Several hundred people gathered in front of the Statehouse in Montpelier on Saturday afternoon to protest the war in Gaza and call for a cease-fire.
The rally, organized by the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, featured nearly two dozen speakers from a wide range of organizations and groups. Palestinian flags billowed above the considerable crowd. Protesters held handmade signs proclaiming “No to Islamophobia in Vermont” and “Indigenous solidarity to end genocide.” Others called for the U.S. to end its aid to Israel, which is being used to fund the war.
Speakers at the nearly three-hour rally made parallels between the struggles of marginalized groups in the U.S. and the Palestinian resistance movement against Israeli occupation. Featured groups included Labor for Palestine, Champlain Valley Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace, FreeHer Campaign of Vermont, Migrant Justice and the Vermont Releaf Collective.
The coalition for liberation has been steadily growing since October 7. On that day, Hamas militants from Gaza launched a surprise attack and killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 200 as hostages. In response, Israel’s unrelenting military campaign has killed approximately 15,000 Palestinians. The bombings recently resumed after a weeklong cease-fire.
“I am absolutely in clarity that my liberation is connected to the liberation of Palestinian people,” said Michelle Eddleman McCormick, owner of the Marshfield Village Store and an organizer with Cooperation Vermont. “This is a moment of resistance. We stand here in collective solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
At the beginning of the event, protesters chanted: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” At least one poster bore the same slogan.
Across the street, a group of six people stood silently, waving Israeli flags. William Moore, their leader, said the makeshift group attended “as witness” rather than in protest of the pro-Palestine event. He said the group was listening for the “river to sea” chant, which he considers antisemitic. Some say the slogan alludes to the elimination of Israel.
The afternoon was cold and wet, prompting volunteers from People’s Kitchen to provide free soup to rally-goers. Coalition volunteers also distributed hand warmers, and volunteer medics scanned the crowd.
Other speakers called on Vermonters to put pressure on U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to publicly declare support for a cease-fire. He is the only member of Vermont’s congressional delegation not to have made such a declaration.
Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) joined U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) in expressing support for a cease-fire. Sanders has called for a “significant, extended humanitarian pause” in an opinion piece published last month in the New York Times.
At the rally on Saturday, emcee Ashley Smith credited the coalition with convincing Balint and Welch to call for a cease-fire. “Our struggle forced Becca Balint to come out for a cease-fire. Our struggle forced Peter Welch to come out for a cease-fire,” she said. “Now, the only member of the congressional delegation that opposes the cease-fire is Bernie Sanders. We are here today to tell Bernie to change his position.”
Speakers also made mention of last week’s shooting of three men of Palestinian descent near the University of Vermont campus. The unprovoked violence, which is being investigated as a potential hate crime, has put Burlington in the national spotlight.
“If we cannot see the ways in which our community contributes to the problem, then we fail to progress,” said Jayna Ahsaf, campaign organizer for FreeHer Campaign of Vermont, a prison abolition advocacy group. “Many people seemed extremely shocked that something like [the shooting] could even happen here, which illustrates just how much work we still have to do.”
Toward the end of the rally, Bread and Puppet founder Peter Schumann played the fiddle while reciting a protest poem. The appearance by the Glover-based radical stirred the crowd. Soon after, two coalition members lead attendees in a rendition of “Study War No More,” an anti-war protest song.
Despite the serious tone of the day’s event, the banjo-lead song inspired dancing among rally-goers, who sang along, calling for an end to the war.
At the end of the rally, organizers encouraged protesters to attend events in the coming weeks to put more pressure on Sen. Sanders and to urge the City of Burlington to pass a resolution calling for peace in Gaza.
This story was updated on December 3, 2023, to reflect a more general crowd-size estimate.
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