December 18, 2023, 11:37am
A group of writers, artists, educators, and cultural organizations from around the world are calling for weekly sunrise-to-sunset fasts starting on Thursday, December 21 until a permanent ceasefire is called in Gaza.
Inspired by the poem “Think of Others” by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, the Fast for Gaza campaign was initially launched by a group of writers who “have had enough of the genocidal war on Gaza and are encouraging others to take meaningful action to urge an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the current war.”
“This call challenges people to abstain from food in empathy with the people of Gaza who are facing grotesque cruelty at the hands of Israel and to use their voices to work to end this horrible suffering,” writes Lana Salah Barkawi, Artistic and Executive Director of Mizna, one of the cultural organizations leading the call, in a press release published earlier today.
In addition to abstaining from food from sunrise to sunset, the organizers of Fast for Gaza are asking people to “come together and to write to government and business leaders demanding they recognize this tragedy and support the call for ceasefire; to donate to humanitarian efforts in Gaza, and to join boycotts of goods that exploit or directly oppress Palestinians.”
Here is the press release in full:
December 18, 2023
On Thursday, December 21, 2023, writers, artists, cultural workers, and educators from around the world are abstaining from food in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Fast for Gaza is a global campaign initially launched by writers who have had enough of the genocidal war on Gaza and are encouraging others to take meaningful action to urge an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the current war.
“We are witnessing an unfolding catastrophe in real-time, in some sense unprecedented because of new media. The toll is indescribable, incalculable, and indefensible,” said writer and professor Elmaz Abinader, who is one of the organizers of the campaign. “We’ve had enough of this and it has to stop.”
“The Israeli military has killed approximately 20,000 people in the Gaza Strip, most of them women and children, has displaced nearly 2 million people, and destroyed tens of thousands of homes. Israel has targeted and destroyed nearly all of Gaza’s medical facilities, killing and detaining hundreds of medical workers and destroying more than a hundred ambulances,” adds the group’s call to action.
“This call challenges people to abstain from food in empathy with the people of Gaza who are facing grotesque cruelty at the hands of Israel and to use their voices to work to end this horrible suffering,” adds Lana Salah Barkawi, Artistic and Executive Director of Mizna, one of the cultural organizations leading the call. “There is constant bombardment, destroyed homes, no electricity, no water, no medicine, no bathrooms. What people are enduring is inhumane, and we must all work for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.”
“The tremendous violence incurred on the people of Gaza by Israeli occupation forces calls upon us to take a stand with the people of Gaza as they continue to face the cruelty of collective punishment and needless suffering,” said Glenn Shaheen, President and Executive Director of the Radius of Arab American Writers.
According to Khaled Mattawa, poet and professor at the University of Michigan, the campaign was inspired by the poem “Think of Others” by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. “Witnessing the ceaseless killing of people in Gaza, with the support of our government, has been crushing and demoralizing. It was necessary that we take some action and practice empathy in a deeper and collective way,” stated Mattawa.
In addition to abstaining from food from sunrise to sunset, the organizers of Fast for Gaza, are asking people to come together and to write to government and business leaders demanding they recognize this tragedy and support the call for ceasefire; to donate to humanitarian efforts in Gaza, and to join boycotts of goods that exploit or directly oppress Palestinians.
Fasting is an ancient spiritual practice and form of peaceful dissent. People have fasted to seek forgiveness and guidance in times of difficulty. Political and spiritual leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and Cesar Chavez have fasted to bring an end to injustice and violence. Palestinian political prisoners have gone on hunger strike many times to protest their indefinite detention. Fasting is also seen as a form of purification for body and soul and a means to empathize with the poor.
For those who have health concerns and cannot abstain from food or water, poet and professor Philip Metres offers that “Fasting need not be limited to abstention from food; it can also be intentional withdrawal from some ordinary, daily activity (social media, entertainment, purchasing non-essential goods) in order to focus on crucial issues and the hardships faced by others.”
The Fast for Gaza campaign is organized and sponsored by Mizna, RAWI (Radius of Arab American Writers), W.A.W.O.G. (Writers Against the War on Gaza), Action for Hope, University of Minnesota Palestine Studies Working Group, Palestine Writes, and the Arete Foundation for Arts and Culture.
Individuals and organizations interested in joining Fast for Gaza can view and download our media kit and sign up here.