BY CAITLYN JONSSON
With the sun blaring down on necks and an early breeze of fall air, thousands of people marched through Manhattan streets on Labor Day to protest what they call an ongoing genocide in Gaza. Adorned with keffiyehs and holding Palestinian flags, the marchers demanded a cease-fire.
Within Our Lifetime, a New York City-based pro-Palestinian organization, and Healthcare Workers for Palestine organized the National March for Gaza on Labor Day to take a “stand against repression of Palestine” and what they argue is an ongoing suppression of pro-Palestinian marches by the NYPD.
Founded in 2015, Within Our Lifetime (WOL) is a pro-Palestinian activist organization based in New York City, centered around the demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. WOL worked alongside Healthcare Workers for Palestine to organize the Labor Day protest. Healthcare Workers for Palestine is a national network standing in solidarity with those in Gaza. The organization raises awareness against workplace discrimination against healthcare employees who are vocal about their support for those in Palestine. The group also expresses solidarity with healthcare workers in the warzone.
WOL has organized various “Flood For Gaza” events including the “Flood JFK for Gaza” and the “Flood the Bronx for Gaza” marches that occurred in January 2024. The organization is currently led by CUNY alumni and Palestinian-American Nerdeen Kiswani.
“If we don’t make it clear with everything we have… that it is our responsibility to put an end to the genocidal state, then we are just as complicit. This has been our reality for 76 years,” said Kiswani as masses gathered in Union Square to rally prior to taking to the streets in protest.
According to Al Jazeera’s live death counter, the Gaza Ministry of Health reports that over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in 331 days of war following Hamas’s attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. These hostilities are the latest development in a century-long conflict.
Protesters marched north along Park Avenue, surrounded Grand Central Terminal, and marched alongside the United Nations on First Avenue chanting phrases of resistance, including “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Passing cars honked as an expression of solidarity to demonstrators, while some bystanders threw the middle finger in opposition. Many of those marching responded to spectator engagement by displaying peace signs with their hands. The march made its way south on Fifth Avenue where it concluded in Washington Square Park for a community fundraiser.
“I just know that I can’t keep hearing about more and more death. It has to stop, it’s the human thing,” said 49-year-old protester Alberto Sullivan from Queens, New York. Attendees throughout the protest echoed common sentiments.
Within Our Lifetime plans to organize a city-wide protest again on both Monday, October 7th, and Monday, November 4th, centering their focus on one year since conflicts escalated and the impending presidential election respectively.