Dozens display signs, listen to speakers, musicians
By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news
Kayla and Andrew Blanchflower didn’t feel right holding their monthly folk dance event on Nov. 29. Instead, on Wednesday, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the couple organized a rally in the Ashland Plaza featuring speeches, music and information, said Kayla’s mother, Kim Keller.
“It’s all grassroots, just people,” that made the event happen, Keller said.
She stood at the edge of the Plaza where around 40 people were gathered in front of a backdrop and microphones. The Blanchflower’s five children were working the sound system for speakers and musicians while the family’s “skoolie” (a former school bus converted into a living space) was parked nearby, Keller said.
“We’ve encountered a lot of resistance, locally, for this (cause),” she said.
The Ashland rally was one of many going on across the country and around the world on the anniversary of the U.N. General Assembly’s 1947 resolution regarding the partition of Palestine, a date marked by a U.N. resolution in 1977.
Wednesday afternoon in Ashland, three Ashland police officers stood by on a nearby street corner. Keller said organizers had ensured “de-escalators” were ready and waiting at the rally.
Interfaith minister Khalil Mark Elliot gave a speech focused on defining terms — the only way to have an intelligent conversation about the issue, he said.
“Judaism and Israel are not synonyms,” he said. “Judaism is one of the religions of the world, Israel is a nation-state.”
Elliot went on to say that semitism is an ethnic designation as opposed to Judaism, a religion. It is possible for someone to be semitic and not Jewish, or Jewish and not semitic, he said. Opposing Israel isn’t antisemitism any more than opposing the United States government is opposition to Christianity, he said.
“I have been speaking out against the nation-state of Israel for decades, many of my friends who are rabbis are doing the same. … I’m not in support of Hamas. I support no one lashing out at children,” he said.
A sign to his right listed businesses like Home Depot and Sabra Hummus, encouraging attendees to “boycott, divest and sanction,” these businesses in order to “demand human rights and put an end to apartheid.” A sign on the other end of the Plaza said simply, “Israel is committing genocide.”
Kayla Blanchflower took the microphone and said it was time to, “pull some voices together.”
A small group of women gathered around the microphones and led the crowd in a song based on a quote by author James Baldwin: “The children are always ours, every single one all across the globe.”
The Jewish Voice for Peace Rogue Valley organization supported the Blanchflowers in holding the event and distributed flyers at an information table.
“Supporters of Palestinian rights are losing their jobs, being doxxed and harassed online, being attacked physically, and facing congressional censure for trying to save lives,” the flier said. “In fact, the agenda of white nationalists, war profiteers, and anti-Palestinian organizations has nothing to do with protecting Jewish people, and all to do with harming our intersectional movements for justice.
“Warmongers try to make it hard, but it’s actually really clear and simple: fighting for Palestinian freedom and against antisemitism are intertwined. We are deeply committed to both.”
For more information, visit the Jewish Voice for Peace Instagram page at @jvp_roguevalley or email the organization at roguevalle[email protected].
Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].
