Alek S. | Red Phoenix correspondent | Florida–
As the Israeli genocide of Palestinians receives unwavering support from American institutions, 18 students at the University of South Florida have announced they will initiate an indefinite hunger strike beginning Monday, March 18, only ending once USF administration completely meets the following demands:
- that USF President Rhea Law immediately calls for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid to Gaza, and offers support to all affected families in the local community;
- that USF immediately makes their investment portfolio from 2013-2023 visible to the public;
- that USF establishes a Student Oversight Committee by Fall 2024, where future investments are made transparent to the public, and with significant input from an elected body of student officials;
- and that USF immediately divests from Hewlett Packard, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Caterpillar, companies profiting from the ongoing genocide that has murdered over 30,000 people.
This announcement is following a decade-long push from the USF student body to completely divest from Israel and its denial of human rights. The first notable attempt came in 2013. Efforts were conducted by Students for Justice in Palestine, and a university referendum was held on the topic of USF’s $400 million endowment. Students voted 2,111 to 609 in favor of “boycotting, divesting, and sanctioning corporations affiliated with human rights violations by replacing them with ethical alternatives at University of South Florida.” This included the likes of Hewlett Packard, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Caterpillar. USF administration proceeded to void the results of the referendum when it didn’t result in their favor, while claiming that there were “inconsistencies in the referendum.”
The next year, the same students made Florida collegiate history by collecting a statewide record of 10,000 signatures in favor of divestment from Israel. They even earned a meeting with USF’s Investment Committee. However, the university’s administration gave the students no more than 15 minutes before completely voiding the effort, and further disregarded any attempt to humanize their investment portfolio by arguing that their investments “aren’t political.” Students argued that investments worth millions of dollars cannot somehow supersede or be “above” politics, recognizing the statement from USF as a convoluted excuse for inaction.
In 2017, further events concentrated efforts from thousands across the campus. Led by USF Divest, self-described as “a coalition of students, faculty, staff, student organizations, and alumni that are in support of divestment from fossil fuels, human rights violations, private prisons, and sweatshops,” the coalition orchestrated numerous appeals to the university to invest responsibly. Administration was all too happy to decline, and frequently disregarded what had become a public flurry of messages, protests, and viral videos.
As patience has worn thin and all available channels proven meaningless by USF, students now feel that it is necessary to put their bodies and lives on the line in order for USF to reconsider. 18 students, including three members of the American Party of Labor, will begin an indefinite hunger on March 18. Only when all demands are met, students say, will they let up from starvation. “As members of the student body, it’s our responsibility to ensure our voices are heard by any means necessary. We as students cannot continue business as usual while our very own university is profiting from an active genocide,” Leroy, a USF student and hunger striker, stated.
And as severe as the strike itself may be, the path that led to this tactic was not free of difficulties. Students for Socialism, the student organization who initially called for the hunger strike, received a cease and desist letter from university officials only three days after publicizing their demands. The letter included demands that Students for Socialism immediately removed any trace of language pertaining to the hunger strike at public events or on social media, provided that the university would persecute individuals associated with the organization if they did not comply. Leon, a hunger striker, added that, “We have been compliant and helpful to USF at virtually every turn, and have worked as hard as possible to ensure we are participating in safe and dignified means of action. For the administration to then target us and our individual organizers for a legal escalation is completely ridiculous.” Other students reiterated Leon’s point of view, offering that instead of targeting members in the community, USF could have simply worked with students to reach a democratic resolution. After USF’s decision to threaten force, though, students are adamant that there is no backing down.
In what is deemed as the “highest form of legal escalation” by an anonymous student organizer, the students have made it abundantly clear they will not back down from any intimidation or fear. To begin their strike, USF Hunger Strike will host a sit-in at the Marshall Student Center before USF President Rhea Law and the university’s Board of Trustees convene upstairs. Students will then speak directly to the Board, and publicly challenge their authority over the administration’s investments. Furthermore, they plan to hold protests daily at noon, including marches, sit-ins, “die-ins,” building occupations, and other forms of civil disobedience and escalation. “The ‘proper’ channels the USF administration has urged us to utilize have proven to be ineffective so this strike really is our last resort,” hunger striker Alina Atiq said. “Considering the horrific mass killings and starvation of Palestinians, as a citizen of a nation and student of an institution both complicit in their suffering, something as escalatory [sic] as our hunger strike feels like the bare minimum.” As of March 14, over 31,000 Palestinians have been murdered by the Israeli state since Oct. 7, with another 73,000 injured.
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