Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, Ezgi to many who knew her, was brutally murdered by an IDF sniper only days after she arrived in the West Bank to join Palestinian people in their fight for liberation. She was 26 years old. We offer our deepest condolences to all of her family and friends, and are proud to have fought alongside Ezgi as a member of Socialist Alternative in Seattle where she was an active member from 2015-2018 and a supporter since. 

Tragically, Ezgi joins over 40,000 people murdered by Netanyahu’s genocidal war in Gaza and the escalating assault on the West Bank. Despite the empty words and crocodile tears by US state department officials in news articles – even top imperialist in chief Anthony Blinken – the massacre in Gaza and war on Palestinians has been supported by US imperialism since the very beginning. In fact, the US may have funded the very sniper rifle that killed Ezgi. Continuing military aid to the Israeli state is one of the policies Harris and Trump agree on. 

Ezgi’s life is an example of how revolutionaries must fight all forms of injustice, exploitation and oppression. She lived by the principle that an injury to one is an injury to all, and for taking this stand in Palestine, she was murdered by the Israeli state. While we mourn and celebrate her life and legacy, we call for restarting mass protests against any politician, Republican and Democrat, who supports the continuation of this genocidal war. Justice for Ezgi means ending the occupation, and all imperialist war everywhere.

Coming to Revolutionary Activism

Ezgi joined Socialist Alternative while she was a high school student in Seattle during a turning point in US politics. Bernie Sanders’ call for a “political revolution against the billionaire class” was getting an echo with tens of millions of working class people who were fed up with corporate politics, and Ezgi, even as a high schooler, knew she had to be a part of it. 

Trump was also on the rise, replacing Bernie’s call for working class solidarity with divisive scapegoating of immigrants, LGBTQ people and the “radical left.” After Trump won in 2016, at a time when millions were scared and unsure what to do, Ezgi helped lead student walkouts, spoke at rallies, and courageously built the early anti-Trump movement proudly as a socialist. As Ezgi frequently commented at the time, Trump only backed down when threatened with walkouts, airport occupations, mass protests and strikes, not the “resistance” from the Democratic Party or the reactionary courts.

Ezgi helped lead a mass student walkout from schools across Seattle on November 14, 2016, shortly after Trump’s election. “This election has sparked a flame,” she wrote in a Socialist Alternative article about the walkout, “and we are the fire, we are burning for a future to believe in.” And Ezgi never stopped fighting for that future.

Ezgi spoke to a crowd of thousands in downtown Seattle on the day of Trump’s inauguration, ending with the powerful chant, “The enemy is profit, together we can stop it.” Speeches that Ezgi gave at anti-Trump rallies are quoted in these two articles, and anybody who had the privilege of watching her speak or organizing alongside her knew she was a force to be reckoned with.

At a victory rally after the city of Seattle announced its divestment from Wells Fargo – forced by pressure from the movement led by Socialist Alternative’s then-city councilmember Kshama Sawant – over their support for the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2017, Ezgi spoke. After celebrating the victory and giving credit to the movement, not falsely self-identified “progressive” politicians, she moved on to the myriad other things we as the working class need and deserve and declared, “We can’t stop fighting until we win.”

One Socialist Alternative member, Colin Moen, described his experience with Ezgi during the struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline: 

“During the height of the No DAPL movement in winter of 2016-17, Ezgi and I were both part of a small group of socialists that drove from Seattle to Standing Rock to join in the occupation against the Dakota Access Pipeline. 

In the days leading up to our arrival, viral footage had emerged of private police unleashing attack dogs on peaceful protesters. We stayed at the Oceti Sakowin camp, which at the time was under constant surveillance and intimidation by law enforcement. 

Each night, the camp would be lit up by a string of police floodlights in the surrounding foothills. It was extremely cold, so we had to sleep fully-clothed in our sleeping bags with our coats and snow-pants on in order to stay warm. 

None of this daunted Ezgi one bit; what mattered was that ordinary people were moving into struggle to fight against oppression and climate catastrophe, and she didn’t hesitate for a second to play an active role in that struggle.”

Occupation against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Ezgi is second from left.

Honoring Heroic Ezgi

Following her time as an active member of Socialist Alternative, Ezgi continued her activism as part of the recent Gaza solidarity encampments at the University of Washington and then as part of the International Solidarity Movement. There are many, many people who could share similar accounts of Ezgi’s fight for the liberation of all working class and oppressed people and we hope they do, for it will empower and inspire all of us to fight harder for the future Ezgi and we burn to see. 

We cannot imagine the pain, grief, and anger that Ezgi’s family must now be feeling. Her parents are calling for an independent investigation into her murder and courageously pointing out the hypocrisy of the US government. We must have no confidence in the capitalist state, armies, and police to investigate themselves – no matter what country. While we seek to discover the full truth, we think it is clear what Ezgi would want from us.

To honor Ezgi’s legacy and revolutionary vigor, Socialist Alternative calls for renewed campus occupations that link up with the labor movement, for mass protests globally against the occupation, and solidarity strikes against the genocidal war. Both the Democratic and Republican parties support funding the Israeli state’s war and occupation, which is why we need a new party for working people that actually fights the interests of working class people, in the US and in countries around the world, equipped with a socialist program to end all exploitation, oppression, inequality, and war.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi never stopped fighting, and neither will we.