In the wake of all the chaos brewing in the Middle East, go about our daily lives. We smile and cry for personal reasons and circumstances, living out our normal routines and ending the day with relaxation after an exhausting week. These experiences we are currently having are a luxury to the people suffering from the ravages of war - not because they can’t afford it, but because they aren’t offered it as the provision of a normal life. They suffer in their homes due to brutality and death that is not natural, but an artificial ongoing disaster.
A year has now passed since the October 7th attack last year. Since then, we’ve only seen the state of the Middle East slowly delve into chaos. During April, Iranian drones and missiles were launched toward Israel, and Israel destroyed all of the approaching weapons thanks to the efforts of their missile defence systems famously known as the Iron Dome. The international community condemned Iran’s actions, and despite efforts to prevent a full-on war, the conflict only escalated on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. After a terrorist-orchestrated incident within the Israeli port city, Jaffa, killing six and wounding twelve, a harrowing event occurred with Iran’s launched ballistic missiles, targeting the Israeli city Tel-Aviv Yafo.
While all across the globe, most people live far away from the conflict, it has not stopped movements from springing up across different nations, voicing their opposition against the brewing conflict developing in the Middle East. The Brandon University Political Science department has been holding Ceasefire Vigils on Tuesdays, a silent protest to the ongoing suffering in the Middle East. These vigils serve as a display of anti-war actions to the developing tensions surrounding the geopolitical region as international news reports come in, informing the rest of the world about the developing situation, such as the Iran missile attacks happening continents away from North America.
The vigils occur non-consecutively on Tuesdays, and you are free to join these protests in front of the George T. Richardson Centre.