Speakers who did not disclose their identities are referred to as spokespersons in this article.

UC Santa Barbara Students for Justice in Palestine held a vigil on May 15 in honor of the 77th Nakba Day. Nakba Day is an annual day of remembrance of the mass displacement of the Palestinian people after the establishment of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948. 

SJP held a vigil in honor of the 77th Al Nakba day. Wesley Haver / Daily Nexus

Al-Nakba, which translates to “the catastrophe” in Arabic, honors the thousands of lives lost and the estimated 750,000 to one million Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from 1947 to 1949 under Israeli occupation. A spokesperson from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) said that al-Nakba does not refer to one day, but rather an ongoing “displacement” and “genocide.”

“This 77th Nakba Day is a stark reminder that al-Nakba is not a distant memory or a moment frozen in time, but an ongoing reality, as all of us are watching our siblings in Palestine struggle and resist against the horrors unleashed by the [United States]-backed Zionist regime,” the spokesperson said. 

Beginning at 6 p.m., members of SJP, UCSB Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and other community members gathered at the Manzanita Benches. Tables were covered with keffiyehs — traditional Middle Eastern headscarves often worn to symbolize Palestinian identity and resistance — alongside Palestinian flags, flameless candles and burning incense. 

The vigil began with a land acknowledgement from SJP for the “stolen Indigenous land” of the Chumash people. Speakers emphasized a call to action against Zionism and U.S. imperialism and denounced “a passive declaration of our complicity.” 

“Just as we reject the normalization of the Zionist entity, we reject the understanding of the U.S. nation state as a permanent, naturalized feature of our world. Empires fall, and they are falling,” a spokesperson said. “On this Nakba Day, we remember that all empires fall. On this Nakba Day, we remember the promise of our return to our homeland. The Nakba means that our mourning is also in conversation with our struggle, our resistance.”

Since the militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, it is estimated that over 53,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military from its continued siege on the Gaza Strip and West Bank. SJP stressed that the events since the Hamas attack do not mark a distinctively new experience for the Palestinian people.

“The genocide must be understood as the most recent stage of an ongoing process of slow and violent destruction and displacement of the Palestinians,” a spokesperson said.

Incense burned and Palestinian flags waved as SJP and JVP members read poems in remembrance of Al Nakba. Wesley Haver / Daily Nexus

They went on to explain how the Arabic word ṣumūd, which means steadfastness, gives them the strength to continue to advocate for the Palestinian people. 

“Our ṣumūd, our steadfastness, keeps us standing tall. We learn our ṣumūd from the deep roots and unwavering strength of the olive trees, which remain firmly planted in Palestinian soil, teaching us strength in the face of harrowing grief and despair,” another spokesperson said. 

The vigil continued with an SJP spokesperson reciting “Poem of the Land” by Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet and author. After the reading, the spokesperson stressed they believe Palestine will be free in their lifetime. 

“Today we remember 77 years of al-Nakba, the catastrophe, 77 years of exile, 77 years of mourning, 77 years of the same question, when do we return? Within our lifetime, Palestine will be free. This is a promise,” another spokesperson said. 

A moment of silence was taken to remember the victims of al-Nakba before a JVP spokesperson read the poem “On the Eve of yet another Nakba, a Dream” by George Abraham, a Palestinian American poet. 

The night concluded with an SJP member encouraging attendees to light candles for the Palestinian people and build community through conversation. 

A version of this article appeared on p. 6 of the May 22, 2025 print edition of the Daily Nexus