“Under the rubble of our dreams”: Vigil honours university students killed by Israeli forces, as Western University graduation ceremonies unfold

 

It is June 12th. Western University hosts graduation convocations. Families fill the halls. Names reverberate. Students traverse the stage; gowns billow, tassels sway, and degrees are photographed. There is warmth, nostalgia, glee, cheer, and peace.

Among the tents and human rights slogans forming the student encampments, another graduation convocation unfolds.

This convocation is cheerless. This convocation is filled with tears and red eyes. This convocation is a vigil. It is called “Honouring those who will never graduate” – a title strung on a banner facing rows of chairs. No students sit here. Each chair holds only a candle, a rose, a graduation cap, and a sign.

The sign reads:

“Diploma of graduation: An honorary degree for the students in Gaza who hold steadfast in their vision of a free Palestine and were not able to graduate in Gaza this year. The Western Divestment Coalition recognizes these students as graduates with the highest distinction. From Turtle Island to Palestine, liberation in our lifetime.”

It is 7:30 pm. Vigil attendees encircle the chairs. The silence is pregnant with impending grief.

“These students are not just numbers,” an encampment attendee opens the vigil. “They had dreams and aspirations, just like all of us here today.”  (more...)

“Under the rubble of our dreams”: Vigil honours university students killed by Israeli forces, as Western University graduation ceremonies unfold