Friday and Saturday events at the Downtown Chico City Plaza, at 132 West Fourth St, will honor and spread awareness for the lives lost in Gaza.
A candlelight vigil will be held Friday 4:30-7 p.m. and a protest on Saturday at 2 p.m.
There will be food and dessert stalls serving Palestinian delicacies both days. All proceeds will go toward mutual aid organizations in Gaza.
The events are being put on by SWANASA Advocates in Chico, an advocacy group for South Western Asian, North African and South Asian communities. Direct donations can be sent to @swanasaadvocates on Venmo.
“As a Palestinian American, but more importantly, as a human being, I believe it’s morally imperative that we seek an immediate end to the Israeli offensive in Gaza,” Deyaadeen Ammar, community member in the process of founding the Chico Palestinian Advocacy Network, said. “No amount of violence on October 7th can justify the death of nearly 10k Palestinians, many of them children.”
Posts on the Swanasa Instagram account emphasized the importance of discussing misconceptions, raising awareness and empathy. The group aims to honor those who have lost their lives and to educate the public on the crisis in Gaza.
“It’s not a mere clash between Muslims and Jews; that oversimplification of such a false narrative veils a deeply entrenched reality,” Shaheera Abbasi, founder of SWANASA Advocates, said. “Our voices as Muslims aren’t just cries for change; they echo a profound collective plea for recognition of our shared humanity.”
A SWANASA Instagram story asked those who plan to attend either of the events to fill out this form to stay connected and receive updates. The organization is also looking for volunteers to help make posters and is inviting people to bring flowers to the Friday vigil.
More information can be found @swanasaadvocactes on Instagram.
Molly Myers can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
Julia Plotkina // Jan 25, 2024 at 10:53 pm
I stand for unity; there is no other. As long as we pick sides someone will feel left out. I hope we can begin inclusive and healing conversations sharing our expeirences and stories and share in our common humanity irrespective of country of origin, religion, color of our skin, gender preferences etc. Hamas is not being held accountable by the governments of the world or U.N. They are the ones stirring things up yet we are too blind so we blame Israel or Palastine.
Peace // Nov 3, 2023 at 4:47 pm
It’s sad to see that our own US government is behind all this terrorism and occupying and terrorizing Muslim countries for the last 20 years. I already know there’s gonna be many people thinking I’m a conspiracy S Darm making this up but the facts come out and just like they did and all the other wars, Iraq who supposedly had weapons of mass destruction is the United States government, And why do they disclose war information thatIs completely immoral and violady Geneva convention was about Vietnam after 50 years. But don’t worry mister Biden and All your buddies in the White House and pentagon the one thing you can never take from a Muslim Or a Muslim country isThe fact that we do not fear death. So you can bring your bombs and you can bring yourThanks and your missiles and your subs but when it comes down to it just like you saw in Iraq and Afghanistan you didn’t just forget to leave all of your humvees and various weaponry in the millions behind in Afghanistan
they got left because they kicked you out and if there’s one thing I know you you just take the wrong coordinates nest…. This is not a threat it is a Request that you Provide humanitarian aid Restore water electricity medical supplies food shelters And withdraw from Gaza and stop killing innocent people I the hundreds of thousands and that’s just in the last year. And I know it’s not you who’s pulling your strings cause you can barely walk. But the ones who are pulling the strings this goes out to them….. Peace & Love To all Humans.