WASHINGTON, DC -UNS: On Friday evening, more than a dozen hunger strikers including actress Cynthia Nixon, MI State House Majority Leader Abraham Aiyash, DE State Rep. Madinah Anton-Wilson, VA State Rep. Sam Rasoul, OK State Rep. Mauree Turner and NY State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, stood outside the White House in the rain to read the names and ages of hundreds of Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza as they marked the end of a 5-day hunger strike for a permanent ceasefire.
Since the strike began on Monday, four new members of Congress have put out statements calling for a permanent ceasefire. Over the course of the five days, constituents sent over 16,134 letters to members of Congress asking them to support the hunger strikers and demand an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. On Friday, 541 people fasted remotely in solidarity with the hunger strikers, and more than 3,000 phone calls were made to members of Congress demanding they call for a permanent ceasefire.
They were not the only ones who joined in the action this week to pressure the Biden administration to support a ceasefire as Israel resumed its genocidal attacks on Gaza after a 7-day temporary pause.
In a press conference at the hunger strike on Friday, the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced their international union’s support for a permanent ceasefire. The UAW was joined by international union representatives from the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and groups associated with the AFL-CIO, including representatives from the Western Massachusetts Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO. Together, they represent more than 454,000 workers across the nation. The announcement reflects the strengthening relationship between the U.S. labor movement and the Palestine solidarity movement as labor leaders heed the calls of Palestinian workers to end labor’s complicity in Israel’s violent apartheid regime. Find a full list of unions and labor formations that have passed ceasefire resolutions here.
President Biden has called himself the “most pro-labor president in history” and has been a vocal supporter of the UAW in particular. In September, he became the first sitting president to visit a picket line with the UAW in Michigan. Biden faces a tough election ahead in the UAW’s home state of Michigan, in part due to his handling of the unfolding genocide in Gaza. Polls show that 68% of Americans support a ceasefire.
Since the temporary pause in Israeli attacks on Gaza ended early this morning, more than 180 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military. More than 15,000 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes in the past eight weeks. Among the dead are more than 6,150 children, with over 1,800 children still missing under the rubble. Without an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the entry of dire humanitarian aid, thousands more Palestinians will die – if not from Israeli bombs, from starvation and dehydration.
Prior to the temporary pause in Israel’s attacks, the food that had entered the Gaza Strip since the 21st of October only met 7% of the population’s daily minimum caloric needs, and all 130 bakeries in Gaza had either been bombed or faced a halt in production due to lack of fuel. While limited humanitarian aid was allowed into Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt during the pause, what entered was nowhere near enough to address the dire need and hunger as a result of Israel’s siege on the Strip.
On Tuesday, the UN World Food Program (WFP) released a statement providing an assessment of the situation on the ground and warning of the high risk of famine and starvation in Gaza without the safe and unimpeded access of humanitarian aid that only a permanent ceasefire can provide. “Six days is simply not enough to provide all the assistance needed. The people of Gaza have to eat every day, not just for six days,” WFP’s Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe Region, Corinne Fleischer.
Through the hunger strike, activists made visible the policies of starvation that the White House is supporting in Gaza, and brought the consequences of President Biden’s failure to call for a permanent ceasefire to his doorstep. With the resumption of Israel’s assault on Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe will only become more dire without immediate action from Biden to permanently stop the attacks.
Friday’s press conference with labor leaders was part of a series of programming throughout the 5-day hunger strike following its launch on Monday, including a Day of Jewish solidarity on Tuesday, and of Indigenous, Black, Climate solidarity on Thursday.
Throughout the week, the hunger strike featured the attendance of diverse elected officials, activists, and community and labor leaders including: Cynthia Nixon (actor and activist); Denée Benton (actor and singer); New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani; Delaware State Representative Madinah Wilson-Anton; Michigan State Representative Abraham Aiyash; Oklahoma State Representative Mauree Turner; Virginia State Representative Sam Rasoul; Mark Dimondstein (president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU)); Brandon Mancilla (United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 9A Director); Bob Kingsley (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), former organizing director); Elise Bryant (Coalition of Labor Union Women); Hoang Phan (Western Massachusetts Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, & Massachusetts Teachers Association); Busra Aydin (educator and union member); Mariam Aydoun (Muslims for Just Futures, Muslim Workers Organizing Fellow); Virginia Rodino (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Maryland); Josh Armstead (DSA Labor); Gene Bruskin (co-founder, US Labor Against the War); Rana Abdelhamid (organizer and former Congressional candidate in NY-12); Phyllis Bennis (Jewish writer and activist); Amani Al-Khatahtbeh (founder of Muslim Girl); Linda Sarsour (organizer and activist); Sumaya Awad (activist, writer, and Director of Strategy & Communications at Adalah Justice Project), Iman Abid-Thompson (Director of Advocacy & Organizing at the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights – USCPR); Beth Miller (Political Director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action); Eva Borgwardt (National Spokesperson for IfNotNow), and other prominent faith and community leaders.
National endorsing organizations of the hunger strike include U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), Adalah Justice Project (AJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Dream Defenders, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), IfNotNow, Faith For Black Lives, and Center for Popular Democracy (CPD).
