fasting for gaza
22 Jan 2024back in december, i came across a fast for gaza post on social media and i was struck immediately. i joined for the first one on thursday, dec XX and since then, i’ve done it 4 out of 5 times (i missed one week due to sheer negligence and forgetfulness, it happens!). i have gotten a small amount of pushback and mostly affirmation or curiosity about it. so here i am writing about my personal reasons and stance for fasting.
but before that, i just want to share the info from the crew of writers and artists (who i don’t know) who started this.
- full statementment and link to sign up
- https://bit.ly/fastforgaza (includes images to post on social media).
my own personal history with fasting
back when i took some time off from undergrad to figure out wtf was happening with my life, one of the most significant acts i undertook was a major fast in the spring or summer of 2009. i can’t remember exactly how many days, but i am almost positive it was at least two weeks just water and then another 14-18 days where i would have a small amount of fruit juice as sustenance so i didn’t die. i have lots to say about that experience, but for now, the most relevant detail is this: fasting now has a huge amount of spiritual meaning for me.
why i fast as a solidarity action
it keeps me remembering what’s happening. fasting as a spiritual practice has been and still is used in cultures and spiritual traditions all over the world (the islamic, jewish, and christian faiths all have fasting in some way as a part of in their annual calendar of spiritual practices). it’s been used for many purposes, though for me, it is most effective at keeping me attuned to the fact that somewhere, right now, someone else is suffering via going without food. every time i am hungry, i go through a little emotional that is something like “damn. i’m hungry! this hurts and sucks!” -> “wow. this hunger must be nothing like what’s happening for children in gaza.” -> “i am so grateful to have food.” -> “i want to make sure that the food i eat contributes to me feeling energized to keep working so that children in gaza have food (and water and shelter) as soon as possible.”
it is a slow burn tactic. in moments of intense crisis or change, we need big actions. direct action is key in moments like this. and direct action (DA) can spur a moment of relative calm into a moment of crisis. often, that it a core purpose of a specific DA.
but, given that most of us don’t live in permanently organized communities, for the most part, we most can’t actually sustain DA constantly. most of us live lives that are too atomized and individualized for that.
that said, something recurrent, like an ongoing fast, can be a sustainable way to keep awareness high, even as the energy for big collective things like protests wanes. as we have to return to our wage-earning labor, we can still take this action, woven into our lives.
it’s a different, less confrontational door into explaining to others where you stand. DA is often (though not always) a confrontational approach that thrives on using conflict. fasting, generally speaking, is more of an internal practice but creates its own opportunities to share a personal stance with others. (note: hunger striking is a different, though related tactic, and carries with a much more significant amount of risk and, consequently/theoretically, a more significant reward. it is not intended to be a sustainable tactic).
there are a few different ways the opportunity to share with others shows up but, for the most part, the primary way i get into the conversation is someone asking me why i am not eating. this happens most often when i’m at a shared meal and refrain from eating or when i’m doing some sort of check-in during a work meeting and one of the ways i respond to the “how are you?” question is “hungry.” both of those are great opportunities for me to explain that i’m fasting and why.
it is (more) broadly accessible. as a tactic, and compared to some other types of tactics, it is relatively easeful to engage in a weekly, sunrise to sundown fast. this isn’t a dig on other tactics that require a higher bar for entry. it’s a way to bring more people in, especially those who couldn’t or won’t/haven’t yet found the internal reasoning to join an action with a higher activation energy. fasting is, ideally, not a detracting force from other tactics. ideally, fasting is a both/and with other tactics or can lead people towards other actions, especially if the fast spreads to many other people. there is something the feels really special when you find out someone else is fasting for the same reason you are.
ok that’s WAY more than i thought i’d say on this today so i’m gonna start wrapping up here.
one last thing i want to share is practice for breaking fast. i have fasted for many reasons since that first big fast back in 2009 and i’ve had many different ways of breaking those fasts. for this gaza solidarity fast, i typically:
- sit in reverence with the food in front of me and give gratitude for it
- remember that there are children (and adults) in gaza (and in other conflict zones) who won’t be eating dinner tonight
- set an intention to have the
- and sometimes, i read a poem by palestinian poet. last week, at my friend malcolm’s birthday dinner, i read “thing of others” by mahmoud darwish.
words / writing / post-processing
922w / 36min / 12min