Associates, household, and others moved by the lifetime of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi gathered round a bonfire on Alki Seashore Wednesday evening to recollect the Seattle-based activist after Israeli forces shot and killed her whereas she protested unlawful settlements within the West Financial institution final week. Whereas a lot of the press memorializing Eygi has revolved round her tireless advocacy for Palestinian liberation and her household’s unanswered requires an unbiased investigation of her killing, shut associates of Eygi shared a extra private perspective of the 26-year-old lady that Israel “stole” from them, as one speaker put it.
Her associates all vowed to hold on her legacy as a group organizer who modified the world with actions as small as baking baklava for the folks she beloved and as consequential as dealing with the Israeli army within the pursuit of justice for oppressed folks.
“The Ayşenur I knew was a lot extra than simply an activist,” mentioned one among her closest associates, Kelsie Nabass, on the vigil. Nabass mentioned Eygi taught her “dwell with the duality of dwelling in an unjust world, whereas combating for liberation, whereas nonetheless feeling empowered to benefit from the day-to-day moments with our associates and our group.”
When Nabass and Eygi first met, Nabass knew straight away they’d change into shut associates, she mentioned in her speech. She recalled their first espresso date on Capitol Hill. “What I believed was simply going to be an off-the-cuff assembly for lunch throughout a piece day, within the blink of an eye fixed turned three-and-a-half hours. I used to be so enamored by her straight away. We related on every part so deeply that I truly missed a gathering with my boss at the moment. One thing about being along with her melted away the world’s worries.”
Over their years of friendship, Nabass mentioned they realized pull the right espresso shot from Eygi’s totally handbook espresso machine, loved sunsets on the waterfront, and watched horror films on Netflix collectively.
On Friday, Nabass obtained a textual content “that utterly shattered” her actuality. Even standing on the vigil, Nabass mentioned she nonetheless couldn’t consider Israel had “martyred” her finest good friend. Nabass questioned how Eygi felt in her final moments, mendacity alone underneath the olive timber. She questioned if she knew how many individuals her reminiscence would draw out to Alki Seashore. She questioned how the Israeli military may very well be so cowardly as to see Eygi as a risk.
One other speaker, Sue Han, recounted vivid reminiscences of her friendship with Eygi. Han recalled a late-night chat the place they found they have been “Leo sisters,” having birthdays simply three days aside. She remembered the time Eygi introduced her a ziplock bag full of minimize strawberries when she picked her up from the airport, the “Arabic entice music” they listened to with the bass boosted so excessive it harm Han’s ears, and their shared consolation meals, pho.
Han met Eygi at a restaurant in Columbia Metropolis simply days earlier than she left Seattle.
“We talked for hours about your journey plans to Turkey and Palestine, about the way you felt scared and egocentric for leaving your family members and going to the West Financial institution,” Han mentioned on to Eygi. “You’re the most selfless particular person I do know.”
Han continued, “We talked about our friendship, of feeling like we might by no means have sufficient time to honor every part we might skilled collectively these previous few months. You checked out me, held my hand with tears rolling in your eyes, and reaffirmed, with that very same childlike honesty as once we first related, that we have been going to be associates without end.”
Han mentioned that she and Eygi made plans for when she returned from Palestine. They might paint collectively and at last throw that bonfire hangout they by no means bought to throw as a result of some park rangers spoiled the enjoyable final time.
“All you wished to do was carry collectively everybody you liked to Alki Seashore and do a bonfire and also you mentioned, ‘Possibly subsequent summer season,’” Han mentioned. “So, I am positive you are so blissful proper now.”
The non-public particulars Eygi’s associates shared not solely confirmed a extra full, extra human image of somebody who will undoubtedly by mythologized for her killing, it additionally served as a reminder that each one of many tens of hundreds of Palestinian civilians that Israel has killed in its ongoing genocide additionally lived as a singular and valued member of their very own group, worthy of a sundown vigil on their favourite seashore of their hometown.
Zho Ragen, who organized the encampment protest for Gaza on the College of Washington (UW) with Eygi, known as on the general public to honor Eygi’s martyrdom by uniting in battle and liberating Palestine.
Ragen and Eygi’s good friend, Yoseph Ghazal, each remembered Eygi throughout a particular evening on the encampment. In his remarks on the vigil, Ghazal recalled feeling hopeless about their negotiations with the administration on the UW and concerning the ongoing genocide in Gaza. However then Ghazal, Eygi, and some others seemed up on the sky and noticed the Aurora Borealis. They stayed up, watched the sky in awe, and talked for hours. The lights within the sky and the intense mild that Eygi represented gave Ghazal hope that he would see the liberation of Palestine, he mentioned.
When Ghazal informed his Palestinian dad and mom about Eygi’s martyrdom, his dad mentioned, “She is extra Palestinian than we’ll ever be.” Ghazal took that to imply that to be Palestinian is to have a revolutionary spirit.
All of her associates who spoke on the vigil, in a method or one other, vowed to hold on Eygi’s legacy, each as a good friend and an advocate.
“We’ll deal with the world that you simply beloved a lot, Ayşenur,” Han mentioned. “Do not you are concerned.”
