"We Feel Unheard": Hunger-Striking Princeton Students Vow to Fast Until Divestment Demands Are Met

[Uncle Joe]

Over a dozen students at Princeton University have been on hunger strike for the past week as part of a Gaza solidarity encampment on campus protesting Israel's war on Gaza and calling on the university to disclose and divest from companies with ties to Israel, among other demands. The hunger strikers are also calling for all charges to be dropped against a number of students arrested on campus in late April as part of the encampment. Areeq Hasan, a graduating senior at Princeton who has not eaten for a week, tells Democracy Now! the hunger strike was a response to the university's stonewalling. "We feel unheard at every step of the way, so therefore we resorted to a hunger strike," says Hasan, noting the long history of hunger strikes as a means of protest. "It is in solidarity with the history of Palestinian political prisoners since 1968. … We're tapping into this long-standing tradition with both Palestinian political prisoners and also in the Irish and Indian liberation movements."

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.

[cloudbase]

1. They're not in a position to make demands.

Good luck.

[Oopsie Daisy]

2. Yawn. This will go nowhere. (Maybe they'll enjoy losing a few pounds of left-over winter insulation.)

What kind of hunger strike will this be? No food and no water? Water only? Or will it be like a celebrity's recent hunger strike wherein she fasts during the day but eats at night?

>> protesting Israel's war on Gaza
Good grief! The war is against Hamas.

I wonder, are they prepared to starve themselves to death in support of the terrorist organization, Hamas? I expect they'll simply skip a few meals and give up on it when the novelty of it fades away and when the reporters no longer care.

[Turbineguy]

3. Doing something here is pointless

They should go over there and fight.

This reminds me of the Yellow Elephant movement.