Gaza Genocide – Hunger Strikes Versus Military Strikes?

Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Opinion - Bacalah Malaysia
July 22, 2024 

Hunger strikes protesting against the Gaza massacre is not new. After so many attempts to level the uneven war, hunger strikes  become weaponised. As early as February this year, a group of Brown University students attempted just that.  

A coalition of students in the Rhode Island campus embarked on a hunger strike demanding that the university divest from companies profiting from the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The group said that the 19 students – made up of Palestinians, Jews, as well as others from the student community – would go on with their hunger strike. 

“Given the escalating violence in Gaza, this hunger strike emphasises the urgency of passing a divestment resolution in this meeting rather than delaying the process any further,” the students said in a statement. 

Palestine Solidarity Caucus and Jews for Ceasefire Now who organised the hunger strike, said that they want the resolution to follow the recommendations of a report released in 2020 by the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Practices that called for divestment from companies involved in the occupation in Palestine.

At the same time, a student group called McGill Hunger Strikes announced on social media that a number of students would not eat until McGill divested from Israel. For over a month, students continued their efforts as a part of their indefinite strike.

“What drove me to do it is really the outrage and the sadness that everyone is feeling right now and the need for something to be changed,” said a hunger strike member then. 

Allegedly, the hunger strike was a direct response to McGill’s refusal to listen to its students, despite criticism and protest from the student community.  

By March, reportedly after 34 days of the strike, one hunger striker was hospitalised and has since no longer been able to continue her strike. By then the support for the hunger strike has been widespread, with the group’s media site accumulating more than three thousand followers in a little more than a month. 

According to the organisers of the hunger strike, McGill currently has around US$20m invested in several defence companies, including Safran, a French air and defence company and Lockheed Martin, an American company that has sold fighter jets to Israel.  

As late as May 2024, hunger strikes took place in Princeton University and University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Prior to this, Yale students were also involved. 

According to news release, Princeton students participating in the hunger strike will abstain from all food and drink (except water) until the university meets with students to discuss divestment and a “cultural boycott of Israel.” 

The group also wants Princeton to reverse “all campus bans and evictions of students.” Similarly, for the latter, they wanted the university to disclose and divest from organisations with pro-Israel interests and ensure the safety of Palestinians students. 

Following multiple campus protests, students began the hunger strike to prompt UNLV to respond to their demands.

Reportedly, after nearly seven-day-long hunger strike, it ended following productive negotiations with UNLV administrators and pro-Palestine student groups and coalitions.

UNLV soundly rejects antisemitism and Islamophobia and is committed to providing a safe and secure environment to all of our students, faculty, and staff.

Still, one hunger striker was admitted to the hospital, according to information posted on Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest (PIAD) social media accounts.  

In a letter said to be published in The Daily Princetonian, a group of faculty called on the Board of Trustees to intervene and “closely monitor and investigate the inner workings of this administration,” citing the urgency of the hunger strike.  

In Malaysia, hunger strike protest has just raised its head recently. An ardent pro-Palestinian activist Mythreyar Mutturamalinggam, a 46-year-old from Tanjung Malim, commence his hunger strike on July 10. 

His steadfastness cuts through the issues of race, religion and petty politiking. If at all, his bold actions dispelled such distractions in protesting against the Zionist invasion of Gaza, and those who conspire in the same.

And for those who still have difficulty in understanding why he did what did, a Tik Tok video from a couple of Palestinian children conveying their admiration for him said it all. – BACALAHMALAYSIA.MY

• The writer is Rector, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)