Hunger Strike for Palestine
The hunger strikers announce the beginning of their strike in the Campus Center. Image courtesy of Brown Divest Coalition Instagram.
After returning for the spring semester, a group of 19 students launched a hunger strike with the demands that President Paxson and Chancellor Sam Mencoff commit to placing the divestment resolution on the Brown Corporation’s meeting agenda for February 8-9 and allow for BDC representatives to present the case based off of the 2024 Critical Edition of the ACCRIP report. During the hunger strike week, hundreds of Brown community members consistently showed up to the Campus Center in support of the strikers and to attend the various art builds, teach-ins, and rallies held in support of divestment and Palestine. Speakers throughout the week shared their personal stories on why they were calling for divestment, the importance of worker solidarity, in addition to the ways in which the ongoing genocide had global repercussions in the tech industry, prison abolition movements in the United States, and censorship in academia. This outpouring of support from students, faculty, alumni, and community members persisted, despite the University’s attempts to end the movement by changing or adding new policies regarding use of university spaces and barring journalists from campus.
The hunger strike culminated on Friday, February 9 on the final day of the Corporation’s meeting. Beginning at 8am, community members chanted for divestment and a free Palestine outside of the Faculty Club where Corporation members were meeting, while strikers gave the members copies of the 2024 Critical Edition. During this time, the Corporation tried to evade the demonstrators by moving the location of their meeting, ultimately going to the Watson Institute. Protestors stood outside the Watson and filled the building, carrying banners with slogans for a ceasefire, divestment, student protection, and Palestine. As Corporation members walked by during their lunch hour, two hunger strikers asked for them to listen to student demands and questioned their refusal to do so. Following the Corporation’s exit from the Watson, the hunger strikers and solidarity protesters returned to the Campus Center where they broke their fast with dates at 5pm, a decision reached as a result of the Corporation’s refusal to address the divestment resolution during their meeting. Despite these circumstances, the hunger strike was the longest and largest organized for Palestine since October 2023, and other universities in the US, Canada, Scotland, and elsewhere soon followed in launching their own.
A protestor at a rally during the hunger strike week. Image courtesy of the Brown Divest Coalition Instagram.
After picketing around University Hall, demonstrators staged a die-in on February 8, the first day of the Brown Corporation’s meeting and seventh day of the hunger strike. Image courtesy of the Brown Divest Coalition Instagram.