is for us to bounce back. This is allowing our hearts to feel [grief] so that we can then act on it better.”

Several different societies spoke, sharing various statements of support and solidarity with the people of Palestine. Many speakers also honoured Palestinian art and heritage through poetry readings. Emotion was tight in the air as one speaker read a poem by the famed Palestinian author Mahmoud Darwish. As she spoke the final line and the crowd leaned into the mournful ambience, many people held roses passed out by SJP at the start of the vigil. 

“We very much wanted to have one speech of advocacy at the beginning and then kind of let ourselves be carried away with the mourning,” said Aziz. By the end of the vigil, it did seem as if many had allowed themselves to show their grief. People cried as representatives of Mothers Against Genocide, another co-organiser of the vigil, sang a song.

“It was more of a memorial than a protest,” said Aziz. “It was very cathartic.” 

Aziz felt that providing a space to show emotion and “just cry” rehumanises Palestinians, who may just seem like the faraway subjects of grim news articles to many in Scotland. Aziz explained that creating a formal memorial event allows Palestinians and their advocates a chance to stand still and stop fighting for a second. “How do you come to terms [with a genocide] as a human being?” she asked. SJP wanted to give people space to “honour that in their hearts” and “just feel.”

The challenge in St Andrews with events like this is getting people to engage. After all, Palestine may seem far removed from many people’s daily lives, and Palestinian advocacy groups in St Andrews haven’t always had the easiest time getting large groups of supporters out on the streets. SJP, however, found that many were interested in the vigil. They judged it as a large turnout for one of their events and felt people were happy to have a non-protest event that still acknowledged the suffering occurring in Palestine. The group thinks that there is a lot of support in the student community, and hopes that the recent cease-fire agreement will make reluctant students feel more comfortable joining in Palestinian advocacy.

“The cease-fire has brought joy and hope,” said Aziz, but she emphasised that student activists for Palestine cannot see this as the end. “It doesn’t somehow mean things are fine. The daily structure of violence and apartheid continues, and we cannot become complacent.”

Illustration by Ramona Kirkham