Roaring Fork Valley pro-ceasefire group protests at Aspen Ideas Festival

Amid a chant of “Free, free Palestine” and “Biden, Biden, we charge you with genocide,” a pro-ceasefire group based in the Roaring Fork Valley spent an overcast and drizzly Thursday evening rallying near a presidential debate watch party in Aspen.

Ceasefire Now RFV, a volunteer non-profit launched after war erupted between Israel and Hamas, marched from Hallam and Eighth streets to the Aspen Meadows, which has hosted Aspen Ideas Festival over the past week, to protest President Joe Biden’s support for what they argue is genocide in Gaza.

Consisting of an eight-person phalanx holding banners and signs, Ceasefire Now’s message rang outside the front entrance, where nearby the pre-debate conversation for Biden and Republican challenger Donald Trump began. The group, encountering security and Aspen police, were kept from going any further onto the Aspen Meadows campus.

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“We’re calling out Joe Biden because of his role in enabling genocide, continuing to send military weapons to Israel, and enabling diplomatic cover for Israel’s war crimes,” Ceasefire member Hannah Saggau said. “It’s unacceptable to have any event that’s platforming President Joe Biden without talking about his role in enabling the massacre of millions of Palestinians.”

Ceasefire Now also called out Aspen Ideas Festival for what they argued in an email to The Aspen Times had a “lack of discussion of the genocide and famine” in Gaza, “which has fallen off the front page, goes on day after day with American weapons and funding and tacit approval.”

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Aspen Ideas Festival held a panel event on Wednesday, “The Future of the Middle East: A Leader Reflects,” which featured former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has been highly critical of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of Gaza.

“I’ve only seen one event (at Aspen Ideas Festival) that had a Palestinian, and with the measure of the scale of the crisis, it is unacceptable to not be talking more about genocide,” Saggau said. “This is one of the largest humanitarian crises of our time, and it’s unacceptable that they are not talking more about this and not saying that it’s a genocide and not calling for a ceasefire.” 

The U.S. has so far sent $12.5 billion in military aid to Israel in its fight against Hamas. The death toll has claimed the lives of more than 37,700 Palestinians. At least 86,000 additional Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been wounded, according to the most recent reports.

Nearly 1,500 Israelis have so far been killed in the conflict. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked and killed roughly 1,200 Israelis at a music festival and within Israel.

Ceasefire Now also maintains that the Jordanian ambassador featured in Wednesday’s “The Future of the Middle East: Diplomatic Perspectives” was used “ostensibly as an Arab voice.”

“Except that Jordan is an unrepresentative monarchy and recipient of lavish American weapons and security deals for their cooperation in isolating Palestinians,” the email states. 

The email went on to say a panel entitled “Israeli and Palestinian Voices of Peace” did include a Palestinian, but the short event kept to broad generalities and made no mention whatsoever to the genocide nor did it allow for questions or address U.S. responsibility for this ongoing and historic atrocity.

“I can’t speak to the former prime minister’s positions or not, but I think it’s unacceptable that they don’t have more Palestinians who are here,” Saggau said of Aspen Ideas Festival. “I would like to see more Palenstain voices included, and more talk of different perspectives, that are also are willing to say that this is a genocide, that are willing to call out the U.S. complicity in war crimes in U.S. support for Israel.”

She said anyone is welcome to join Ceasefire Now RFV efforts. 

“We’ve had conversations with the downvalley Jewish community — we’ve had a series of ongoing dialogues with them. We’re not a group that is excluding dialogue with anyone, and at the same time, we stand firm in our values that apartheid, oppression, and genocide are unacceptable,” she said. “That should not be a value that stands based on your religion or your identity … There are many Jewish members of our group as well as members from the Middle East that have that heritage.”

Ceasefire Now RFV’s next public appearance is planned for First Friday in Carbondale on July 5.

Ray K. Erku is the editor of The Aspen Times. He can be reached at 970-429-9120 or rerku@aspentimes.com.