Tens of thousands march against Gaza starvation in New York City

This past Saturday, August 16, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Midtown Manhattan, voicing their opposition to the mass starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. People traveled from across the northeastern US to participate, including from Baltimore, Boston, Burlington, New Hampshire, Philadelphia, Providence, and Washington DC.

The demonstration was organized by a diverse coalition of pro-Palestine, anti-war, labor, and other organizations. These include, but are not limited to, the Palestinian Youth Movement, The People’s Forum, the ANSWER Coalition, the Arab American Association of New York, the Palestinian American Organizations Network, American Muslims for Palestine, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Democratic Socialists of America, SEIU Local 509, Jewish Voice for Peace, CODEPINK, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Green Party of the United States, Healthcare Workers For Palestine, the National Women’s Studies Association, and Doctors Against Genocide.

Demonstrators held large art pieces, including painted portraits of journalists slain by Israel including, Anas Al-Sharif, Hossam Shabat, and Ismail al-Ghoul, and a press vest crafted out of cardboard which has become a symbol of Israel’s impunity and willing to kill even individuals clearly marked as members of the press.

Demonstrators hold massive cardboard “press vest” (Photo: Micah Fong)

Columbia graduate and Palestinian organizer Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained for months by Trump’s immigration agents in what many view as a violation of his free speech rights, addressed the crowd of tens of thousands on the front steps of the flagship building of the New York Public Library.

“Every person here has a choice,” Khalil declared. “Stay quiet and normalize our killing, or rise, and demand liberation.”

Reem, a Palestinian organizer who traveled from Rhode Island to attend the demonstration, told Peoples Dispatch that “people in the United States have been blind for too long.”

Mahmoud Khalil addresses crowd (Photo: Micah Fong)

They have been “blinded by, unfortunately, our mainstream media, blinded by our government,” Reem said. “It’s time for us to wake up, and see that our tax dollars are causing genocide, are creating famine, and enough is enough.”

Labor activist Chris Smalls, who was detained by Israeli forces while onboard the “Handala”, another Gaza-bound ship part of the larger Freedom Flotilla effort, also spoke at the demonstration. “Two weeks ago I was in prison in Israel,” Smalls told the crowd. “Two weeks ago I was on hunger strike. Two weeks ago I was assaulted by Israel’s immigration authorities. I was the only Black passenger on the Handala, and it is no coincidence that I was the last to be released from prison.”

“Everything that I experienced as a Black man is only a fraction of what Palestinians are going through everyday,” Smalls said.

Children’s contingent marches in mass protest for Palestine (Photo: Micah Fong)

Some protesters were involved in a “children’s contingent” of families, highlighting the way that the mass starvation and genocide in Palestine has affected children specifically. People Dispatch spoke to a demonstrator, a young father who was marching with his family. He said he was participating in the contingent “because the children [in Palestine] don’t have a voice, and we need to provide one to them.”

“We’re in solidarity, not just with the children, [but] with all the women, with all the men, who are in Gaza or in the West Bank, who have been suffering at the hands of occupation for not just these past three years but for the past 75 plus years.”