It has been two weeks since the students of Cal State Long Beach, San Francisco and San Jose universities began a “united hunger strike in solidarity with the two million Palestinians at risk of starvation in Gaza.” With American ties to Israeli forces decimating the existence of the Palestinian people, college students from around the globe have joined forces in protest and demanding new institutional law to be upheld. The said universities demand:

• Adopt Human Rights IPS Screening.
• CSU Divestment.
• End all ties to Israeli Institutions within Study Abroad programs.
• Uphold Free Speech and end all time, place, and manner restrictions.
• Publicly and openly establish the CSULB campus as a Sanctuary Campus for non-citizen students.

Aurora Dorsett, 22, a student at Cal State Long Beach and majoring in classical studies, gave us an insight on the momentum behind this protest.

1. Why are you involving yourself in the hunger strike, and what do you hope to get out of it?

I am involving myself in the hunger strike because I am appalled by the genocide in Gaza that is being carried out by Israel with the support of our government and by our own universities complicity in the genocide by investing our money into the weapons manufacturers who are make the equipment used to carry out the genocide and apartheid in Palestine. I, along with many other students, am demanding that our universities respond to the cries of the student body they so proudly claim to serve by divesting from companies like Boeing and Maersk, ending ties with Zionist academic institutions through study abroad programs in Israel, and protecting our most vulnerable community on campus, non-citizen students through becoming a sanctuary campus. Beyond that, I hope to revitalize the student energy which has lost momentum after the draconian backlash against student protestors who carried out the Gaza Solidarity Encampments last year through building intercampus solidarity across the west coast. On a more personal note, I hope to feel an increased connection and understanding of the struggle our palestinian brothers and sisters are experiencing everyday as the famine in the Gaza strip becomes more and more severe. 

2. How do you believe your actions will have a meaningful impact on campus / the wider world?

So many students and people across the country are scared to stand up, and for good reason. The fascist Trump administration is doing everything in its power to silence the students movement. However, I view this a sign that Trump and the fascists in power are scared of us. They are scared of the power and influence that the student movement has on the rest of society. So, I believe that by taking part in a peaceful but highly visible form of protest, to draw attention to the fact that we, the students, are still fighting and we can not be threatened and bullied into compliance. 

3. Why a hunger strike instead of any other act of protest?

Like the encampments demonstrating symbolic solidarity with the refugee camps that people in Gaza are forced to live in as all their homes are being destroyed by US made, Israeli dropped bombs, we want to show solidarity with the 2 million people in Gaza starving as the blockade on all humanitarian aid in Gaza continues. 

4. What is your organization’s end goal, and how do you plan to accomplish it?

Our end goal is an end to the genocide and the liberation of Palestine. However, in this specific action our end goal is to have all our demands met and to draw attention back to the Palestinian struggle through the student movement. 

5. What are you risking by partaking in this hunger strike in support of Palestine?

I am risking my health. Obviously, a hunger strike can take a serious toll on the human body, in extreme cases, resulting in death. However, this is nothing compared to what our brothers and sisters in Palestine are not already facing and have been facing for over a year. I am also risking serious social consequences, as Zionists will attack and dox recognizable members of the student intifada. 

6. How have you been impacted personally by your involvement in pro-Palestinian activities?

My partner of 5 years was denied a visa to the U.S. and I believe it is on the basis of my involvement in pro-Palestinian activism. 

7. How has your school campus helped / impeded your actions?

The Time, Place, and Manner policies that our campus adopted after the encampments, are designed to directly impeded or completely prevent us from carrying out any pro-Palestinian related actions on campus.  

8. Has your school met any of your listed demands? Which ones?

We have yet to hear any response from CSULB President, Jane Conoley. CSU admin continues to shamefully ignore the cries and demands of their student body in hopes that we will give up and become complacent in the genocide, just as they have, but we will not. 

9. How have you / your organization been impacted by counter-protestors / pro-Israeli activists?

At a protest earlier in the semester, Zionist counter protesters consistently tried to record us to figure out our identities and dox us. 

10. What happens to your hunger strike if the US does nothing?

We have no plans of ending our strike as of yet. No matter what, even if all of our demands are met, we keep fighting. This is an ongoing battle and my comrades, and I have no intention of stopping or slowing down until Palestine is free.