In 28-degree and windy weather, a group of 20 students stood at Oya Hill holding a vigil for Palestinian lives that have been lost during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The students gathered at 7 p.m. on Nov. 28 for around an hour, sharing their thoughts and feelings about what has been going on since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
Most of the students are part of a new group that has formed called the Monadnock Autonomous Student Union (MASU), a non-college-associated student-run activist group.
During the vigil, students stood dressed in layers and wearing gloves while holding either lit or battery-operated candles. Signs were placed that read “Free Palestine” and “Liberate.”
The MASU started a little after presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign team set up a table in the student center, said member and sophmore Wren O’Brien.
During that initial visit on Sept. 20, The Equinox previously reported, students gathered in protest right next to the table.
Junior and member Kaitlyn Ferdinand said after the first protest, they realized they should become more organized for the next time something, like the Vivek 2024 team on campus, happens again.
She added since they started and since the first protest, the group has only grown.
“Once you have more of a front, you can do more things and you’re taken so much more seriously,” Ferdinand said.
Ferdinand said while the school has encouraged them to become an official club, members of the MASU fear that it might limit what they can do.
She said because they are not affiliated they can do what they want immediately and without having to go through any sort of processes.
It also opens the door to getting support easier from outside organizations like Keene Mutual Aid and alumni.
Another member of the group, first-year Dexter (who preferred not to share their last name) found out through a friend in the Feminist Collective during a regular meeting.
Dexter went to their first meeting during a poster-creating session.
During that meeting, members of the MASU were making posters for people to use for any future protests.
One of the first impressions Dexter said they had was how it is non-hierarchal.
“I can be like, ‘Hey I care about this, I want to do this about it. Can I have support from you guys?’ and like two to four people will be like ‘Yeah, sure.’ ”
Without the traditional hierarchy of student organizations, like the president, vice president and advisor roles, Dexter said they felt like they could organize a lot faster and not have to go through any official processes.
On the topic of hierarchy, Ferdinand said the members might feel like they have more of a voice when it comes to group affairs.
“We don’t want the clubs to be swayed one way or another … We want everyone to feel like your voice matters here,” Ferdinand said.
As far as its most recent activity, the Palestine Vigil, the turnout was quite surprising, O’Brien said. Factors like cold weather and lack of advertising added to that surprise.
“The fact that that many people came out and stayed for the entire time is more than we could have asked for,” they said.
They added they were “so pleased” with how there were at least four people who found out about the vigil through the last-minute posters and social media posts they made.
The idea of doing a vigil came about with how slow they found the process of working with the school to do a similar event, Ferdinand said. However, she said she is really happy with how receptive the school is to the idea and the communications that have been between the school and one of its members.
As a fail-safe, members decided during an information night on the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts to do a vigil once the school returns from its Thanksgiving break. That way if it did not work something out with the school, something was still held for the Palestinian people.
“I’ve been, for me personally in my own life, I’ve had this feeling of seeing so much bad things in the world happen and nothing getting done about it,” Ferdinand said. “For me, I’ve had this year and I’m like, ‘OK, if no one else is going to do it.’ ”
Even though not much might be happening at an international or governmental level, seeing the amount of people who came by in support “gives me some faith in humanity,” Ferdinand said.
Tim Bruns can be contacted at
tbruns@kscequinox.com
