‘We are people:’ Activists march across Lincoln to demand ceasefire in Gaza

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Hundreds turned out to march through downtown on Sunday, protesting the war in Gaza and advocating for those affected locally.

Organizers said they want the University of Nebraska, state officials and other Nebraska institutions to stop investing in the war.

Some of the participants were immigrants who came from occupied countries in other wars.

Anna Synya, an activist from Ukraine and senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said it’s hard to go through this “intense tragedy” without support.

“I am so lucky that people globally are largely standing with Ukraine because when that invasion started — when that full-scale war started — I was a mess,” she said.

Synya said the Palestinians here in Nebraska are experiencing many of the same things she did, but they aren’t getting the same support.

“A lot of the Palestinians here have not had that privilege,” she said. “They have to stand up, they have to start taking action. This is the most that they can do right now. They don’t have time to grieve, so they’re here.”

Nora Husein, a Palestinian attending the march, said this war is just one of many conflicts people in Gaza have been through.

“I’ve seen the bombardments that have been happening since Oct. 7 of this year, but also 2021 in Gaza, the March of Return in 2018, bombardments in 2014, 2012,” she said. “It’s just an ongoing cycle.”

Husein said her family is currently living in the West Bank. She said that they’re OK for now but that it’s hard to witness the deaths since the start of the war.

“Every single one of those deaths is heartbreaking for me and my family,” she said.

Husein said it’s difficult watching everything unfold from across the globe.

“It may sound crazy, but you want to be there for your people,” she said. “You want to help them. And you feel very useless being thousands of miles away.”

Organizers at the march said one of the challenges with garnering support for Palestine is getting people to understand the history.

Husein and Synya say the best thing Nebraskans can do to help is educate themselves on what’s been going on with Israel and Palestine for the past 75 years.

And above all, treat people with respect.

“We are people,” Husein said. “They call us animals, they call us savages, they call us barbaric, children of darkness. But we are people just like everyone else. And we deserve safety and human rights.”