On Monday, four California State University activist groups announced a hunger strike in protest of the treatment of the Palestinian people in Israel’s war in Gaza.
The Student Justice for Palestine (SJP) chapters at San José State, CSU Long Beach, Sacramento State and San Francisco State are participating, according to a Monday Norcal SJP Instagram post.
Scott Johnson, a third-year kinesiology exchange student from Scotland, is participating in the hunger strike.
“I (am) in a privileged position, I take this chance to stand in unity with what’s happening over there and hopefully make change,” Johnson said.
In an official press release from the Students for Justice in Palestine at CSU Long Beach, several demands were listed directed at both the campuses and CSU, according to the groups Instagram post.
The demands included:
– Adopt Human Rights SFSU’s Investment Policy Statement screening
– CSU-wide divestment from military equipment contractors
– Ending ties to Israeli institutions in the student abroad programs
– Ending the Time, Palace and Manner restrictions
– Publicly and openly establish a sanctuary campus.
The investment policy statement ensures that the investor foundations are committed to socially responsible investments, according to San Francisco State’s Office of Sustainability website.
“We won’t stop until our demands are met and if they’re smart and if they don’t want to keep maintaining the genocide that is going on, they’ll meet our demands,” Johnson said.
The United Nations World Food Programme released a statement that it delivered it’s last remaining stock of hot food on Friday, according to an April 28 United Nations News article.
More than two million people in Gaza depend on aid, which they have been unable to receive because Israel has blockaded the territory, according to the same source.
Mitch Reitman, the assistant director of Hillel of Silicon Valley, said the organization supports students engaging in activism but is concerned that this action and previous actions will contribute to a hostile environment felt by Jewish and Israeli students.
“Many in our community feel marginalized and unsafe when activism crosses the line into rhetoric or demands that deny Israel’s right to exist, misrepresent the conflict, or fail to acknowledge the trauma of October 7 and the ongoing hostage crisis,” Reitman wrote in a text message to the Spartan Daily.
SJSU students have engaged in numerous pro-Palestinian protests, one of them being an encampment occurring in the Spring 2024 semester.
“Hillel stands with students seeking peace and safety for all people in the region—Palestinians and Israelis alike,” Reitman wrote. “We hope that any campus discourse around this issue will uphold the values of mutual respect and reject hate in all its forms, including antisemitism.”
The Spartan Daily reached out to Michelle Smith McDonald, SJSU’s senior director of media relations, for a response but did not receive one in time for publication.
“If you’re doing a hunger strike, it means your university isn’t doing something right,” Johnson said.
